The Quarterly Reading Report or the Books I Read So Far This Year

The rate at which I pick up books every week comes nowhere the rate at which I read them. On an average I end up picking up at least three books every week from Abids and second hand bookstores. But when it comes to reading them I manage just one book a week which is something I am not very happy about. There was a time when I could get enough time to go through two or even three books a week especially when I was in the rural postings where I seemed to have all the time in the world. I still manage to read something every day despite my job in the Secretariat here. Here’s the list of the books I have managed to finish reading this year.

‘Up in Honey’s Room’ Elmore Leonard
Somehow I did not enjoy reading this novel by Elmore Leonard. That maybe because I read it over a period of four weeks with long gaps in between. It wasn’t his usual gangster stuff but I will try to read it again.

‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ by Mohammed Hanif
This is one of the books I started the year with and I am glad I bought this book. ACEM is about the killing of Gen Zia in Pakistan. It is one of the funniest books that I read so far after Sidin Vadukut’s ‘Dork.’ It makes me wonder if any Indian writer can write such a story about our leaders and get away with it.

‘Utz’ by Bruce Chatwin
I love to read stuff by Bruce Chatwin and ‘In Patagonia’ is one book that will stay with me for long. Unfortunately, ‘Utz’ is fiction, it is way too short and I did not enjoy reading this book though there are some good lines in it. I have ‘Viceroy of Ouidah’ and ‘Songlines’ on the shelf waiting to be read.

‘If It Is Sweet’ by Mridula Koshy
Some of the stories are way too different but Koshy is one good writer. I enjoyed reading all the short and not so short stories in this collection.


‘Global Soul’ by Pico Iyer
I read more than half of this book sitting in Hotel Panchsheel near Ravindra Bharati while I was attending the Legislative Council in Feb-March. I would hurry out whenever the House was adjourned and spend a happy half hour lost in Pico Iyer’s prose and wishing it would never end. One of the best reads so far.

‘Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is another short book and wonderfully written by Marquez. I finished this book in one sitting mesmerized by the writing and also the tale.

‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid
I still feel stupid for reading this book more than a year after buying it. After I finished reading this book I wondered why I had not started reading it right after buying it. It is a beautifully written book with a very different narrative style. It made me eager to read Mohsin Hamid’s first book that I got from a friend.

‘Moth Smoke’ by Mohsin Hamid
I did not read this right after finishing ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ because I wanted to savor the feeling that the book left in me. ‘Moth Smoke’ is another wonderful book written in a unique narrative style. I enjoyed reading this book.

‘One L’ by Scott Turow
What’s common between Scott Turow and Mohsin Hamid? Both studied at Harvard Law School. ‘One L’ is a kind of journal Scott Turow kept while he was at Harvard Law School sometime in the seventies. There is a lot of stuff about American law that is a bit difficult. The descriptions of the time they had to prepare for the tests and the campus atmosphere are quite good. I had thought there’d be something about how Turow came into writing but it wasn’t so. But it made me think I should have studied law myself.

‘Diamond Dust’ by Anita Desai
This is another collection of short stories that I read this year after Mridula Koshy’s ‘If It is Sweet.’ All the stories in Diamond Dust are little gems that reveal Anita Desai’s mastery of language and her insights into human behavior.

‘White Album’ by Joan Didion
I had found WA very long ago and somehow did not feel like reading it until I found the right time. But after I found ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ a couple of months ago I thought I should begin reading WA first. It is a collection of her essays on varied topics that reveal her sharp journalistic mind. The collection dazzles with her insights into some momentous events, famous people and places.

‘Istanbul’ by Orhan Pamuk
I haven’t yet finished reading this wonderful book on Istanbul. More than his love for Istanbul and its history, what is obvious is the staggering amount of research that Orhan Pamuk put into writing this book. Everything is so lovingly described that I wonder if I will ever get to visit Istanbul in my lifetime and get to see the Bosporus. This book, coincidentally, is a gift from my brother who visits Istanbul so frequently that it makes me madly jealous of him. But I am glad he presented me with his beautiful book.