When both your retired sister-in-law and your son’s 20 something girlfriend recommend the same book, that’s big. So, when I saw Shantaram  on CD at my local library, I grabbed it. Now, I wish I had a long road trip to go on so I could just listen and listen. It’s a page-turner (errr cd turner). A novelized autobiography, it feels Harry Potter-epic in its introduction to the amazing, colorful and unseen world of India’s slums and underbelly. As Amazon summarizes: “Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero.”

Also on my summer reading list is Ann Patchett‘s new novel State of Wonder which takes place in an exotic South American environment. For fans of Bel Canto, this delivers another dose of compelling characters with an undertone of danger and mystery a la Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I don’t know what’s coming and it’s making me nervous and keeping me up nights burning the midnight battery on my iPad.

Earlier this summer, I read (listened) to The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. This is NOT one of those dark Swedish thrillers but an endearing and sharply written novel of a motherless child and how she came to be so. The story is revealed in delicate layers like the falling of petals until all is revealed.

Next up on my reading list is The Paris Wife, a new novel about Hemingway‘s wife during their years in Paris. Say the word Paris and I’ll read anything!

What’s on your reading list? I’m always looking for great new books to devour now that there are no more Harry Potter volumes to hope for!

Related articles

• A Fine Balance (bookatlas.wordpress.com)
• Maxiumum City – Mumbai (Bombay), India (travelpod.com)
• India: Reading, Watching, Checking Things Out (whyindiawhynot.wordpress.com)
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (nochargebookbunch.com)
• Holiday Reading so far… (broadconversation.wordpress.com)