Currently Reading (a semi-permanent status)

Sometimes it is hard to find time to read when most of my day is spent at work, and by the time I get home I am exhausted. Yup – that is what a 1 hour 15 minute commute on London’s transport system does to you. 45 minutes of my time is on a bus, and I can’t read on such a transport vehicle so I subject myself to staring out the window of the top deck listening to the buzz and static of traffic and police/ambulance/fire engine sirens. Somewhere behind me someone has a chesty cough and my mind is thrown back to that time I fell ill with pneumonia. I huddle further into myself. When I finally get onto the second leg of my journey – the metropolitan line north – I am either not in the mood to read or definitely way desperate to get my nose back into my book. When I get home (after another short bus ride), I want to eat and then I have to ‘clean up’. At 8.30PM, I am NOT a bouncy, vibrant, sexy 23 year old Londoner – often these days I am a zombie.

Anyway… amongst the hectic commute life, I am often stopping and starting various books so it seems I am always on ‘currently reading’ mode. Here’s what I am juggling now:

   (1)Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

This was actually on my reading list at university but I didn’t read most of it back then. Now though, reading it just for pleasure – I find I am enjoying it. Jane Austen’s little sarky quips are a laugh amongst the dullness of romance in that era, and I am getting sucked into Austen’s literature world of youth and the tragedies of life (women growing old, fake friendships, annoying men, gold diggers, and in this case – the youth who reads gothic novels and revels in the ‘romantic’ landscape of the world.)

   (2)The Arrangement – Sonya Lalli

I bought this because it relates to my culture. Specifically, the part of my culture that I am starting to detest more since I am getting older. The arrangement follows an almost 30 year old woman of Indian heritage living in Canada – and the aim of every other character is to get her married by the time she is 30. I like the premise of the novel, but I cannot connect to the main character – mainly because she is actually way cooler than me. I feel sorry for her, because she is being pressured by family and society into marriage, making her think that marriage can be the only true destiny for women. Her grandmother arranges dates with random men – and out of love and respect for her grandmother, our MC always gives in and tries her best. But, there is only one man on her mind, and that is her ex who broke her heart…

   (3)Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi

I actually haven’t even read one page of this one yet! More to come…

   (4)The Hating Game – Sally Thorne

I have stopped this one. It’s dull, it’s clichéd and I am just not interested in the characters. But a part of me still wants to finish it…

In a nutshell, The Hating Game follows two work colleagues who sit opposite each other, playing a hating game as they call it (staring into each other’s eyes, flirting by making mean comments about one another, snogging at random moments like silly teenagers, and frankly pretending they don’t realise they actually like each other). It’s kind of Mills & Boons (just kind of.)

 So, that is it. I will provide an update as and when – good luck to me, let’s see if I can actually finish something!