Bye, JULY

It was a good enough run because I finished reading 3 books! Technically I really just finished reading two because the other one is carried over from June, but still. 

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - 5/5

• This has been forever on my books-I-want-to-read-asap-but-never-got-around-to-picking-up list. Finally had the chance when the book club picked it as our July book, although it was unfortunate that I didn't get around to finishing it on time. 
• That was one epic read! It was like reading a family tale along the likes of The God of Small Things, tracing the protagonist's lineage from his great-great predecessors all the way to the present time. 
• Amazing, how much there is to read about Indian history, particularly the recent one involving Bangladesh and Pakistan. Didn't even know about it until I read this book. 
• First time to read Salman Rushdie, too, and I am very well a convert. I did try reading Satanic Verses a few years back but hardly got past the first hundred pages of it. Couldn't remember why exactly but when I put it down, I found that I wasn't inspired to continue. 
• Now THIS book. Saleem and Shiva, knees and nose, and all the rest of the children born on the midnight and within the first hour of India's independence from Britain. 

Autumn by Ali Smith - 4/5

• It's TFG's book club pick for July, and it was a quick enough read, all things considered.  
• My initial reaction after reading goes like this: I like it, but I’m not all that crazy about it. I enjoyed reading about this extraordinary friendship between Daniel and Elisabeth (with an S) but I’m not quite sure how and where to place everything else that happened in the book. Where did Pauline Boty figure in the grand scheme of things? Yes, there’s a shared interest in various things but there has to be something deeeper, something more profound that I just didn’t quite grasp. I need someone to talk to about this.
• After the discussion with the book club people, however, I found that I missed a lot in my reading of the book. I didn't realize that this was Brexit-related, we had a friendly "debate" over whether the relationship between the two lead characters was romantic or totally platonic, and so many seemingly mundane details actually held a lot of meaning. It helped to talk about the book with like-minded people so much so that I was convinced that the book deserved more than just the initial 3 stars I gave it. 
• However, this does not mean I am up to reading the rest of the Seasonal Quartet books. Not so fast. 

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart - 5/5

• Just reading the first chapters, and I knew I was hooked. I wanted to know Shuggie: who he is, where he came from, how a sixteen-year old like him is practically living in squalor at a rented bedsit all by himself, without family. 
• Shuggie broke my heart. His devotion to Agnes, his solitude, his suffering not just at the hands of bullies but even his own family. I wouldn't know what to do with my life if I had a mother like Agnes, but Shuggie? People could use some of his optimism right now, I swear. 
• If the themes in this novel are not relevant, then I don't know what is. 

Currently reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami for the book club, and here's to hoping I could read more because hello, ECQ 3.0!