A Striped Armchair

Now I’ve told y’all that I’m a challenge addict. And A Novel Challenge is going to be the death of me! These are all the challenges I’ve heard about that are starting next year and look wonderful, but if some new ones suddenly show up, I’m not going to rule them out. And in my defense, I usually end up finishing all my reading challenges! So, um, don’t judge me! lol

To jump to a specific challenge:
Art History Challenge 2010
The Colorful Reading Challenge 2010
The Complete Booker Challenge 2010
The Flashback Challenge
Horns and Halos Reading Challenge
Rainbow Connection Reading Challenge
Read the Book See the Movie Challenge
Reading Through the Seasons 2010
Science Book Challenge 2010
The Terry Pratchett Challenge 2010
What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge

The Terry Pratchett Challenge 2010
Marg of Reading Adventures is hosting the Terry Pratchett Challenge 2010. It began on December 1st and runs until November 30, 2010, and Marg is offering participants a variety of levels. I’m planning on becoming a member of Granny Weatherwax’s Coven by reading 9-10 books; I’ve been meaning to get into the Discworld series and another trilogy was recommended to me. Thanks to this handy chart I learned which books are about the witches and Death, the two characters I’m interested in, so here are the books I’ll be reading from:

• the Witches of Discworld: Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords & Ladies, Maskerade, and/or Carpe Jugulum
• Death of Discworld: Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hog Father, and/or Thief of Time
• the Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and/or Wings

The Flashback Challenge
Aarti is hosting the Flashback Challenge, which is about rereading books and runs during all of 2010. I’m going for the literati level, which has me rereading at least seven books. These are the ones I’m rereading for sure; I hope to reread more than seven during the year, starting w/ books I enjoyed in elementary school, then high school, and finally ‘adulthood’:

• The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw: one of my very favourite books in elementary school, it’s about a changeling living in a small village in historical England.
• Matilda by Roald Dahl: do I need to explain why I loved this as a kid? A book loving little girl who develops telekinesis…what’s not to love?!
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: I loved all of Austen in middle/high school, and this is the one I’ve reread the least amount of times.
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera: a book I loved my junior year of high school…but I was kind of a pretentious little twit as a 15 year-old (I think it’s a hazard of being a debater, lol…we weren’t the nerdy kind, more like beatniks or something…we wore lots of black and had philosophical arguments to back up our world weariness). So I wonder if I’ll enjoy it as much now!
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I can’t remember if I read this for the first time at then end of high school or the beginning of college…but either way, I think I’m about due for a reread! I have a Daisy outfit for Halloween all ready to go.
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: another one that I can’t remember precisely when I read it, but I’ve read it at least twice and loved it (the movie rocks too)…I’m due for a visit back to Manderley.
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susan Clarke: I definitely read this in college! And loved it. Victorian England, the faeries, footnotes…it’s perfect for me.
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: I’m a huge Collins fan, and everyone reviewing this has made me want to revisit it! I read it for the first time one or two years ago.

Reading Through the Seasons 2010
Book Dragon’s Lair is hosting the second round of the Reading Through the Seasons challenge. It runs all year, and participants need to read four books, each one with a different season in the title. My choices:

• Solomon Spring by Michelle Black: this is a mystery series slash Western…I’m determined to attempt to appreciate this genre, being a Texan and living in Colorado. And since this has a mystery element, and is set in the late 1800s and Colorado, I’m really hoping I’ll enjoy it.
• Towards Another Summer by Janet Frome: I’ve heard great things about this slim Kiwi novel, and I had it checked out from the library but couldn’t get to it. So it’s definitely on my radar for next year!
• The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: a fictional take on a dictator crumbling.
• The Circus in Winter by Cathy Day: a collection of interlinked short stories set in wintering place of a midwestern circus over a series of years…or What You Call Winter by Nalini Jones: another short story collection, this one set in a Catholic town in India.

Horns and Halos Reading Challenge
Aimee of My Fluttering Heart is hosting the Horns and Halos Reading Challenge. Participants will read books with angels and/or demons throughout 2010. I can pick the number of books I want to read, but I have to pick a level based on whether I’ll be reading more angelic or demonic books (isn’t this fun?). I read two books about angels this year, and I enjoyed seeing how the authors handled them, so I’m curious to read more! I’m committing to four books, and I have a pretty even balance of angel/demon books, so right now I”ll be at the Garden of Eden. But those levels can change depending on where your reading goes, so we’ll see if I end up in Heaven or Hell!
Pool:

• The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman: I reread The Golden Compass last year with the intention of rereading the whole trilogy. But then I got distracted!
• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan Howard: Johannes sold his soul to the devil years ago, and now he’s on a quest to get it back! This book has such a wonderful title and cover, I just couldn’t resist.
• Faust by Goethe: seeing the above book reminded me that I’ve never read the most famous ‘I sold my soul to the devil’ story! I’ve actually never read Goethe, but I’m hoping to read The Sorrows of Young Werther before the end of this month.
• The Nameless Day by Sara Douglass: this is the first in a trilogy that sounds like medieval urban fantasy-it’s set in an alternate 1300s Europe where angels and demons mess with the course of events.
• Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman: “Murder Mysteries” is one of my very favourite Gaiman short stories (you can find it in Smoke and Mirrors), and so I’ve been curious about this graphic novel adaptation for awhile. It features angels and is set in heaven.
• Alabaster by Caitlin Kiernan: this came up when I was searching my library’s catalogue, and it was just too delicious sounding to resist. It’s set in the backwoods of modern-day Georgia and is a collection of five connected stories about teenage albino Dancy Flammerion, who “talks to angels and slays demons.” Seriously: Southern gothic with a supernatural element? You know I’m there!

What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge
The wonderful Annie (and how could you help being wonderful with a mother like Debi?) has passed the torch on to Beth F for the third round of this challenge. It lasts all year and asks readers to read books whose titles have words that match up with six categories: food, body of water, title (i.e. Lady), plant, place name, and musical term. I made a big list of authors I want to read more of, checked out the titles that my library has available, and matched up ones that fit the categories. So here’s my pool, and you’ll probably see authors repeat themselves…
Food

• Sugar and Other Stories by AS Byatt: I’ve been working my way through Byatt’s books, and this short story collection is one of the ones I have left.
• Black Juice by Margo Lanagan: I loved Tender Morsels last year, got this one and read the first few stories before having to return it to the library. So I’d like to finish it at some point. And juice is a food!
• After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima: I don’t know much about this one…I think it’s about a Japanese woman who has to choose between duty and freedom (you know, the old story). But Mishima’s writing is so gorgeous, I want to read more of it! And banquets have food.

Body of Water

• The Guilty River by Wilkie Collins: I lurve Collins. And a river is a body of water!
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: one of the Rushdie books I haven’t read yet; it’s compared to Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland and all that fun stuff.
• Medicine River by Thomas King: I loved Green Grass, Running Water, so I want to read more King asap!
• An Ocean of Air by Gabrielle Walker: I really enjoyed Walker’s book about geology, so I’m excited to read her thoughts in air.

Title

• My Lady’s Money by Wilkie Collins: apparently, Collins’ titles coincide well with the themes of this challenge!
• The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I’ve had a bit of an intellectual crush on Simon Bolivar for awhile now, so I’m curious to ‘meet’ him in fiction.
• Diana: the Goddess who Hunts Alone by Carlos Fuentes: a semi-autobiographical nostalgic look at a doomed love affair.
• Empress by Shan Sa: this is set in the 7th century-how fun is that?!
• Lord Byron’s Novel by John Crowley: this is a pastiche, and based on Little Big, I think Crowley’s up to the task!
• The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene: Greene’s last novel, about a lonely boarding school boy who meets a secretive stranger and is taken to London to be raised by him.

Plant

• Among Flowers by Jamaica Kincaid: a travelogue about a bunch of botanists who hiked the Himalayas.
• The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman: another gothic literary thriller set in academia. This has been on my TBR shelves for awhile…except I lost it! But I found it again, and I was so excited.
• Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinesen: the companion volume to Out of Africa.

Place Name

• An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks: need I provide a reason for reading books written by my future husband?
• Claudine in Paris by Colette: the second in her Claudine quartet; I very much enjoyed the first one.
• Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk: a book all about a city that’s in my top 5 of places to visit.
• Chicago by Alaa Al Aswany: a novel about post 9/11 Egyptian-American relations in Chicago.
• The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst: another historical spy novel by Furst, whose Night Soldiers I adored.

Music Term

• War Dances by Sherman Alexie: I’m not sure if dancing is technically a music term, but it ought to be. This is a short story collection, with poems interspersed.
• An Equal Music by Vikram Seth: a love story about Western musicians.
• The Assassin’s Song by MG Vassanji: a book about a man torn between East and West, old traditions and new knowledge.
• Music of a Life by Andrei Makine: about a Russian musician in the 30s and 40s.
• After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat: a travelogue in which Danticat visits her native Haiti during Carnival.

The Science Book Challenge 2010
Jeff is hosting the third round of the Science Book Challenge, one of my favourite challenges! He has a great intro page (just follow my link), but essentially participants read three nonfiction science books during 2010 related to the theme “Nature & Science.” You gotta admit, that’s a pretty broad theme! Last year, I put together a huge list of science books that looked wonderful, and of course I didn’t get to read them all, so I’m recycling most of them for this year. I have added some new ones, especially under the animals and plants sections. This year, I committed to reading one science book a month, so twelve in total, and I’d like to renew that pledge for 2010. That’s why I need lots of options!

Animals

• Eye of the Albatross by Carl Safina: I loved his The Voyage of the Turtle, and I’m reading Song for the Blue Ocean this month, so is it any surprise that I want to read more of his work?
• Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger by Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson: this account of a “conservationist road trip through Tasmania” made it on the list thanks to Jeane’s glowing review.
• The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species by Scott Weidensaul: another selection based on Jeane’s review (this will quickly become a theme of this section). This one looks at various endangered and extinct species (not just birds!).
• Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds by Christopher Cokonos: another of Jeane’s contributions, this one is all about extinct birds, specifically those of North America.
• The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barkott: apparently endangered and extinct birds are a new theme for me! This one was recommended by Nancy Pearl, and the cover is soooooooo pretty.
• A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert Sapolsky: another book discovered at Jeane’s blog, but at least this one is about monkeys and not birds! And culture shock, since Sapolsky was in East Africa.
• Silence of the Songbirds: How We Are Losing the World’s Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them by Bridget Stuchbury: and we’re back to endangered birds, lol. Nancy reviewed this one and it sounds sad but interesting. Also, the cover is another gorgeous one!
• The Hedgehog’s Dilemma: A Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia, and the World’s Most Charming Mammal by Hugh Warwick: speaking of cuties, I’ve always thought hedgehog’s were pretty adorable as well. Warwick is a ‘British environmental writer.’
• Queen Must Die: and Other Affairs of Bees and Men by William Longgood or Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee by Hattie Ellis: I’m not sure if either of these have a lot of science in them, but bees seem interesting, so I figured I could at least check them out from the library and see!
• Cousteau’s Great White Shark by Jean-Michel Cousteau: I’ve always wanted to read some Cousteau (when I was in elementary school, I wanted to become an oceanographer), and I’m really curious about great whites! I feel bad for sharks, they get such bad publicity.
• Paddy by R.D. Lawrence: Lawrence decribes his attempt to raise a baby beaver in the wild. Beavers! Seriously: how can I resist?
• Fishes by Louis Roule: I kept a 30 gallon fresh water aquarium in elementary school (I bought it with my First Communion money), and I LOVED learning about fish. So it’ll be neat to visit my old childhood interests.
• The Aye-Aye and I by Gerald Durrell: earlier this year, I watched the BBC adaptation of Durrell’s memoirs, My Family and Other Animals. It was a wonderful movie: I laughed so hard I cried on many occasions, and at the same time it was gorgeous to watch. So you should go rent it. Anyway, it made me want to read one of Durell’s books, and in this one he goes to Madagascar to try to capture and save a rare mammal. We’ll see if I enjoy his conservation style.

Plants

• Oak: The Frame of Civilization by William Bryant Logan: Now if I love trees that much, does it surprise you that I’m including another book about them on here? This one is about my very favourite tree of all-the oak.
• The Wild Trees by Richard Preston: I’ve actually been wanting to read this since Preston appeared on The Colbert Report (true story: Stephen Colbert came to my college as the graduation speaker when I was a junior, so I have an extra amount of affection for him): it’s about the redwoods and the people who explore them.
• Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart and Briony Morrow-Cribbs: I’ve seen some great blogger reviews of this book. It’s about everyday poisonous plants, and it’s illustrated!
• The Trees in My Forest by Bernd Heinrich: I’m hoping this book by a zoologist about his love of his 300 acres of Vermont forest will inspire me to explore my own Coloraod forest a bit more.
• Oranges by John McPhee: I didn’t enjoy McPhee’s books on geology (I only read Basin and Range-gave up halfway through the second one), but I want to give him another chance. And I’m curious to learn more about oranges!
• In the Company of Mushrooms by Elio Schaechter: ok, so they’re fungi and not plants, but doesn’t this sound fun?! Schaechter is a naturalist who has written a pop natural history book covering every aspect of mushrooms.

Chemicals

• The Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat by Eric Roston: I’m determined to read some pop chemistry books this year, and since this one’s all about carbon, it’s like pop organic chemistry! That’s extra science points right there. I picked this based on the Ars Hermeneutica book note.
• Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World by Rick Lane: recommended by the lovely Rebecca, who shares in my quest for pop chemistry books.
• Hydrogen: the Essential Element by John Rigden: continuing the element-title theme, Rebecca recommended this one as well. I admit to being less interested in hydrogen than the other elements, but this book is about how scientists studied hydrogen for two centuries, and I always enjoy a good history of scientific thought.
• The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus by John Emsley: did you see that title?! And here’s the first sentence of the description: “Discovered by alchemists, prescribed by apothecaries, exploited by nineteenth-century industrialists, and abused by twentieth-century combatants, phosphorus is one of nature’s deadliest- and most fascinating- creations. Now award-winning author John Emsley combines his gift for storytelling with his scientific expertise to present an enthralling account of this eerily luminescent element. ” Of course it’s on the list!

Skies

• An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere by Gabrielle Walker: I really enjoyed her other book, so this one has to be on the list as well!
• The Stars by H.A. Rey: a YA book aimed at people who want to look into the night sky and know what they’re looking at! That would be me.
• Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe by Martin Rees: a summary of cosmology, which means “the study of the physical universe considered as a totality of phenomena in time and space”.
• Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall: a physics book that looks at string theory, particle physics, and cosmology.

General Nature-y Stuff

• The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder by David Quammen: this is a selection of Quammen’s columns for Outside magazine. I so enjoyed reading a collection of columns from a different science writer (Death By Black Hole) that the format really appeals to me. According to the Ars Hermeneutica book note, this one should be good.
• Cats’ Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People by Steven Vogel: this is an exploration of biotechnology, both nature- and man-made. I found it in the Ars Hermeneutica book note.
• How to Dunk a Doughnut: the Science of Everyday Life by Len Fisher: there are nine chapters, and each focuses on the science behind an everyday event. Seems like a neat general overview.
• The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World’s Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio: this is another well-reviewed math book. Not to mention, I’ll seem extra-smart when I start talking about ‘phi’and other people say ‘don’t you mean pi?’ and I respond with a whole discourse on the golden ratio.

The Art History Reading Challenge 2010
The Art History Challenge surprised me with some of my favourite reads this year, so I was happy to see that’s back for another round in 2010. The host has changed to NomadReader but the blog remains the same. There have been a few changes to the rules too: you can pick a participation level varying from 3 to 12 books, either fiction or nonfiction. I’m starting at the Fascinated level, which requires six books throughout the year, but I might end up at the Utterly Enchanted one: I have quite a yummy pool to select from! There’s a token novel, which I listed first, and the rest are nonfiction.

• The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte: I’ve had mixed luck with Perez-Reverte in the past, but I’m hoping I enjoy this one! It’s a thriller combining a painting and art, chess, history, and murder.
• The Lives of Artists by Giorgio Vasari: a participant in last year’s challenge reviewed this; Vasari was sixteenth century Italian artist who also wrote gossipy biographies of classic Italian artists. Doesn’t that sound irresistable?
• The Museum Vault by Marc Antoin Matheiu: a graphic book set in the Louvre. This one might actually be fiction too; it’s difficult to tell from the description.
• Master Pieces by Thomas Hoving: this is a book but also a game based on something Hoving played with his fellow curators, trying to identify works of art based on tiny details. I’m not sure what its format is like, but I do love the cover.
• Scandals, Vandals, and da Vincisby Harvey Rachlin: Rachlin gives the backstory on 26 famous canvases.
• The Rescue Artist by Edward Dolnick: a look at when The Scream was stolen and the primary detective who helped get it back.
• Street Sketchbook by Tristan Manco: excerpts from the sketchbooks of 60 graffiti artists.
• Treasures of Islam by Bernard O’Kane: almost all of the books on my list are West-centric, so I was happy to see a book focused on art from a different culture. (And if you have any recommendations for other non-West art history books, share away!)
• Visual Shock by Michael Kammen: Kammen looks at various art controversies in American histoyr.
• -isms by Stephen Little: an introduction to the different ’schools’ of art.
• The Fine Art of Advertising by Barry Hoffman: another book about American art, in this case the advertising aspect of it!
• The Holland Park Circle by Caroline Dakers: Victorian artists! Living together in London!
• Art: the Critic’s Choice by Marina Vaizey: a survey of art history via ten art critics introducing their own specialties.
• The Animated Alphabet by Huges Demeude: I love alphabet books, so I’m curious about this look at them.
• Frida by Hayden Herrera or Finding Frida Kahlo by Barabara Levine: I know that I want to read a book about Frida, and these sound the best of the many my library has!

The Read the Book See the Movie Challenge
CB’s hosting his first challenge! Of course I knew I’d participate, and he’s selected a great theme, which is pretty obvious from the name. Read all the details, including the fun level names, in his intro post. I ran into a problem thinking about my list for this challenge…I’ve seen some great movies based on books I’ve yet to read (My Family and Other Animals is at the top of that list) and read some books that have interesting-sounding movies based on them (Remains of the Day, anyone?, but I can’t think of many book-movie pairs that I haven’t read/seen. So for now, I’m sticking with the Matinee level, which only requires one book/movie: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. But if y’all have favourite book/movie combos, feel free to suggest away. Perhaps I’ll upgrade my participation!

The Colorful Reading Challenge 2010
Rebecca of Lost in Books is hosting the second round of the Colorful Reading Challenge. The goal is to read nine books with nine different colours in the title, and participants have all of 2010 to do it. I’ve chosen nine plus two alternates:

• The Orange Tree by Carlos Fuentes: a collection of five novellas, which are apparently ‘bawdy.’
• Journey of the Pink Dolphins by Sy Montgomery: a combo travelogue/science book that sounds like the same style as another Montgomery book I loved The Spell of the Tiger.
• Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley: the first in a mystery series set in 40s LA.
• Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan: another collection of fantasy short stories.
• Red Gold by Alan Furst: set in occupied France.
• Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog by Boris Akunin: the first in a historical mystery series set in the late 1800s. or White Teeth by Zadie Smith: Smith’s debut novel, centered around two unlikely friends in post WWII England. (or the one above)
• Yellow Moon by Jewell Parker Rhodes: another New Orleans voodoo book: I loved the other one of hers that I read!
• Green Mountain, White Cloud by Francois Cheng: a story set in 1600s China.
• Silver Lies by Ann Parker: another 1800s American West mystery.

Alt:

• Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran: a book about the Green Zone in Baghdad by the Washington Post bureau chief that covers the first year or so of the post-Hussein war.

Rainbow Connection Reading Challenge
Sue Fitz is hosting her first challenge, the Rainbow Connection Reading Challenge. It runs from January 1st to June 30th of next year, and involves reading books based on those ol’ rainbow letters: ROY G. BIV. I’m choosing the double-run, so I’ll be doing one based on titles and one based on author last names. And all the books I chose are by authors of colour.
Title:

• Raisin in the Sun (A) by Lorraine Hansberry: I’ve been wanting to read more plays, and this is a classic!
• October Suite by Maxine Clair: a book about a young teacher in 1950 Kansas.
• Years with Laura Diaz (The) by Carlos Fuentes: a look at a century of Mexican history through the eyes of one woman.
• Grass Dancer (The) by Susan Power: a Sioux novel set in North Dakota.
• Bonesetter’s Daughter (The) by Amy Tan: I’ve always felt a bit anti-Amy Tan, but I’ve never actually read a book by her. Which is rather embarrassing. So I think I owe it to her to give her a shot!
• Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende: a novel abotu Spaniards and native Chileans during the age of conquistadors.
• Visitation of Spirits (A) by Randall Kenan: a generational saga set in North Carolina.

Author:

• Raboteau, Emily: The Professor’s Daughter: a book about a young college woman’s coming-of-age.
• Olivas, Daniel: Assumptions and Other Stories: obviously a short story collection, set amongst the Latino community of Southern California.
• Yoshimoto, Banana: Goodbye, Tsugumi: a young woman comes of age in Japan.
• Garcia, Cristina: A Handbook to Luck: it follows three teens in the 60s; a Cuban guy living in California, a girl in the slums of San Salvador, and a privileged girl in Tehran.
• Butler, Octavia: Dawn: the first in a sci-fi series also known as Lilith’s Brood.
• Ishiguro, Kazuo: When We Were Orphans: set in the first half of the twentieth century about an orphan who travels back to Shanghai, city of his birth, to find out his past.
• Vassanji, MG: The In-Between World of Vikram Lall: set in post-independence Kenya, it psans decade of change by following one man.

The Complete Booker Challenge 2010
There’s a Complete Booker Challenge that runs throughout 2010 and allows you to enjoy some Booker novels at various levels of participation. I’m going for the Winners Circle, which has me reading at least six winners (I’ve already read nine in the past without intending to read them, so it seems I have a taste for those Bookers). I’ve got a pool of nine that look good:

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga: a debut novel set in India.
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan: I’ve read and enjoyed several McEwan books-like his others, this focuses on friendships and how mistakes can change them.
• The Famished Road by Ben Okri: narrated by a spirit child in Nigeria.
• The Bone People by Keri Holme: a book set in New Zealand about Maori culture.
• Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner: so many bloggers have recommend this one to me at some point! It’s about an author who goes to a hotel in Switzerland to try to recover.
• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker: it’s set during WWI, which appeals to me a lot.
• Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth: a book about British involvement in the slave trade.
• Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: set in 20s Colonial India, and I enjoyed the short story of hers I read earlier this year.
• In a Free State by V.S. Naipul: I have no clue what this is about, but I am curious about Naipul!