Book Mania

I finished the Book of Secrets by MG. Vassanji a few days ago. It is a very good book. The reader finds the author weaving tale set in colonial Africa. Having found a book that belonged to a colonial officer, the narrator traces the book's path into his hands, learning about the lives lived by seven generations of East Africans.. The characters are vivid especially considering that the book moves fast.

The book is set in the little colonial town of Kikono in Tanzania. Later, the book moves to the port capital of Dar es Salaam.

Vassanji's writing is masterful. He manages to focus the reader's attention on a particular character and forget about the ones the came before it, even though questions lie about their past and their stories remain unfinished. In a sense, he is able to move forward with the story convincingly even though the readers are not fully satisfied with what they have learnt about the last generation of characters.

Vassanji shows his versatility by writing from both a male and female perspective. The book is an easy read and this is an acheivement because of the complex historical setting. Vassanji's best moments come when he doesn't reveal too much. The story is pieced together painstakingly wth every word and movement making a difference. In a sense, this is a part detective story without the dark sunglasses and overcoat.

A book well worth reading but certainly not for everyone as its historical setting will turn away and dis-interest some people.

I have picked up three more books to read after this. The first is Irvine Welsh's Glue. This is a loose sequel to Trainspotting. While Trainspotting followed teh lives of heroin addicts, I believe that in Glue, the author speaks of the underground teenage culture and addiction to sniffing glue. Sound interesting and if its half as good as Trainspotting, I'm in for a good read.

The next two books are The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar. A writer mentioned in the same breath as Rohinton Mistry, Arundhati Roy, Anita Rau Badami and Vikram Seth. So, it should be interesting.

The third and last book I picked up is a classic that I have been meaning to read for ages. It's called Catch- 22 by David Heller. I don't know much more about it other than that it is set in World War II; anyone who reads it, swears by it. So, I picked that up.

anyone else been reading anything good lately?