A quick update: I met my reading goals last month! Every book in my July reading list was crossed off, with a day to spare (which gave me a good head start for August).
You can find my book reviews here, with another one coming out next week for Magda Szabó's The Door:
I Paint My Reality by Frida Kahlo
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Gagamba: A Novel by F. Sionil José
I usually read 4-5 books a month, giving myself a week to finish each one. But my #FinestFiction reading challenge has actually challenged me to change it up a bit, so that I can meet my goal of reading all of the books longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize by October.
And I'm off to a great start! I've already finished two on my list, and I'm slowly making my way through two new ones. Two of the books on the list are actually advanced reader copies, and I'm so delighted that I got the chance to read and review them. I also started using Book of the Month, which lets me buy copies at a much cheaper price.
I'm doubling my reading efforts this month, and already I feel a slight tinge of anxiety because I know I'm on a schedule. So how do I manage to read up? The biggest thing is cutting up screen time. If there is any indication of how I should find more time to read, the previous week was a successful trial.
In a day, I managed to find about 2-3 hours of reading time — on my breaks at work, when I'm moving my car (which is every two hours), after dinner, before bed. On days when I'm not in meetings, you can usually find me curled up on the couch, with a book in hand and a cup of tea in the other.
On Tuesday last week, I finished Mohsin Hamid's Exit West on my lunch break. It felt so disorienting to be immersed in the life of the main characters of the book, this couple who fled their homeland, and know so many intimate details about them while I slowly walked back to my desk.
I also noticed how a thread of connection in each title coarses through what I read: the edition of The Door I have is written with a preface by Ali Smith, whose book I'm getting ready to read in a couple of weeks. Doors were also a common theme in Exit West, as I stared at many, many entryways in my physical realm.
With each book I finish, my world gets bigger. And I am humbled by the fact that the more I learn, the less I know. I let it all sink in. I like to think that there are many, many rooms within my body, where each of the most memorable characters I've read live. Emerence from The Door lives somewhere in my chest, Anjum from The Ministry of Utmost Happiness behind a door in my left shoulder.
Here are this month's titles:
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Amazon | Indiebound)
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay (Amazon | Indiebound)
The Fix by Jonathan Tepperman (Amazon | Indiebound)
How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry (Amazon |Indiebound)
Tuwing Ikatlong Sabado (Every Third Saturday) by Words Anonymous, edited by Juan Miguel Severo (Goodreads)
Autumn by Ali Smith (Amazon | Indiebound)
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Amazon | Indiebound)
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (Amazon | Indiebound)
If you've read or are currently reading any of these titles, let me know in the comments below. Happy reading!
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