What have you been reading these days? The Sense of an Ending, The House of Unexpected Sisters

Not that anyone wonders, but sometimes I wonder whether readers are wondering if I read anything at all … always posting about books purchased at Abids, online secondhand bookstores, and here and there … does he only buy or does he read too … these are some of the thoughts I was thinking about that readers might be thinking about …

So, during the last month and a half, around 45 to 50 days, I read these books … this is only Part 1 ... 

I had read a lot about Julian Barnes over the years, reviews of his books, his Booker moment, the movie-making of The Sense of an Ending, and so on.  But I hadn’t read any of his books.  Two Abids visits ago, Umashankar mentioned that he had read The Sense of an Ending recently and that it was really good and worth all the acclaim it was getting and also that the final part takes your breath away.  I resolved to buy and read the novel.  And I did.  And it is a wonderful read, no doubt about it.  I was reading literary fiction after a long long time and I had to consciously control my reading pace.  This is the copy I got, though I didn’t like the film-inspired cover … would have liked something artistic. 

As it usually happens with me, I wanted more of Julian Barnes.  I found two – Arthur and George and Flaubert’s Parrot – on online secondhand books portals, and I found Barnes’ short-story collection, Cross Channel at Abids two Sundays back.  I started Arthur and George and stopped after a hundred pages … it is about two well-known real life characters in England, and like a fool, I peeked into Wikipedia, and lost the plot …   

After The Sense of an Ending, I read The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall-Smith.  This is the most recent (the 18^th) in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. 

I bought the first one, also named The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and two more in the series, in 2010, at a bookstore in Bangalore selling all books at half price, and the ‘detective’ in the title made me buy the book.  By 2010, McCall-Smith had already written eleven books in the series.  McCall-Smith writes one book every year in this series, mind you, he has four other series' going on and writes standalone novels and books for children.  By 2013, I had caught up with the author and since then I have been reading the novels in the series as they are released.  No more backlogs ... 

The House of Unexpected Sisters was released in 2017, but I waited till the second half of 2018 (though the waiting was tense and excruciating …) for the paperback to be released and for the price to come down to acceptable levels.  All that waiting was rewarded with a great story, and a couple of more stories.  And this time the mysteries that need to be cleared are all too close to home and work, for Precious Ramotswe and her husband, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, and for Grace Makutsi (who began her career in the Agency as its secretary and became Precious Ramotswe’s detective-assistant, but is now the self-proclaimed associate detective and partner in the Agency).  But no problem is that problematic that Precious Ramotswe cannot find a solution to; and there is Bush Tea, of course, a sip of which sets Mma Ramotswe’s brain whirring.