Recent Reads 241130: Tayeb Salih, Amélie Nothomb, Mariko Koike

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

I'm looking forward to reading season of migration to the north next year, and even more so now 😊. Just filmed a recent reads covering Nine Continents, meed to edit it today 😊

[@SluggishReader]

@@PageTurnersWithKatja I'm excited that you will be reading it soon! I hope you'll like it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Nine Continents, Katja! I have not had the time to make a video as I've been super busy this week, but hopefully I could do it some time.

[@scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

Season of Migration to the North is one I have had in the back of my head for years. You have convinced me I must read it in 2025. Glad your reading is proving so rewarding at the moment.

[@SluggishReader]

@@scallydandlingaboutthebooks I encountered a 1-star book recently (which I will talk about in an upcoming video) but I thought the streak has indeed been rewarding! I feel like Season of Migration to the North deserves a re-read. There's something that feels close to home with the scene when the narrator discovers Mustafa's secret room. I'm considering re-reads for 2025 but I don't know yet. Things are very uncertain and I'm not even sure where I will be in 2025. 😂

[@scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

@@SluggishReader life is full of adventures ✨️

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

I’ve read _Unknown Soldiers._ Liked it, but I may have forsworn war novels after that. Freddie, you’re not Sluggish at all! Between you and that Mandarin-speaking bumiputra kid I feel a bit slow myself. 😅

[@SluggishReader]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry Hi David.. I guess I felt a bit more motivated than usual lately. Having the luck of reading a string of good books definitely helped! Curious, what made you give up war novels after Unknown Soldiers?

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@ I was finding too much similarity among them - not that I’ve read a million.

[@Gagging4Lit]

Hope you enjoy The Whole Story once you get to it. Some of the stories were so gorgeous! I just finished a Truman Capote biography which was very depressing for the last probably 80 pages. I am now rereading Wicked by Gregory Maguire as I remember it from over 10 years ago as once of my fave novels. So far it is holding up and I am loving it, especially after seeing the movie adaption and musical in theatre. I am also about too start Orbital, the Booker winner, as I can fit that in before the year is out.

[@SluggishReader]

@@Gagging4Lit I kinda paused with The Whole Story (mainly because it is a short story collection, and I'm usually kinda flaky with short story collections lol).. but I will get to it hopefully sometime close to Christmas (I don't know why but Ali Smith's books usually have a bit of Christmassy vibes).. I'm totally unfamiliar with Wicked's story and I just read the play's synopsis earlier this month on Wikipedia. I thought it was intriguing 😂 I heard the new movie is good, but I have not seen it, though I have been enjoying the memes lol (the memes being Floptok-adjacent doesn't help). I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Orbital. I'm broke now so no Booker spree for me like I had years ago (not that it was much of a spree). Maybe one day if I'm rich I can try buying the whole longlist of the year.

[@sarah-roadworthy]

I dnf'd Salih a couple of years ago. You're making me think that might have been a mistake and I should try again.

[@SluggishReader]

@@sarah-roadworthy I think I could see some aspects of the book that might discourage some readers. I'm curious, do you remember why you DNF it?

[@sarah-roadworthy]

@@SluggishReader I just wasn't engaging with the story. I found I wasn't very interested when Mustafah started to tell his tell. It could be the case of wrong time/wrong book.