The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

 'Jhumpa Lahiri’s second novel, The Lowland, tells the story of two brothers from Tollygunge, in Calcutta. Subhash is calm, sensible and conventional. Udayan is rebellious, political in his views. As he becomes more and more involved in the Naxalite movement that is emerging in India, his views get more radical, until one day he is arrested for acts of terrorism.Subhash is by then a PhD student in America and has no idea of what’s happening at home. His own life is far from exciting, his only act of rebellion his orderly affair with an American woman. But when Udayan is killed...' read more

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

My review of The Lowland is coming up on Bookmunch very soon - I'll post a link as soon as it is up.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

And it's here - head over to Bookmunch for my review of We Need New Names, Bulawayo's debut novel.

'Darling is an imaginative, intelligent and constantly hungry child living in Zimbabwe, in a tin house where the bed is made out of a mattress stuffed with old cloth and chicken’s feathers.  Her commentary on life is matter-of-fact and astute, yet funny in a precocious child kind of way. Darling’s dream is to live in America, ‘My America’, she calls it, and imagines plentiful food, clothes, big beautiful houses  and a Lamborghini that she will surely drive once she gets there. Her friends with Chekhovian names like Bastard and Godknows dream too – like Darling, they want to leave their ghetto called Paradise and become ‘real’ people – but for now they spend their days stealing guavas from the gardens in the wealthy Budapest, playing Find Bin Laden and Country-Game, and watching the adults try to cope with the demise of their country.

Eventually Darling gets a '  read more

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

My review of this Booker 2013 shortlisted novel is coming up on Bookmunch soon - check back for a link.

NaNoWriMo

Last Friday, I went to our monthly writers' group meeting and one of the writers mentioned NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month as a way of finishing a novel. If you haven't heard of it, or, like me, don't know exactly how it works, have a look here.

Anyway, the reason we were talking about it was my current struggle with actually finishing a novel. I write quite a lot, and I finish short stories that I write, but novels are tricky for me. You have to maintain the momentum, and it helps if you plan it. I have always been an intuitive writer so I don't tend to plan that much. The problem is, my mood can change so much from one session to the next that if I don't have a plan to stick to, I sometimes end up writing almost the opposite of what I wrote the day before. Which makes it difficult if you are writing a novel.

The thing I like about NaNoWriMo (apart from its name) is that you don't have time to do any editing. You are in your first draft mode, and the goal is to finish it, not to perfect the first thousand words. I'm doing my challenge in July because I am too impatient to wait until November and if you want to join me, register your profile at campnano

My Hay Festival Highlights - Peter Sawyer and the Vikings

I am still elated after my day at the Hay - I can't believe it has already been ten days! I've been wearing my Hay t-shirt, watching the sessions I couldn't get to in person on Sky Arts, and savouring the memories of the ones I did get to attend.

The amazing historian Peter Sawyer gave a talk on the Vikings, and the treasures that tempted them to frequently raid England. This was my second to last session of the day but the fascinating lecture left me buzzing. I'm putting both The Wealth Of Anglo-Saxon England, published in February 2013, and the earlier Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings on my reading list.

But probably not a good idea to read them all in one sitting, as Peter Florence, who presented the session, seems to have done the night before. Here's my sneaky picture of him snoring gently on my right after introductions.

And talking of festivals, this is the last week of the Prestwich Book Festival! There are only two events left to enjoy - Growing Up Saintly with Jenn Ashworth, and Alison Moore and Nicholas Royle: in conversation. For tickets, go to Prestwich Book Festival. 

Today's Writing Prompt

I recently joined a local writers' group and have started exchanging writing prompts with other writers.
Here's one I've been set this week: write a short story or a poem where some or all the lines start with 'I don't know'. 
And here's the one I suggested to a fellow writer: write a short story or a poem using all of the following words: Greta, tongue, basket, sweet peas, dance.

We'll read out our work next Friday at the next session. If you want to join the challenge, write your own story/poem based on one of these prompts and send it to me at maia.nikitina@hotmail.co.uk. I will publish the best three on the blog next month.