The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru

My reading update will come, um, later. This one first.
I’ve been reading a lot about Britain lately, or at least novels set in Britain and its former colonies. The Impressionist traces the life of Pran Nath, boy with British and Indian blood, with his attempts to survive the societies that are alternately seduced and repulsed [...]

Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq

This novel succeeds in becoming both hilarious and sinister, a piece of social commentary disguised as an exercise in WTF. It begins with the story of an unemployed girl who gets hired in an exclusive Parisian perfume store by giving sexual favors to the shop director. She is then subjected to various acts of perversion by the [...]

The Armchair Traveler – Challenge List

A day late, but I’m still in.
The Impressionist, Hari Kunzru (India, Britain, etc.)
The Black Dahlia, James Ellroy (Los Angeles)
The Far Side of the World (Aubrey/Maturin novel), Patrick O’Brian (Malta, Atlantic Ocean, South America)
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, Bebe Moore Campbell (Mississippi)
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson (future-Shanghai, China)
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink (Germany)
I’ve repeated one [...]