What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition

Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday weekend, the Literature team shares what they’ve been reading lately.  You People by Nikita LalwaniNikita Lalwani's You People follows Nia, a 19-year-old British-Indian girl, and Shan, a Tamil refugee, who work at a London pizzeria and are both in thrall – in different ways – to the restaurant's enigmatic manager Tuli. Initially, Nia and Shan don't have much in common, and their differing views of Tuli reflect this. Nia wants to escape her troubled family, while Shan longs to bring his wife and child to the UK; Nia, having been sent down from Oxford, wants to escape the bonds of the establishment, while Shan longs for Britain's elite to grant him indefinite leave to remain. To Nia, Tuli is mercurial and charming, glimpsed offering deals and generous loans; from Shan's perspective, he's to be courted and obeyed, able to use his influence and wealth to bring Shan's family to safety.Things change when Nia voluntarily enters a world that Shan can’t escape, and You People uses a gripping, thriller-like structure to reflect this. But even as the jaws of the trap close around them, and the protagonists rely on quick thinking and deduction to survive, the novel creates a larger tension from... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition"


Are All Short Stories O. Henry Stories?

The writer’s signature style of ending—a final, thrilling note—has the touch of magic that distinguishes the form at its best. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2021-06-28 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Maigret Rides Again: Playground Entertainment Options Georges Simenon’s Books

Red Arrow Studios has co-development rights with Playground for all 75 novels and 28 short stories about the French detective Jules Maigret. The post Maigret Rides Again: Playground Entertainment Options Georges Simenon’s Books appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-06-25 18:59:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Rummaging Around Short Story Collections With Xuan Juliana Wang

At the Rumpus, Xuan Juliana Wang discusses the art of the short story in a round table that includes Kimberly King Parsons, Dantiel W. Moniz, Mary South, and Ashley Wurzbacher. The panel shares their thoughts on crafting a collection, along with what draws them to short stories in the first... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 20:30:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Fifty Years Later, a New Novel Emerges

The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, Soyinka is coming out with his first novel in almost 50 years, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. The post Fifty Years Later, a New Novel Emerges appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 09:59:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Poetic Points of Being in The Kolkata Cadence, by Dustin Pickering

Book Reviews Our society is increasingly global, and the era of Covid-19 is no different. We may forget our localities and the importance of community in consuming the news and internet media. One city, the domain of Mother Theresa, a holy city, is... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-09 11:23:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘The Circular Ruins’

‘The Circular Ruins’, first published in 1940, is one of the most richly symbolic short stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. One of his most powerful and suggestive explorations of the nature of reality and dreams, ‘The Circular Ruins’ can variously be interpreted as a story... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-06-05 14:00:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Spellbinding novelist Rivka Galchen's new book is a hysterical witch hunt

'Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,' historical fiction about Kepler's mother, is Galchen's first novel since 2008's 'Atmospheric Disturbances.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-06-03 14:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’

‘The Dead’ is the most critically acclaimed and widely studied story in James Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories written by James Joyce and published in 1914. As we’ve remarked before, Dubliners is now regarded as one of the landmark texts of modernist literature, but initially... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-05-29 14:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Deborah Harkness’s Witches, from Page to Screen, by Camille Thompson

Book Reviews Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer in the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches (2018) / IMDB Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy has taken a new life through the Sundance dramatic series, A Discovery of Witches. The novels... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-27 13:42:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hilary Mantel and JK Rowling add lots to auction for global vaccine rollout

Fundraiser running until 21 May also includes chances to consult with star agent Jonny Geller and have a character named after you in a Sarah Pinborough novelA literary auction raising money to help vaccinate the world against coronavirus has made more than £23,000 so far, as book lovers bid to... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-05-18 12:13:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Horror Anthology Books For Some Mid-Year Frights

Here’s a list of 9 great horror anthology books full of monsters and mayhem to satisfy your mid-year frights, including The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Volume One edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-04-30 10:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Rachel Cusk trades in a blank-slate narrator for a tall drink of vinegar

"Second Place," Rachel Cusk's first novel after the radical, brilliant "Outline" trilogy, follows a forceful woman who's had enough of difficult men. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-28 14:00:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Before Billy Wilder ventured behind a camera, he was a precocious journalist honing his sharp wit

“Billy Wilder on Assignment” is the first anthology to collect Wilder’s newspaper work in a single volume, and it’s a revelation. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Small Axe picks up 15 nominations for Bafta TV awards

Steve McQueen’s ground-breaking anthology series dominates, with The Crown, Normal People and I Will Destroy You also in the runningSteve McQueen’s ground-breaking five-part series Small Axe has dominated the Bafta TV nominations with 15 nods, in a year when diverse talent was recognised across... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-28 08:14:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Cover reveal: Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the US cover for Wole Soyinka’s new novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which will be published on September 28 by Pantheon Books. This will be Soyinka’s first novel to be published in 48 years, and also the first since he won the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-23 13:30:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Panel Mania: ‘Embodied’

Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology offers 23 poems focused on gender, identity, and the body by an impressive selection of contemporary cis female, trans, and non-binary poets. The post Panel Mania: ‘Embodied’ appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-04-23 10:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Opening the Doorways of Recognition for Native People: A Conversation with Joy Harjo, by Crystal AC Salas

Interviews Photo © Matika Wilbur For the 44th Annual Writers Week, the University of California, Riverside Department of Creative Writing, in partnership with the LA Review of Books, honored three US Poets Laureate with Lifetime Achievement... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-21 15:11:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Lost Decade’

‘The Lost Decade’ is one of the shortest works by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), the American author best-known for The Great Gatsby. Published in Esquire magazine in December 1939, just one year before Fitzgerald died, ‘The Lost Decade’ is one of his most powerful short stories to deal with... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2021-04-17 14:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Haymarket Anthology 'Against Ableism' Comes Under Scrutiny

Haymarket Books has come under scrutiny in the last week over a recently announced anthology that critics say badly misjudges the wants of the disability community. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘First Person Singular’ delves into lost love and strange happenings

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami offers a collection of imaginative short stories with skewed elements that his many fans are sure to applaud. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-04-06 22:11:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this