A Burning: A novel | 
pickI finished this a couple of weeks ago, and I still find myself thinking about the characters & events that took place in this book.
Jivan is a Muslim girl that gets accused of a terrorist attack despite trying to make a better life for herself for so many years prior. The book also follows Lovely and PT Sir which play significant roles in Jivan‘s story. I really enjoyed the different perspectives, and it was a fast and thoughtful read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickUnlike anything I have ever read. A stark look at humanity and ambition.
pickA Muslim woman is accused of terrorism after an impulsive Facebook post, her Phys Ed teacher find himself rising in the ranks of a political party whose success may hinge on convicting her, and her friend, a vivacious Hijra who dreams of stardom, holds her alibi but it may cost her everything to speak out. The full cast in this audiobook is phenomenal. This is a searing look at corruption, injustice, and life in a country turning toward extremism.
pickI read this for our college book committee and was glad to do so since I‘d heard so much about it when it came out. Not sure it would be my first choice for engaging the students we serve, though it does cover many themes that might resonate - identity, belonging, loyalty, ambition, discrimination, corrupting influence of politics, and more. A highlight of the reading experience for me was the multi-voice audiobook narration - really great!
Taking advantage of the nice weather and nap time to start a new book.
pickI meant to finish this last night, but what can I say -- it's been a rough week!
This was a really good read -- short and quick, but with a lot of depth. I especially appreciated how well the author was able to give each main character their own distinct voice.
Yay for checking off a #Booked2021 prompt: #setincountrywithUNpeacekeepers
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
pick33/100, 3☆, The atmosphere and the voices in this book were really well done. A commentary on political versus social justice which provided a nice examination that can apply to all justice systems and political agendas. Overall a good read.
pickA more challenging read than I expected but one that got me invested in each story almost immediately.
Book 4/5 for #NutsinMay
#BookReport
I read a chapter a day in Anne of Ingleside
Then I finished/ read the other books and finished the tagged book on audio.
#BookReport and #WeeklyForecast
Finished Small Pleasures and read Artful.
Reading Anne of Ingleside a chapter a day. Almost finished with Jerusalem and hope to finish it this week. I‘m listening to the tagged book and will continue listening this week.
Just started Hamnet and next up is the book by Grossman.
But look at the pretty edges.....
I went into Waterstones to buy ONE book today. Just one. The Tim Marshall one.
This is what I left the shop with. Oops....
#BookReport #WeeklyForecast
This week has been a bit slower that previous weeks with just one finished book, Piranesi.
I have read more in Jerusalem and for me reading nonfiction takes longer time than fiction. And hope to keep this up next week
I‘m reading Anne of Ingleside a chapter a day.
I‘m currently reading Small Pleasures and hope to finish early next week. Then I want to start Artful that I didn‘t get to this week
so-soThis was good but didn't quite work for me. I enjoyed the writing but was left wanting more than it delivered. I think it was largely due to the structure ie 3 connected characters have their stories told but for me none, character or story, were developed enough. It had some interesting things to say & some profound and poignant moments but was just weirdly less than the sum of its parts.
Starting this one tonight. With thanks to #netgalley for this book.
pickAudio (even though I have a copy)
I really appreciate the writing and storytelling here. I want to say enjoyed but the story is painful, honest and raw. Corrupt governments and legal system lifting and dropping people based on optics. It is reality and told very well through Jivans story - especially considering the way that Muslim people are treated in India today.
pickI liked this one a lot. A Muslim girl from the slums is accused of causing a fire on a train. She becomes a scapegoat. It's about prejudice and propaganda and politics and how people's lives can get caught up in them.
#DoubleSpin done!
@TheAromaofBooks
pickI was rooting for every character; Majumdar did an excellent job at making them all sympathetic. For me, what made the book is even though as a reader, I knew something tragic was around every character, I felt the undying hope that each character had that things had to and would get better.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was an excellent read. It takes place in India but I also saw a lot of similarities to corruption in government and the justice system that we see in the U.S. One of the major differences is how fearful the characters are in India to speak freely because they don‘t want to be arrested or persecuted for treason. Highly recommend. This was my #bookspinbingo No 4 pick and my #tbrdeckofcards J♠️ pick- a book that takes place in Asia
Slow reading week, it‘s been a busy one at work. Happy to chill this evening and get a few pages in. I think I like it ??? Honestly I‘m not too sure.
pickI really enjoyed this story about Jivan, PT Sir & Lovely - different, but each struggling to survive in contemporary India. Majumdar writes about serious issues (poverty, corruption, injustice) with a light touch. It‘s beautifully paced: tension builds & the plot propels you forward. Rich with ydetails of place & food, pared back to allow the characters to shine - flawed, complex & sympathetic. They feel real. Loved the tone & sense of humour.
pickA story told from three perspectives after a train bombing in Kolkata. A Muslim girl is arrested after she makes a glib Facebook post, though she claims she is innocent. A young woman can provide an alibi but will jeopardize her own future if she does so. And a man discovers he can go far in politics if he goes against his own instincts.
so-soDebut novel set in Kolkata, India, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. A young girl, Jivan, finds herself accused of helping plan & execute the attack after she posts a comment on social media. I thought it was an intriguing plot, but I didn't feel connected to the main characters at all & parts of it seemed rushed. 3⭐
Thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Simon & Schuster UK / Scribner UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
pickA Burning was an unforgettable story of a girl who was wrongly accused for a crime and the aftermath of this event for those in her life. The story questions success and the sacrifices of self people make in order to achieve their own dreams in spite of the effects it has on others.
pickMy last book club read of 2020, and it was a doozy!
Such a fast read, and it felt like being swept up in a whirlwind of human failing and corruption and injustice, without a safe place to land.
Is it bad to say I enjoyed a book that also left me feeling disgusted and a tad hopeless?
pickFUN ANECDOTE: While reading this last night—a book called A BURNING—there was a small fire in my apartment building. No damage, it‘s fine. But still. JFC. Anyway, I liked this well enough but did have some issues. Powerful discussion of the meaning of innocence & power, of different types of survival. Characters were well drawn. But didn‘t feel like they were strongly connected & story needed more depth. Still good, will read more from her. 3/5 ⭐️
I feel a weight in my chest, the Earth‘s pull within my ribs. I try to hear further, but there are wasps in my ears.
so-soThis was a disappointment. The entire time I was reading I just kept thinking, “This book would be dynamite if it had been written by a better author.” 😬 I liked the characters and the stories she told, I just found myself wanting more depth and complexity. This almost read as YA for me at times. Oh well, on to the next! #DashingDecember
we fall &die from knowing but never being able to say, especially to our mothers, that the inside of a prison is an unreachable place. So what if there is a courtyard & garden & TV room? The guards tell us over&over that we live well... Still we feel we are living at the bottom of a well. We are frogs. All we can bear to tell our mothers is “I am fine, I am fine.” We tell them “I walk in the garden.” “I watch TV.” “Don‘t worry about me, I am fine”
Eff BOTM for putting that damn Read With Jenna sticker on the cover that doesn‘t want to come off. (Yes I know a hair dryer will help, too bad I don‘t own one.) #NowReading
pickYesterday‘s #FeastMode read was this debut novel. It had a lot of elements that I love — a different culture, politics, characters you care about, and scenarios that make you suspect everyone‘s motives and morals in life. It really was excellent, while also being infuriating.
I met my goal (one book per day) for every day of the challenge except for today, lol. I started a new book, but I‘m enjoying playing Pokémon too much to switch back. ?
pickA study in justice and ambition, set in modern India, told through the alternating voices of a young woman falsely accused of terrorism; the woman's former phys ed teacher, also a prospective politian in an opposition nationalist party; and an intersex "hijra" actress. The pace is swift as a thriller, but thrills aren't the point here. I found the voices compelling and the scenario worryingly realistic.
so-so⭐️⭐️ I enjoy satire, but sometimes when it‘s fiercely sociopolitical, my interest tanks. Usually that‘s due to a lack of character connection, between each other and with the reader, which was the case here. The stereotypes didn‘t bother me as satire often plays to those, but the storylines felt forced rather than weaving together organically. It just didn‘t mesh well. I‘m not sure this debut deserves the hype.
so-so3⭐️ I read it because it was a “buzzy” book. And I found it to be ok. I would have liked some longer descriptions of things at times, but there were times that I felt that the descriptions went on a little too long. It was sort of middling for me #fiction #contemporary #bookreview #bookstagram #ownvoices #southwestasia #asianliterature
Lovely may be one of my new favorite characters in literature. As a former teacher of English for speakers of other languages, I particularly ardor and recognize Lovely's voice; spot on with the hyper-use of progressive tense!
pickI read this book in 2 sittings. The plot is engaging..a young girl accused of involvement in a terrorist attack. She joins a Facebook conversation with devastating consequences.Told from 3 perspectives- the young girl, her gym teacher and a friend who could provide her an alibi. However I didn‘t feel the characters...I didn‘t feel the Indian slums, or the prejudice and corruption. It may also be me being distracted by world events🌎 Still a pick.
pickI really loved the storytelling in this book. It is a heartbreaking story though. The book is about three different people that are connected by one event. It is beautifully written book.
Sir wonders if the guard is paid by the party too. For that matter, how about the courtroom clerks, and the judges, and the lawyers?
Not one of them has ever said: "This man is really something! Everywhere there is a robbery, a domestic problem, a fight between neighbors, this man happens to be walking by! Is he Batman or what?"
Did you even watch the video? I replied. The words of the heartless woman drifted in my mind. I was irritated by her, but there was excitement too.
This was not the frustration of no water in the municipal pump or power cut on the hottest night.
Wasn‘t this a kind of leisure dressed up as agitation?
