Recently Read

Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good by Jan Karon

I’ve been a fan of Jan Karon’s Mitford series of novels, detailing the everyday lives of Mitford residents. It’s homespun tales of a sleepy hollow where nothing much happens but readers get sucked in to the little dramas told with warmth and humour.

www.mitfordbooks.com

 

  

The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café by Alexander Mccall Smith

I absolutely love all of Mccall Smith’s novels, especially the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series. Set in Botswana, it  focuses on private detective Precious Ramotswe who not only cleverly solves crimes but also sorts out the lives of people around her. It’s warm and fuzzy, kind of like a hot cocoa on a cold night. I eagerly await each one of his books, and have to slowly read them to savour each tasty morsel.

  
Gray Mountain by John Grisham

John Grisham’s latest bestseller is another page turner that kept me up two nights in a row. I love that I am able to stay up reading and not have to worry about waking up to go to work! His protagonist this time is a female lawyer who flees from the fallout of New York’s subprime crises and literally heads to the hills of West Virginia, finding a much more fulfilling career and lifestyle.

 
 

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis

Set up like a adventure/mystery novel, this book blew me away with its insider look at how Wall Street and the stock market works. I never could have guessed at all the machinations and manipulation that surround the bourses, where IT has completely the financial landscape.

 



The Singapore School of Villainy: Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint

Written in the vein of Mccall Smith’s No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series, this series focuses on the charming antics of a Singaporean police inspector who gets sent all over Asia to solve crimes. What’s special for me is the of course the Asian setting and characters.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

This turned out to be a huge read, and some parts of it had me all glaze-eyed with all the technical and medical terms, but reading like a mystery novel, it opened up my eyes to this dreaded disease, its beginnings and the subsequent fight against it. The battle is still being waged.

 

The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri N. Murari

I love reading books by writers from typically non-English speaking countries, like India and China, because they are not only eye-opening, but they make the English language so much richer. This is a poignant yet very funny story, one that made me laugh and cry and cheer all the protagonists on.