i actually am reading. again. well, somewhat. one down, a few more to go.

the reading has been a little sporadic. i never had read two tomes at one time and now i am. probably i am in a i-can’t-really-be-arsed moods. i probably won’t even care if i don’t finish reading something that i started. i used to agonise over finishing a book even after finding out how shite it was. probably explains why i tend to go for short stories at the mo’.

marina lewycka’s a short history of tractors in ukrainian
grabbed the first thing i saw at gatwick before my trip to spain. the book is about an elderly ukrainian widower getting married to a younger money-grabbing floozie, much to the horror of his two daughters. endearingly witty at times, peppered with the sarcy banter between the social worker protagonist and her divorce-expert elder sister. but i almost got a little tired, and probably frustrated, with the constant three-way bickering of father-daughter-big-boobed ukrainian gold-digger. also a book about the protagonist’s dealing with her family’s past and secrets. an okay lah book.

robert irwin’s the alhambra
should’ve read this before the trip. dispels various myths surrounding one of the world’s ancient wonders. probably makes 80% of all the things i’ve recalled from the visit as utter hogwash. the book briefly explained how messed up the politics throughout the nasrids’ rule of granada. all but two of them died of unnatural causes. makes the current situation in malaysian politics look like a tiff amongst the members of an AJK dewan makan. the book also touched on how the alhambra was built by artisans who were mostly illiterate yet demonstrated designs that had a strong mathematical basis, like the usage of surds and the theorem of pythagoras. quite a quick read, this one. makes you wanna go back.

truman capote’s breakfast at tiffany’s
>picked this up after watching capote. since in cold blood would’ve been a little on the berat side, i opted for a lighter version of his work (no, i’ve not seen the audrey hepburn flick either). breakfast‘s actually a 100-page novella with a couple more short stories in the book. the whimsical holly golightly would’ve easily been someone in capote’s social circle (he was known to schmooze). a charming read but i’ve not finished it yet. got lagi 40 mukasurat.

which reminds me of the stack i have of birthday gifts (of two years’ running), on top of the silverfish anthologies and various other malaysian goodies. to those kind souls who bought me those literary delights, i will try to read them all.