What I'm Reading

People never talk about this book when you ask for recs about a childhood in a small town in India. It's all "Swami and Friends this or Ruskin Bond that" and it is a SHAME, friends, because I love Rohit Manchanda's book so much, this is actually my second copy, having read the first to pieces In The Light Of The Black Sun fits my #kidsbookweek because it is a book about childhood as seen through the eyes of young Vipul in Khajoori, a coal mining town where his father is a manager. Vipul tries to grow taller through yoga, battles for how many mosquitoes he can kill, discovers the BBC World Service as well as the sexy dancer at his local Ram Leela and all told with this super authentic voice that makes you feel like you were there, even if at the time you first read it, you were a teenage girl in Delhi. I am very sad it is not more widely known and so this is my way of making this book a thing. I suspect it's out of print and I'm hoping @penguinindia will see this post and instantly make it available for us all again. This is truly a modern classic. #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #rohitmanchanda #mino #inthelightoftheblacksun