What I'm Reading

Tbh, tbQh, Upamanyu Chatterjee lost me somewhere after English, August. I adored, continue to adore that book, it's a classic now and still one of the books I'd recommend to anyone wanting to understand India. But the books in the middle left me a little cold, they were too.. I don't know, they didn't seem to be written for a person like me. But! I have returned to him with this excellent literary thriller, I could not stop reading it, you guys. It took me two and a half days and it's bulky (why put a literary thriller in a hardback is another question but hopefully they'll have a paperback edition soon) and it's glorious. Delhi has been waiting for literary crime for ages, Bombay already has several, so does Bangalore, but Delhi seems to have been left out. (Great time to also mention my MS in progress is a literary murder mystery set in Delhi but at the rate I'm going, will be some time so don't hold your breath.) Villainy is not a murder mystery, it's the story of crime, a spoilt rich boy and the people he affects. I loved that, loved all the relationships, the insights into people's heads and so on. The crime provided a large framework for the book to slot into, but honestly my best parts were just the psychologies of people, so well described. Absolutely enjoyed, you will too. Thanks also to @speakingtiger for sending me a copy. #villainy #upamanyuchatterjee #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #100in2022