“The Golden Legend” by Nadeem Aslam (Pakistan) Review Distinctly historical fiction or with a clear taste of history both past and present, the four shortlisted books for this year’s Summer Reading Group were all of excellent calibre making it tough to settle on just one favourite. Our readers also noticed a recurrent theme in all four of violence and hardship and regretted that the summer … Continue reading The Golden Legend
“Burnt Shadows” by Kamila Shamsie (Pakistan) Favourite Extract War is like disease. Until you’ve had it, you don’t know it. But no. That’s a bad comparison. At least with disease everyone thinks it might happen to them one day. You have a pain here, swelling there, a cold which stays and stays. You start to think maybe this is something really bad. But war – … Continue reading Burnt Shadows
“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hanif (Pakistan) Review Readers enjoyed this book describing it as well written and witty. It had many of them laughing aloud all the way through it! They all agreed that the author pokes fun at those in power in a very clever way. They liked the description of the military and the portrayal of how it runs the … Continue reading A Case of Exploding Mangoes
“Broken Verses” by Kamila Shamsie (Pakistan) Synopsis and Review “Broken Verses”: needed more editing to mend Fourteen years ago Aasmaani’s mother, Samina, a political activist admired also for her grazia, walked out of their house and was never seen again. Aasmaani has always refused to believe she is dead and still dreams of her glorious return. Now in her 30s and living in Karachi, Aasmaani … Continue reading Broken Verses
Nicola's Book Club 