It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This meme is hosted by BookJourney.

I am going on a holiday to Barcelona tomorrow, so I have to be very economical with the books I bring. Thank the Lord for my Kindle! I really do not know what I would do without it!

Last Week:

'Tis  A Pity She's A Whore' by John Ford.
I finished this play last week and wrote an analysis of it: Gender and Power in 'Tis A Pity'. It was quite a challenging read!


Next to this one I reread 'The Shadow of the Wind' and 'The Angel's Game' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.


This Week:


So, to Barcelona I am taking 'The Glass Palace' by Amitav Ghosh. 

Rajkumar is only another boy, helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace, when the British force the Burmese king, queen and all the court into exile. He is rescued by the far-seeing Chinese merchant, and with him builds up a logging business in upper Burma. But haunted by his vision of the royal family, he journeys to the obscure town in India where they have been exiled.

The picture of the tension between the Burmese, the Indian and the British, is excellent. Among the great range of characters are one of the court ladies, Miss Dolly, whom he marries; and the redoubtable Jonakin, part of the British-educated Indian colony, who with her husband has been put in charge of the Burmese exiled court.

The story follows the fortunes – rubber estates in Malaya, businesses in Singapore, estates in Burma – which Rajkumar, with his Chinese, British and Burmese relations, friends and associates, builds up – from 1870 through World War II to the scattering of the extended family to New York and Thailand, London and Hong Kong in the post-war years.

It just sounds very exciting! And because I am taking my Kindle I will probably dabble in some Emily Bronte, Austen, Shakespeare or Zafon while lying on the beach!

What are you reading this week? Anything special planned for your bookshelf?