I read Diamond Dust, a collection of short stories, by Anita Desai. I enjoyed it a great deal. Now I’m reading Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali. It is about a Brit novelist living in Portugal. I really don’t like it and think I'm going to give myself permission to stop reading it.

I know, I’m overdue for writing.

I was reading The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh but I didn’t finish it. That’s a new thing for me, allowing myself to stop reading and not finish the book. I used to make myself finish even if I hated it. Even if I was dreading it. The Shadow Lines was just boring.

Then I read Oxygen by Andrew Miller, which had all this acclaim. It was OK but didn’t knock my socks off. I’m still having a literary hangover from The History of Love.

Oxygen was very sad. I need something silly and light now. I also think I might be over the Indian obsession. We’ll see.