nomadreader

The backstory: Brick Lane  by was longlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize (now Bailey's Prize) and short listed for the 2003 Booker Prize . I previously loved her most recent novel, Untold Story . The basics: Brick Lane , Monica Ali's debut novel, is the story of Nazneen, a young woman born in Bangladesh who moves to London as part of an arranged marriage when she's eighteen. My thoughts: I've been meaning to read Brick Lane  for many, many years, and I'm so glad I finally did. I've long been fascinated by arranged marriage, and while it's easy to dismiss it as an appalling practice, Ali presents a fascinating and nuanced view of it here. Brick Lane  is very much a coming of age story, even as Nazneen's coming of age happens later in life than the traditional western time. She is undeniably naive when she arrives in London, yet she carefully takes in information and experiences, those shared with her husband, other Bangladeshi immigrants, and on he...

The backstory:  Since the moment I first heard about this novel, I was dying to read it . The basics: In  Untold Story , Monica Ali imagines a world where Princess Diana lived. My thoughts: When I started the novel, all I knew were the basics. What I soon discovered, however, is even more interesting. The details of Diana's life are the same, until the crash we all (except perhaps the conspiracy theorists among us) know she died in. In this version, Diana decided to fake her only death shortly after the infamous accident in Paris. Here, she drowned, and her body was never found. The book opens in a seemingly normal, non-descript American town named Kensington (yes, really). Three female friends are drinking white wine and waiting on Lydia to celebrate her birthday. Soon, the action flashes back one month, and we meet Lydia. As the pieces come together, it's lovely. Ali's writing is mesmerizing. It's both highly literary and immensely readable. The language is lum...

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release you can't wait to read.  My pick this week is Untold Story  by Monica Ali. As soon as I heard the concept of this book, I was hooked: "What if Princess Diana hadn't died? What if the tragedy in the Alma Tunnel had never happened, and she were still alive today? Where would she be, and what would she be doing? This title takes the life of the world's most famous woman as a point of departure, imagining a future and examining the nature of celebrity, and the meaning of identity." It sounds fantastic right? Those fortunate residents of the U.K. can read this book on March 31, 2011, but it won't be published in the U.S. until June 28, 2011. You can pre-order it from Amazon  in the meantime. Update: I loved it! My full review is now available . As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Th...