I’m currently reading “The Boy In The Suitcase” by  Lene Kaarberbol a Norwegian who in this book is telling the story of a 3-year old boy found in a suitcase in a railway station locker, wearing no clothes and clearly traumatised.  Now that I am about half way through the book, I think it is not revealing anything too much to say that the spectre of possible sexual abuse on the child has been removed as an element in the story of how he came to be there; but there’s still plenty more to be dealt with in the resolution of this thriller.  A bit dark in the manner that makes Scandinavian writers currently very popular, just some of the issues that are influencing this story include single parenting, prostitution, trafficking of young children in European countries – not that these things are confined to Europe, are they?  Anyway, its a good one.

A few months ago I watched a TV interview with the Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid and found him so interesting that I ordered the three novels he’s published so far, “Moth Smoke”, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” and “How To Get Filthy Rich In Asia”, and then read them in order of their appearance.  “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” could not have been written until after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre’s twin towers in NY.  But this book is not merely a standard, clichéd first person account by someone whose life was changed for ever by that event. There’s complexity and ambiguity that I doubt could be addressed by a homegrown, all-American US author, and its written from a very unusual point of view by a man whose education and upbringing spanned both countries.  I look forward to the book discussion group next month when we’ll be considering it.

While quilting and when out walking, I frequently listen to recorded books, and recently found absorbing listening in “Big Brother”  by Lionel Shriver -whose name always surprises me.  Anywhere except the USA “Lionel” is a good man’s name, but then they have other ambiguous names there too, like ‘Sidney’ and ‘Sheldon’ and many more.  I haven’t quite finished listening, but on the whole it is a fascinating story about a middle-aged brother and sister, and how the issues of eating disorders generally and morbid obesity in particular impact their lives and relationships.

I enjoyed “Flawless” by Scott Selby and Greg Campbell about the Amserdam diamond heist that was the biggest in history until the recent one in France.  Another absorbing book that I’ll need to dip into again is “Stuff”, on compulsive ‘hoarding’ that clogs up people’s homes and lives when they are unable to let go of things or material objects that have been worn out, or are past their use by date. Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee are two clinical psychologists who have made a study of this difficult community and family problem.  We’ve certainly had a couple in our own circle of friends and rels down the years.