Many people told me this book is difficult to read.
Three of Rushdie books sit now in my pile waiting for the right moment to be picked up, except the moment hasn’t come for 2 years. Perhaps now is the time.
I am curious about this novel because it has been honoured as Best of the Booker and it will be adapted to the big screen soon. As much as I want to read it but I am afraid of the tedium or frustration that might set in if I were to read this alone.
So I need a push, I need some company….
The idea was first conceived between Wilfrid and I. Wilfrid is a computer engineer, a photographer, a guitarist who sings and plays live gigs and also an an avid reader. I also have Mel U of Reading Life, Adrian of Reading Monk, Bina of “If you can read this” and Vishy of Vishy’s Blog with me, which are all very voracious readers and writes beautiful reviews; in one way or another need some encouragement to read Midnight’s Children too. In a circle of friends with such passions and dedication, you will be in good company for this read-along!
So here’s the plan:
We’ll begin on the 12th November, Friday (Greenwich time) and ends on the 12th December, Sunday.
At the beginning of each weekend, I will post a weekly post with book-club discussion questions and you can post your thoughts and discussion about what you read throughout the week. It is absolutely fine if you don’t have a blog, just paste your reviews and your thoughts on the comments box or if you have a blog, send me a link to your blog post.
On the following weekend, I’ll do a quick wrap-up post on everyone’s and my progress.
At the end of the challenge, I’ll post a short quiz about the novel and you can show off your great memory skill and see how many of the questions you have got it right (without resorting to cheating or referring to the novel, that is!).
An introduction about the book:
Midnight’s Children won both the 1981 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the same year. It was awarded the “Booker of Bookers” Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. Midnight’s Children is also the only Indian novel on Time’s list of the 100 best English-language novels since its founding in 1923.
Midnight’s Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India’s transition from British colonialism to independence. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism. The story is expressed through various characters and is contexted by actual historical events as with historical fiction.
Noted director Deepa Mehta is working on the forthcoming film Midnight’s Children and is collaborating on the screenplay with Rushdie. The casting is still in progress. Mehta has stated that production will begin in September, 2010. (Source: Wikipedia)
The production begins this month. So what are you waiting for? Beg, steal or borrow a copy of Midnight Children and come read along with me this November!! 😉
Here’s the participants list again (in order of sign-up):
Bina of “If you can read this”
Jessica of Park Benches and Bookends
Sign up now and I’ll add you in!
I’ll be sending reminders around early November to make sure you are geared up for this!
This post is published simultaneously in www.readingmonk.com.
JoV's Book Pyramid 
oh yes I am up for this – we will finish it in time for christmas. My parents have this book and I keep meaning to borrow it but I am scared it will be too hard. Ill do a post on my blog tomorrow.
Posted by Jessica | September 6, 2010, 10:13 pmWhat?! Difficult to read? That’s rubbish! It’s a wonderful, comforting big novel that you devour much more quickly than you’d expect! I read and reviewed it last year, and it’s a great read.
I don’t know… If a book has more than 400 pages, suddenly everyone has a panic attack 😉
Posted by Tony | September 6, 2010, 10:55 pm@Tony, if I talked to you sooner, I would have conquer my fear of reading the novel! I’ll check out your reviews soon! 😉
Posted by JoV | September 7, 2010, 7:22 amI will have you know that I have read plenty of 500+ books this year LOL But it Midnights Children was a novella, yes, point taken I would not panic 😉
Posted by Jessica | September 7, 2010, 9:31 am@Jessica, Yes, the deadline before Christmas is deliberate. We are happy to have you on board! 😀
Posted by JoV | September 7, 2010, 7:23 amLooking forward to this a lot-I tweeted your post to give it more exposure-
Posted by Mel u | September 7, 2010, 11:54 pmThanks a million Mel. Appreciate it.
Posted by JoV | September 8, 2010, 12:01 pmYay, I’m excited for the read-a-long! Then I’ll finally have read something by Rushdie 🙂
Posted by Bina | September 8, 2010, 12:29 pm@Bina, I’m excited you are excited. 😀 Yes, that makes both of us. Finally we can claim we read something by Rushdie… LOL… 😀
Posted by JoV | September 8, 2010, 8:33 pmWow … looks like we have a party! Great! This is going to be fun.
Seriously, I will need a lot of encouragement in reading this … ha ha ha. Again, thanks for organizing this. And thanks for including me in this fun journey. I will try to see if any of my readers wish to join us 🙂
Posted by Wilfrid | September 9, 2010, 5:54 pmWell, all thanks to you Wilfrid we got this going. Pressure, pressure, but I this would be fun for everyone. 😀
Posted by JoV | September 10, 2010, 7:55 pmI LL join in jov read it many years ago but just found my copy from 80’s so will join in
Posted by winstonsdad | September 11, 2010, 4:49 pmNice to have you with us Stu!! It’s amazing how different a reading experience would be when you read a book for the second time! 😀
Posted by JoV | September 11, 2010, 9:33 pmJo I’m very tempted to join this one, but I’m not sure if the timing is good for me. Also the 4 weeks time frame feels a bit short. My reading speed is only about 100 pages per week. Maybe I can start earlier to get a head start… We’ll see how it goes but I’m not committing yet 🙂
Posted by mee | September 12, 2010, 11:30 pm@Mee,
By all means please start before the Read-along officially begins! There are no rule to say you can’t. We would love to have you here. The more the merrier! Also a push to get everyone to read the book! 🙂
Posted by JoV | September 13, 2010, 9:35 amHey, I’m in for this. I’ve actually read the book before (like 12 or 13 years ago), and liked it quite a bit. So maybe I can help anyone who’s flagging.
Gonna have a look around while I’m here, I came over via The Reading Life!
Posted by Rob McMonigal | October 2, 2010, 4:47 pm@Hi Rob, great to have you here! I’ll add your name on the list right now! Always good to have a cheerleader on my team! 🙂
Posted by JoV | October 3, 2010, 8:28 pmSign me up do! 😀
Posted by Birdy | October 6, 2010, 8:42 amI am late in commenting Jo, but I am really looking forward to the read-along! Salman Rushdie’s book is lying on my shelf too for years 🙂 If I have to confess, I don’t like him too much as a person, but I think I can separate books from their writers – there are writers whom I don’t like too much, but I love their books. So, looking forward to reading this acclaimed work of Rushdie and participating in the read-along 🙂
Posted by Vishy | October 7, 2010, 5:09 am@Vishy, you’re welcome. Hope to have a great read-along together this November! 🙂
Posted by JoV | October 8, 2010, 8:41 pmTried to read this in the summer but got caught up in other books. Think I’ll read along with all the participants here – I’ll be in good company!
Pete
Posted by petekarnas | October 28, 2010, 12:21 pmGlad to have you with us Pete! Will add you in now. 🙂
Posted by JoV | October 29, 2010, 9:51 pmThis is a book on my tbr. I’ve been meaning to read this but I’ve also often been told it’s hard to penetrate. I wish I had seen this a long time so I could participate. But all the same, I will be cheering you guys as you read and I hope to join something of this nature some other time again.
Posted by Geosi | November 26, 2010, 5:59 pmGeoffrey, it’s not too late, why don’t you join us? if your reading speed is quick, you might even finish the book within a week! Thanks for dropping by. 😉
Posted by JoV | November 26, 2010, 9:27 pmJoV, I think you have energized me to pick up this book and to join you guys. I’m joing you guys and this means I have almost 2weeks to complete. I will give it a try. So I’m joining you. Thanks for your encouragement.
Posted by Geosi | November 27, 2010, 2:29 pmJoV, where do I go to sign up? Can’t find it. Help here?
Posted by Geosi | November 27, 2010, 2:39 pmHi Geosi, I’ll sign you up! 🙂 all you have to do is watch out for my latest post and post your review on Mr. Linky! 😉
Posted by JoV | November 28, 2010, 9:43 pmA good way of shoring up your determination to read. I had similar problems with Byatt’s Possession but I persevered and completed it. When I did it was worthwhile.
Posted by Nana Fredua-Agyeman | November 29, 2010, 8:38 amNana, thanks for stopping by. oh yes Byatt is another one which I thought would be hard going. Glad that you like it! 😉
Posted by JoV | November 29, 2010, 10:43 amhey guys i just bought the book can i join u guys from today???
Posted by hritu | December 16, 2010, 10:13 amCan i start from today because i just bought the book today……please please please
Posted by hritu | December 16, 2010, 10:15 amcan i join u guys from today i just bought the book…..
Posted by hritu | December 16, 2010, 10:16 amHritu, Of course you can. I’m opening my discussion forum up till 19 Dec and whoever posted their reviews will be featured.
Posted by JoV | December 16, 2010, 2:07 pmHi JoV, I’m taking up the challenge. 🙂 But being a slow reader, I’m not sure if I can finish it within a month esp when I started late!
Posted by Heyzanie | November 14, 2010, 7:47 amYou are not late Heyzanie, we have just started last Friday. Look forward to your thoughts on the book! Welcome! 😀
Posted by JoV | November 15, 2010, 3:25 pm