By Salman Rushdie
Rushdie’s latest novel is a sprawling yet finely-crafted tale of the love between the most famous rock’n’roll couple history has ever seen, Indian British then American expats Vina Aspara and Ormus Cama. Penned by photographer Rai, the second-fiddle lover of Vina, the novel simultaneously mocks and eulogises popular culture. Test your modern cultural history as Rushdie melds fact with fiction and weaves recognisable real-life characters into his prose. This creates a multi-layered book where you might know who the various cameos really are (for instance ‘Primo Uomo’ is perhaps a reference to Umberto Eco) but if you don’t , it won’t detract from your enjoyment of the rest of the show. Rushdie’s enthusiasm for the quirks and twists of language can be exhausting, and at times the plot takes a backseat to the wonders of English. The book is worth reading alone however for his brilliance at capturing any accent – particularly French – to perfection. This is the sort of tome you could take away with you every second holiday to reread with as much pleasure as the original.