Hi everyone!
Today I finished re-reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, and I loved the aesthetic of it. For anyone who doesn't know, it's set on a train travelling from Syria to England (before getting stranded in Yugoslavia) and the characters are travellers from all around the world: Sweden, Italy, India, Britain, Greece, the US, and more. I really liked reading about that sort of 1800s/1900s, old-timey flavour of multicultural elements, tinted with some orientalist attitudes. Not a book, but it also reminded me of what I liked about the Netflix show 1899.
A book I've heard being described with similar vibes is The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, which seems to be about the experiences of a Japanese immigrant in Victorian England, but I really dislike that author, so it's not for me.
Colonialism is obviously present in a setting like this. I don't mind books that showcase outdated beliefs, but I also don't mind books that are explicitly focused on anti-colonial ideas!
I tend to like contemporary books over classics, but anything goes. I usually dislike books set in the US, but if you think there's a book set there that perfectly matches, let me know!
So, are there any other books with similar themes that I should be reading? Thanks so much!
by persephonian
1 Comment
For a non-fiction, I would recommend “Around the World in Seventy-Two Days” by Nellie Bly. A female reporter picked up a copy of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days” and decided to follow the route of the book and beat the deadline. As indicated by the title, she achieved both and wrote about the experience.
For fiction, I would recommend “The Golem and the Jinni” and its sequel “The Hidden Palace” by Helene Wecker. It’s set in early 1900s New York City primarily, though the second book also expands to sections of Egypt and the Middle East. The books capture the patchwork multiculturalism of New York City beautifully.