Rather than flogging a dead horse I am saying a reluctant fairwell to my self-absorbed hosts and am heading to see an old friend. Thus I take a yellow cab across this sprawling city and arrive in uptown Manhattan, New York with Salman Rushdie's lastest work 'The Golden House'. This is described as "invoking literature, pop culture, and the cinema, [spinning] the story of the American zeitgeist over the last eight years", and promises to be the perfect way to resume my literary journey around the world.
I am already halfway through and am hooked by this slice of bohemian life that revolves initially around the communal garden of an exclusive set of apartments but, later, increasingly orbits the mysterious and secretive Golden family, newly arrived from India with - certainly in the case of the protagonist/narrator - devastating consequences.
Thanks for your patience and support - a full review soon, before I head off to Ohio in the Midwest!