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This is sort of a fun adventure story. Low pick

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Next up . . . Again drawn to the cover. And it was 99p.

Superb storytelling, farcical humour and a vivid sense of place carry this historical / high seas adventure / bildungsroman / romance / heist novel centred on a real 18th-century artifact created in southern India: an automaton in the shape of a tiger eating a man. Serious themes—colonialism, imperialism & racism—give this story of self-reinvention heft. Audiobook read by Shawn K Jain.

A phenomenal book! I was totally captured by Tania James' storytelling. The book is about the adventures of a woodcarver/toymaker along with thoughtful characters like a French clockmaker, an Indian French lady, an Indian sepoy/agent and so on. The characters are so well thought that you can't help but empathize with them. #immigration #Taniajames #Loot #colonization #fiction

I enjoyed this story about a boy with a talent for woodcarving who soon draws the attention of the ruler of Mysore and along with a Frenchman, helps to carve an automaton tiger. The story is inspired by real events which James reimagines here as readers follow the boy from Mysore to France. I really liked the beginning after which much of the book, with shifting POVs, felt like it was just skimming the surface. Good but I wanted more depth.

Time to start reading my irl book club book since we meet on Monday…

This was different than any book I‘ve ever read. I felt like I could see and feel what it felt like to be in India and in France in the early late 1700s/early 1800s. This book had a bit of a magical feel, with the automan tiger and all. The main character, Abbas, was well developed and likable. This was the November 2023 bookclub pick (#ReadWithSharon). I‘m not sure I would have read it otherwise, but am glad that I did.

Loot follows young, promising woodcarver Abbas as he is commanded to work with a French clockmaker to make a special automaton for the local sultan in 1793. The story then follows the fate of both Abbas and the automaton. I liked this better than I thought I would. I feel some aspects of the story could have been a bit stronger, but the writing is good and the story inventive.

NBA longlist, fiction

Today‘s #Bookhaul is my irl book club‘s next selection (tagged book) plus a book for my Mom because why not. (Shout out to my husband who found it and said, “Hey, I think your mom might like this.”).

This was a great read! I loved the story surrounding the mechanical tiger and the main characters quest for a life beyond expectations. It was an easy read and enjoyable. The ending was a bit silly but otherwise great 4/5

I'm a little torn about this. I enjoyed following Abbas from village to palace to ship to France to England and back to France. I liked the first part best, as Abbas helped create the tiger automaton, but the time jumps & the different POVs that followed took something from the story for me. I do love a book that has me researching but in this case I found that not only is nothing really known about the makers of the automaton but it was never ⬇️

I'm only on chapter 5 and I've already looked up approximately 27 things. I love books that inspire research.

Inspired by the art sculpture Tipu's Tiger, a poor but talented woodcarver is commissioned by the sultan to make an automaton Tiger but gets caught up in a European colonial war from the late1700's to early 1800's. As the young man tries to protect his creation, he is thrust against a conflict that will take him from India to France and England. A beautifully, epic historical fiction novel.