Loot, Tania James

I’m sort of meh on historical fiction much of the time, so it’s not as damning as it seems when I say that this was fine, even quite enjoyable. After discussing it with a book club for two hours, I came to appreciate a lot more things about it: the complex ways it ponders the lives of objects and the nature of empire; the curious narrative structure (launching filament, filament, filament); the kinds of relationship it explores (fraught, ambivalent). It’s quite nuanced in some really interesting ways that you don’t pick up on until you really dig in. But all the while it feels like a light, approachable read.