It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I finished The Prophets of Eternal Fjord (review tomorrow) on New Year's Day, and while I have a few things in mind I'm going to focus on one thing at a time, even though that means I'm reading three books right now.

Alisa Ganieva's The Mountain and the Wall is the only book that has come to us in English from Dagestan, about a young man finding his way through upheavals as his home experiences a resurgence of fundamentalist Islam. He lives in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital, when people start saying that Russia is building a wall to separate itself from the republics of the Caucasus. Tensions mount and factions form.

Meanwhile my bedside book remains Abdelrahman Munif's Cities of Salt, about the discovery of oil and the changes it brings to a nameless Persian town and its residents.

Finally I'm reading A Man of Good Hope at the gym, Jonny Steinberg's reportage about an African man whose life reflects the tumult, chaos and hope of a continent's worth of upheaval and history.

So lots going on. Reading folks' best-of-2015 lists over the last few days has made me want to pick some things off my shelves to read next, but I'm going to finish what I have going before I get too excited about what's next. It's hard to contain that enthusiasm sometimes!

What are you reading in the New Year?