Malgudi Days

OK, close enough to the end of 2017 for me to determine my favourite reads. Malgudi Days is my 2017 BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION BOOK. (Albeit a little controversially, as I am judging the chapters as individual stories...)This book is great. It has a lot going for it - short chapter like stories all interconnected by the location (Malgudi, Narayan's fictional Indian town) and with some character crossovers, it is very readable, covering a range of topics key to Indian life. The characters are a brilliant mix of ‘impossible not to love' and ‘unlovable', from all walks of Indian life (equating to caste), and are all interesting.I have previously read the Penguin P60 [b:Tales from Malgudi 2116916 Tales from Malgudi R.K. Narayan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327453174l/2116916.SX50.jpg 2122347], some of which are taken from this book. In my view, the P60 really took the best short stories, a fantastic section. Nevertheless, this book is brilliant for dipping in and out of, or reading in short bursts, like I did over lunchtimes for a few days.Narayan has a real talent for character description, and I really enjoy his writing, improving as I read more. Some of these are just hilarious, others have a wry twist to them, or a does or irony. I can't really recommend this enough. 5 stars.