Midnight's Children
A slow read-along of Salman Rushdie's award-winning novel
Welcome to the main page for the Footnotes & Tangents 2026 slow read-along of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. This read-along runs for 13 weeks, starting Friday 2 January 2026.
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I've read lots of Rushdie, always an education, looking at this book in slow mode will be fun, I am sure to learn more. Can't help myself with an adjacent comment. When Salmon was attacked at Chatauqua, New York, grief consumed me. That place was where my parents spent many summer days, sailing small boat and meeting friends. It was a throwback to earlier decades where slow living thrived. The hospital he was helicoptered to was where I had 2 surgeries and treatments and trained as a nurse. A whole chapter in his book Knife was dedicated to that hospital called Hamot.
Even weirder, a friend and I saw him speak in the early 2000s. The homing program for writers who were in danger politically was in Pittsburgh, my current home. That was the activity he was supporting in the speech he gave when he was attacked. My grief was for everyone, who was muted for their writing and valued their status as readers.
I've never managed to get through Midnight's Children so I'm going to try again and hope the slow read will work its magic