Wow! I just can't believe we've completed six months of 2020—the year I was so looking forward to... But as I had written in the first post, this year certainly has been momentous!!! We have all been subjected to an unprecedented event that has had all of us—even the home-loving introverts like me—scrambling to adapt and adjust. The new norms are bearable, but still take a lot of getting used to—like suddenly having to be a partially homeschooling mother to big children.
The one thing that has not changed in these cataclysmic times is reading. I still thrive on books. On physical books, on Kindle, whatever! Even in the seeming calm of not having to go out of the house, sometimes my mind finds it tough to switch off at night. That is when I creep out of bed and curl up with a book, reading into the wee hours of the night.
If you look at my reading list for this year, you can see that it's a hodgepodge of all kinds of books. I have been reluctant to tell everyone about the books I read for fear of judgement. Especially because I have certain friends who read nothing but the most literary and mind-boggling books. I have become wary of asking them for book suggestions because the result is often akin to being hit on the head with one of those huge volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. This year I have decided to make my reading list public, shedding all inhibitions!
Here are the ones I liked the best among the books I've perused this year:
1. Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino: I am savoring my way through this author's detective fiction. Its pace is slow and soft, with plenty of brain and little action - a lyrical poem of a murder story. Last year I read The Devotion of Suspect X. Usually I gobble up any series that I am enamored of. But this, I am determined to take in slowly.
2. Martha's Vineyard - Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch: This multifaceted artist whose handwritten books are so adorable, completed her autobiographical trilogy with this one. It had long been on my wish list and I finally succumbed to buying it this year. Chronologically, this is the second book of the lot. This and a Fine Romance are vying for the first place in my heart! Each of her books is a treasure for always. First you read it for the story, then for the lovely handwriting, then the quotes, then the artwork... it simply gives and gives!
3. A Job You Mostly Won't Know How to Do by Pete Fromm: A bittersweet story of a widower bringing up a newborn, trying to keep things together with help that is both wanted and unwanted, fighting depression, and trying to stay solvent at the same time. The tragedy is tempered with humor. The wild Montana landscape is as much a part of the protagonist's life as are the people in it. Looking forward to more Pete Fromm.
4. Open by Andre Agassi : I was a firm Agassi and Steffi Graf fan in my teens. This book should be read by all the youngsters who want to take up sports at a professional level. Of course, one doesn't need a scary father like Agassi Sr., but the dedication, the patience, the tolerance for pain and mind games... Granted, some of Agassi's criticism about famous sport personalities feels a tad bitchy, but hey, everyone is entitled to be the hero of his own life! Really worth reading. Perhaps one should read Brooke Shield's There was a Little Girl too along with this.
5. Seven Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik: Pattanaik is fast becoming an authority on Hinduism—the ever-evolving religion that expands indefinitely to envelope many beliefs, philosophies, deities and methods of worship. In this book, he examines the evolution of the worship of the feminine principle in Hinduism, the Goddess in her myriad forms and expressions. A true eye-opener.
6. Shunya by Shri M: A novel about a holy man written in simple language, propounding great ideas. So easy to read that one might miss the gems that are embedded in it.
7. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C A Fletcher: May be not the most reassuring thing to read in this pandemic era, but I was intrigued by the title. The world's human population dwindles due to a mysterious malady that spread a few generations ago. The world inhabited by Griz is sparsely populated and strangers are not always welcome or trustworthy. Then Griz has to leave his tiny, safe island to find his dog. The post-apocalyptic world is exquisitely detailed. Thrilling and lyrical. A beautiful twist at the end. What more can one want?
8. No Regrets by Kaveree Bamzai: The book's subtitle says it all: The Guilt-Free Woman's Guide to a Good Life. The book speaks to educated and employed women in somewhat affluent circumstances. The author provides advice for women who are tugged apart to bits by job and family responsibilities. The points she makes are valid and the presentation is so attractive that I liked the book very much even though I am a confirmed, voluntary stay-at-home-mother.
9. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: This is the book I like the best among those I have read this year. Usually I avoid Russian or Russia-themed books. It must be a reaction from having tried to read the classic Russian novels in my early teens and being put off by all the complex nomenclature of the characters. It seemed to me that they kept changing their names from paragraph to paragraph just to muddle me and I often had to go back to the beginning. I have never finished the Brothers Karamazov even though I tried valiantly several times. But I am happy that I overcame the aversion to read this one. I got the Kindle edition, but I have put the physical book on my wish list. Because I want to go back to the Metropol again and again, dip into the little attic room, run along the service stairs, have dinner in the restaurant, served by Count Alexander Rostov himself... A wonderful story of inventiveness, adaptability, courage and sheer joie de vivre.
10. The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson: The title is long enough for a book! I came to know of this when Dr. Shashi Tharoor recommended it in an interview. Although we first get to meet Allan Karlsson when he does the thing described in the title on his hundredth birthday, his subsequent adventures are interspersed with episodes of the extremely colorful life of the man and the circumstances that have led him to bunk his birthday celebrations by climbing out of the window. The story reminded me of Forrest Gump. I look forward to reading the sequel.
There it is! I have limited myself to these ten even though there are many more that I more than just liked in the list. Hope I have whetted your appetite to try one of these!
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