I know I am so behind on this! Anyway lets get to it. Details on my reading post and
Fiction
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Autumn by Ali Smith 2/5
I was disappointed. I had figured out I would read each of the seasonal quartets in the season it was named after and thought it would be a great reading experience. It was not. I didn’t enjoy the first book enough to want to read the others in the series.
It is usually the kind of book I love. Ordinary life of ordinary people with a backdrop of major events and conversations which show relationships. This just didn’t seem to grip me. There were some vague themes discussed (Brexit, elderly care and parenting) but it just didn’t feel coherent and I could not get myself to care about the characters. I was actually quite disappointed since this book has won awards and nominations and quite hyped up but it just wasn’t for me.
2. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan 4/5
This book is not recommended if you are in not the most positive frame of mind. Maybe skip as a part of your winter reading list and read it in summer. This was an intense book and I am not even a mother and it was still such a heartbreaking read. I cannot imagine being a mother and reading this and keeping yourself sane.
The genre I would peg this book in is feminist dystopia where the state has major control over parenting. The main protagonist is judged to be a poor mother and sent to a school on how to be a better mother – without having access to the child during the time she is in school. Its quite a jarring read so proceed with caution.
Non Fiction
3. The Palace Papers by Tina Brown 4/5
I have so many thoughts. I am quite the opposite of a royalist (I think its embarrassing having a royal family in 2023, its like believing in Santa as a 16 year old) and honestly, this book doesn’t help their case. Although I understand Tina is quite a royalist herself, its fascinating to read how even she didn’t manage to get the royal family to look like decent people. I did find it interesting since although there was a lot of what was mentioned in the book that I already knew, there was a lot I didn’t know and you realise we ‘forgive’ the royal family for so many things. (For instance, did you know Camilla Parker-Bowles was involved in a car accident, which for all intent and purpose was her fault but got off scot free?)
I definitely also want to read Harry’s book Spare which will another interesting perspective but yes, would recommend this one was a general overview for everything that happened in recent history in the royal family.
Short stories
4. The House Next to the Factory by Sonal Kohli 5/5
A copy of this book was provided by the publishers.
I promise its not that I loved this book because the writer has the name surname as I do but really hope I manage to write as beautifully someday. This book is a series of connected short stories which I really enjoy. Ordinary people and their extraordinary lives I love the details she mentions and as someone who grew up in India (but not Delhi where the book is based) it was familiar and new at the same time. I also liked that some stories were general life, some were based around a specific incident, some were melancholy and some were silly.
I am going to try my best to get up to speed with my current reading list and I hope you enjoy this in the meantime! My current reading updates are usually on Instagram stories so follow me there if you want a more updated list.
– Anisha
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