I was upset about missing my November book post. But I thought it would be a good idea to start the first book post as a bumper book post. I seem to have made up for my lack of reading in October in November and December and January – I managed to finish around 30 books and even managed to get a new category this time.
FICTION
1. The Party by Lisa Hall 3/5
I picked this up for my psychological thriller quota for month and it delivered. It not one of the best but it was different from the normal murder mysteries which I am thankful for. What really intrigued me about this book is that the basic premise is so realistic and could happen to any of us – which is worrying and scary but interesting nonetheless.
2. Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty 5/5
After finishing the book, I learnt it was also made into a BBC show. And I am sure its fantastic since its a fantastic book. I love those moral dilemma books and this is a big one.
3. This Was A Man by Jeffrey Archer 3/5
If you have read my previous reading lists you have heard me moan about this series quite a bit. Now was this one book better or worse than the rest in the series? Why do I keep reading them? I don’t know. They are readable enough but yes, I cannot understand why I keep wasting time on this series. I have to start cutting out books that are a waste of my time so I can actually read the good stuff. (Sorry I know this doesn’t help with recommendations but honestly, I just feel I have been turned off these books. My suggestion is try the first boom of the series and see if you enjoy it.)
4. The Promise by Damon Galgut 4/5
I hope you have listened to our Booker shortlist episode. You have heard me mention I am almost always disappointed with the Booker winning book – not in this case. This is a so well written, such a beautiful book, with family drama, politics, race, privilege, class and how all of these issues intersect. I have put the rest of Galgut’s books on my TBR.
5. The Guardians by John Grisham 4/5
I never tire of John Grisham. This was a good balance between funny, intense, grim and inspiring. This was quintessential Grisham based in the USA with a human rights lawyer trying to free innocent incarcerated prisoners.
6. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendal 4/5
This was an interesting one. This book had major comeback in 2020 since it was set in a world where there is a virus epidemic that wipes out most of civilisation. It discussed the place of art and culture within this backdrop. Its a weird read. But in all honesty, I am not sure it would have been a comfortable read in 2020 in the beginning of the pandemic where we were unsure how things were going to work out. I read it in November 2021, after we have vaccines and boosters and know the drill and it only made me feel lucky about how things turned out for us.
7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I really enjoyed the book – its a totally feed good happy heart warming book. Its not my kind of book honestly. I like the cute heart warming books but also need a little bit of an edge. This one though came at a right time. I read it during the holiday season and it was the perfect mood for a book like this. Funny, wry way of writing with positive, happy characters.
8. If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
I have been wanting to read this book for a long time and all hype paid off. I cannot recommend this enough. It is fantastic.
I had heard this book was ‘Sex and the City set in Seoul’. After reading the book, I admit although that description did hook me in its such a lazy way to describe a very good book. It is about 4 – 5 women but the similarity to SATC ends there. Of course its set in a different culture but it also discusses a lot of intense aspects of that culture which was a revelation to me. The research done was top notch. The characters were so well fleshed out. It desperately made me want to travel to Seoul.
9. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
This is a retelling of Rebecca or Jane Eyre and I have read both books. But I have to say at no point of time did I feel it was repetitive or boring to read. Its a really well done retelling and manages to be suspenseful throughout. The setting is one of my favourite ones for a thriller – a normal quiet posh suburban area. In this book, the setting was done really well and the atmosphere created was perfect for the thriller events.
10. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 4/5
I had made it my mission to read everything written by CNA. This was one of her earlier books and is quite a disturbing one.
11. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton 3/5
I have to say I did not get the hype of this book. In all honesty, I don’t think I am a big fan of historical fiction based in Europe or at least this historical period in Europe. I like a more contemporary historical fiction especially based in the USA (like Taylor Jenkins Reid) so maybe this is just not my genre. Despite this, I enjoyed the book and I am totally in awe of how the writer managed to create this particular time period but I did feel the plot was a bit of a let down and this wasn’t the kind of book where plot is not that important. Or maybe it is and its the period details that are the draw which I just wasn’t the correct audience to appreciate.
12. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas 4/5
The blurb of this book is fantastic. Here it goes:
“At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own.”
“This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the slap.”
This blurb totally hooked me in. But the books is not the cosy domestic drama between friends which is what I expected to be. Its based on a Greek origin Australian family and discusses the race, class and sexism present in modern Australian society. I haven’t read a lot of books based in contemporary Australia which discuss these issues from such an interesting perspective and really enjoyed learning about it. The sexism in the book really bothered me – but in a good way since it showed the reality of the characters lives.
13. Beach Read by Emily Henry 4/5
I quite enjoyed this one. You know I love books about writers and the writing community. This one is based on two writers sitting in neighbouring houses writing their books and their love story. I loved the discussion about the different genres the two writers in the book and research that goes into the books.
14. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave 5/5
This was a really well written book – a total page turner. Its a little difficult to categorise the genre of this book. Its not strictly a thriller but I would rather call it a mystery. I felt it was very well written and managing to keep the reader gripped throughout and even with the fact it has the most “out there’ concepts included, it felt very realistic. And what a fantastic ending.
15. How To Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott 2/5
I was a total sucker for this one. A group on friends get together in a fancy island resort and they try and solve the mystery of their friends drowning. Twist: she was a competitive swimmer so how could it be that she drowned? In all honesty, its not a story I will remember even a week from now. I read it and enjoyed it but cant say I would actually recommend.
16. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover 5/5
This book really got me thinking – which is something a good book should do. Its not a spoiler but rather a trigger warning: this book deals with domestic violence. What intrigued me was how it turned on its head everything I assume about domestic violence. Every situation of domestic violence has its own story, its own history, its own prejudices. Its well written and a perfect book club book.
17. You and Me On Vacation by Emily Henry 3/5
In all honesty, I am not a major romance reader. This was a little bit of a Harry Met Sally redone. I have to say I liked Beach Read better but that is also since I love books about books and writers.
18. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult 3/5
This was included in the Bad on Paper Podcast book club episode for January so I picked it up. I have to say I enjoyed the twist but I don’t really understand the hype of the book.
Now the main content warning about this book is that it talks quite in-depth about the pandemic and surprisingly I liked this part. It oddly made me feel like we have come such a long way from the early days of the pandemic and how much better off we now are. I also really liked reading about the parts where there were extensive details on the work done by medical personnel. What I did not like is that it didn’t have a real plot as such where there was a set story arc. Now you know I usually don’t mind this but then the characters and conversations and details included have to be really top notch for these non-plot books to work which I did feel was missing in this one.
19. Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler 4/5
I have loved almost everything by Anne Tyler that I have read including this one. This one is slightly on the lines of Eleanor Oliphant is Fine which I enjoyed but didn’t love as much as everyone else seemed to. I definitely liked this one better. One of those books with no plot but fantastic characters and great writing that make it.
20. Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins 4/5
This is definitely one of the best mystery thrillers I have read in recent months – and trust me, I read a lot of these. The writing is top notch, the plot and setting is just the thing that was needed for this book and the characters are so well written. I cannot recommend it enough. The story is told from a child’s point of view extensively and having the ability to write this is commendable.
21. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 4/5
I almost always enjoy everything Liane Moriarty likes although in hindsight I feel maybe this deserved 3 instead of 4 stars. Immensely readable, great characters, interesting plot but yes, there was a tinge of disappointment for me as well. I think the tennis part of the plot was what hooked me in!
22. White Ivy by Susie Yang 4/5
Highly recommend this to anyone interested in reading about the immigrant experience although thats not the only aspect this book covers. It is about a girl from a conservative Chinese family who ends up in the USA and her version of assimilation or success.
23. Hotel du Lac 3/5
This was a disappointment. This book won the Nobel prize so I had high hopes. Now its not a bad book but oddly, even with it being exactly what I expected it to be, it was not as good as I expected it to be. I love settings like this – a group of people in a hotel but this wasn’t a book that was a great read for me.
24. Hotel du Lac by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise
I actually have not read anything by Louise before and didn’t really care too much. I ended up reading this only because it was a new book out which was bound to be a fun read. I love political thrillers and I can see this one tried to stay away from the basic Western stereotypes of the Middle East, muslims, Islam and USA foreign policy. I did like that one of the main characters was Muslim and shown in a very new perspective. But I do think most American political thrillers does fall into this tired Islamaphobic trap but I wonder if in a few years this book even with everything it managed to do well will feel very dated?
NON-FICTION
25. Misfits by Michaela Cole 4/5
This is a slim book – basically a reproduction of a lecture given by the writer. It provides a lot of insight into the TV and movie industry which I found interesting. She is definitely a good writer and I am hoping for a long form memoir from her at some point but this was too short a book to really write too much about.
26. No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference by Greta Thunberg 4/5
Similarly, this was a collection of Greta Thunberg’s speeches around the world. Now as a book a compliant can be that it is dated but that is what makes it so great. She young woman has been saying the same thing for a long time and its quite chilling to read how years pass by and nothing seems to change. She is a fantastic orator, she manages to be personal, scold, inspire, instill fear, hope and personally, made me feel a whole host of emotions.
27. Educated by Tara Westover 5/5
Wow – what a book is my reaction. This is a memoir written by an American lady who grew up in a very conservation Mormon home where her parents were essentially, crazy. Her father believed in conspiracy theories about the end of days and had seriously misogynistic views about women and their place in society and were extremely poor parents in the most understated way.
28. This Book Is For You: I Hope You Find It Mildly Uplifting by Worry Lines 5/5
I have to say this was extremely comforting. I was actually not familiar with the Instagram account this book was based on but didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this book. Absolutely heart warming and so comforting.
SHORT STORIES
29. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 4/5
I didn’t even know about this set of short stories that she had written but grabbed it when I saw it in the library.
30. Broken Things by Jodi Picoult 4/5
This short story is a prequel to Wish You Were Here and honestly, I have to say I liked the story and plot of this much better. I really hope she comes up with a full fledged novel based on this story.
31. Terminus by Louise Doughty 3/5
I felt this story could have been done better. I understood what the writer was trying to do but it didn’t manage to leave an impression on me. But I do think the writer managed to
32. Laura Lake and the Luxury Press Trip by Wendy Holden 2/5
This story follows the story from a book and I believe there are more books in the series. Fun, short and somewhat enjoyable but it did feel rushed and the resolution was quite random. I have to say the story did not endear the series to me – I can’t say I will bother reading them.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
I am not a graphic novel person. Its just not something I am used to reading so it takes me a lot of time. A friend (my pod co-host) had given me a copy of Persepolis for my birthday last year. I started the book, really enjoyed the story but felt I needed time to read through and follow it since I am not used to reading graphic novels. I finally was in the mood recently and ended up finishing the rest of it in one sitting. What a fantastic read. I enjoyed it so much I ended up tracking down her other book in the library as well and gobbled that up as well.
33. Embroderies by Marjane Satrapi 4/5
34. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 5/5
So that was my bumper book post! I am always curious to know what everyone has been reading lately so please comment below. In the meantime, there is always Instagram.
Thanks for reading.
– Anisha
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