Hello Loves!
I treated myself to some books back in June to celebrate my Blog turning Eight.
I got some books I've meant to read for a while and out of these five books I'v already read four, so this is both a haul and my thoughts on these reads.
Let's jump in.
Also I caved in and bought the tote designed to accompany this book by the folks over at The Burlap People (the author is a co-owner of the brand, fyi I love The Burlap People).
Here is the tote.
OK, back to the book.
This book is essentially a tale of star crossed lovers. An Indian Girl and a Pakistani Boy meet in the UK and fall in love, knowing fairly well that this love is doomed.
I guess I am not someone who enjoys love stories, so for me that whole aspect of this deep love and longing just didn't do much. All of last year and even now, I've heard nothing but amazing things about this book and my expectations from it were sky high.
Sadly said expectations weren't meant.
I did enjoy the writing. This here is a solid bit of writing and I that I enjoyed quite a bit.
But overall...no, this is not a book I loved.
Liked.
Not loved.
If you love love stories and longing and commentaries on our world and especially our country right now, this is a great book to pick up.
I will happily read what the author will write next.
Rating: 3/5
2. An Educated Woman in Prostitution by Manada Devi, Translated by Arunava Sinha: Another book I've wanted to read since I first heard of it. A memoir by an educated, upper-caste, upper-class Bengali woman who ended up in the sex trade. Scandalous. Preposterous. Shocking. I was very, very curious to see how, when and what lead her down this path and how she navigated it and how she felt about her life.
Such an uncommon and unique lived experience. For that reason alone this a worthwhile read. We don't hear these stories, these voices and these women who lived life outside of what was acceptable in society.
I enjoyed this book, for most part this tale, this life had me riveted. Manada Devi lived a very extraordinary life. But my biggest grouse with this book was how much Manada Devi blamed herself and shamed herself, but then she is a product of her time. So of course she would say the things and hold the opinions that society taught her.
Rating: 3.5/5
3. House of Screams by Andaleeb Wajid: This book was so much fun.
A classic haunted house tale. A woman inherits this big, old house from an uncle she barely knew. She and her young family move in and things go awry. Screaming at night, imaginary friends and all sorts of creepiness.
I read this pretty much in one sitting and had a good time with it.
Perfect for rainy days and thundering nights.
Rating: 3.5/5
4. Women Who Misbehave by Sayantani Dasgupta: A collection of short stories about women who misbehave. Women who don't act coy, who don't tow the line and women who are loud and unafraid. Women who get labelled as the trouble maker and wayward and worse. People do love labelling women no?!
I love that this entire haul is alll women writers.
Indian Women Writers!
I loved this collection of stories. All of them, literally all but one. Another book I devoured in a day. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Rating: 4/5
5. Lallan Sweets by Srishti Chaudhary: This is the only one from this batch of books that I haven't read but am hoping to read this month. I read the author's previous book back in 2018 and didn't entirely love it but this one, set in a family run mithai shop sounds cute and light and fun.
I am quite excited to pick it up soon, I will let you know how we got on.
BOOKS BOUGHT///
1. The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Karuna Ezara Parikh
2. An Educated Woman in Prostitution by Manada Devi
3. The House of Screams by Andaleeb Wajid
4. Women Who Misbehave by Sayantani Dasgupta
5. Lallan Sweets by Srishti Chaudhary
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