Hello Loves!
March is over and it has been a month of reading women, some absolutely incredible women writers for #FemmeMarch and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.
:)
What a great reading month this has been.
I read all women and snuck in one male author and guess what it was a bust! Should have stuck to reading only women.
I read 15 books and 8 beautiful children's books/picture books.
I even bought a few books and they've all arrived today. (What a great way to end my month!)
Read a memoir.
Re-read an old favourite.
Read physical books.
Read short stories.
Read some translated works.
A thriller.
A horror.
Historical fiction.
A wonderful mix of genres and style.
A good good month.
So let's just into it shall we?
MARCH READING WRAP-UP:
1. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys: I started my month with a very time appropriate read and with a book by one of my favourite writers. This book taught me so much about a corner of the world I knew so little about and it broke me heart and made me want to do a deeper dive and learn some more. All good things. Love when books do that and most of this authors books manage to fuel further reading. I did a review for this one which you can read HERE.
4/5
2. Digging to America by Anne Tyler: My fifth book by Tyler and this one might just be one of my new favourites. I started reading Tyler back in 2015 and every book of hers I've read subsequently has not disappointed. Her books are a masterclass in simple but deep and so succinctly observed. She takes the most ordinary of things and lives and spins her magic and makes these worlds and these people come alive. Seriously, if you haven't yet read her..please do. This one is about two couples who are connected by one special reason, they've both adopted little Korean girls on the same day in the same town. This book starts on August 15th 1997 and we then follow these families through the early years of raising their daughters. The couples are very, very different from each other and are raising their girls in fairly different ways. We see this story told from multiple perspectives and overtime you find yourself getting very attached to the people here. Even the ones who might have judged and disliked in the beginning. Mainly this is a story of family, found and formed and community. So well done. I absolutely loved it.
4.5/5
3. Violeta by Isabel Allende: From one great to another. I have read a few books by Allende and have a few of her works on my bookshelves (back home in Bombay) to be read soon. This one her newest was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Violeta is almost like a autobiography or a character study. We meet her the say she's born, in the middle of a pandemic (1920) and we follow her through the end of her life, during another pandemic (2020). In between there is a lot of life lived and mistakes made and love and loss and pain and growing and thriving. I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Like till 64% I was all in and wanted to keep going, but somehow after that point it began to feel a bit too long and a bit too tedious. And..I don't know it sort of fell a little flat for me.
2.5/5
4. Next Door by Jahnavi Barua: Barua has quickly become one of my favourite authors. I have now read everything she's ever published and I have loved every single one of her books. This, her first, is a collection of short stories which is a great place to begin your dive into her work. I read her work is a odd order but it's been great nonetheless. Start her and read the rest too. You won't be disappointed. These stories are beautiful, melancholic but good.
4/5
5. All my Rage by Sabaa Tahir: This book is told from three perspectives. Two set in the present and one set in the past. The two teenagers are Pakistani American and are each going through a lot in their lives. Some pretty serious and messed up things and they find strength in each other. This was a heavy read and one of the firsts books I've read that began with a detailed Trigger Warnings list, which is good. There is a lot here that could potentially be triggering: abuse, violence and racism. So approach with caution. I liked this book...for most part, was a little out of it by the end and felt like there was a lot of repetition and some sharper editing would have been nicer.
2.5/5
6. Recitatif by Toni Morrison: A short story from one of the greats. Wonderful. Sharp. Brilliant. About race, friendship, memory and shared trauma. So good.
4.5/5
7. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami: Last year, I read more than half of Breasts and Eggs by the same author, while I was enjoying it, I did end up putting it aside, I will 100% at some point get back to it. At around the same time I bought this book and once I bought it I started to avoid it..because it's about bullying and that's something I don't really enjoy reading about and I knew that this book gets pretty hardcore. So for a year this book sat unread on my Kindle, till this month, late one night, I began to randomly read it and couldn't stop. This book is very, very triggering and very graphic. The bullying is relentless and painful and cruel and it will get under your skin (seriously if you are triggered by it, please avoid this book). It will break your heart. There is however a shining ray of light and hope even in this dark world. The writing is beautiful and this just got long-listed for The International Man Booker Prize, so it's a good time as ever to read it.
3/5
8. Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala: After reading a few heavy and sad books back to back, I needed something light and happy and I picked the right sort of book. This one is a cozy murder mystery, full of family, food and a very likable sleuth and a dog. This one was fun and light and breezy. The mystery was nice but very easy to guess. Pick it up if want to read a light and easy, breezy read with a side of murder. My first ever read set in a Filipino family and I really enjoyed learning more about their lives and culture.
3/5
9. When the Wildflowers Bloom by Rupa Bhullar: My quest for some light reading also made me reach for this book though this wasn't particularly light. It's about a woman leaving an abusive and unhappy marriage and making a fresh start. I really enjoying reading books and even watching books about this sort thing and this book does this so well. The steps taken by our main character in charting out a new course in her life are so realistic and believable. A huge part of this book is set in a tiny village in Punjab and I absolutely loved reading about simple village living and the wonderful people living there. There is also a little romance but it's so well done and doesn't feel forced. A good read.
3.5/5
10. Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur: My re-read for this month. I read this book for the first time back in 2009 and I read it in under 24 hours.
Why?
Well, I borrowed it from my local library in Bangalore and once I got back home I realized it had a damaged spine, so I read it as fast as I could so I could return it and not pay a fine for damaging it. So I remembered only the broad points about the book. Most of it felt new to me.
This was I think the first Manju Kapur book I read and have since read everything she's written. This book set mostly in pre-partition India is a great way to read about lives during that time outside of what was going on in our country. It's about a young girl who falls in love with her married neighbour and fights her family to keep studying and eventually marring him. Funny thing I remembered this being a love story but it really isn't. In fact this to me now felt like a story about regret and how sometimes the things you really fight for and defy people and society for are perhaps things you should have let gone of. I really enjoyed this book and it is hands down the best of Kapur's work and one I can't recommend enough.
4/5
11. The Art of Dying by Githa Hariharan: A collection of short stories that I read early in the month and honestly I don't quite remember much about them. :( They were OK. Some good and some very forgettable. This was my most meh read of the month.
2/5
12. Beneath The Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett: This was one of the best things I read this month. A mix of horror and thriller and it was so atmospheric and spooky. Perfect!
1936
1965
1998
Now
One house in the woods and many stories and tragedies connected to it.
I enjoyed the ride this books takes you on, it did felt a little too long in the end and in the end there were some things left unanswered. Still, fun and spooky.
4/5
13. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: I finally read a book I've meant to read for absolute ages and I am so glad I read this timeless classic. This book is just as wonderful as I thought it would be. It's lyrical, moving and all these years later so much of it still holds true.
4/5
14. Boys Don't Cry by Meghna Pant: I read this book in one sitting. A powerful story about a woman surviving an abusive marriage and what it feels like to be married into a family full of evil gaslighters. This book made me soooo mad and so glad I am single.
4/5
15. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin: Read this little book yesterday. A short read that was so crisp, sharp and still and quiet. A story of a small seaside town and two people who come together. This short book had so much going on and it was beautifully written and really pulled me in to this world. So glad I could read a little something for #KoreanMarch.
4/5
Next I read a few books from Story Weaver, which is a great place to read some incredible children's books.
Here's what I devoured.
16. Asha's Voice by Mathangi Subramanian, Art by Saheb Ram Tudu: A sweet story about a young girl with big plans and how she brings together the people in her village to make some changes in their lives.
4/5
17. A Friend for Poochi by Meera Ganapathi, Art by Rohit Kelkar: This adorable book made me so happy and made me shed a happy tear or two. Poochi is a little hairy little bug who longs for friends. Oh my heart. I was cheering for little Poochi so hard. So cute. Please read this.
5/5
18. Beauty is Missing by Priya Kuriyan: A missing buffalo and a little investigation. Adored this book and the art was gorgeous and Beauty and her human just warmed my heart.
5/5
19. The World That Mai Built by Nandita Jayaraj, Art by Ankita Thakur: A little story about a township designed by an architect and thoughtful details added to make a happy space.
3/5
20. One by Two by Maya Bisineer, Art by Shreya Sen: A sweet tale about a visit to a mela and the joys of sharing food and learning a little maths. I wish I learnt maths with a plate of biryani and gulab jamuns.
4/5
21. The Big Beach Clean-Up by Chandini Chhabra, Art by Asha Susan Alex: A wonderful and much needed story about a group of kids cleaning up a beach and the importance of making public spaces clean and not leaving a mess.
4/5
22. A Tea Garden Party by Swati Sengupta, Art by Rishav Mohanty: Ah! This story made me miss the hills and my family tea gardens. A story about how tea goes from plant to cup. Educational and informative.
4/5
23. This Where We Live by Manjari Chakravarti: A gorgeous picture book about cats in Shantiniketan. The art here is seriously lovely and moody and the vignettes about small town living and slow days and rainy nights was so soothing.
5/5
I stuck very dedicatedly to Femme March and only read Women Writers all month, I only read one book out of the reading theme and read only one book by a male author.
24. Nine Lives by Peter Swanson: This book was so high on my list of anticipated reads for this year and I was dying to read it. But man this was such a sore disappointment. A serious let down. A review for this is up on the blog too, you can read it HERE.
1/5
***
There is my majestic March Wrap-Up.
24 books read and mostly all of them good.
A good, solid reading month.
:)
Hope March was good to you too.
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