We are well into 2019 I know, but if I gave this post a miss, I wouldn't feel like 2018 was dusted and left behind. I have been distinctly absent from writing about books in this blog. The absence is not because of not reading books, but happily because of the opposite. I have been reading voraciously the past year. So much so that I was forced to change my Goodreads Book Challenge number from 24 to 27 books. I have been reading so much that I want to slow down and re-read some books. In the heady rush to complete the book in hand and start on the second one, my habit of re-reading favourites is slowly fading. But some of the books that I have listed here have been relished and read with great fervor.
This year I laid my hands on an eclectic variety of books. Some of the stand outs have been written under the following headings:
This year I laid my hands on an eclectic variety of books. Some of the stand outs have been written under the following headings:
- Unique and Memorable
- A Musicophile's Delight
- Heartwarming
- Comics
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders - This is an unusual, thought-provoking and in parts giving a sock-in-the-jaw kind of book. From the very first page where the content is laid out as news clipping and citations and the story told as banter between characters instead of in passages and dialogues, it defies your expectations. The story, its layout and style - all are very unique. Initially it may confuse the reader to go through so many citations and first eye accounts of events that take place in 1862 when Abraham Lincoln, the President of USA is presiding over the civil war and its repercussions, and battling his youngest son's illness and subsequent death, but soon one gets the hang of it. In addition to dealing with the grief of his son's untimely death, he is accountable for the many deaths that occur under his watch due to the war. As per historical records The President had been seen visiting the cemetery after his son William Wallace Lincoln's death, visiting the crypt at midnight. This book takes off from there and beautifully brings together the story of the inhabitants of the cemetery - the souls who don't believe they are dead and who are awaiting their eventual fate (what that would be, they don't know). They are trapped in this state called 'bardo' (a Tibetian term) and the entire story is laid in the span of an entire night. The other residents who exist in this state in the cemetery tell their stories in the form of a narrative which is funny, unbelievable, shocking, traumatic and many times plain sad. The book surprisingly opened my eyes to interesting observation to matters of life and death. It was engaging and thought provoking. If you like reading a out-of-ordinary serious fiction, then do try this one.
- Nutshell by Ian McEwan - I have already raved about this book here. The language is eloquent, exquisite and a treat to the senses. This book too has a unique premise. The narrator is a foetus listening to his mother's plans of killing his biological father (imagine that). The story is unusually insightful of life in first world countries. This was my first Ian McEwan, but I am planning to check out his other books this year.
“When love dies and a marriage lies in ruins, the first casualty is honest memory, decent, impartial recall of the past. Too inconvenient, too damning of the present. It's the spectre of old happiness at the feast of failure and desolation.”
- The Restaurant of Love Regained - This is another simple, yet different book. I have written my review of it here. Suffice to say, that never has Asian cooking with its nuances and rich flavours been so well exploited as it is in the story of Rinko a woman who tries to make a life for herself in the face of adversity, by opening a restaurant in her village which would have a private table setting of just one cover. Guests would need to book their table and Rinko would cook for that one set of guests. There is much to love about Rinko's journey in regaining her life and her experiences with Japanese food and its cooking.
A Musicophile's Delight
- R D Burman: The Man, The Music - A Review - This is the only of book of its kind that I had read in 2018. I had rated it 5/5 on Goodreads not because I was a connoisseur of Hindi music, but because this book touched my heart. It is about one of the greatest Hindi music directors of all time - R.D Burman's life - about being misunderstood by the musical fraternity, about not getting his due during his times, about the nuances of his music and so on. This book satsified the RD fan in me. The icing of course was the detailed chronological list of songs he had composed. This is a collectible and a must read if you are an RD Burman fan. I have reviewed this book here.
- The Scandal/ Beartown by Fredrik Backman - The sequel to this book is already out and I am dying to lay my hands on it. I would do that once the guilt of having a staggering pile of unread books on my bedside table subsides. This is again a winner by "Man Called Ove" writer Fredrik Backman. Technically I wouldn't call it heartwarming as it deals with teenage angst and trauma. It is very convincingly written and gets us invested in the highs and lows of the junior hockey team in a far flung town in Sweden. Of course, the book ends positively begetting a sequel that goes on to tackle these affected teenagers' stories. The people in Beartown look forward to the finals of the junior ice-hockey tournament, pinning their hopes on it to give their dwindling economy some lift. But a scandal erupts in the young, supposedly innocent lives of the teenagers involved in the match. It is ugly and it is like a sock to the gut, and it seriously threatens the team's chance at winning the finals. It's a very nice, engaging read - don't miss.
Other stand outs -
Series
Series
- Still House Lake by Rachel Cain - Edgy, women-centric plot, and a satisfying thriller.
- The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner - a nice, YA (young adult novel) with characters you care for and a series that keeps you invested.
This year is equally interesting, in that I have got a wide range of books to read. I have exercised superb control over my impulse to buy more books except for one good binge with BFF P when we checked out BookChor's book fair in Chennai. More on that in this year's list.
Do drop a line on your favourite books of 2018, in the comment box below.
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