For some weird reason I found myself reading two books simultaneously. Both were based in the US, featured female protagonists and had an underlying theme of education. However, that’s where the similarity ended. The first, Educated by Tara Westover was a...
The book stood silently on my bookshelf, awaiting its turn. Perhaps it heaved a sigh every time I picked something else - a glossy new read from the library, a highly recommended audiobook or even a classic. I love memoirs yet I hesitated to pick this one. Why?...
The Reluctant Mother by Zehra Naqvi The Book: The Reluctant Mother is a book of rage. Rage at being alone in your pain, having your conflict belittled, and your struggles trivialised. It is the story of a young woman who seeks to find herself in a world that...
When Arundhati Roy shot to fame after her novel The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize, I became a reluctant observer of the excitement that follows when Indian authors are nominated for grand prizes. I was living in the USA when Roy won the prize. Given that...
Ever since I discovered audiobooks, I have galloped through my reading list, particularly the fiction section. I typically choose books with female protagonists. Biased? Perhaps. But I find the lives of women more multi-dimensional and therefore more...
I did not set out to intentionally read books with the word ‘project’ in the title. It just happened. Two novels that came to my attention in quick succession seemed to have a deliberate focus towards the discovery or attainment of something - in one case,...
Brief reviews of three very different books which interestingly have a time component to their narratives. These Precious Days by Ann Patchett I picked up this book minutes after spotting it at Pegasus Books at Berkeley in December. Ann Patchett is one of my...
I’m happy to report that in the first 3 months of the year, I have made great progress on my reading list. Given my decision early in the year to ‘savor’ the things in my life that give me joy, I should have read fewer books. With that goal in mind, I began...
I began the new year with a goal very different from what I had done in previous years - to do less. What that meant in real life was not to laze around all year but to deliberately choose the things I wanted to do instead of getting sucked into a competitive...
While planning for my trip to the US last month, I assumed I would do a lot of shopping. I have been on enough international trips to know that suitcases seem to mysteriously shrink on your way back just as your possessions seem to expand. Therefore my suitcases...
