A review of books read in 2020
Sometimes, I find books I liked so much I want to shout and proclaim how good they were and want to thank the authors for writing something that meant something to me.
I found such books this year and wrote short reviews for books on Goodreads and on Reedsy as a way to remember I liked them and what I liked about them. I’m leaving some reviews here and will update this page, as I finish my 21(or more)books for the year. I’ve been dnf-ing books that are frustrating, but I refrain from writing a bad review because enjoying a book is wholly subjective. So every review is a book I could get through. I also didn’t write reviews for some classic or popular books that I knew are amazing before I read them. Most of my reviews are from ebooks or audiobooks since they are all I could salvage from the library which was of course shut for most of this year. Some are also new, recently published books that I picked up on Reedsy discovery.
No spoilers, I promise; only evaluations and recommendations. I am moving away from the 5-star rating system on Goodreads to a 10 point system of my own. The rating is only a measure of how much I enjoyed the book and not a measure of how well the book is written.
Exercises in Style
by Raymond Queneau, translated by Barbara Wright
Conceptually, this is a one-of-kind book. Reading it is like being caught in a dream loop you can’t get out of — you’re stuck on a bus with a longnecked, plait-hatted chap who argues with a fellow passenger, takes an empty seat, and you spot him later with his friend who gives him advice about a button on his coat — and then you turn the page and return to the beginning of the dream, only this time you’re watching the scene unfold from a new literary angle written in a different style and they keep getting more and more absurd.
The style could be just from a different person’s perspective, or it could be rhyming, there’s even one in pig Latin. Not all the literary styles make sense as standalone stories, some are quite unintelligible until you read them aloud or decipher them structurally. Some are anachronistic (the feminine voice, yeesh!), but considering the original was written over 70 years ago, the out-datedness can be overlooked.
I enjoyed most of them with the caveat that each chapter is really short and I could get through the stranger ones without getting frustrated. There’s 99 of them with additional ones that didn’t make the first print and about a dozen others written by other writers in homage to Queneau and the Oulipo Movement.
I read the English translation of this book by Barbara Wright with a side-along rudimentary reading of the french version Exercices de Style to compare nuances of the styles in both languages. Largely the English translation is a separate Exercises in Style in itself, but the more lyrical ones are beautiful in both languages.
An unexpected plus are the delightful illustrations by Stefan Themerson of human figures exercising in style, that pop out in each chapter title.
I give this 8 points and a must-read for anyone looking to read absurd and experimental writing and not for a plot. Looking to see if there’s a more contemporary take on this book.
Slices of Life
by Richa Gupta
This is a collection of short stories that delves into the many facets of contemporary society in an insightful and candid narrative. The collection is a mixed bag of genres, but the stories are an ode to women, their relationships, and the spaces they hold in society.
While some stories deal with heavier themes of adultery, addiction, thievery, or poverty, the author weaves emotional value in even the most quotidian of circumstances like hiring domestic help or choosing wedding clothes. We are privy to the inner workings of women (and men) navigating their different worlds and relationships; some in a domestic setting, some in corporate spaces, some trying to build careers or romances, and others just striving to get by.
The author paints vivid, detailed pictures and it is easy to immerse oneself in the many worlds as the stories unfold, but there is an abruptness to the stories. Remember, we only get a slice of the character’s life. This works well for most of the stories, pushing one to ponder further about the larger situations that the characters face — the dilemma of choices, the pull of money, the tangle of family, and the unfairness of circumstances.
A story that stands out is Bridal Wear which takes place almost entirely in a bridal shop and delves into the nuances of the ritual of selecting wedding clothes. It’s a humorous story of two women and their behavior when being evaluated against the traditional feminine standard that weddings set on them. Another favorite is Watershed which is a beautiful story celebrating female friendships. Knots is a truly gripping and satisfying whodunnit of the murder of a man and is the only story told in a first-person narrative. A couple of stories seem a bit vague (Future Love Story and Disclosure) but they are all enjoyable reads nonetheless. The beauty of this book lies not in the shock value of each plot but in the author’s ability to portray people as multidimensional characters, in grey; virtues, flaws, and all.
The author has chronicled snippets from the lives of a gamut of (mostly Indian) society. There’s a story here of everyone and for everyone. Recommended if you’re looking for a compelling, grounded, very-real read.
(I received a copy of this book to review on Discovery by Reedsy)
Ghachar Ghochar
by Vivek Shanbag, translated by Srinath Perur
This is a short and deceptively simple read about the inner workings of a family whose lifestyles and family dynamics have changed with a turn in their fortunes. There are some delightful moments of family bonding and nuanced squabbles amidst the unease creeping steadily into the narrative. It takes till the end to really unravel the extent of the ghachar-ghochar (a made-up term that means what it sounds like) the family is involved in, which makes this a great psychological drama.
10 points for the reading experience. Refreshing to read a Bangalore based book, with friendly Kannada words and nostalgia everywhere! I will try to read or listen to the original Kannada version sometime, but this English translation masterfully captures quotidian Indian attitudes to money, social standing, and family hierarchies.
The Art of Noticing
131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration and Discover Joy in the Everyday
by Rob Walker
This book does exactly what it says it does without being a traditional self-help book that would use a similar tagline. This is a book full of prompts to exercise some pent-up detective skills in quotidian life and trigger creative thought. I think of the prompts as “distracted mindfulness” and they’re fun to employ on walks around the city or employ while productive procrastinating. They’re gentle nudges into creative habit-forming with the focus on the assignments and process and not on behavior change.
The book is also a useful inventory of artists and writers who’ve used focused thought experiments in their work, and I’ve added some delightful books to my to-read list from here.
Recommended for someone looking to get out of a creative funk, or fall into quirky obsessions. I would also recommend Rob Walker’s bimonthly newsletter.
10 points. Definitely one to peruse time and again; this one is a keeper.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
by Abbi Waxman, narrated by Emily Rankin
This is a fun novel for a bit of light reading, about the life of a bookish introvert. Nina has a cat, is very organized, works in a book store, is a trivia buff, and likes to be alone until a rain of upheavals in her romantic, family, and professional life threaten to push her out of her bubble of contentment.
The writing is dotted with millennial pop-culture references from the likes of Harry Potter, Pokemon, Friends which are delightful to encounter and I laughed aloud for a lot of these.
The characters are humorous and sarcastic and cute at the same time; and the book does a great job of portraying mental health conditions as not being shortcomings or personal failings. Nina’s self-awareness and self-care habits are charming. The plot does have some weaknesses. It is too cute and convenient at times. The nerd girl tropes that make her relatable to a large section of women seem played out. It’s a fun, life-affirming book with no real takeaways.
8 points for this witty, nerdy chick-lit. I heard the audiobook narrated by Emily Rankin which definitely upped the experience and I would highly recommend it.
The Palace of Illusions
by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni
During my middle and high school years, I unfailingly did an annual re-reading of my prized 12 volume ACK’s Mahabharata book set. I picked up the Palace of Illusions, to appease this inner Mahabharata nerd that’s been dormant for years. This book is much talked about and has been on my to-read list for many years. But I’ve been tentative about mythological fiction and it’s not a genre I fully enjoy.
It’s an interesting exercise — to think of the epic from the perspective of Panchali (calling her Draupadi is a no-no) whose husbands are usually the lead characters and get to speak for her. This book stresses the effect that the actions of all the women; Kunti, Panchali, Kripi, Gandhari have on the men and thus on the outcome of the war. Panchali’s relationships with her family, with Krishna, with each of her husbands, with Kunti, and surprisingly with Karna give a fresh viewpoint to an old story ie she’s as flawed as the others in the tale.
My chief peeve with the book is how Panchali has virtually no growth as a character in 50+ years of life. She gets to be headstrong and a rebel and a misfit, but all the story seems to do is to rationalize how she’s a victim. She’s bitter and regretful of everything throughout the book. I suppose it’s hard to really give her full control of her fate given the confines of the original epic, but some plot points are off. The saving grace is the development of her relationship with Krishna.
The author isn’t rewriting the Mahabharata so there’s a lot of foreshadowing in the book which I quite enjoyed, but this narrative style might be cumbersome to someone who doesn’t know all of the original stories
7 points for this satisfactory one-time read.
A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman, narrated by George Newbern
This is a story about a straightforward man with black-and-white opinions about everything around him and of himself who finds it very hard to navigate life without his wife (who is basically sunshine). He discovers, with the help of a motley crew of neighbors, reporters, cats et al, that he can in fact, like other people and warms up to the niceness/craziness of his community.
While the story itself isn’t unheard of, the narrative in its grumpy old man voice is fresh and funny and handles heavier themes of loneliness, grief, aging, and even suicide with ease.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by George Newbern. An extra star for the audio experience.
Excuse Me
by Liana Finck
I’ve had this book (that I got from the library) with me for almost t̶w̶o̶ ̶ now six months and at first, I’d bookmarked specific pages that I loved. Now the book is so full of bookmarks, I’m gonna have to buy one for myself. This book is a keeper, to peruse and ponder at your leisure. The Notes to Self and the Strangeness, Shyness, Sadness sections are esp insightful. Cheers to Liana Finck for working out observations and questions and anxieties of life into this wonderful collection. 10 points for this witty, funny, quirky graphic novel
Passing for Human: A Graphic Memoir
by Liana Finck
I picked up Passing from Human as I enjoy Liana Finck’s pithy, observational cartoons, and her knack of working out her life through drawings and that is just what she does in this book. It’s an artist’s search for her lost shadow. What that shadow represents isn’t always clear — Anxieties? Inspiration? Regret?
It’s a memoir of sorts, heavy with magical realism and biblical tales. It starts and restarts, assisting the artist’s search, riddling the book with self-doubt. It becomes at once both poignant and frustrating.
It’s an illustrated diary of a creative misfit Leola, of her childhood, of her parents, of inherited otherness, of truly terrible romances and of loss and discovery of the self. But as relatable as the character is, the overall vagueness of the narrative is a challenge to get through.
8 points for this. Looking forward to Liana Finck’s new(ish) collection of comics titled Excuse Me, and her other works.