2022 in Books

Maintaining consistency...

       After reading 51 books against a target of 50 in 2019, 34 of 35 in 2020 and 30 of 30 in 2021, this year I had planned to read 33 books but a huge life change had set me back in my reading journey, finishing at 75%. 

Ending the year at 25 books, here is a complete list along with covers of the books I would recommend. 

Book 1. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue: I've watched so many Telugu movies on big corporates ruining villages. But it feels raw and unnerving to read the story in the privileged language of English. It's fiction, but not. How we ruin the land, water and air will live on! 

Book 2. Second Place by Rachel Cusk: It is a short book that I found difficult to finish. It received a lot of praise on the way it tackles male privilege. But I didn't understand that. To me, it was a woman's midlife crisis written up like an old English letter to some Jeffers.

Book 3. The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: a unique book on feminism in Uganda or mwenkanonkano. It's a coming of age story of a young girl who sees women stuck in a world of limited rights and yet wield power... and learns not to judge a woman too harshly. So true !

Book 4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: It's a children's book written for adults. You know from the very start how it's going to end. But it's interesting and gives you life's epiphanies in a beautifully light and loving manner. Wish it was mandatory reading in highschool.

Book 5. Uprooted by Naomi Novik: Like Spinning Silver, a young girl learns that she is stronger, more powerful than any childhood monster she was told about. Folklore and fairytale retold with heroines, the story also holds a beautiful female friendship, resilient and resolute!

Book 6. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Retelling Trojan War is a magnificent task. Told by Patroclus, his cousin, and lover in this version, it paints Achilles as a victim of his prophecy, reluctant to war. I thought it was too indulgent. I need a dose of the original.

Book 7. Troy by Stephen Fry: Even though it's the same story as the previous book, Fry keeps it interesting with his nuggets of offshoots as well as the colourful descriptions of the war and the temperament of gods. What a magnificent story, and how well retold and narrated.

Book 8. The Shadow King Maaza Mengiste: Another book, another war, more real and raw than Troy and yet largely untold. Mengiste shows us the ground reality of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (just before WWII) and humanises its oft-forgotten female soldiers.

Book 9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: A poor woman's cancer cells killed her but continued to grow in labs around the world and led to great progress in medical research. The book is about how her family had no idea and the ethics of it all. Eye-opening!

Book 10. The Promise by Damon Galgut: A whimsical dark comedy set in changing South Africa. Amor, the little explored protagonist, is a silent witness - the conscience that plagues the Swart family until the Promise is kept. And Salome's nonexistence is a statement in itself.

Book 11. Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford: It's about 5 random lives which all start when a bomb drops and kills them. Their lives are what-if stories, but it doesn't matter because the author forgets to remind us of that fact. It's lyrical at times, but mostly boring.

Book 12. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: A coming of age story of a girl left to fend for herself in the marshes, as insects/birds become her teachers. She lives on the edge of civilisation, until she becomes a suspect in a murder. Can't wait to see the movie adaptation!

Book 13. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield: A blend of folklore, science and mystery with vivid descriptions of the Thames in the Victorian era. In spite of the twists and turns, the story and people are simple, easily believed and believable. Left me with a warm feeling.

Book 14. Atomic Habits by James Clear: I'm a bad reader when it comes to self-help, never yielding to the ideas. But I believe in the book's basic premise: persistent small changes add up to greatness. The practical ideas the author suggests set it apart - this might just work!

Book 15. The Club by Ellery Lloyd: a crime thriller that is overly descriptive for its own good that it drags. I skipped paras and paras of apparently ironic descriptions. When the twists do come, they are too convenient, too sensational. But would make for good TV viewing.

Book 16. She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan: An extraordinary reimagining of the founder of Ming dynasty as a young peasant girl, forgotten by the Gods, who grabs 'greatness' by gambling away her life every step of the way. The additional characters are equally imaginative!

Book 17. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: it's a fast paced book about crazy space science that makes sense since you learn alongside our hero waking up from amnesia. But dig too deep and the plot holes become apparent. Simplistic sci-fi for the masses that stays uncomplicated.

Book 18. Daughters of the Night by Laura Shepard-Robinson: in Victorian England, when a lady of the night is murdered, a noble woman scandalously takes on the investigation. The author blends a classic whodunit into a period drama of gossip and scandal, making it a page-turner.

Book 19: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker: Two magical beings, one ancient, one newborn, both lost wanderers in a strange land, 19th century New York. Struggling to fit in, they stumble on to each other with mutually suspicious camaraderie. Wonderfully empathetic fantasy.

Book 20. The Mahabharata Murders by Arnab Ray: the subpar writing is easily ignored in this thrilling page-turner. But the author's knowledge of the epic is limited to the TV show and connections to the Mahabharata are poor. Also contains unnecessarily angst and goriness.

Book 21. Reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig: There's a certain melancholy in his writing. This raw and honest account of his own fight against depression gives a new perspective. It's not sugar-coated, yet it's hopeful and does justice to his girlfriend and his support system.

Book 22. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: 2022 Booker Prize shortlisted book is very short too. It's beautifully written and builds up well. But it is actually a short story and feels like it ends when the story actually begins. Wish the author invested more time...

Book 23. After lives by Abdulrazak Gurnah: the book is made up of sadness and disappointment, displacement and war; but also of perseverance and growth, and the curiosity to learn. The author writes of the weight of Europe's wars and the suffering of its colonies. (Nobel Prize 2021)

Book 24. The Trees by Perceval Everett: This #booker shortlisted book is a powerful novel on race. A historic racial lynching comes back to haunt a small white town in a series of murders. Best described as a horrific dark comedy, the book bubbles with wit, humour and sarcasm.

Book 25. What to Expect When You Are Expecting by Heidi Murkoff: An invaluable gift from a dear friend, it's a balanced guide to pregnancy on a week by week and month by month basis. The plethora of information comes with reassurance of a holding hand, rather than hypochondria.