Read List of First Half of 2022

Here is what I read in the first half of this year 2022.

I went through a lot of YA books - the non-fantasy ones. They are my way to slide into reading current authors as compared to classics or established authors. They are categorized YA, but I wouldn't let high-schoolers read some of it. College pass-out, new job folks could make sense from these.

American as Paneer Pie - by Supriya Kelkar

A Middle-school YA book but I had to read it. Which also meant I speed-read and finished it in 2-3 days. Loved it. I recommended to my high-schooler but she is too busy. 

Very Bollywood finish, which meant fine & satisfying. Includes lot of aspects of Indian kid growing in America. Swim classes & meets, sleepovers, middle school, desi parties & events. For those familiar with it, its a good reflection. For those outside America, who view NRI lives through movies/tv shoes, this is another honest documentation to check. 

This is a good post by RandomlyReading on American as Paneer Pie book.

The Jasmine Project - by Meredith Ireland

Comfort reading with insights into many aspects of large families, the good the good from bads and grudges. Also anxiety over upcoming long-distance coming over long, deep relationships like childhood friends & extended families. Many theme was a Bachelorette like setup for Jasmine during summer break.

Permanent Record - by Mary HK Choi

  

First interesting thing is the cover. Its interesting first thing, not just beautiful or crafty or something. When I gave the book to my kid, to drop it in the library returns, she was captivated too. So I am not the only one. Its in plastic layers; requires more than one peek to understand it all. And then lift the jacket to see a different scenario with partial from before.

Story was captivating enough. Not jarring, exiting, provoking, instead soothing. Moves on from one drama of life to other; present in every relationship of life - parent-child, sibling, roommates, employer, celebrity, etc. Post-college age adulting & paying bills seem simple now, but in that age it is dauting. This is not talked about a lot in non-American culture. But I guess those kids could read these books to get an empathy.

Among other things, Pablo mentions many things familiar to us Indians. His dad is Pakistani, hence the connection. About Parle-G, Maggi, Mangoes (desi vs american ones) Dad endearingly calling him Babu. Authors friendship with Sabaa Tahir can explain this choice for this character.

His mom is Korean. He hasn't been to either of those countries. Now this detachment seems provocative to someone from those countries, but how pragmatic reasons there are become clearer to only someone living in this country. Its hats off to the resourcefulness of numerous Indians who maintain and visit India frequently in this age.

Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony

 

Written by Minnesota author & set in Minneapolis ! Yeah that's why I got it. Story is set in MN but the location doesn't really play any role; except to talk a little about the winter. Its set in summer, so winter doesn't feature live as well. Then there are other location important to the story - Colorado and eventually Georgia !

Story is set in modern times, so the search for bio-parent uses the modern tools of this decade - podcast, emails, social-media manipulations, viral and then good old TV show and how these tools can be useful but also be manipulated to hurt the good guys.

The Full Cupboard of Life (2004) - by Alexander McCall Smith 

5th in the series. Again a leisurely read. No mystery or crime this time. But the main characters stories move ahead & book ends with a wedding.

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

Sci-fi yes. Existing, additive - no - Based on the book blub comparing with Martian & all.

This fascinating first novel is told mostly through conversations between an unnamed interviewer and the book's other characters, along with newspaper articles, government memos, and various characters' journal entries.

Narative style is something to note. All of it is interviews or meeting discussion between the different characters and an unnamed all-powerful co-ordinator. Each chapter covers the interaction between one character and this unnamed co-ordinator. Its never a group interaction. The one characters tells the events in their own style. That moves the story forward; but culls the excitement of certain event when described by author rather than by a character. 

Hence, though the scope of the book is at epic level, its dulled away by the narration style.

I wasn't mighty-excited interested about the book. Its not the rousing kind. But gosh I was so happy to know its a trilogy and there are 2 more. I immediately ordered the next one in my local library.

Walking Giants (Themis Files, #2) by Sylvain Neuvel

2nd book in the series. Finished the first book "Sleep Giants" in June. And then the 2nd book in a weeks time. And when I looked up for the third in this series, only digital version in my local library. No book ! Oh the scandal. I need print copy to stay away from devices. That's the whole reason I got back to book reading. Phew.

Lots happens in this book as well. Remember when 8 people get killed in Sleeping Giants and guilt. Well here, one incident after other, thousand & then millions die. 2 of the very main characters are killed off too.

Mr Monk Books

Mr Monk and the Second Lieutenant

   

I finished the first book on the list & it sounded like a finale for the books. Left me head-scratching and confused for many days. Then I realized this list in reverse & started ordering them that way now.

The end of overeating - David Kessler, MD

For most of human history we survived on unadorned animal & vegetable products. Now we eat mostly optimized & potent foods that bear little resemblance to what exists in nature. 

Talks about the Sugar-Fat-Salt factor that restaurants & packaged food industry use to make people addicts. How habits cause conditioned hyper-eating. And that looking for tasty food is chemical.

Validates my frequent saying - There are millions of dollars & hours of work that goes into breaking human will & discipline. 

Enjoyable read. Small bite-sized chapters so easy to digest & get the message. And sections all tackling different topics & all progressing. Lot of revelations even for things we know or have heard before. Simple but interesting style of writing for a book packed with lot of research data.

Best followup book explaining the same concepts in a more direct Indian English is Rujuta Diwaker's "Dont Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight".

Older Reading lists: Entire Book list | 2021 (2) | 2021(1) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |

Joys of Minnesota

  When I landed in Minnesota and lived on borrowed chunks of time, I would compare stuff with India, as that was my only point of reference. With time, the novelty wore off, but these things still stuck in mind.

Library system - now this is across USA, but I will comment as a MN user.
Its unbelievable how many things are free ! Books. Magazine even. DVDs of movies & TV shows, and learning stuff too. Children's books. Do you know how expensive all of these are to buy ? And then to store books & dispose later. Big Thanks to Libraries.
Online system makes life easier. Search & order books. Stop-by the library for only a few minutes to pick it up. Return books via a slot in drive-through window. Renewal in the online-account. Late fees are just a few cents generally.

Trails - nearly every city has one. Or atleast the sidewalk system is far & wide & clean to go run.

Lakes - water & ponds everywhere. Not called "Land of 100 thousand Lakes" for nothing.

Strawberry - I am always in awe of the Strawberries. Each one being juicy, chunky and large size. 

Caribou Coffee - Now that is coffee. Its really good.
Plus this is the store I approached when I got lost driving through highways without GPS & cellphone. They let me use their landline. Those were olden days, I was new in USA and only a person in my situation can appreciate their help.

Clear Blue sky, lush greenery which pops out every spring. Winter has its share of evergreens to look at.

Winter wonderland after every snowstrom, snow shower, snow blizzard. When bare trees, fence frames and random still objects are like coated in snow. Its called hoar-frost. 

In Feb, Mar & April, there is so much snow, there is no place to shovel it. Its spilling on sidewalks & roads. We run out of place to push it in. The 2-car driveway narrows down to cycle-width.

There are a whole lot of memes that perfectly capture the living in MN experience. Especially the winter MinneSnowta. That's what the real thing is.

    

Peachy Georgia

More on Georgia after the initial experience after we moved.

Atmospheric pressure in Georgia is different from Minnesota. A pleasent surprise in the first week. Food was boiling hot in 1-minute-Microwave. Any kind of microwave; anywhere. And then the food stayed hot outside microwave. My Tea water boiled up even before I could leave the table. In MN, I could leave the kettle for boil & could enjoy a Spa visit before it started boiling. Made my tea breaks real zippy.

There are trees everywhere. Did I mention the greenery ? Trees, dense growth. 

The frequency of Landscaping/Lawnmowing vehicles in Minnesota is matched with vehicles ready to do Overgrowth management in Georgia. There was a truck with a very humorous poster; totally distracted me while driving. 

And like we talk of the weather in MN, topic of trees is the prime small talk here. Neighbors welcome the newcomers with topic of trees. "Hey welcome. Do you plan to trim your trees ? It's coming to my side." That's how ever-present trees are in Georgia. My kids told me the story of how one group of friends ate in the outside-cafe everyday and their table had a huge tree for shade in summer and rains. Suddenly the school chopped that tree down and now those school kids eat in inside cafe. So parent-kids talk about trees too.

One time we both were driving through a very dark lonely stretch of McGinness Ferry road, and it seemed unfamiliar. My kid felt so too. I could see places I had never seen before. I was worried I took a wrong turn at this time of dark night. Then we realized that acres of trees had been chopped off for the new exit to 400. That's why it looked bare and new.

More pollution than MN. Maybe its the annual Fall increase when the cold fog forms a dome & traps all smoke. Or the one where Canada wildfires throw smoke southward. It was showing 70-90 AQI while it was 30-40AQI in MN. Either way I had a terrifying weak questioning (again) why did I move ?

Plus why not ? Every kind of car exists here. All roads are always packed. And I am talking of non-highways. There are so many routes and you can survive without taking the highway. In MN , I felt like I zipped the 494 everyday.

Highways have some epics stories about rush hour traffic. Its purely crawl traffic, I have heard.

There is no chance of driving from one place to another, as the crow flies. There are no parallel or perpendicular roads. Every route is like an oval. Going from any point A to point B, is like driving the circumference of an oval or sphere. Getting out from any place involves driving around something, to get out of a place. We do see loads of people walking and there are bus in the suburbia.