My book list from first-half of the year is here. In the 2nd half of the year 2021, this is what I read.
We moved from MN to Georgia in middle of Summer. And I switched to the local library here. The new Library and their online system is same as in MN. That was great, so we could pick up from where we left off.
God bless American library system. They are a blessing for nomads like me; who can't own & store books of their own. This huge treasure house gives us freedom to read books from far & wide. Heck, it gives us freedom to try & reject books too; without the regrets that come from ownership.
Other motivation for books is the device-usage-reduction & social-media-deaddiction. Self-control, discipline etc are no use. Millions of dollars & people are working on overcoming our self-discipline every single day. The onslaught is real. So the only solution for me is - cold turkey. Which can happen by replacing it with some other activity/addiction.
Library Books are a decent replacements to phone. Especially when you don't have to worry about buying, storing, dusting, staring, moving & wondering what to do next with it. With libraries, all you need is to hear about a book or author or topic and then get sucked in by Recommendations. Like online shopping, online library system lets you put a Hold on any book & pickup when ready. Extensions are never-ending (quite literally in 2020 & FH-21).
So there, more peans to the beauty of American Libraries.
My count is almost 12 books this year. Makes me laugh about the #40in2020 & #20in2020 challenges I was tempted in the beginning. Ha ! Who got time for that ? Or emotion control for that - jumping in & out of book universe is lot tougher than TV shows.
Gold Finch by Donna Tratt
Since November 2020, I was wading through Gold Finch book by Donna Tratt. I am surprised I couldn't find any picture of it in my phone, given how long I held on to it.
It's a huge 771 page tome and I managed to finish it in June . It's wordy, but not heavy. It's heavy on the pain of the lead character. Main reason I am reading it, is to unravel the conspiracy theory that entered by mind, while watching the movie. I want to decode if it's true & if alluded to, even if subtle in the book.
The book is nearly only about grief. It's explained in many words and turns over the reoccurrence of that grief in different phases of life over & over & over. About grief without manipulating tears. Page 476 has lots of profound thoughts squeezed into it. A variant summary of my revelation - every thing we do here is to pass our time on the blue rock as it's quite a wait.
Book moved through so many worlds - museum, cold New York, hot Las Vegas, furniture antiques, underworld and Europe. It had more satisfying ending than that shown in the movie.
Gold Diggers (2021) by Sanjena Santhian
My review of this book was turning lengthy. So I published it in separate post here.
Tintin - In The Land Of The Soviets
1st Book in Tintin series and I read it for the first time. Was a usual fun plot & situation-wise and smart-alec dialogues. But not sophisticated or refined like other books.
Many plots points were used in later books, in elaborate & refined manner. I love this about the creative process. When an author reuses his plot points in future books. When music director reuses tunes form his bank. When a old movie or song is remade or recreated in a new decade or century.
Tintin in America
Yet another Tintin I read for the first time. And I think I don't own it in my collection. And this kind of edition, medium sized, single story one, had other additions. First few pages with single page drawing of a character, with description & background on next page. For all characters. After the story ended, last many pages filled with real-life parallel events & people info; with more of Herge drawing.
Those Delicious Letters (2020) - by Sandeepa Datta Mukherjee
Very fun read. The main story showcases life events & daily schedules of middle-class suburban NRI family. Something not shown in the Bollywood movies or pubbing partying showcases. And the plot involves events & suspense. Food ties it all. Recipe for each chapter as a bonus.
Grunt - by Mary Roach
Mary Roach is my favorite writer for past few years. Her humor is the wicked funny one. She is wicked clever describing people and coming back at someone's idiosyncrasies. Her non-fiction science books are more fun to read than any of the other author fiction created in the past many decades.
Chapter on sweat was epic. In page 189, I was hunting for the Like button, for Kini's comment on sweating. Doris Miller footnote took me on a wiki rabbit-hole. Wow.
Chapter on Diarrhea made me stop my fav songs playing on phone. I didn't want to mix the two images together.
Every chapter has a cliff-hanger ending, with an element peek at the next chapter. It also ends with demanding respect for the people she made sporty-fun of, through the chapter & justifying the need for the research she made nudge-wink fun of.
Most traumatizing chapter was the submarine/underwater one.
Mr Monk ... books
Read 3 of the books. These are great when the TV show episodes are not enough to fill. At first I felt like it was a drag; when compared to a TV show obviously, because they describe everything about the scene. Soon I gave in to speed reading, by ignoring dragging details of location or people descriptions. Focused more on the dialog said by each character. That solved it.
Mr Monk novels are set after the show ended. All the show characters are there & talk exactly like in the show. Few new characters as well. There are 3-4 mysteries in each book & they get reslved around the same time in the last quarter of the book. There are some typos & some mis-naming; but overall interesting books.
Suduku
In other news, I finished 2 Suduku books - the regular Dollar-store variety; each with 76 Sudukos. Just another step towards device-deaddiction.
Older Reading lists: Entire Book list | 2021 (2) | 2021(1) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
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