Books Read in April 2022!

Posted On April 30, 2022

Hi Readers! Another end of another month calls for another roundup post! I managed to read EIGHT BOOKS across 2785 PAGES! Luckily, this month I loved most of the books I read, which is 5 out of 8! Also, 5 out of 8 were digital. I really need to read books from my physical 5 feet pile of TBR instead of always conveniently choosing e-books. I also read 3 out of the 5 books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.

From all of these, I have written reviews for only 4 books. I may write for 2 more, but no idea when. Great Circle was my best read of the year so far, but I am yet to form all my thoughts on it before writing a review. Unfortunately, I read 6 books after Great Circle. So, forget about forming thoughts, I have already forgotten the story. But, anyway, check out the mini reviews for these 8 books!

~~THUMBS UP~~

~~Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead~~

Great Circle is an incredibly written book about the story of Marian Graves who aspires to be a pilot. What drove me to appreciate the book was the beautiful writing, distinctive characterization between the two story lines of Marian & Hadley, slow, detailed & impressive story lines & finally bits & pieces of thought-provoking prose spread out over the 600 pages. This book achieves to be feministic, among many other things. We see the passion of a girl to be a pilot in the early 1900s in a male dominated industry. We see her exploring of her sexuality & her body. And, most importantly, over a period, we see her redefining the society-given role of a ‘wife’, ‘mother’ & ‘woman’. This content though subtle, was incredibly powerful to read. This book is a lot of things. It reminded me of the most heart-warming show that exists today ‘This is Us’ & also of another beloved book ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’. I have rated Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead at 5/5 stars!

~~Factfulness by Hans Rosling~~

Factfulness is a book written by Hans Rosling, along with his son Ola Rosling & daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund. As the name suggests, everything in this book is based on facts & data from years’ of research. This trio tell us why the world is a lot better than we think. Us humans have an OVERDRAMATIC WORLDVIEW according to the authors. The things we think are worse are not actually worse right now in the 21st century. Not only do we have very old facts hardwired in our brains, but we also choose to stick to those 30/40-year-old facts. This is mainly why we have this overdramatic worldview where we always think things are worse. I think this book should be mandatory reading for everyone. I have rated Factfulness by Hand Rosling at 5/5 stars!

Check out the full review here!

~~Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung~~

Gory. Gross. Filthy. Savage. Horrific. Repulsive.

These are the adjectives I have seen which are used to describe Cursed Bunny. I don’t disagree. But, neither do I agree completely. Is it really possible to sum up a collection of ten short stories which are genre-defying? Would you use the same adjective for a magical realism story as you would for a fantasy or science fiction story? You wouldn’t. Yet, I have seen so many reviews using these adjectives. The irony is that these adjectives are the ones which caught my interest & finally made me read the book. Cursed Bunny is a lot of things. It is inspired. It is sarcastically poignant. It is whimsically brilliant. It is simplistically brave. It is shyly monstrous. It is horrifically fantastical. It is naïvely gory. It is hauntingly revelatory. This collection of 10 short stories was quite a different book than the ones I usually read. This is why I absolutely loved it. I have rated Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung at 4/5 stars!

Check out the full review here!

~~Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro~~

Never have I read a book which I thought was a mystery, but ended up being literary fiction, and actually loved it. When I read the blurb, all it talked about was a suicide committed by a daughter & her mother was sure there was foul play. This was the premise, yes, but the book is so much more than that. It talks about how moment to moment, life becomes a struggle for a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease. It talks about women’s right to their own bodies. Their right to have a child & their right to have an abortion. On the downlow, it also explores the intricacies of a relationship between mother and daughter. Between mere 143 pages, it speaks volumes. I rated Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro at 4/5 stars!

~~How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee~~

I am certainly going to write a detailed review on this book, but for now, here is what I can say. How We Disappeared is a historical fiction novel set in Singapore during WWII. The focus of the novel is to showcase the lives of young women who were taken hostage during the Japanese occupation in Singapore & taken to ‘comfort houses’. This essentially means that they had to work as sex workers against their wills for several years. There are two story lines in the book that connect later in the novel leaving you in awe. Every time I read a HiFi novel, I understand how the lives of people were in different countries, such as in Pachinko, The Mountains Sing, The Nightingale, The Storyteller, The Rose Code & so on. With this book, I also got an insight into Singapore. While this novel was traumatic, it did lack certain something to make it enigmatically impactful, like in the other books. I have rated How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee at 4/5 stars.

~~Heaven by Meiko Kawakami~~

After loving two shortlisted books for the International Booker Prize, I decided to read a third; Heaven by Meiko Kawakami. I have been reading Japanese literature for a while now. And, I am aware of some weirdness attached to it. In this book, the highlight is bullying. Our two main characters, a girl and a boy are bullied by their school mates. They strike an unconventional bond because of this. Heaven reminded me of Normal People by Sally Rooney. The conversations, the themes & the emotional chemistry between characters were similar in both & are not the kind which I enjoy in books. There is a conversation between the main male character & one of the bully. I felt that that conversation was supposed to be one of the highlights of the book, it I felt it was quite vague & meaningless. Anyway, I have rated Heave by Meiko Kawakami at 3/5 stars.

~~THUMBS DOWN~~

~~Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano~~

I had enjoyed Finlay Donovan is Killing It. I loved how it was an unpredictable & offbeat mystery. In contrast, its sequel was entirely underwhelming. Be it the plot, characters, mystery or any other thing. None of it worked for me in this book. The characters which I enjoyed so much felt drab & dull. The story in this one, though continued, felt forced & lacked blood & murders. The ending was the worst of all. I rated Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead at 2/5 stars!

Check out the full review here!

~~Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr~~

Cloud Cuckoo Land tries its best to be phenomenal, but fails on several counts. The excessiveness of it, whether in terms of characters or story lines or connectedness or the narration, is simply overreaching to a place that does not exist. It was tedious to read this book which led me to have a poor reading experience. I had loved Anthony Doerr’s writing in ‘All the Light We Cannot See’. So, naturally, I had high expectations. But, the spark, charm, wit & humor in that book is entirely missing in this one. I have rated Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr’s at 2/5 stars.

Check out the full review here!

~~APRIL READING STATS~~

So that is all for April! It was a great month reading-wise. Other than books, I also met my friends a few times, had great chats & laughs with great food & drink. I also met my family & relatives which was refreshing. I watched the final season of Killing Eve, which was such a disappointment. I am watching This is Us finale season, which brings me to tears every time. The heat here in Mumbai is horrible, but like everyone else, I am going through it by talking & cursing about it all the time! Tell me about your April!

Until next time,