{"id":87,"date":"2020-02-10T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/\/?p=87"},"modified":"2021-08-15T06:56:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T06:56:29","slug":"january-reads-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=87","title":{"rendered":"January Reads!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hi Readers! How are you all? How has the first month of 2020 treated you?<\/span><\/p>\n
Well, for me, I\u2019m already kind of beat. I sure started the year with a LOT<\/span><\/b> <\/span>of goals, what with the 20 Things to do in 2020<\/a>, 52 Books in 52 Weeks<\/a> & the Habit Tracker<\/a><\/b>! All these things are making me exhausted instead of improving me. So, one month in, I have already made some changes in the 20 Things<\/span><\/b>. As for the Reading Challenge, I am on track, having read 5 books already! In this post, I\u2019m going to write mini reviews of the FOUR BOOKS<\/span><\/b> <\/span>I read in January!<\/span><\/div>\n

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~~SHOUT BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON~~<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
This book of poems ‘ SHOUT won the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2019 for the best poetry<\/span><\/b> <\/span>book. This is why I wanted to read it. Having read this, I have also crossed off the \u2018Poetry\u2019 book from the Challenge<\/span><\/b>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads describes it as \u201cA searing poetic memoir and call to action from the bestselling and award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson!\u201d<\/i> It is quite inspiring & I loved a few parts of it. But, for a 304 paged poetry book, it is a lot repetitive. Some of the parts are just glorified in the name of poetry & do not make much sense. At least, they didn\u2019t make much sense to a seasoned reader like me. The book has its highlights & also its low points. I felt that some poems could be easily skipped making it a shorter & better 200-page book.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads Rating: 4<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
My Rating: 3<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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~~NOTHING VENTURED BY JEFFREY ARCHER~~<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
I had never read anything by Jeffrey Archer before reading this one. But, I\u2019m glad I started with Nothing Ventured, because I\u2019m sure the author must have better-written books than this one. By reading this book, I have checked the \u2018Crime\u2019 book from the Challenge.<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cNothing Ventured is not a detective story. It is the story of the making of a detective.\u201d<\/span><\/i> This was what lured me into reading it. But, I didn\u2019t find it vastly different from other detective stories. The only thing is that the personal detective story is about 10% more than in usual crime & thriller novels. The story revolves around Detective William Warwick<\/span><\/b> <\/span>as he joins the Police Force. It shows a number of cases he works on. This is what impressed me the most. One story line but multiple case stories within it. Sometimes you get confused as to which case is being solved. But, that\u2019s what I liked about it. Having said that, the cases shown in the book are quite generic & won\u2019t have you at the edge of your seat<\/span><\/b>. It is quite possible to predict the ending & doesn\u2019t leave much scope for shocks. But, because I like Jeffrey Archer\u2019s writing style, I am going to read his most popular book – Kane & Abel<\/span><\/b>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads Rating: 4<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
My Rating: 3<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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~~KAFKA ON THE SHORE BY HARUKI MURAKAMI~~<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
I\u2019m sure most of you know about my love\/hate reader relationship when it comes to Murakami books. I either end up totally hating them or absolutely loving them. Kafka on the Shore is among the latter. The most distinctive aspect about Murakami\u2019s writing is how there is always extremely weird things happening in the universe of the book. <\/span><\/b>Like in this book & also in A Wild Sheep Chase. Maybe this is the reason I wasn\u2019t fond of Norwegian Wood. With Kafka on the Shore, I have ticked the \u2018A Book translated to English\u2019 from my Challenge<\/span><\/b>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Kafka on the Shore follows 2 parallel stories; one side of Nakata<\/span><\/b> <\/span>which has all the weird things & dumb conversations & on the other hand that of Kafka<\/span><\/b> <\/span>with the intellectual discussions. This way there is always a balance for the reader; not too weird & not too heavy. This book has things like people being able to talk to cats, fish & mackerel & leeches falling from the sky, ghost or soul of a living person floating around, a concept that can take the shape of any human being, unaged soldiers from WWII hidden in the forest & so on. This is written in the book\u2019s description which was the clear reason it drew me to read it. And, I ENJOYED<\/span><\/b> <\/span>reading this book. There are just SO MANY<\/span><\/b> <\/span>unusual things in it that it\u2019s impossible to guess the ending. It leaves a lot to the readers\u2019 imagination & it can make you come up with multiple unreal scenarios in your head about what will happen<\/span><\/b>. This is another thing I loved. Along with all the weirdness, there are also a lot of METAPHORS<\/span><\/b> <\/span>which also makes the novel thought-provoking. The book has it all & it was an absolute delight to finally read it!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads Rating: 4<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
My Rating: 4.5<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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~~SUCH A FUN AGE BY KILEY REID~~<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Such a Fun Age is one of the most talked-about books that I know of. It also the author\u2019s debut novel<\/span><\/b> which is also a Reese Book Club pick. I read thing only because I wanted to tick the \u2018Recommended by Reese\u2019s Book Club\u2019 from my Challenge<\/span><\/b>. Obviously, this is going to be the LAST<\/span><\/b> <\/span>book that I will have picked from Reese\u2019s recommendations, because like almost all her recommendations, I didn\u2019t like it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads describes it as \u201cA big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.\u201d<\/i> What I thought would be a light read turned out to be a book with a lot of meaning between the lines. It\u2019s just that that meaning could\u2019ve been better written throughout the novel. It misses something which I can\u2019t quite put a finger on, but yes, it feels incomplete.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Goodreads Rating: 4<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
My Rating: 3<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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In February, I read Mitch Alboom\u2019s \u2018Tuesdays with Morrie\u2019<\/span><\/b> <\/span>which was easily the best thing I have read this year. I may write a post with all the life-lessons from it & make it the most optimistic thing you read on my blog! Stay tuned!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Until next time,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Readers! How are you all? How has the first month of 2020 treated you? Well, for me, I\u2019m already kind of beat. I sure started the year with a LOT of goals, what with the 20 Things to do in 2020, 52 Books in 52 Weeks & the Habit Tracker! All these things are making me exhausted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,3],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-mindscape-reviews","tag-haruki-murakami"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=89","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":0},"title":"2020 Reading Challenge: 52 Books in 52 Weeks!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"January 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers!You all know how much of a planner I am. You can clearly see that from the 20 Things to do in 2020 post. While I am always organized in most matters, there is one important area where I am haphazard. And that, dear readers, is shockingly READING! I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-wWvI_BMSOrU\/WbTkGjlRdJI\/AAAAAAAAdvY\/6yyPr5o3uygLBglyrrIldaTX1hLJrK9HACPcBGAYYCw\/s200\/sign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=56","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":1},"title":"Update on my Reading Challenge!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"July 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! Now that we are more than halfway done with 2020, I thought of updating you guys with my Reading Challenge. Here is the main first post if you want to download the image! As you know I had prepared a challenge of reading 52 Books in 52 Weeks&\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-fR8Atp9hn9k\/Wbg8tczARCI\/AAAAAAAAdy4\/x4OhWVMk_WALzEgQhnySQSThzqqcDPUrwCPcBGAYYCw\/w200-h176\/sign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":55,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=55","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":2},"title":"Top of My TBR!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"July 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! July is officially my Reading Slump Month. I did everything I could to get out of it, but the more I try, the worse it gets. So, now I have finally given up. I have read ONLY TWO BOOKS so far this month, which is really low compared\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-e9xnkrf7z1M\/Xw6uO5UB3qI\/AAAAAAAAjeA\/n88Clk_HJFYzChXv7y6z5DkX1XWuwec8gCLcBGAsYHQ\/w480-h640\/IMG_20200712_233821-01-01.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=26","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":3},"title":"Books I Read in 2020 – Year in Review (Part 2)","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"December 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Readers! As much as I love blogging about literally anything, I also love blogging about these year-end review posts! Have you checked out the first one? So, this is the second post reviewing the books I read this year! It\u2019s going to be a little different, because why not?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Post2B22BHeader2Bedit-2.png?fit=410%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":73,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=73","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":4},"title":"April Reads! (Mindscape Reviews)","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"May 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Readers! You need to make up your mind now, because all of my posts this year are going to be book posts. For 2020, I had only 2 travel plans anyway, but now obviously it\u2019s not possible. So, just putting it out there\u2026 Books! In April, I read 5\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-VSipRCcVevU\/Xq5iAaTAC-I\/AAAAAAAAivc\/K6InnCyQs1gS0bOosFD1oj9dWYEOn7JmwCLcBGAsYHQ\/s640\/PicsArt_05-03-01.53.36-01.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=95","url_meta":{"origin":87,"position":5},"title":"2019 Year in Review!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"December 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers!I know it has been a while. More than a month! It\u2019s not that I had been super busy or anything, it\u2019s just that I did not have anything to say. But now that the year AND THE DECADE is about to end, I sure have a lot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pMtW8GxMMs0\/XgIraHvJdjI\/AAAAAAAAiXI\/FmRAcuEnuRgNZVuhDpPuTIoQkTqg4Fg7wCLcBGAsYHQ\/s640\/IMG_20191027_204242-01.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1414,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/1414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}