My Recent Reads: January-May 2021
/It’s admittedly been a slow reading season since the new year began, what with life changes a-plenty taking up mindshare a-plenty. The pandemic got better, we bought our first home, we traveled to India and back, the pandemic got worse in India, we moved into our new home and now we live in the weird in-between of being happy for ourselves and anxious for our country and people. Is there a word for this dichotomous reality? There must be, if so many of us are living it. If you can relate to what I’m struggling to describe, please accept my virtual hug and love. 💕 There’s still a ways to go before India and so many more parts of the world can rest easy, so if you’ve crossed the bridge to the safe side, I encourage you to contribute to COVID-19 relief efforts elsewhere monetarily or any which way you’re able.
About ten minutes of reading at night has been all I can manage before my eyelids get heavy these days, but as any book lover will tell you, it’s ten minutes of my day that I look forward to. This batch of books has been a mixed bag as I tried stepping out of my comfort zone with a few titles, but regardless and as always, I hope it adds a few to your own reading list.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
You’ll see that we have a thriller heavy list this time around, but if you had to choose one from them all, choose this one. A psychological thriller with twists galore, it had me riveted from start to finish. It had been a long time since I’d stayed up late binge reading and my, had I missed it! Pretty sure my husband differs in opinion given the frequent gasps interrupting his dream state, but such is life when the spouse is lost to a good whodunnit.🤷🏽♀️
2. The Searcher by Tana French
Hmmm, this book. I’d read good reviews of Tana French’s particular style of suspense building and after my first experience of it, I’m not sure it’s for me. A very slow and deliberate building of characters and plot, which I didn’t mind so much at first as I was enjoying being immersed in her construction of a bucolic rural Irish landscape. But there’s only so much picturesque farmland & lengthy Irish English banter one can stand before the crime needs solving, and that’s why I had to skip some chapters.🙈
3. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Second favorite thriller on this roster! Anyone else read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Was One and never get over it? Well, if so, this one’s same same but different. A marooned island, inclement weather and a wedding party chockfull of shady characters- what’s not to love? 🙊 Fast paced and perfect if you’re looking to forget about your peaceful life for a hot minute!
4. The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley
I chose this title after a favorite Instagram influencer recommended it for lovers of fashion, but little did I know that I was about to be served a sartorial secrets platter! As the pioneering Black fashion editor of elite establishments such as Vogue, Talley writes a memoir that is a brutally honest recount of his professional and personal life journey. It also often reads as a tell-all, spilling scandalous details about high fashion’s who’s who. Read at your own googling risk. 😬
5. Missionaries by Phil Klay
Can’t make up my mind about this one. 😐I found it too complicated for nighttime reading, perhaps because I’m not an avid consumer of global political warfare but also perhaps because interconnected multi-national conflicts are just, well, complicated. Perhaps in a less heavy time, I could give it more mindshare and appreciate it, but for now, please make it as a movie for us peasants?
6. Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
Second of three memoirs on the list- can you tell it’s been an introspective season? Natasha Trethewey’s life story is an insane and unrelatable one, except she writes about it in a way that makes it be not so. Bravely writing about the events that led to the violent murder of her mother by her stepfather, she at once pays homage to a deceased parent and honestly recounts the choices that led to her tragic loss. ❤️
7. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
I picked this book just as news of crimes against the AAPI community gained traction earlier this year, and it’s since grown essential in my mind that Charles Yu’s creative presentation of Asian stereotypes be included in everyone’s reading lists. The script-style writing takes some getting used to, but give it time and you’ll come to enjoy the clever way in which our Asian American friends’ painful history and experiences are revealed to us.
8. Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan
Is it possible to like a book but very much dislike the characters? Asking for a friend. 🤔 Elizabeth and Sam are two women separated by age, class & points of view and Sullivan uses their friendship to have us deliberate on these differences. Although I found both characters flawed and selfish, I did enjoy the book for its nuanced character building and real worldly premise. I’ll leave it at this- it would make for a spirited book club pick!
9. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
I have SUCH affection for this book.💗 The migrant experience that is very much my own life story has very particular highs and lows. Never before, though, have I seen it committed to paper so sincerely as in Engel’s book. A poignant tale of a Columbian family’s quest for a better life in the States, it made me smile and cry and nod vigorously often. If you’ve ever felt a complicated sense of belonging, you will relate to these characters!
10. All Adults Here by Emma Straub
It was… fine. Small town happenings, a somewhat dysfunctional family, mildly exciting character arcs. Oh well, it made for light reading when I needed it!
11. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Loved! My interest was lukewarm at best for a good quarter of the book as Backman carried on at a witty but slow pace. Along the way, though, the plot got layered and the characters grew nuanced and their individual story arcs wove together into the fabric that we call society. If you appreciate a digestible humor-filled packaging to serious issues, run don’t walk to grab this one.
12. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
After putting it off for the longest time, I finally made myself sit down with this. The memoir of the survivor of the infamous 2015 Stanford sexual assault, Chanel Miller’s journey from victim to survivor is raw, honest and so powerful. Often difficult to read because of the honesty, she confronts so many systemic and societal structures that disable victims rather than enable. Trigger warning: sexual assault, suicide, mental health issues.
And that’s it! Have you read any of these, tell me so we can discuss. :)
Thank you for reading, have a good week ahead and please stay safe & well!
XO Sushmitha :)
