My Recent Reads: January-May 2022
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I tell myself every time that I won’t let a good six months pass by before the next Recent Reads, but here we are again! I hope you view this as meaty rather than delayed. 😅 Going down the page, there are some all-time faves in here along with some veryyy mediocre titles, so I suspect you’ll have an easy time picking titles for your TBR list. 💗
Given when this post is getting published, here in the US, it’s an odd time to be indulging in hobbies and pleasures and I want to extend a digital hug to you if you could use one. It’s been bad political news every single day lately, but the overturning of Roe v Wade on Friday close on the heels of the expansion of gun rights on Thursday felt to me personally like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m processing this season as one of seesawing freedoms - increasing freedoms of good health, socializing, travel with the pandemic under control, decreasing freedoms of bodily choice, safety, security c/o the regressive laws going into effect. I treasure what I have, I mourn what I’ve lost. I add it to the constantly growing list of climate catastrophes around the world including in my homeland of India, growing religious intolerance everywhere including in my homeland of India, real actual Wars. And most of all, I try really hard to hold back despair for the world we’re handing to future generations.
Next week, I’ll make the energy and find the drive for the necessary & important actions that need doing. But this weekend, I’m going to be feeling all the feels, and tell you that you’re not alone if you’re doing that too. ❤️
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
I’d heard of Franzen’s talent for multilayered contemporary stories, so when this title made a lot of the 2021 Best of lists, I gave it a go. A pastor’s family’s coming of age against the backdrop of the War in Vietnam, the characters have stronger voices than most, and I very much appreciated the organic relationship that each developed with religion, society and their role in it.
2. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
So many seemed to agree with me when I said this on Instagram, but don’t Liane Moriarty’s books in recent years have the distinct quality of being written for the screen? It may be fun to watch a tennis family volley strikes at each other, not for sport, in a well-produced tv show, but it fell flat for me in the novel’s pages. A decent twist in the plot got me through it, though!
3. His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
This was a book that I quickly and easily read, but then after wondered how because it seemed immediately forgetabble? Afi is a small-town Ghana girl who moves to big city Accra upon marriage, when it turns out that her husband is in love with someone else. Afi’s journey to independence is a feel-good story, but the book overall left me bored by the end.
4. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My first Ishiguro and well, I’m not entirely sold. I found the premise of a post-AI futuristic world fascinating, and did enjoy Klara’s rational perspective on topics with emotional, inherently human sub-text like love and friendship. However, the book felt like a drag to me, with the positive takeaways not being worth the slow burn.
5. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Keller
This hit hard, oof. The plot seems like nothing unfamiliar- childhood sweethearts finding each other as adults risking responsibilities and commitments, will they or won’t they make it? And yet, the poetic, lush narration had me enthralled so much so that I binge read it! Love how its structured on alternate timelines, the full-bodied characters. Trigger warning: sexual assualt, adultery.
6. Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi
The synopsis says that sisters June and Jayne have a broken relationship and that a difficult medical diagnosis tests them. But this book is soo much more than that, drawing raw, authentic, honest portrayals of the Gen-Z asian american experience and the effects of childhood trauma, self-image, eating disorders on adult life. Rough reading in several parts, but I came away with an appreciation for experiences that I only slightly can relate to.
7. We are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
I love a good family drama, as evidenced by my previous glowing recommendations of Ann Patchett and the like. This one doesn’t quite muster the same strength, but is a pretty solid story nonetheless. Quick, easy, and relatable like all family struggles are- makes for a good summer read!
8. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Ooh this one did it’s job, and well. 🔥 Another tale of teenage love lost, with a satisfying fast tempo that had me cheering out loud by the end! Darker than a rom-com, so be prepared for some grisly bits in there. And oh, it is steamy like a good rom-com should be. 😉
9. You had me at Hola by Alexis Daria
So much fun! Inspired by the classic Spanish telenovelas, there’s drama galore in this refreshing hispanic rom-com! As you’ll see going down this list, there are a fair number of rom-coms and all of them good, too. I don’t know if it’s the pandemic ending, the good weather coming back, but I’ve been in the mood for looove. 🥰
10. The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish
A decent thriller if you’re looking for one! Before you think it’s another train-themed whodunnit, the passengers here are of a boat. ⛴ The fishy business of said passengers, though, is common between both. 😄
11. Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe
The first of two non-fiction titles on the list, and both really good! I’m as fascinated with stories of the Gilded Age as the next Bridgerton fan, and this biography-meets-memoir describes the ups and downs of a real-life dynasty from those times- the Vanderbilts. I will never look at two things I see all the time the same again- Costco’s Gloria Vanderbilt denim and Anderson Cooper. 😯
12. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Dare I say it already- a 2022 favorite?! I could not stop once I started. 💯 An epic story involving multiple timelines and characters, but at the heart of it is Marion- a pioneering figure in female aviation who disappears towards the end of her circumnavigation of the Earth in 1950. Prepare ahead for the 600 pages, but know that you’ll be well rewarded!
13. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
A collection of personal essays on the most diverse of random topics- the Canadian Geese, sunsets, Indianapolis. 😅 Given that John Greene is also the author of The Fault in our Stars, expect much cheesiness and many positive moral spins on otherwise immoral subjects. A fun filler to insert between heavier reads!
14. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
I was expecting a riveting story based on the premise of an interpreter at The Hague who goes through turmoil in her professional life translating for a politician accused of war crimes, and in her personal life due to several unstable relationships. The execution fell entirely flat on me, to the point where I read reviews after and wondered if it was the same book. I’d pass in hindsight.
15. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Absolutely brilliant! If there’s one book I’d recommend from this issue of Recent Reads, it’s this. As a historical lit fic fan, I’ll take a Matrix, a Daisy Jones, a Great Circle, a Love Songs of WEB Du Bois any.👏 day.👏 This book has a new GOAT heroine in the genre for me in Agnes, whose 11 y/o son Hamnet dies of the plague in 1596 and husband William Shakespeare writes Hamlet soon after. Trust me and READ IT. ❤️
16. Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
When an Instagram friend recommended a South Asian rom-com series, I had to jump on it! Add Jane-Austen inspired and Bollywod-esque to that and I’ll read two of the four titles straight in a row. 🥳 Super fun, perfect summer vacay read that made me nostalgic for my teenage self in India idolizing my favorite Austen heroines!
17. Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev
Even better than the first book in the series, in that Dev somehow manages to weave in complex, dark social themes into an airy rom-com. It’s a tale of personal growth for the main protagonist as much as it is a love story. Trigger warning- sexual assault, substance abuse, suicide.
18. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
I adore Amor Towles’s writing, and find the humor-coated wisdom in his stories to be John Steinbeck-y in the best way- A Gentleman in Moscow is a forever fond favorite! I’d been eagerly waiting this next release- a 1950s Americana tale of 2 young brothers driving cross-country on the Lincoln Highway for a fresh start. But the execution fell flat on me with its meandering friend-focused plot, and irrational character POVs. Requires reading with patience.😬
Any faves or fails of your own on the list? Drop me a comment. 🤗
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful weekend ahead!
XO Sushmitha :)
