Love, Life, & Beyond

This month’s books were dictated by my Book Clubs and the book readings I attended. And, although this is the month of Love, the books on my list would not be found in the romance section.

On a side note, I am so glad there is a visible push to read again. Even if it is just to show off on socials, at least people are buying books! For years, I struggled to find a good book club. Most of them focused on self-improvement (honestly, how much can you improve?). My sister and I had started our own book discussion club (Book Clubbing) for a few months last year, which is now paused due to her travels.

Now, I’m happily part of three different groups. The Lit People in Hyderabad meets once a month to discuss the book of the month and to socialise or attend author events.

I got to know about the Buk Buk Reading Club (BBRC) by happy serendipity. I met Amita at an author meet and she invited me to join the group comprising her family and friends.

This month, I also joined the online Tweak India Book Club hosted by Twinkle Khanna, and my son joined their kids’ chapter. It’s a great initiative to have readers interact with authors and get more insight into the book.

Here’s to some great reading through the year!

Blood Caste by Shylashri Shankar

I heard of this book because Penguin had arranged for an author meet in Hyderabad, and it was also available for free to hear for Audible subscribers. First in the Murder in the Deccan series, this is an interesting one. 

Set in 1895 Colonial Era Hyderabad, it is filled with references to local spots and culture. Chief Inspector Soobramania finds three mutilated bodies in one day, bearing a resemblance to the Jack the Ripper murders in England. Soob, “that Brahmin Inspector”, and British Inspector Wilberforce must work together in their own jurisdictions to find the killer before more bodies turn up. The story is interesting, and picks up pace toward the end. I don’t know why Soop had to be referred to by his caste so frequently, though.

The author gave us some interesting insights into her process (writing everything longhand), all the research, and some history. It’ll be interesting to see where the story leads in the next book. She also gave a peek into how to write and how the publishing industry works, and some of her current favourite reads. It was a lovely interaction.

“If he’d asked his grandmother to feed the boy, she would have. There would’ve been vegetarian fare. Soob was convinced they would set aside their caste dictates for someone who had rescued their beloved grandson. A thought occurred, “If they can do it, go against their convictions, why can’t you?”

• Verdict: Read
• Genre: Historical Fiction, Suspense
• Format: Audible Audiobook
• Listening Time: 11h 23m
• Narrated by: Selva Rasalingam
• Performance Rating: 4/5
• Country: India
• About: Shylashri Shankar is an award-winning author, researcher, food historian, and political scientist. Her PhD from Columbia University focused on how judges and parliamentarians tackle conflicts over religious freedom. Her non-fiction book, Turmeric Nation: A Passage Through India’s Tastes, received the AutHer Award for best nonfiction in 2021. Her debut novel, Blood Caste, won the 2022 Spotlight First Novel Award and was also longlisted for the 2022 CWA Debut Dagger. 

What Can We Know by Ian McEwan

This was the Lit People Book Club pick of the month. Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know is probably not something I would have picked up unless it was specifically recommended to me. I started this book as an Audible, but I felt drowned in the words. Then I switched to reading it, and it changed my perception completely. 

This story is set a century from now in a climate-ravaged, technologically regressed future. We follow Thomas Metcalfe, who is a writer and researcher studying the late 90s and early 2000s. He is searching for a particular poem mentioned in essays and journals of the time that is supposed to be brilliant in content and technique. 

There are many interesting threads in the story: Climate change, the rise of AI, the unpaid labour of women, a bit of suspense, and survival. It took me a while to get into the flow of the actual storyline because I got swept up in the descriptions of the new world, the old world seen through the eyes of the future, the characters, and the actual events. 

Part 1 is the build-up and Part 2 of the book is where the story happens. If you feel like giving up early, please hold on. It will be worth it. Read my full Book Review of What We Can Know.

“A nation is so large and full of things and ideas that it takes a lot of determined folly to ruin it all. So with the planet. We wrecked much of it, but not everything….Each time we fail, or calamities overwhelm us, we will come back from a slightly higher place. Rising and falling, we would continue to scrape through. Like one of nature’s rhythms, spring and autumn, when the earth breathes in then exhales carbon dioxide.”

• Verdict: Read at leisure 
• Genre: Sci-Fi, Suspense
• Format: Audible Audiobook but changed to e-book
• Listening Time: 11h 23m
• Narrated by: David Rintoul, Rahel Bavidge
• Performance Rating: 4/5
• Country: UK
• About: Ian McEwan is a British author. He is a prolific writer and to mention all his works would take up a whole blog post. He’s won a host of literary awards. He has also been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received multiple awards and was even made into a movie. He was awarded a CBE in 2000. His articles, essays, and talks on various topics such as politics, science, and literature are widely referenced.

Half Light by Mahesh Rao

This was the Tweak Book Club book of the month. It is a coming of age queer love story, but not quite!

The title is a reference to how the queer community (especially in India) does not get to live fully in the light, and has to exist partly in shadows. The book starts off in an idyllic location in the misty mountains of Darjeeling. Two young men, Neville and Pavan, barely adults, discover their sexuality hidden from the world. Then they part ways. They move on with their lives and suddenly their paths cross again in the bustling city of Mumbai. 

Each of them experiences the world differently; Neville with privilege and Pavan with fear. Neville is impetuous like a child and entitled because of his financial status. He makes mistakes, but hopefully he learns from them.

Whereas, Pavan has no choice but to be guarded about his sexual orientation. He cannot afford to offend and lose his job. But the one time he does give in, results in some drastic consequences. Will he allow himself to find love again? 

When secrets threaten to come to light, both men have different reactions to the consequences. Mahesh writes these characters with lots of honesty where you can feel their emotions as they go through them. The author interaction arranged by the book club was also engrossing.

“They were still strangers to each other but enough had been laid bare for it to be called a small kind of friendship.”

• Verdict: Read
• Genre: Fiction, Queer Literature
• Format: E Book
• Pages: 286
• Country: India
• About: Mahesh Rao was born and grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. In the UK he has worked as a lawyer, academic researcher and bookseller. His short fiction has been shortlisted for various awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Prospect, Conde Nast Traveller, The Baffler, Prairie Schooner, Caravan and Elle. His debut novel, ‘The Smoke Is Rising’, won the Tata First Book Award for fiction and was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Crossword Prize. Mahesh is also a mentor for South Asia Speaks, a mentorship programme dedicated to nurturing new literary voices across South Asia.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

This book was selected for reading for the BBRC. I had heard a lot about the movie based on the book as it has been nominated for the Oscars. I knew it had something to do with Shakespeare and his wife, and how he came to write Hamlet. I was not prepared for what this book is actually about.

I will start by saying the book is pure fiction, although the author has done her research about the life and times of the people involved. The book is about loss and the grief that follows. It starts off gently with Agnes falling in love and marrying the son of a glove maker. After they have three kids, he moves to London for a career, and the rest stay behind.

When one of the kids is taken away from them, we grieve with the family. The book describes how Agnes deals with the torment of having a child snatched from her. As a parent, it is difficult to read at times. I could feel her pain when she described how she is constantly searching for him, expecting to meet him around the corner. I loved how Susanna consoles Judith when she says she fears her father doesn’t want to see her face because it reminds him of the twin.

The imagery through the book flows like poetry and takes you exactly where the author wants you to be. Like this para that describes an empty house: Just the creaking of beams expanding gently in the sun, the sigh of air passing under doors, between rooms, the swish of linen drapes, the crack of the fire, the indefinable noise of a house at rest, empty.

A beautifully written book that will make you feel everything.

“What is given may be taken away, at any time. Cruelty and devastation wait for you around corners, inside coffers, behind doors: they can leap out at you at any time, like a thief or brigand. The trick is never to let down your guard. Never think you are safe. Never take for granted that your children’s hearts beat, that they sup milk, that they draw breath, that they walk and speak and smile and argue and play. Never for a moment forget they may be gone, snatched from you, in the blink of an eye, borne away from you like thistledown.”

• Verdict: Must Read
• Genre: Fiction
• Format: E book
• Pages: 265
• Country: Ireland / UK
• About: Maggie O’Farrell was born in Northern Ireland. She is a British author of contemporary fiction, who features in Waterstones’ 25 Authors for the Future. Some common themes in her novels are the relationships between sisters, and the psychological impact of loss on the lives of her characters. The Hand That First Held Mine won the 2010 Costa Novel Award. Hamnet won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and was Waterstones’ Book of the Year.

The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

This book was a quick read through as part of a facilitator workshop I attended at Imara School. I had read this about eight years ago and it is my top parenting book recommendation. It helped me through the tantrum years with my son.

The book distinguishes between the ‘downstairs brain’ that knows only primal feelings, and the ‘upstairs brain’ that can understand and process logic and emotions. Once we understand the developing brain, it becomes easier to connect with our kids and meet them where they are.

The workshop was also interesting where we discussed examples from classrooms and our own experiences as parents to identify when which part of the brain was more active and how we can train kids (and adults) to engage the rational brain more often.

• Verdict: Must Read
• Genre: Parenting, Non-Fiction, Self Help
• Format: Paperbook
• Pages: 149 + 20 pages of ‘cheat sheet’
• Country: USA
• About: Daniel Siegel is an award-winning educator and child psychiatrist. He received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in paediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. He is also a founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. In addition, Dr. Siegel is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute.
• Tina P Bryson is a psychotherapist and the Founder/Executive Director of The Center for Connection, a multidisciplinary clinical practice, and of The Play Strong Institute, a center devoted to the study, research, and practice of play therapy through a neurodevelopment lens.

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