Love, Life, & Beyond

I have to admit that I gave in to doom scrolling more than reading this month. All the books I did read were interesting, but apparently not enough to have my undivided attention. Lately, I have been craving a good fantasy fiction but I didn’t want to start anything without finishing what I had started. So that’s my goal for birthday month. 

What books have helped you get over reading slumps?

If you want to follow this year’s reads, here’s January, February, March, April, May, June, and July.

Yellowface by R. F Kuang

This book was a ride from start to finish. We have the unreliable narrator, Juniper Song, who happens to come across a manuscript no one has seen yet. She then enhances the writing and submits it to an agency hoping to revive her fledging writing career. However, the manuscript is about Chinese immigrants, written by someone of East-Asian heritage, and the narrator is a White woman.

She is filled with guilt but justifies her actions, sometimes blaming the ‘woke’ world where diverse voices are more in demand than White writers.

When similarities between the writings emerge, her world is thrown in disarray. She must prove to everyone she is a good writer and doesn’t need ‘inspirations’ from any one else. However, she has burned some bridges on her way to the top, and they don’t forget. 

As a reader, I was faced with the question of who should be the ones telling stories; should we look at authenticity of voice, lived experiences, research, or just origins of the writer. Apart from the intriguing main story line, we also get a look into the publishing industry and how they function, especially how writers from different backgrounds are treated. It’s the classic case of looking at both sides of the coin and how very often we assume victimhood just because someone else seems to be doing better than us.

I loved the book and couldn’t put it down. I’ve read almost all the books she has published and I can’t wait to read her next one. 

“Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much.”

• Verdict: Must Read
• Rating: 8.5/10
• Genre: Fiction
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 319
• Country: USA
• About: Rebecca F. Kuang is the author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, Katabasis, and Taipei Story. Her works have won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. She is the Millard Distinguished Writer in Residence at the College of the Holy Cross. 

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

London Falling is an absolutely riveting true-crime masterpiece, which I picked up after it was recommended by my book club. The book meticulously investigates the tragic death of nineteen-year-old Zac Brettler, who fell from a luxury Thameside balcony in 2019.

I was truly amazed by the persistence of Zac’s grieving parents as they desperately sought the truth, especially in the face of shockingly shoddy police work by authorities who missed vital evidence at the scene. 

The book’s narrative is exceptionally well-researched, moving beyond a simple crime story to a deep dive into the fascinating back stories of the characters and the city itself. He exposes how London has mutated into a dangerous playground for oligarchs and dirty money. The story also highlights the vast reach of the Indian diaspora not only as model minorities, but also in the darker alleys. 

It is a gripping but heartbreaking story of a family’s nightmare told with much sensitivity and detail.

“…really, who has the time to fact-check everything they hear?”

• Verdict: Read
• Rating: 8/10
• Genre: Non-Fiction, Investigative Journalism
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 390 + Notes & references
• Country: UK
• About: Patrick Radden Keefe is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The Snakehead and Chatter. He received the 2014 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, for his story “A Loaded Gun,” was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2015 and 2016, and is also the recipient of an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellowship at the New America Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Vaadivaasal by C.S. Chellappa (Translated by N. Kalyan Raman) &

Vaadivaasal Graphic Novel (Perumal Murugan and Appupen)

Vaadivaasal is an open arena, and the scene is of the jallikattu (bull taming) contest. The premise is deceptively simple: a young man, Picchi, seeks to tame a notorious bull to avenge his father’s legacy. Yet, this straightforward tale is told in a way you can feel the power clash between man and nature, landlord and worker, and pride and survival.

Reading both versions, I was instantly transported into the heart of the Jallikattu arena. I could feel the swirling dust and the suffocating heat with the deafening roar of the crowd. While the original prose holds your interest with its raw tension, the graphic novel amplifies this energy. The captivating drawings of the muscular grace of the beast and the frantic agility of the tamers in striking visual detail seem to leap out of the pages. 

It’s a quick read but impactful.

“If an animal’s pride is hurt, it leads to destruction; it’s the same with a man’s pride too!”

Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami (Translated by Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio)

I went into this book thinking it to be a thriller of some kind, but it is rather a look at the trauma of scarcity and the lengths struggling women will go to survive in a patriarchal society. 

Triggered by a modern-day news report of a crime, the narrator, Hana, looks back to 1990s Tokyo. Here, a makeshift sisterhood is forged in a shared home, built on desperate dreams of financial stability and escape from their unique situations. Abandoned by traditional structures of care, Hana and her surrogate family—anchored by the maternal yet flawed Kimiko—turn to credit card fraud and the criminal underworld to regain control over their precarious lives. When tragedy strikes, they are forced out of their bubble and into reality.

Through the characters we see how poverty can warp relationships and blur the lines between support, codependency, and exploitation. The yellow feng shui corners the women build symbolise a desire to control some part of their lives when they don’t have much control over everything that’s happening around them. 

There were times I felt the narrative dragging on and repetitive. However, it was really refreshing to read a novel on young girls without a romance angle somewhere.

“Money gives you time. Time to think. Time to sleep. Time to get sick. Time to wait.”

• Verdict: Read when you want something different
• Rating: 7/10
• Genre: Fiction
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 433
• Country: Japan
• About: Mieko Kawakami is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka. She was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. She made her literary debut as a poet in 2006, and published her first novella, My Ego, My Teeth and the World, in 2007. She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (Breasts and Eggs), which was a  New York Times Notable Book of the Year and one of TIME’s Best 10 Books of 2020. Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.
• Laurel Taylor is a translator, writer, and PhD student in Japanese and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis. Her translations include fiction and poetry by Yaeko Batchelor, Aoko Matsuda, Noriko Mizuta, and Tomoka Shibasaki.
• Hitomi Yoshio is a Japanese literary translator. She is a regular contributor to Monkey literary magazine, where she translates works by modern Japanese authors. She received her PhD in Japanese literature from Columbia University and is professor of global Japanese studies at Waseda University. 

The Professor by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is one of my favourite feminist heroines so I was looking forward to reading this by the same author. However, I found it a drag. We follow William through his travels and travails. 

He wants to join a trade to earn a living but is treated poorly by his brother. He goes to Belgium and is offered a job as a professor. He meets new characters there, some good and some cunning. Many of the dialogues here are in French so it became harder for me to follow and stay interested.

The story, from the summaries I read online, seemed interesting, but I couldn’t continue reading it.

“A man is master of himself to a certain point, but not beyond it.”

• Verdict: Read with lots of patience
• Rating: DNF
• Genre: Fiction
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 330
• Country: UK
• About: Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. The Professor was the first novel by Charlotte Brontë. It was written before Jane Eyre, but was rejected by many publishing houses. It was eventually published, posthumously, in 1857, with the approval of Charlotte Brontë’s widower, Arthur Bell Nicholls.

Troy by Stephen Fry

This is the third book in the four-part series following Greek mythology. Unless you have a photographic memory, or you read stories from Greek Myths on a regular basis, you will get lost in the many (so, so many) names and relationships. 

Thankfully, Stephen Fry empathises with our plight and reminds us we are not alone. He also lets us know the names and stories we need to remember for later, and does a quick review when needed. This makes a very complicated story, with many threads, a little easier to grasp.

I love listening to his soothing voice when I’m stuck in traffic or when I’m working on my 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

“Beauty may seem like one of the greatest of blessings, but it can be a curse too.”

• Verdict: Must Read for an intro to Greek Myths
• Rating: 9/10
• Genre: Mythology, Historical Fiction
• Format: Audible Audiobook
• Listening Time: 11h 10m
• Narrated by: Stephen Fry
• Performance Rating: 5/5
• Country: UK
• About: It is not possible to encapsulate the life of Sir Stephen Fry in a short bio. He is a celebrated English actor, comedian, writer, and broadcaster known for his wit and eloquent delivery. His bibliography spans bestselling memoirs, hit novels, and acclaimed retellings of Greek mythology. He serves as president of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts and works closely with mental health charities.

Note: Some links are part of an affiliate program, which means that if you click on a link and buy something, I might receive a percentage of the sale, at no extra cost to you.