#2016 published

The Mothers by Brit Bennett – Scandals in Small- town America

A coming of age story of three friends and how their choices shake the very foundation on which the friendship is based on.   Mothers, set in California, is Brit Bennett’s debut. Nadia is a seventeen year-old living with her father after her mother’s suicide.  Even though her father is a loved man at church for his helping mentality, he and Nadia have a strained relationship. Nadia starts…

ACOTAR and ACOMAF by Sarah J Maas – To Read or Not to Read

Beauty and the Beast is a favourite story of mine. Yes, the Disney version made me fall head over heels with it. That took me to the Courts of Sarah J Mass, retellings of the old fairytale. Since A Court of Ruin and War, the highly anticipated third book in the trilogy is due for release in  May, 2017, here is a quick checklist to help you decide if you should read the first two as soon as…

Lanka’s Princess by Kavita Kane – Story of a Misunderstood Girl Labelled a Monstress

Lanka’s princess tells the story of Surpanaka, who was born as Meenakshi, a pretty girl with beautiful eyes. The book is a mythological retelling from the POV of Surpanaka, who is said to be the reason for the war between Lord Rama and King Ravana of Lanka in Hindu mythology.   Lanka’s Princess follows Surpanaka from her early childhood days, less loved by her parents, into her adulthood. She is…

She Walks, She Leads by Gunjan Jain – Success Stories of Contemporary Indian Women

A collection of inspirational stories of Indian women who have achieved success in life. It was a pleasure to read more about the lives of ladies who have made it big in contemporary India. There are stories of women who hailed from a privileged background as well as those who struggled in an alien field and found success because of their passion. The book is well researched and Jain has even met…

The Good Immigrant Edited by Nikesh Shukla – An Angry and Relevant Book

  The Good Immigrant is a collection of 21 essays by persons belonging to black, Asian and ethnic minority communities of UK. It has an angry tone throughout, sprinkled with humour and sarcasm and is overall a fascinating read. Long review short – Please pick a copy.   Review To sum up the book, would not do justice to all the essays. So here is the Goodreads blurb that gives an idea about the…

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien – Ambitious, Musical And Historical

Marie befriends Ai-Ming, a girl who has fled China in the aftermath of the Tiananmen protests, she does not imagine that it will send her on a journey to rediscover her father’s past, the history of a country swamped in revolutionary ideas and the importance of both music and silence. Do Not Say We Have Nothing has won several awards including the Giller Prize (2016), Governor General’s Literary…

Five Reasons to Pick up The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild

When Annie McDee comes in possession of a painting bought from a junk shop, little does she know that the elite circle of London’s art world is trying to track it down. Set in contemporary London, this book was a worthy contender in the  shortlist for Bailey’s Prize, 2016.   Annie is an aspiring chef in her thirties who leads a lonely isolated life after a love-failure. She admits “If I died here…

The High Priestess Never Marries by Sharanya Manivannan – Stories of Love and Consequence

The women portrayed in this collection are fearless, fiesty and find it liberating to value and respect their personal choices. Complete with Sri Lankan mermaids, wives, artists and lovers, The High Priestess Never Marries is an eloquent collection of short stories. To be frank, it is the title of the book that drew me to this collection of short stories – The High Priestess Never Marries. There…