Books I liked reading in 2023

Charlotte’s Web by E.B White

The first book I read in 2023 was this children’s classic. I do enjoy reading some children’s books. I’ve liked Little Prince, The Wizard of Oz and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery is one of my eternal favourites, and to this day, I can still pick it up, read it, find it meaningful, and gain insights from it. Anyway, to return to Charlotte’s Web, it is similar to the Little Prince, in that it is a story of friendship and loss. I liked all the animal characters, and their names – Charlotte the spider, Wilbur the pig, and even Templeton the grouchy rat, they’re well-sketched and have delightful personalities. The changing of seasons in the outdoors is very beautifully described in this book. I loved Charlotte’s last lines in the book – ‘after all, what is life, anyway? We are born, we live a little while, we die. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.’ Very deep. I think this is a great book to introduce the ideas of change and death, to young kids. Such a pity my boys are not readers. This isn’t the greatest children’s book by any means, but a decent and quick read, and am glad to have opened my account in 2023 with this one.

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

The second book of the year was a quick read because it was an interesting, fast-paced thriller. It’s about twin sisters who are as different as chalk and cheese, battling with their ghosts from the past, such as the murder of a young boy and unreliable parenting, when their lives are thrown in disarray because of the desire of one of the sisters to have a baby. The author tries to create a mystery around which of the sisters is a ‘good’ sister and which one is a psychopath, but it’s fairly obvious who the ‘good’ sister is fairly early on in the story. I liked Fern, the main protagonist, who is neuro-atypical and an Aspie. I love Aspies in fiction writing. An enjoyable enough read. Recommend it.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

It took time for me to get drawn into the slightly dystopic world of this book. Somewhere around the halfway mark though, I was hooked. And towards the end, I found the writing compelling and beautiful. The thing about this book is – it’s about dystopia – and it’s not. The themes, of societies becoming more inward-looking and insular, the ‘othering’ of people and the resultant discrimination, and the taking away of children from their parents as a political tool, are all too familiar, in many societies, not just in the US of A.

Bird is a boy who has been abandoned by his mother, or so he thinks, till he receives a cryptic letter, that makes him set out on a life-changing journey. Even as one travels with Bird on his journey, one knows there’ll be no happy ending here, but the description of the bond and the love between the mother and child is so exquisite that one is compelled to tag along. The book gives a lot of food for thought if one is inclined to think, on the disturbing themes. But even if that is not your thing, you will still find this tale tugging at your heartstrings. A very good read, maybe my favorite of 2023.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

This book had turned up in the recommendations of the ‘Mighty Girl’ website. It’s the true story of a Russian sniper who fights in the World War II against the Nazis. The writing is breezy and light and doesn’t weigh you down the way a real war novel, which depicted the grim realities of war, would. The character of the heroine is written in such an American way, that you never get the sense that she is born and brought up in the Soviet U.S.S.R. There’s a subplot about an assassination attempt of a US president that the heroine gets involved in, which is just so far-fetched. But then this is a work of fiction (even though based on a true story) and not a biography or a memoir, so I shouldn’t be overly critical.

I did like the feisty heroine. And given the background of today’s Ukraine-Russia war, found the Russian-Ukraine dynamics alluded to in the novel interesting. I wondered what the heroine would have made of the war today, had she been alive. I also found the references to President’s Roosevelt’s ‘women’ intriguing – that seems to be a subject for another novel altogether. I wonder if such a novel exists – ‘Roosevelt’s women’ – or if Kate Quinn is working on such a novel. I also need to google the names of the places referred to in the novel, which I had never heard of. Bessarabia? Svestapol? But I do appreciate that a lot of research has been put into the book, about guns, and events in the second World War and the heroine herself.

Not a stellar read, but a decent one, and hey, one can always use books like this which show that women can do well the things that are traditionally considered to be the domain of males.

Inside out and back again by Thanhha Lai

Another children’s book, another one based on a true story, this one written in verse, rather than prose. But unfortunately, the format of the verse seems rather forced, because there’s almost no musicality to the verse. I don’t mean that the verse should rhyme but there doesn’t seem to be the kind of flow and symmetry that even free verse has. The style does have the effect of simplifying the feelings and descriptions, so in that sense, it is not without its use. The book tells the story of a Vietnamese girl, forced to leave her home because of the war between communist and non-communist forces.

It describes one year in her life, where she and her family have to make the difficult decision to flee, their flight, and then their subsequent settling into their new homeland, the U.S. It’s a poignant tale as it is told from a child’s perspective. And it’s a very quick read. I was able to finish it in less than two hours. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s not a waste of time either. I must say that this book was eye-opening in the sense that it points to a time in which refugees were not considered as unwelcome as they are now. One feels glad that this author at least, did not have the horror of having their boat turned away or of a prolonged stay in the island/prison-camps that many refugees have to deal with today. Things have changed but not for the better, and the world continues to create more and more refugees/displaced persons. Sad.

Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

I hadn’t heard of this author, just picked up the book at random based on the high Goodreads rating. Later, as I was reading it, I realized that this is the same author who wrote the book ‘You should have known’ on which the series ‘Undoing’ was based. I’ve seen Undoing, and this book is very, very far from that series, and I assume the book on which it’s based.
This book did take some time to grow on me. I considered giving up on it in the first half. Especially as I discovered that I was overdue with my books at the library and therefore will have to pay a fine when I do return them. The fact that I delayed returning just to finish reading the book, is a testament to it being a good read because I’m a famous cheapskate.
At its essence, it’s a family drama about a dysfunctional American family. There are triplets in this family, who are not close to one another at all. Finally, after many years, their little non-triplet sister brings them together into some semblance of a real family. Not a very gripping storyline. What makes the book worth reading is that it touches upon a lot of interesting themes. I was intrigued by the description of the education provided at the American schools and colleges described – Walden and Roarke. Especially the latter. Loved the whole conservatism vs liberal debate referred to in the book. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the word ‘woke’ has become a pejorative term, so reading this stuff was timely. There’s a bit about Black movement and racism that’s also thought-provoking. In other words, the books is great for nerds and those who are hungry for information and are likely to go visit Wikipedia to read up more on the various themes that appeal to them.
In terms of writing, I liked the way the author leaves little threads here and there in the narrative which tie up in the end. For example, Rochelle’s mother pathological problem and how neatly that ties up with the vocation Sally takes up. The author has a subtle humorous style, which I quite like.

Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Amor Towles has set such a high bar with this last book, ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’, that it would be almost impossible to follow it up with an equally good book. Lincoln Highway does not make the bar, but I enjoyed reading it nevertheless. The story of Emmett and his brother Billy, as they set out on a road trip to find their mother who had abandoned them many years ago, was to me faintly reminiscent of Odyssey – a Greek mythological tale that is frequently referenced in this book. In the sense that the plot of this book also meanders all over the place, even though there is an end goal post in mind.

I loved all the characters, most of whom drift into the brothers’ path, like pieces of flotsam and jetsam, they all came across as so human with their failings and foibles. The only thing that I didn’t like was the end of the book. Not because it is sad, with two of the characters losing their lives. But because there are some false notes introduced in the story – such as Emmett accepting the money that Wolly left for him – no way a person of Emmett’s integrity is going to do that. Even so, I was engaged throughout the book, at no point did I find it boring or pointless – Amor Towles is that good of a writer.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

I’m not an animal lover. But here I am, not only reading this book about an animal but recommending it. Horse is based on the true story of a famous racehorse, Lexington, who raced in the nineteenth century, and his groom, Jarrett, who was a slave. The novel skips between the nineteenth century, the 1950s, and the present day. One of Lexington’s paintings discovered in the present day by a black scholar Theo, and his preserved skeleton languishing at the museum discovered by a zoologist Jess, provide the different strands that are woven together in the tale.

The book touches upon how racehorses are often mistreated and ill-used by greedy owners hungry for prize money and/or fame. This isn’t the sort of thing that often comes to mind, because one assumes that horse racing, being a sport for the rich, the animals involved must be getting the best of care. Which they probably do, but the fact remains that many of them are driven beyond their capacity in the quest for the owner’s glory and often end up injuring themselves or sometimes even dying.

To return to the book, it is very engagingly written, maintains pace and the reader’s interest, has well-fleshed out characters, and captures the loving relationship between man and animal very well. We feel for Jarrett when he is separated from his horse briefly, we rejoice in Lexington’s triumphs and we despair about Lexington’s creeping blindness. We cry when Theo’s dog lies down on his dead body and won’t let anyone come near it.

The book also makes you reflect on racial discrimination in the US. The black Theo, the child of privilege, the scholar, is even more vulnerable to hate crimes perpetrated by the police, than the average American black young man, because not having been raised in America, he hadn’t learned how to be ‘black’, how to react to a police challenge. It’s heartbreaking. The other thing that it made me think about was that we humans so easily manipulate animals’ reproductive capacity – as if it is ours to control. I mean, I get that people who spend resources on neutering stray cats have good intentions, but did anyone ask the cat what it wanted? Similarly, thoroughbred horses are made to mate to produce stellar offspring, isn’t it a little icky to think of mating being controlled like this? But I don’t know enough about these things, this is just my gut reaction.

Anyway, read The Horse. I recommend it.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed

Daisy Jones is a beautiful, talented singer on the rise and a seventies wild child, who meets Billy, a more established singer and leader of a rock band. Daisy joins Billy’s rock band and together they make some superlative music and develop feelings for one another. But Billy is married and a father. What will happen to Daisy, Billy and the band? The book is very predictable in its plot line. It is so obvious that Daisy and Billy will have great chemistry musically, will fall in love, and ultimately not be together. No surprises there. But the telling is oh-so-sweet and clear and tender.

 I loved the fact that the women characters in the book – Camilla, Billy’s wife, Karen, another band member, and of course Daisy herself, all come across as strong, gritty, and tough women, capable of making hard decisions for themselves. It’s all so common to find women characters dumbed down to hysterical groupies in books about rock stars. But these women are the rock stars. Fast-paced and well-written, especially the description of the complicated feelings between Daisy, Billy and Camilla, this book hit the right spot with me. It also made me wonder about the price of fame – whether the pressure, the drugs, and alcohol, the insecurities are worth the adulation, money and success? Recommend reading it.

The Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks

Picked up this book because it was written by Geraldine Brooks. I liked the premise of this book, which centers around the plague in the 1600s in rural England. Since the pandemic is so fresh in our memories, books about previous pandemics do seem relevant. Anna is a girl who has a fairly regular life with marriage and kids happening at an early age. A rector and his wife move to their village and Anna who works at their house, becomes close friends with Elinor, the rector’s wife, who has some very progressive ideas. Anna’s life is then repeatedly struck by tragedy, her husband dies in a mining accident, the plague strikes and she loses her children to it. How the village deals with the plague is the central theme of the book. Under the rector’s guidance and urging, the villagers agree to self-isolate themselves from others to contain the spread of the plague to other villages. A fairly bold decision and one that comes with considerable cost and suffering. Anna develops feelings for the rector after Elinor dies while trying to console him. But that does not play out as it should. Eventually, Anna finds happiness and fulfilment, but in a very strange twist of fate. A fairly readable book, it also shows a mirror to how people behave towards those who live on the fringes of society when confronted with the fear and terror of the unknown.

One of us is lying Karen Mc Manus

This book was a recommended read in a book club that I’m part of. So I picked it up out of curiosity. I do like to read teen fiction from time to time so that I can get a sense of what teenagers are thinking and feeling. And also understand the kind of lingo they use. In this book, five teenagers are sent into detention at high school. One of them dies in the detention and the other four are suspected. Which one of them killed the boy who died, who ran an app that supplied accurate school gossip?

The suspense is not particularly gripping and it’s fairly obvious who did the deed and why. But the story does keep your interest and you do develop a liking for the characters. It’s faintly reminiscent to me of the ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ series as it deals with the same issues – teenagers wanting to fit in, be cool and popular, nerds feeling the pressure to get into good colleges at all costs. None of this is new, of course. I was, however, struck by the sentence, ‘lives will be ruined’ in both this book and the series.

It made me feel how as a society, we’re letting kids down if they feel that their lives will be ruined (by vicious gossip or by not getting into a good college). They have so much life in front of them, and so many of the things that are torturing them right now will feel so insignificant later in their lives, if only they could learn not to take them and themselves so seriously. And because I feel this strongly, there was one point in the end that made me tear up – when Yale admissions tweeted to Bronwyn ‘To err is human. We look forward to receiving your application.’ That’s what teens need from adults, I think – to know that their actions do not condemn them for the rest of their lives, that they need to be more forgiving towards themselves and their peers, especially in this toxic environment engendered by social media. In so far as this book spreads that message, it is doing a good job.

The Foundling by Ann Leary

Set in the early part of the twentieth century, this book is based on a real-life incident. The heroine goes to work for a women’s shelter which supposedly provides care and a safe environment for ‘feeble-minded’ women. The shelter is headed by a charismatic woman, a feminist, who the protagonist is in awe of, and wants to emulate. However, after working for some time under the charismatic leader, the heroine comes to know how much of the good work being done by the institute is a façade, and how they are more or less imprisoning and exploiting perfectly normal women who have fallen foul of the social mores of the times. It’s a harrowing tale and it underscores to me that the care of the vulnerable sections of society should be as far as possible left to the families of the people affected and not to the state. The possibility of the vulnerable person being exploited in an institutional care setting is just too…probable. Thought-provoking book though dramatized for literary purposes. I liked it.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

This is a self-help book. I normally don’t like this genre, but somehow I liked this particular one. I admired the fact that Glennan, the author, is deeply rooted in the Christian belief system, but at the same time dares to follow her heart and go against the teachings of the Bible which do not resonate with her. That kind of rationalism and the courage that it takes to act it out will always have my appreciation. Possibly I was able to read it because I was on a three-hour flight with nothing else to do. But I didn’t find it a waste of time.

Bitter sweet by Susan Cain

I admit, I often feel like I’m a freak of nature. I feel too much, too deeply, get hurt easily, cry easily, and am accused by people of being too sensitive and emotional. What Susan Cain set out to do in this book is to make people like me feel like I’m part of a tribe, not a lonely freak of nature. Her thesis in this book is that this hyper-sensitivity and longing for what-you-know-not is not a curse but a superpower as it enables people like us to feel connected with the universe and to unlock our creativity. I’m not convinced that it is a superpower. If it is, I’d rather not have it. But it is nice to know that others feel like this. If you belong to this tribe, you should pick up the book and you’ll likely enjoy it. For the others, not so much.

Of boys and men by Richard Reeves

If you listen to podcasts, there are a lot of podcasts these days that bemoan the state of men these days and claim that men are suffering from gender inequality. I find this thesis slightly hilarious, and it’s very far from my centre/left/woke political leanings, but having heard it repeatedly in the podcast universe, and often being endorsed by women scholars, I wanted to dig a little deeper and get more informed. Is there some truth to this, or is it just a bunch of frustrated men whining? I haven’t been able to make up my mind, but I feel slightly better informed after reading this book. I like the fact that the book proposes some interesting solutions. If you are a right-wing conservative, this book might appeal more to you than it did to me. But I’m glad I read it, and it wasn’t a waste of my time.

The power of one by Bryce Courtenay

I had read a book by this author years ago, about his haemophiliac son who contracts HIV and dies of it, and it had made quite an impression on me – this was years before I went to work in the field of HIV prevention. Anyway, coming back to the Power of One, it’s a coming-of-age story of a fatherless boy from the age of four to eighteen or so. How he deals with bullying, finds friends, and the inspiration to become a high achiever. It’s a lengthy book but written engagingly enough. I will probably try and pick up the sequel in 2024.

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

This is a period novel, set in the 1950s. It’s a fast-paced account of a village belle who escapes from an abusive marriage to the city to become independent, working as a henna artist/closet herbalist. Her life is changed dramatically when a sister she didn’t know she had turned up to live with her. The turn of events leads her to question her long-term goals and eventually choose a new path for herself. It felt rather contemporary, but it’s a decent enough story and keeps one’s interest. No great shakes but not a waste of time either.

March by Geraldine Brooks

This is the third book by Geraldine Brooks that I’ve read this year. She’s quite a find. I like her easy and clear style of writing. ‘March’ is a fictional tale set in the American Civil War. March is the man of the family of ‘Little Women’ by Louisa M Alcott, an old favourite from childhood, for many of us, I suspect. So while we know about how the March women fared during the Civil War, this book gives us a window into what the life of the father was like during the war years, and even before. I found it quite interesting and liked the characters. A good read and a short one. A good one for history buffs.

Fault Lines by Emily Itami

Not sure how I picked up this book, but I’m glad that I did. It’s a very simple story of a middle-aged mother living in Tokyo, bored in her marriage, who embarks upon an extra-marital affair. There’s no surprise, and no complexity in the plot, and you almost wonder why it deserves to be published as a novel at all. Except that it is so universal. Mizuki is probably every intelligent, good-looking woman, who after years of being married and having her life revolve around her young children, is looking for something more, some fulfillment. She could be anywhere – Tokyo, New York, Mumbai, Dubai. Her story never changes. And is so predictable. It made me feel sad that the hunger for emotional connection in adult women is so powerful and the satisfaction of it such a double-edged sword. The woman is damned if she gives in to it and damned if she doesn’t. Either way, she is left feeling hurt and in pain. I liked the witty voice of the author and her wry reflections on life. As a debut novel, it is quite an achievement. 

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

This book reminded me strongly of ‘The Room’ by Emma Donoghue. The basic plot is the same. Sally Diamond, a woman in her forties, who is thought of as ‘strange’ and ‘autistic’ by most people, turns out to have a harrowing past. Her mother had been kidnapped and raped and she was born and lived the first five years of her life in captivity, just like the kid in ‘The Room’. However, Sally’s life takes a tragic turn even after being rescued. She grows up having forgotten her past till her dead adoptive father’s letter forces her to confront it. It’s a well-written fast-paced book that keeps one’s interest. I read it on flights, and it certainly helped kill time very satisfactorily. It’s a good crime thriller if the genre appeals to you.