All the amazing Books I read in August 2022

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Until the second-last week of August, I had a good time making do on my promised TBR pile. Then it was time for baby number 2 and now I am not sure how much reading time I will be able to dedicate in the coming months.  Moreover finding time to post their reviews on my blog will be an even more daunting task. Because creating blog posts is frankly, time-consuming.

But rest assured I will make use of every opportunity available to me, to interact and keep my blog working. If not September I will be back in October or November however briefly possible.

So stay tuned and till then keep reading!

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Recent Reads August 2022

Suit by Samarth

Suit offers a peek into the caste-based horrors and the exploitation rampantly inflicted in the lives of safai karmacharis or cleaners and sweepers in our cities. Samarth, the author imagines a future in Mumbai where these workers have been given a suit before entering the life-threatening filth of this society.

The author’s monochrome dialog and illustrations record the endless repetition of trauma, humiliation and tragedy in the lives of these sanitation workers.  His illustrations are filled with equal parts compassion and equal parts anger and hold a mirror to our society which has become mentally toxic and needs a thorough and urgent disinfection and clean-up. 

Dalits have rights, every human being has rights, but Suit makes us realize how this society does not accept these rights for Dalits.

So proud Indian Graphic Novels have come a long way and are doing so well. 

Hope on by various artistes

Hope On is a compilation of six real life stories from real people who were strangers. But each story has a unique theme that stands out like optimism, compassion, kindness etc. These stories were adapted into comics by different artists and that is how Hope On came to be.

I loved the book for this concept of bringing together stories from unknown people. Either directly or indirectly these stories relate to or make women the hero of it. The highlight their efforts to step up in difficult occasions or their efforts to better themselves.

The stories are very simple every day events but they all have a moral – an important learning. Each of the illustrations too are unique in each of the stories and so simple yet so engaging and colorful. My favorite was the first story which illustrates the goodness of a woman and how we assume/judge incorrectly.

Readers looking for stories of hope, love, kindness, and self-worth need to check this.

I’m thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid

A middle-aged couple is on a road trip to visit the guy’s parents. And all sorts of strange is about to happen. Meanwhile the woman in the couple is all the time thinking that she has come to the end of the relationship and wants to tell the guy that she is thinking of ending things. But she decides to see how the trip turns out and then disclose this to her boyfriend.

Between the chapters there are also very short chapters between probably two friends discussing a murder/suicide and the person who is dead.

Frankly the synopsis says - deeply scary and intensely unnerving novel follows a couple in the midst of a twisted unraveling of the darkest unease. You will be scared.

Deeply scary? Unnerving? Where? The novel is a short read and it definitely leans on bizarre and weird and is very atmospheric but I was never scared. In fact I found it unsatisfying, confusing and to some extent incomplete.

I found the conversations between the couples on various topics very engaging and thought-provoking. But that was the only thing I liked in the book. Everything else felt obtuse.

Don’t think I’ll pick the author again anytime soon.

Dopehri by Pankaj Kapur

Amma Bi is an aging widow who lives unaccompanied in her derelict Lucknow haveli. Every afternoon, at sharp 3 o'clock, she hears the sound of unbeknownst steps. Every afternoon, she peeps out. but no one is there. In a state of growing fear, Amma Bi considers moving to an elderly people's home, before eventually taking in a tenant- a bright youthful woman named Sabiha. Her coming fills Amma Bi's solitary world with affection and happiness, and Jumman, the homely help, is transfigured as well.

When Sabiha finds herself in complications, Amma Bi must draw on retired reserves of skill and empathy in order to resolve the situation. Dopehri-fabled film and theatre personality Pankaj Kapur's first debut- is a wonderfully suggestive work of great charm, wry humor, and quiet power, a story that readers will fall in love with.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

So we have a merger between publishing houses B and G, and our hero Joshua Templeman, and heroine, Lucy Hutton, now sit across the desk assisting the respective CEOs of the publishing houses.  Sit across the desk is an understatement, they stare and humiliate each other and compete for every small thing and literally hate each other. Or do they? And it’s quite an open display of mutual affection. Joshua is rude, scary uptight and extremely tall. While Lucy is short, petite, kind and adorable for all.

What really takes things to a fever-level pitch is an upcoming promotion where of course, only one of them gets the post and they become the boss of the other. Joshua thinks he needs no help to beat Lucy but Lucy has decided to quit if she doesn’t get the post.

What happens, what game are they really playing, has it always been hate, hate, hate or is there something else brewing?

It was a good one time read, where the characters did not all the time keep fighting and logically reasoned and spoke to each other openly without making unnecessary complications in the relationship. I always appreciate this quality in a rom-com’s characters. Maturity in terms of the characters behavior is important to me. And the novel did not disappoint on that front. But other than that I thought there was nothing much unique or memorable about the story. The steamy scenes were okay for me and the plot was interesting.

 I’d recommend to romance fans who love a happy ending.

Braised Pork by An Yu

One morning, Jia Jia walks into the restroom of her Beijing apartment to find her hubby with whom she had been breakfasting slightly an hour before-dead in the bathtub. Next to him, a piece of paper unfolds like the body of a butterfly, and on it's an image that Jia Jia cannot forget.

Profoundly troubled by what she has seen, even though she's suddenly released from a marriage that had constrained her, Jia Jia embarks on a trip to discover the verity of the sketch. Starting at her neighborhood bar, with its brandy and vinyl, and fuelled by wrathfulness, bafflement, curiosity, and love, Jia Jia travels deep into her history in order to arrive at her future.

Braised Pork explores the nightlife of Beijing as well as the village life of Tibet. Although the story is quick to read the magical realism in the plot takes a while to grasp and slide into. I recommend this to readers looking to explore some Asian writing.

Coming Out as a Dalit by Yashica Dutt

75 years of Indian Independence and yet Dalits lack basic fundamental rights and privileges. This book is an eye-opener. For so many years we have believed that Dalits are people who clean toilets, and sewage and perform other menial tasks. Because that is what has been portrayed for decades.

So reading a book by a Dalit in a profession like journalism and who is based in New York in fluent English and with so many facts and figures packed into this blazing, bold and impressive memoir came as a surprise for me.

This personal story of why a Dalit woman had to pretend she was an upper-caste woman all her life is more like a powerful social commentary against rampant casteism in our country today which is often side-lined and overlooked.

Although it does not go back deep into Dalit history, nor does it detail the current situation of the Dalits, this book will force you to look at what the injustice that has been before your eyes with a new lens of compassion and fair rights and will make you want to take action.

Happy reading!!