What evergreen Books I read in March 2022 : Recent Reads

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March has been a month of Classics for me. I read two delightful classics and also created to in-depth posts about the best classics to read and the best unforgettable quotes from classic novels.

But let me tell you not all classics seduced me. I had my share of boring classics I did not at all enjoy and that’s okay, truly. So if there are some books that were worshipped the world over and yet you did not like them, it’s perfectly fine.  

Because like every dish and every cuisine may not be to each foodie’s liking, every book does not have to be loved. Constructive criticism and see new point of views and perspectives expands the mind, I believe.

Coming back to books, here’s what I read this month and what I loved and did not love.

Many of these books are also available on Kindle Unlimited. Try Kindle Unlimited Free for 30 days!

Recent Reads March 2022

Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar Translated from Marathi by Jerry Pinto

“Those who choose differently must suffer the consequences. They must take the pain their decisions bring.”

Cobalt Blue is the story of a Marathi family who has a paying guest. The brother Tanay and sister Anjali in the family both fall in love with the paying guest and the events that happen after that destroy the family.

I loved the suspense building that happened throughout the story. There is an air of mystery and wonder to the story that kept me hooked throughout. I felt much attached to the characters more for the fact that they were from a Marathi family, the same as me.

Read this for Booklist Queen’s Reading Challenge 2022 – A Book by a Local Author

Monsoon by Vimala Devi - Translated from Portuguese by Paul Melo e Castro

Time rolls on like an unchanging river that no obstacle can divert from its course.

Monsoon is a collection of twelve short stories varying in themes set in the times when Goa was a Portuguese Colony of India.

The themes vary as much as the emotions in each of these stories that discuss and reflect on the caste system, religious bias, language barriers, and privilege of superiority and property.

The stories include those of the return of a man to India from Africa to get married and bear children in an affluent family. Another one discusses a man who returns from Portugal after his studies but feels out of place back in his family.

Short story lovers will enjoy this peep into the mindset of an era gone by.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scot Fitzgerald

“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”

The Great Gatsby is considered one of the greatest classics of twentieth-century writing. It portrays the Jazz Age in America when parties, sex, and drinks were an obsession. It is considered to be based on the author Scott’s love affair with socialite Ginerva King.

The story belongs to Jay Gatsby. He is filthy rich, if I may say so, and is besotted with Daisy Buchanan, his sweetheart of younger days.

I do understand why readers liked this twisted romance. It is very unique from typical contemporary romance plots and has all the riches and glamour that all of us can only dream about.

But why it should be considered a five-star read, and more so a twentieth-century classic is beyond me.

These Tangled Vines by Julian Maclean

Fiona Bell is woken up early one morning with a call from Italy that her biological father, Anton Clark, whom she never met, has passed away and he has named her a beneficiary in his will.

To the immense surprise of her half-brother and half-sister, she finds herself in Tuscany among the sprawling wine estate owned by Anton Clark, leaving her quadriplegic father with whom she grew up, behind with a lie that she has a conference in London.

But in Tuscany contrary to what she knows about the relationship between her mother and Anton Clark, she is in for very many surprises and she is about to uncover the truth of her birth that has been kept a secret from everyone until now.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy M. Montgomery

“Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.”

The Cuthberts' of Green Gables want to adopt an eleven-year-old boy from the local orphanage to help Matthew on the farms. But when Matthew arrives at the train station to pick up the lad he finds a scrawny, red-haired, freckled girl, Anne, who can’t stop talking waiting for him at the station. Maurila wants to correct the mistake and send her back, but will she be able to?

The sweet, charming story of an orphan girl’s growing up in an equally loving, kind, and kindred household. Anne of Green Gables is like a short story collection wherein we are taken through 38 stories of the beautifully spirited Anne’s coming-of-age in Green Gables in a delightful way.

My TBR Pile for April 2022