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Some books just make me angry. In the past, that sentiment had mostly been reserved for Paolo Coelho’s books, which I think are preachy and have nothing to offer except obvious moral lessons. I never thought I would be saying it for Sophie Kinsella, bestselling author of the ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ series that has also been made into a fun movie starring Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood, a financial journalist who is forever running into debt because of her compulsive shopping habits. I have read most books in the series—they are fun and cheer you up.

I also enjoyed Kinsella’s stand-alone novel ‘The Undomestic Goddess’, a hilarious story of a high-powered corporate lawyer, Samantha Sweeting, who is mistaken for a job applicant for a housekeeper’s position at this big, beautiful house she stops to ask for directions after boarding a random train. She gets the job but she doesn’t even know how to make eggs or turn on the oven. There was a time when I talked about it every time someone asked me for book recs and even gifted it to friends.

Kinsella wrote light, fluffy books but she left you charmed. I wish she had stuck to writing witty books like these and not tried to tackle serious subjects, which is what she has done in ‘Finding Audrey’.

Here, Kinsella strives to tell the story of a teenager struggling with a mental health condition. We don’t know what happened to Audrey, except vague hints that suggest she was a victim of bullying. What we do know is that she doesn’t go to school anymore and wears dark sunglasses even when indoors. Strangers make her freak out, and she can neither touch nor talk to anyone besides her parents and her brothers, Frank and Felix. Then she meets Frank’s friend Linus who manages to take her to Starbucks and a few other places and talk to strangers in the guise of challenges.

It’s a lame story that undermines what it’s like living with a mental condition. You never know what’s wrong with Audrey and why she is the way she is. Worse, you don’t empathize with her as she seems like a selfish teenager and not someone who has had a lot to deal with at a young age. 

The book’s first 100 pages is just Audrey’s mother going crazy. She is convinced Frank is addicted to video games and tries to get him to read a book or watch a Dickensian movie. The characterization is so poor that she doesn’t even come across as a concerned mother, more like a controlling lunatic. Audrey, who is supposed to be the titular character, just smirks and hides. 

Sophie Kinsella, Author

It’s frustrating because the story goes around in circles and nothing really happens till Audrey makes up her mind to get better, in a moment of epiphany of sorts. As if it’s ever that easy. Kinsella probably had a vague story idea and felt she had to include the issue of mental health because it’s an important conversation. But she didn’t bother to do any research and learn just how debilitating mental illnesses can be. The result is an unconvincing, sloppy, and insensitive story.

Young Adult Fiction
Finding Audrey
Sophie Kinsella
Published: 2015
Publisher: Corgi Books
Language: English
Pages: 279, Paperback

Fiction

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

Published: 2011

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Language: English

Pages: 352, Paperback

I knew that the mythical figure of Achilles, the central character in Homer’s ‘Iliad’, was the son of goddess Thetis and Peleus, King of Phthia. I wouldn’t necessarily call him a ‘hero’. Achilles stopped fighting at Troy because Agamemnon, his commander during the war, insulted him. He then watched as his fellow Greeks were slaughtered by the Trojans and only resumed fighting when his friend, Patroclus, was killed and he was shattered and angry.

He took his revenge by killing Hector—who had killed Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend—and then refused to hand over his body to his family. Instead, he dragged the corpse around the city. Achilles wanted Hector’s soul to forever wander and never be at peace. It still wasn’t enough for Achilles and legend has it that his ghost still thirsts for blood. That’s definitely not how I picture a hero.

But Madeline Miller paints a completely different picture of Achilles in ‘The Song of Achilles’ that won the 2012 Orange Prize in Fiction 2012 (now known as the Women’s Prize in Fiction). Here, you see a romantic, loyal, and loving side to Achilles. Through the eyes of Patroclus, the novel’s narrator, Achilles appears to be beautiful, smart and skilled—living up to his demi-god status. His actions, as unjustifiable as they once might have been, seem to stem from love. Finally, he is the hero he was always meant to be.

While Homer’s Iliad is a story of pride and stubbornness, Miller’s retelling of the epic is a powerful love story. The author beautifully captures the budding camaraderie and love between Patroclus and Achilles, and so much is conveyed by leaving things unsaid.

There is a sense of impending tragedy as you get to know early on that Achilles must choose between a long life where no one knows him or a short, glorious one. But that in no way makes the story bleak. Instead, Miller paints a wonderful three-dimensional portrait of Achilles as a son, father, hero, and lover as he battles his conflicting thoughts. Patroclus is also a fascinating character and a reliable narrator. The story doesn’t just unfold from his point of view and every character is given its due.

The good thing about Miller’s story is also that you don’t need to know anything about the Trojan war or the Greek mythology to understand what’s happening. Miller starts at the very beginning and her prose is smooth enough for you to get sucked right in. Miller took 10 years to write the book and the meticulous research shines through. The sparse prose makes the story a riveting read where nothing seems stretched or unnecessary. The Song of Achilles is an unforgettable story about love that reads like a thriller. 

Every once in a while, you come cross a book that you want to barrel through but are also desperate to put down and go fix yourself a cup of tea. You need some time to recover. But then the story is just so beautiful and the characters so compelling that you are back at it before you know it. Soon, you are a sobbing mess. ‘Love After Love’, Ingrid Persaud’s debut book, is that kind of a novel. 

Set in modern-day Trinidad and New York City, Love After Love is a tale of love, loss, and hope. It’s about the never-ending quest to find love, the loneliness in the absence of love, and how hope can keep you going in the most trying times.

The story’s protagonist, Betty Ramdin, a school administrator, has endured years of abuse from her husband, Sunil. And then he dies. She had inherited a huge house from her grandmother and so she takes in a lodger, Mr. Chetan, a closeted gay teacher at her school. Soon, he becomes a part of their family—a father figure to Betty’s only child, Solo.

The initial part of the story is filled with warmth, food, and comfort. There is so much cooking going on and it’s all so elaborate and descriptive that you can almost taste the cascadoux curry and smell the fresh, warm bread. Reading this bit feels like being enveloped in a soft blanket and whatever it is that’s stressing you out in real life feels distant and trivial.

However, Betty longs for a partner. The society, on the other hand, expects her to be in perpetual mourning for a husband who gave her nothing but scars—both mental and physical. Mr. Chetan is compelled to find another place to live when he realizes “Miss B and I needed to be free to meet other people otherwise it was like we were in a sexless marriage.” By then, Solo is living with his father’s brother, Hari, as an illegal immigrant in the US. There are immigrant issues, homophobia, and domestic violence.

This is when your happy bubble is burst and your heart shatters. Each character tugs at your heartstrings. You see them struggle yet smile. They don’t have it easy but they are trying mighty hard to fix things. You wish you could give each of them a hug and tell them things will be alright. That’s how convincingly Persaud has crafted her characters. 

The story is told from three different perspectives through a series of amusing yet heartbreaking vignettes. Betty, Chetan and Solo take turns at the narration. Despite that, it isn’t difficult to follow. Persaud shuffles back and forth between different emotions and settings with ease and makes the story quite seamless. Nothing feels unimportant or is without meaning.

Love After Love is an apt portrayal of the harsh realities of life and how we have the power to lead the life we want through the choices we make. It's really beautiful, even with the heartbreak it entails.

Fiction
Love After Love
Ingrid Persaud
Published: 2020
Publisher: Faber & Faber Limited
Language: English
Pages: 410, Paperback

In December last year, I read Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ and wrote a review calling it the best book I’d read in 2020. I wanted everyone to read it. I’ve been meaning to buy a few copies and gift it to some of my friends and relatives. Thinking about it still makes me warm and giddy.

Since then, I’ve followed Matt Haig on Twitter and searched for his books everywhere I went. He is a writer who creates highly imaginative worlds and I want more. Haig has written a few non-fiction books and lots of children’s stories. Sadly, his books aren’t widely available here in Nepal and I want physical copies rather than digital editions. So, I haven’t been able to read any of his fascinating sounding children’s books, like ‘The Truth Pixie’, ‘To Be a Cat’ and ‘The Girl Who Saved Christmas’.

I did, however, find ‘Notes on a Nervous Planet’ and though it’s non-fiction, I bought it straight away because it was Haig. The Midnight Library had me convinced that you couldn’t go wrong with him. I wasn’t disappointed.

His writing style in Notes on a Nervous Planet is very conversational. It’s almost as if a friend is talking to you. Haig doesn’t beat around the bush and puts things quite bluntly. Thus, the chapters are short and you don’t feel like you are hearing/reading the same thing for 500 words when a 100 would have sufficed.

Many of the things he talks about in the book—the role of social media in our lives, how news makes us more anxious, and why humans always want more—are issues we are well aware of. But Haig doesn’t only talk about the problems. He offers solutions to those problems as well. It gets you thinking. There are also lists of things you’d do well to remember. These are the bits that have had me dipping in and out of the book time and again.

I know there are many self-help books out there that offer similar advice and that Haig’s book isn’t unique or important. But the fact that Haig has been through many of the problems himself makes his advice meaningful. You want to take Haig’s advice because you know they are tried and tested. His words feel honest and he is really witty too. In a way, reading Notes on a Nervous Planet makes you feel a little less lonely.

On Twitter, Haig is vocal about mental health issues, mainly anxiety and depression. When he was 24, Haig wanted to kill himself and he stopped just a step away from jumping off a cliff. How he got from there to where he is today is a lesson in itself and we can learn a lot of that from Notes on a Nervous Planet.

Non-fiction

Notes on a Nervous Planet

Matt Haig

Published: 2018

Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd

Language: English

Pages: 310, Paperback

Most of us read a lot more during the Covid-19 lockdowns than we did before. Had it not been for the pile of books I had bought but hadn’t got around to reading before the pandemic, I would have probably gone bat-shit crazy within a week of staying at home all day long. Getting lost in fictitious worlds was what kept many of us sane during such maddening times.

Though I read many good books during the lockdown, even tackling some that had been on my to-be-read list for years, there’s one I recently read that I wish I had gotten around to sooner: Emma Donoghue’s ‘The Pull of the Stars’.

This book, I believe, would have helped me make sense of the world I was suddenly thrust into and also given me some much-needed comfort. Although grim and heartbreaking, Donoghue’s 11th novel mimics present-day Covid crisis and makes you feel a little less alone and doomed.

The Pull of the Stars is a historical fiction based on the 1918 influenza-pandemic. Set in Dublin, at the beginning of the contagion, the story unfolds over three days in a Dublin hospital. It’s narrated by a nurse, Julia Powers, who is in charge of a maternity fever ward where expectant mothers who seem to have come down with an unfamiliar flu are quarantined together. Though the ward doesn’t get many patients, the women who do end up there are in the latter stages of their pregnancies. With hospital resources stretched thin and a deadly flu doing the rounds, Julia has to constantly deal with life-and-death situations.

There’s also Dr Kathleen Lynn and a young volunteer, Bridie Sweeney, who are fighting to save lives alongside Julia. The friendship that develops between these three women is also something Donoghue has chosen to focus on besides just how the world dealt with a crisis in those times. I especially loved that side of the story as it was a reminder of the fact that love blooms in the unlikeliest of places and that we are all trying to do the best we can.

I have read Donoghue’s internationally bestselling novel ‘Room’, inspired by the Josef Fritzl case where a girl was held captive and raped by her father for 24 years. It would be wrong to say I enjoyed it because the subject matter was so grotesque but Donoghue’s writing style is crisp and you completely fall for the story, hook, line, and sinker. In The Pull of the Stars too, Donoghue’s prose is visceral and you get the sense of urgency in the cramped, tiny ward where healthcare workers are fighting against all odds.

The story also shines light on how those who have been neglected by the society are often the ones who suffer the most, and that things are no different when there’s a health crisis.

There’s a section in the book where Dr Lynn criticizes the government for Dublin’s poverty and high infant mortality. Julia, however, says she doesn’t have time for politics to which Dr Lynn replies, “Oh, but everything’s politics, don’t you know?”

It is moments like these, and there are plenty of them, that make the book so relevant in today’s times.

I have recommended this book to friends only to be told they don’t want to read something that reminds them of a situation they are yet to get over. But The Pull of the Stars makes you realize what we are going through isn’t unique and thus makes it a little easier, in your head, to endure the rough times we are living through.

Fiction

The Pull of the Stars

Emma Donoghue

Published: 2020

Publisher: Picador

Language: English

Pages: 294, Paperback

Historical fiction transports you to another time and place. But only a good writer will be able to evoke the senses so well that you feel like you are living in a different world. Jojo Moyes manages that with ‘The Giver of Stars’.

In the book’s acknowledgments section, Moyes says The Giver of Stars is a labor of love, and that writing it was an unusual joy. Reading it brought a kind of pure joy that I hadn’t felt since the first time I read ‘The Good Earth’ by Pearl S Buck.

Set in small-town 1930’s Kentucky, the book is based on the real-life Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky, or the Horseback Librarian program as it was called then. The program delivered books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library and ran from 1935 to 1943, making books accessible to over 100,000 rural inhabitants.

Alice Wright, an Englishwoman, thinks marrying the handsome American Bennett Van Cleave will help her escape her suffocating life in England. She soon realizes that married life is not what she expected it to be. To make matters worse, there is her overpowering father-in-law interfering in everything. That’s when she comes across Roosevelt’s program to establish traveling libraries and volunteers for it.

Here, she meets the brave and independent Margery, who heads the initiative, and Beth, Izzy, Sophie and Kathleen, all headstrong women in their own rights. They each show Alice a side of life she has never seen. The women are all battling with their own issues and the program gives them a sense of purpose. It also helps them build better relationships with the townspeople as well as with each other, and to find some much-needed solace that way. Managing a library is also how they refuse to be brought down by men and how they think women need to be.

Despite the dangers of a challenging landscape and constant threats by men to stop prancing around in horses, the women are committed to delivering books to those who have never had books to read. By doing so, they manage to arm people with information they have never had. And that sometimes creates a lot of rift and tension that endangers the women’s lives as well.

I give this book five out of five stars. If I could, I would give it more. It has conflict, drama, purpose, friendship, and love; the story is tender, heartbreaking, funny, and reads like a thriller. Although a thick book, it will suck you right in and you will want to get to the end as quickly as possible.   

Fiction

The Giver of Stars

Jojo Moyes

Published: 2019

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Language: English

Pages: 437, Paperback

Most of our lives, we are defined by our relationship with others. We are children, lovers, spouse, parents, friends, etc. But what is left of us when those connections are lost? And do we value and nurture our relationships enough to ensure they withstand the test of time?

This is largely what Beth Morrey’s debut novel ‘Saving Missy’ forces us to confront. But it’s not a bleak book that is heavy on the heart. Saving Missy is actually a beautiful story about love, loss and how friendship can keep you afloat in the worst of times.

Missy Carmichael is 79, and life isn’t how she envisioned it would be at that age. She has no one to talk to in her large home and her footsteps echo and haunt her. The narrative jumps back and forth to when Missy was young. You read about her life with her husband, Leo, at different stages of their relationship. You also get to see the complicated relationship she shares with her son and daughter and how it got to that point.  

The book starts off slow and it takes a while for you to warm up to Missy and her new friends, Sylvie and Angela, and it all seems a little shallow initially. You can’t put a finger on what feels amiss but something does. Then it all clicks and picks up. You realize you have started caring for Missy and want Sylvie and Angela in your life too. Or, if you are lucky, you realize you already have a Sylvie or an Angela in your life.

Through Missy, you also get an insight into the lives of the elderly and how isolated and lonely they can get. It makes you want to spend a little more time with the elders in your family and not be in a rush to have a quick chat and leave.

One of my absolute favorite books is ‘A Man Called Ove’ by Swedish columnist, blogger, and writer Fredrik Backman. A story about a grumpy old man with uncompromising routines and rules, the book makes you laugh, makes you think, and, above all, makes you try and be a little more accepting of people and all their quirks. It is, for me, everything a good book should be and does everything fiction is supposed to. I feel it’s the most perfect book ever.

I was reminded of A Man Called Ove while reading Saving Missy. It might be unfair to compare the two because Backman and Morrey have completely different writing styles. But Missy feels like the female version of Ove. There are just so many similarities. They are both stubborn, lonely, and in denial about wanting love and affection. Both Ove and Missy are aging and feel like they are just meaninglessly passing time to get to life’s inevitable end someday.

I thought I fell in love Missy because I’ve always been in love with Ove. But when I finished and put the book down, I realized Missy took up considerable space of her own in my heart, for the person she is and the person she is willing to become for those she loves.

Fiction

Saving Missy

Beth Morrey

Published: 2020

Publisher: Harper Collins

Language: English

Pages: 372, Paperback

Some books make me want to grab every person I meet and say, “Read this.” Books that have me wishing I could do a mental rewind just to be able to read them again for the first time. “The Rosie Project” by Australian novelist Graeme Simsion is one I want to hold, stroke, and hug. The main character has a piece of my heart. 

The Rosie Project is narrated by a 39-year-old genetics professor, Don Tillman, who doesn’t quite get social norms and has his own unique understanding of the world and how it works. He reminded me of Adrian Monk, the chief protagonist of the American comedy-drama detective series ‘Monk’, whom I was absolutely smitten by during my college years.

In Monk, Tony Shalhoub plays the role of a former cop who has obsessive compulsive disorder and struggles with day-to-day activities. But he’s a genius when it comes to solving crimes. I had the hugest crush on him for years. I watched all eight seasons on television and then watched it all again on DVD after the show ended in 2009. Tillman reminds me of Monk and I have, in my mid-30s, a newfound crush.

Tillman may or may not have Asperger’s Syndrome. It’s never explicitly stated but there are many, many hints that he might suffer from autism. He abhors physical contact, has a detailed meal plan that he sticks to week in, week out, and doesn’t seem to react to emotions in the conventional way. After several failed attempts at finding a ‘compatible’ woman, he decides to turn to science for a solution. He devises a questionnaire (which is 16 double-sided pages) to hand out to women to test their suitability. This is what he calls the Wife Project.

But along comes Rosie Jarman, who is evidently the world’s most incompatible woman for Tillman. She’s disorganized, irrational, and tends to do things spontaneously. And she’s often late and a vegetarian. It’s all really blasphemous in Tillman’s world. But then as he embarks on the Father Project, helping Rosie track down her real father, he finds himself feeling differently about the one woman he should logically be staying away from.

Simsion, in his debut novel published in 2013, has created a charming, lovable character whose quirky ways make you both smile and shake your head in frustration. As you get inside the heart and mind of an odd character, you realize that people, however they appear to be, aren’t fundamentally all that different.

The novel apparently did get some serious flak for not being well researched with some representation aspects even being problematic. But there’s no denying that The Rosie Project is a laugh riot of a novel that sheds light on an important issue: autism. It deserves credit for managing such tricky feats together and not letting one diminish the power of the other.

Fiction

The Rosie Project

Graeme Simsion

Published: 2013

Publisher: Penguin Books

Language: English

Pages: 330, Paperback