It’s been a bit of a slower reading month, which isn’t surprising given the sudden spike in the temperatures in Delhi. I don’t know about you, but the start of summer generally throws me off-center. It takes me a while to acclimatize to the return of the oppressive heat.
Anyway, I read quite a mix of genres again this month — historical fiction, mystery and crime, and contemporary fiction. So, let’s dive right in to the April 2024 reading wrap up!
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It’s been a lovely reading month, with some truly delightful books that, much to my astonishment, all corresponded to one of the Book Bingo prompts! I’ve now finished all of the prompts from the last column and the second row. Double bingo!
It’s quite an eclectic mix of books in terms of genre too – mythological retellings, historical fiction, magical realism, and philosophy. Let’s dive in!
(Click on the book covers to purchase the book on Amazon.)
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“We read to know we’re not alone.”
William Nicholson
Reading may be an inherently solitary activity, but it is something we can do as part of a wider community. Perhaps that explains the popularity of reading challenges. Or maybe they are just a way to hold ourselves accountable or expand our reading horizons. Whatever the case, as long as there are readers, there will be reading challenges!
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It’s time for an all-new edition of the Book Bingo reading challenge! This reader favorite is back for a fifth consecutive year, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of your reading journey once again!
Read on for all the details.
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From the back cover:
“Myung and Laleh are keepers of the whale of babel. They roam within its cosmic chambers, speak folktales of themselves, and pray to an enigmatic figure they know only as ‘Great Wisa’. To Laleh, this is everything. For Myung, it is not enough.
Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta, sweeping across three landscapes, and featuring a museum of collective memory and a festival of madness. At its core, it asks: In the devastating chaos of this world, where all is in flux and the truth ever-changing, what will you choose to hold on to?”
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From the back cover:
The road to perdition is paved with desires. An expat couple resort to illicit means to hoard wealth. A small-town author yearns for fame and laurels at the risk of alienating his family. A widowed woman is desperate to preserve her youthful looks and turn the clock back. An eager-to-please, do-gooder mother seeks respect and reciprocation of her efforts. The common thread weaving through these stories is a pulsating and addictive desire to attain what one craves for at any cost. In Fire-Ant’s Sting: Desire Diaries, Kamalini Natesan explores, through twelve varied characters, the different facets of desire—a primal human emotion—and how its pursuit blinds one to reason. Alternately wry and full of pathos, daring and evocative, this is a delectable diary of desires that will leave you asking for more.
Desire is one of the human emotions that is generally suppressed the most, and is yet the single-biggest driver of our actions. We are adept at suppressing desire, at painting it as “too much”, as taboo.
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In June 1934, Kim Philby met his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. The woman who introduced them changed the course of history. Her name was Edith Tudor-Hart.
Who doesn’t love a good spy novel? Espionage, undercover operations, the thrill of wondering if they will be caught…Except, Edith and Kim has none of this intrigue. Instead, Philby tells the story of Edith Tudor-Hart, the woman who changed the course of 20th century history, and was then written out of it.
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It’s time for an all-new edition of the Book Bingo reading challenge! This reader favorite is back for a fourth consecutive year, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of your reading journey once again!
Read on for all the details and some changes this year.
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April was quite an interesting reading month. I read a nice variety of books, including one that was on my to-read list since years, but despite the raving reviews, it didn’t do anything for me.
Let’s start with the books I read as part of my Book Bingo challenge:
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From the back cover:
“A candy box reveals a son’s true feelings for his mother. A fish sculpture creeps into a budding and healthy relationship. A splint on a music teacher’s finger threatens to expose a secret.
Objects can come to hold great power over life and the course it takes. This collection of short stories explores the nuances of the human experience as objects of sentimental value, nostalgic appeal or cultural significance bear witness and shed light on all that remains unsaid. A History of Objects expertly demonstrates the ways in which the inanimate are far from lifeless.”
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