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Books

Books I read in August 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in August 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
Project Hail MaryAndy Weir10/10
RecursionBlake Crouch8/10
ArtemisAndy Weir9/10
UpgradeBlake Crouch7/10
Randomize (Forward Collection)Andy Weir5/10
ExhalationTed Chiang7/10
Books I read in August 2023

In August, I decided to continue my Science Fiction streak. I saw an advertisement for Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and decided to give it a go. Within a few pages, it was clear to me that this was the best Science Fiction novel I had ever read.

Andy Weir is quite unlike the other Sci-Fi authors I normally read (Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov etc). While the latter are serious and scientific, I found Andy Weir to be positively comic. But that doesn’t mean the science is lacking; that is also explained in detail. After a long time, I had found a book that I couldn’t put down and was completely engrossed.

Apparently, there would be a movie based on this book which I will surely go watch it.

After this, I tried reading The Devgarh Royals trilogy by Alisha Kay, but didn’t like it after a few pages and abandoned it.

Flip-Flop

I saw a recommendation from Andy Weir for a book called Recursion by Blake Crouch, so decided to give it a go. Recursion is a psychological thriller mixed with Sci-Fi. It took a lot of mental power to keep track of all the time travel, but the story was engaging. I was afraid it would become as complicated as Tenet, but thankfully, it didn’t. One of the most intense books I have ever read.

After this, I went back to Andy Weir‘s Artemis. Just like Project Hail Mary, it was humorous Sci-Fi. The book also has a unique protagonist – A promiscuous–saudi female porter on the moon. I really enjoyed the book, although I found some parts a bit hard to believe.

After this, I went back to Blake Crouch‘s Upgrade. It was entertaining, but nothing special. I probably won’t go back to the author again.

Wanting to go back to Andy Weir; I considered reading The Martian, but since I had already seen the movie twice, gave it a skip. Instead, I bought Randomize (Forward Collection). The story started off interested, but then ended within 40 pages on a cliffhanger. WTF!

Amazon recommended me Exhalation by Ted Chiang, which is a collection of short stories. The short parables were perfect for weekday reading, where I could finish 1 story before I went to bed. The stories had a definite Black Mirror vibe.

PS: I also switched from reading on my Kindle Paperwhite to the Kindle app on the iPad, because I also wanted to read magazines. Below are the magazines I am reading

  1. Reader’s Digest India
  2. Travel+Leisure India
Books

Books I read in July 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in July 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
2001: A Space OdysseyArthur C. Clarke8/10
2010: Odyssey TwoArthur C. Clarke9/10
2061: Odyssey ThreeArthur C. Clarke7/10
3001: The Final OdysseyArthur C. Clarke7/10
Books I read in July 2023

In July, I went back to my trusty Kindle. I had a yearning to read Sci-Fi and not able to find anything new that I wanted to read, I went back to books I had already read.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the rare books, which was adapted from the screenplay of a movie, also written by Arthur C. Clarke along with Stanley Kubrick. Now, there are 2 versions of the book. The original one and the one based on the movie screenplay. I seem to have read the original one, because when I moved on to the second part, I could see several inconsistencies. That is because the second book onwards are adapted from the screenplay version instead.

2010: Odyssey Two is even better than the first part and I enjoyed reading it.

2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey were both above average, but not awesome. Although I had read all these books, it was long ago. And I did enjoy reading them again.

2001: Differences between original book and movie

After spotting the inconsistencies between the books 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two, I decided to watch the movie, and document the differences, because I did not find a good summary online

  1. In the book, TMA-2 is on Iapetus, a moon of Saturn. But in the movie and the sequels, TMA-2 is in Orbit around Io, a moon of Jupiter.
  2. In the book, Frank Poole is killed by HAL 9000 and floats away. But in the movie and the sequels Dave Bowman goes out to rescue him and gets locked out of the ship by HAL.
  3. In the book, Discovery uses Hydrogen as a propellant. But in the movie and the sequels, the propellant is Ammonia.
  4. In the book, Discovery carried only enough propellant to go into Orbit around Iapetus. But in the movie and the sequels, Discovery has enough propellant to return back to earth.
  5. In the book, Discovery was already running out of air when Dave Bowman left. But in the movie and the sequels, Discovery has sufficient air even after jettisoning the stale putrid air into space.
Books

Books I read in May & June 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in May & June 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
The Blue UmbrellaRuskin Bond7/10
The Gopi Diaries: Coming HomeSudha Murty8/10
The Gopi Diaries: Finding LoveSudha Murty7/10
The Gopi Diaries: Growing UpSudha Murty8/10
ChowringheeSankar7/10
Books I read in May & June 2023

I had an exam in May that I needed to prepare for. I also had guests over for a few days, so I didn’t read anything at all, all May. At the end of May, I started reading The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond. It was a nice sweet story about a little Garhwali girl who lives in the mountains. The only problem with this book was that it was too short.

Next, I moved on to Sudha Murty. I remember reading her books to my daughter when she was small and she had just launched a new book series, so I gave it a go.

The series is about a dog that Murty’s rich family adopts and how life is with him over the years. It was a nice read, although I feel it is targeted more towards children.

In July, my wife gifted me Chowringhee by Sankar, which is about the life of people working and staying at a Hotel in Kolkata. The book reminded me of the book Hotel by Arthur Hailey which I had read when I was young. It was still refreshing to read Chowringhee, as it brings many things new. The ending was too grim, however.

Books

Books I read in March & April 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in March & April 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
Delhi: A NovelKhushwant Singh8/10
Train to PakistanKhushwant Singh8/10
Whereabouts: A NovelJhumpa Lahiri7/10
Another Dozen StoriesSatyajit Ray8/10
Books I read in March & April 2023

Due to an unavoidable personal situation, I didn’t read anything for the first 2 weeks of March. After that, craving something familiar, I started reading Khushwant Singh, although I had read all his novels already many years ago.

It was nice reading those familiar novels, once more. I really enjoy Khushwant’s writing style.

After Khushwant, I went back to Jhumpa Lahiri. Whereabouts: A Novel was a collection of incoherent notes from the author. Entertaining, but nothing special.

After that, Amazon recommended me Satyajit Ray. I read his “Another Dozen Stories” which was full of short stories. Some of the stories were feel good, whereas others were paranormal or bordering paranormal. Overall, I found the stories quite entertaining.

Knowing that I didn’t do much reading the last 2 months, I will try to do better going forward.

I am thinking of revisiting Arthur C Clarke next.

Books

Books I read in February 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in February 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
Midnight’s ChildrenSalman Rushdie7/10
The All Bengali Crime DetectivesSuparna Chatterjee6/10
Love UnlockedKavita Bhatnagar4/10
The Ministry of Utmost HappinessArundhati Roy9/10
Books I read in February 2023

Summary

At the end of January, I started reading Salman Rushdie. Compared to Arundhati Roy, I immediately found the writing much easier and funnier, too. However, I found the book much longer than it needed to be. I completely lost the plot in Book 3 where Saleem, the protagonist loses his memory and becomes a dog/tracker for the army (owing to his superior sense of smell) in the CUTIA unit. I skipped the chapters around this phase completely.

After the huge book that was Midnight’s children, I wanted to read something lighter and less well known. So when Amazon recommended me “The All Bengali Crime Detectives“, from a virtually unknown author Suvarna Chatterjee, I gave it a go. I found the story engaging, but found the setting of middle class Kolkata quite depressing.

From there, I went on to read another lesser known book Love Unlocked. It was about marital discord between a wife and her in-laws; always bickering. Eventually, when threatened with divorce by her husband, she mends her ways and learns to live with her in-laws.

I really Lol-ed at this one
I really Lol-ed hard at this one

Not only does she become a doting daughter-in-law, she develops excellent house-keeping skills, starts cooking meat and even becomes pregnant to please her in-laws. She even gets her adopted sister to come and do household chores for her in-laws.

Not trying my luck with unknown authors further, I went back to Arundhati Roy.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness was hands down one of the best books I have ever read. I would rate it 10/10 if not for the silliness of having real life politicians in the book but with slightly modified names (Kejriwal is Aggarwal, Modi is Lalla and Manmohan Singh is the trapped rabbit)

I also gave Kindle Unlimited a shot, but realised that the books on there are not the books I wanted to read and cancelled it soon after.

Books

Books I read in January 2023

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As promised, I took up reading again. In this post, I present the books I read in January 2023, in sequence.

When I started reading (after a gap of many years), I was in throes of medication withdrawal. Reading books made things easier.

I went to few of the biggest book stores in the city and was disappointed to see the slim selection of English books available, especially from Indian authors. I was also surprised to see how expensive English books were. Eventually, I decided to buy a Kindle instead.

I was a bit apprehensive and thought that maybe after so many years I may not be able to read after all. but to my relief, it all came back pretty easily. Below are the books I read in January 2023.

BookAuthorMy Rating
The LowlandJhumpa Lahiri9/10
Interpreter of MaladiesJhumpa Lahiri6/10
The NamesakeJhumpa Lahiri8/10
Unaccustomed EarthJhumpa Lahiri9/10
The God of Small ThingsArundhati Roy9/10
Books I read in January 2023

The book I chose to start the year with, turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. The rest of Jhumpa’s books all had common themes. Expatriate Bengalis in America, cheating Bengali wives, neglected parents, children adjusting to their new lives in America. Also, people who don’t seem to do “real work’ after moving to America, but studying for years, writing thesis and dissertations.

From there, I moved on to Arundhati Roy. Initially I found her writing more complicated and convoluted. The timeline was disjointed. Also I couldn’t keep track of the 20 characters introduced within the first 2 pages. But eventually the novel gripped me and I enjoyed reading it.

Be back next month!