Akankshya's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:05:10 -0700 60 Akankshya's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food]]> 74843809 New York Times Bestseller

International Bestseller



An Economist Best Book of 2023 � One of Smithsonian's Ten Best Books About Food of 2023 � A Financial Times Best Food and Drink Book of 2023 � A New Yorker Best Books of 2023 So Far � A ŷ Choice Awards 2023 Nominee � An NPR 2023 "Books We Love" Pick



A manifesto to change how you eat and how you think about the human body.


It’s not you, it’s the food.


We have entered a new age of eating. For the first time in human history, most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food. There’s a long, formal scientific definition, but it can be boiled down to if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t find in your kitchen, it’s UPF.


These products are specifically engineered to behave as addictive substances, driving excess consumption. They are now linked to the leading cause of early death globally and the number one cause of environmental destruction. Yet almost all our staple foods are ultra-processed. UPF is our food culture and for many people it is the only available and affordable food.


In this book, Chris van Tulleken, father, scientist, doctor, and award-winning BBC broadcaster, marshals the latest evidence to show how governments, scientists, and doctors have allowed transnational food companies to create a pandemic of diet-related disease. The solutions don’t lie in willpower, personal responsibility, or exercise. You’ll find no diet plan in this book—but join Chris as he undertakes a powerful self-experiment that made headlines around the under the supervision of colleagues at University College London he spent a month eating a diet of 80 percent UPF, typical for many children and adults in the United States. While his body became the subject of scientific scrutiny, he spoke to the world’s leading experts from academia, agriculture, and—most important—the food industry itself. But more than teaching him about the experience of the food, the diet switched off Chris’s own addiction to UPF.


In a fast-paced and eye-opening narrative he explores the origins, science, and economics of UPF to reveal its catastrophic impact on our bodies and the planet. And he proposes real solutions for doctors, for policy makers, and for all of us who have to eat. A book that won’t only upend the way you shop and eat, Ultra-Processed People will open your eyes to the need for action on a global scale.]]> 383 Chris van Tulleken 1324036737 Akankshya 0 currently-reading 4.35 2023 Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food
author: Chris van Tulleken
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Stepford Wives 2124246 191 Ira Levin 0440182948 Akankshya 3 shorts 3.75 1972 The Stepford Wives
author: Ira Levin
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: shorts
review:
My enjoyment of this novel, its setting, the suspense is all weakened by the fact that I've read/seen all of the inspired, derivative (and sometimes better) stories and movies that it has notably spawned. As such, this so-called modern classic seems derivative to me. More egregious is the fact that the intention of this book isn't clear to me, especially with the ending. Does it just exist to be a satire of the archetypal 1950s American housewife? That's like three sentences long.
]]> Great Big Beautiful Life 218572920 Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.]]> 427 Emily Henry Akankshya 0 to-read 4.45 2025 Great Big Beautiful Life
author: Emily Henry
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 8: Brotherly Love]]> 56297952 568 Rumiko Takahashi 1421562642 Akankshya 3 3.5 rounded down]]> 4.61 2011 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 8: Brotherly Love
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:
A very big dip in the installments here, repetitive and perhaps problematic stuff. Not surprising as this is near the middle of the series.
3.5 rounded down
]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 9: Uneasy Allies]]> 56297953 576 Rumiko Takahashi 1421563134 Akankshya 0 currently-reading 4.62 2011 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 9: Uneasy Allies
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> My Name Is Emilia del Valle 217245557 In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

In San Francisco 1866, an Irish nun, left pregnant and abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia Del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of sixteen, she begins to publish pulp fiction under a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can't contain her sense of adventure any longer, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at the San Francisco Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, along with Eric, and while there, begins to uncover the truth about her father and the country that represents her roots. But as the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in danger and at a crossroads, questioning both her identity and her destiny.

A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.]]> 304 Isabel Allende 059397509X Akankshya 4
While the historical aspects, childhood background, and immersion are masterfully done in this book, it lost me with a major disconnect from the character of Emilia. She feels so distant from herself, which is the weirdest thing in a first-person narrative. A lot of the emotional and romantic instances come across as merely words on a page, providing just an outline of the emotions the characters should be feeling. I felt more connected to Emilia's parents' story than to her, but that just demonstrates the masterful writing in the first half of the book, particularly in relation to her background. The standout element in the first half is the growth of the protagonist- her mistakes, whether well-intentioned or not, and her progress- something that many "strong female protagonist" novels throw out the window to simulate her strength. In the second half, the Chilean civil war is incredibly well-described: immersive and haunting in its depiction of war and Emilia's experiences, showcasing the author's true writing talent. The ending significantly redeems the disjointed writing, adding many more layers to Emilia's character, and feels reminiscent of a certain beloved character from Where the Crawdads Sing. Wait, was I baited into liking this book?

I'd recommend this to people who enjoy strong-willed, opinionated female protagonists and well-researched historical fiction. I think this is the kind of book I might sit with and perhaps rate higher than I currently do: 3.5 rounded up.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!]]> 4.03 2025 My Name Is Emilia del Valle
author: Isabel Allende
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: advanced-reader-copy, not-yet-published
review:
I'm hovering between a 3 and a 4 for this book.

While the historical aspects, childhood background, and immersion are masterfully done in this book, it lost me with a major disconnect from the character of Emilia. She feels so distant from herself, which is the weirdest thing in a first-person narrative. A lot of the emotional and romantic instances come across as merely words on a page, providing just an outline of the emotions the characters should be feeling. I felt more connected to Emilia's parents' story than to her, but that just demonstrates the masterful writing in the first half of the book, particularly in relation to her background. The standout element in the first half is the growth of the protagonist- her mistakes, whether well-intentioned or not, and her progress- something that many "strong female protagonist" novels throw out the window to simulate her strength. In the second half, the Chilean civil war is incredibly well-described: immersive and haunting in its depiction of war and Emilia's experiences, showcasing the author's true writing talent. The ending significantly redeems the disjointed writing, adding many more layers to Emilia's character, and feels reminiscent of a certain beloved character from Where the Crawdads Sing. Wait, was I baited into liking this book?

I'd recommend this to people who enjoy strong-willed, opinionated female protagonists and well-researched historical fiction. I think this is the kind of book I might sit with and perhaps rate higher than I currently do: 3.5 rounded up.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!
]]> The Original Daughter 217245582 In this dazzling debut, Stegner Fellow Jemimah Wei explores the formation and dissolution of family bonds in a story of ambition and sisterhood in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore.

Before Arin, Genevieve Yang was an only child. Living with her parents and grandmother in a single-room flat in working-class Bedok, Genevieve is saddled with an unexpected sibling when Arin appears, the shameful legacy of a grandfather long believed to be dead. As the two girls grow closer, they must navigate the intensity of life in a place where the urgent insistence on achievement demands constant sacrifice. Knowing that failure is not an option, the sisters learn to depend entirely on one another as they spurn outside friendships, leisure, and any semblance of a social life in pursuit of academic perfection and passage to a better future.

When a stinging betrayal violently estranges Genevieve and Arin, Genevieve must weigh the value of ambition versus familial love, home versus the outside world, and allegiance to herself versus allegiance to the people who made her who she is.

In the story of a family and its contention with the roiling changes of our rapidly modernizing, winner-take-all world, The Original Daughter is a major literary debut, rife with emotional clarity and searing social insight.]]> 368 Jemimah Wei 0385551010 Akankshya 0 4.15 2025 The Original Daughter
author: Jemimah Wei
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: advanced-reader-copy, not-yet-published, currently-reading
review:

]]> No Exit 123933 The play is a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for all eternity. It is the source of Sartre's especially famous and often misinterpreted quotation "L'enfer, c'est les autres" or "Hell is other people", a reference to Sartre's ideas about the Look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object in the world of another consciousness.]]> 60 Jean-Paul Sartre 0573613052 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.13 1944 No Exit
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1944
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Comes for the Archbishop]]> 545951 297 Willa Cather 0679728899 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.93 1927 Death Comes for the Archbishop
author: Willa Cather
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1927
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Waves 46114 The Waves introduces six characters—three men and three women—who are grappling with the death of a beloved friend, Percival. Instead of describing their outward expressions of grief, Virginia Woolf draws her characters from the inside, revealing them through their thoughts and interior soliloquies. As their understanding of nature’s trials grows, the chorus of narrative voices blends together in miraculous harmony, remarking not only on the inevitable death of individuals but on the eternal connection of everyone. The novel that most epitomizes Virginia Woolf’s theories of fiction in the working form, The Waves is an amazing book very much ahead of its time. It is a poetic dreamscape, visual, experimental, and thrilling.]]> 297 Virginia Woolf 0156949601 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.17 1931 The Waves
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Quiet on the Western Front]]> 355697
In 1914 a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the ‘glorious war�. With the fire and patriotism of youth they sign up. What follows is the moving story of a young ‘unknown soldier� experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.]]> 296 Erich Maria Remarque 0449213943 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.04 1928 All Quiet on the Western Front
author: Erich Maria Remarque
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)]]> 9317452 392 Ben Aaronovitch 0575097566 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.83 2011 Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Small Things Like These 59733531
The long-awaited new work from the author of Foster, Small Things Like These is an unforgettable story of hope, quiet heroism and tenderness.]]> 116 Claire Keegan 0571368700 Akankshya 0 currently-reading 4.21 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A Lesson Before Dying 5197 256 Ernest J. Gaines 0375702709 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.98 1993 A Lesson Before Dying
author: Ernest J. Gaines
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Circle of Days 219856609 A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT
Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family live in prosperity and offer Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community.

A PRIESTESS WHO BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE
Joia, Neen’s sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain.

A MONUMENT THAT WILL DEFINE A CIVILIZATION
Joia’s vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life’s work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders � and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare�

Truly ambitious in scope, Circle of Days invites you to join master storyteller Ken Follett in exploring one of the greatest mysteries of our age: Stonehenge.]]> 704 Ken Follett 1538772779 Akankshya 0 to-read, not-yet-published
Thanks Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC!]]> 4.17 Circle of Days
author: Ken Follett
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read, not-yet-published
review:
IMHO, Ken Follett is by far one of the best wielders of the heft that good historical fiction needs. Although, is it technically historical fiction if we're in prehistoric times? This story is set in 2500 BCE, and revolves around the building of Stonehenge. Needless to say, I am very excited to read it!

Thanks Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC!
]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 7: Dueling Emotions]]> 56301904 568 Rumiko Takahashi 1421561891 Akankshya 0 4.58 2011 Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 7: Dueling Emotions
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 6: Love Cuts to the Bone]]> 56301902
Reads R to L (Japanese Style) T+ audience.

Kagome is an ordinary modern schoolgirl living an ordinary life. Who would have thought the dried-up old well on the site of her family's shrine would be a gateway to Japan's ancient past? Drawn through the gate against her will, Kagome finds herself battling demons for control of what she thought was a worthless trinket but is actually a powerful magical gem, the Shikon Jewel! Together with an unlikely ally, the half demon Inuyasha, Kagome begins a quest to recover the shards of the Shikon Jewel and learn more about her link to the past.

Love Cuts to the Bone. With the power granted by a large piece of the Shikon Jewel, Naraku's scheming is in high gear as his minions go forth to do his bidding. Kikyo, the priestess whose duty it once was to guard the jewel, gave the fragment to him, but why? Then Inuyasha takes on another of Naraku's evil offspring, a demon that inhabits the very sword his half brother Sesshomaru wields. Naraku's human origins may yet prove to be his downfall if Kikyo can exploit his weaknesses by forcing him to make a difficult choice, one that is mirrored by Inuyasha's lost love for Kikyo and a possible future with Kagome!]]> 560 Rumiko Takahashi 142154928X Akankshya 4 4.57 2011 Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 6: Love Cuts to the Bone
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Salt Queen (Letters from Maynara, #1)]]> 216539332 There can be no victory without betrayal.

Hara Duja Gatdula, queen of the island nation of Maynara, holds the divine power to move the earth. But her strength is failing and the line of succession gives her little comfort. Her heir, Laya, is a danger—a petty and passionate princess who wields the enormous power of the skies with fickle indifference. Circling the throne is Imeria Kulaw—the matriarch of a traitorous rival family who wields recklessly enhanced powers of her own—with designs to secure a high-ranking position for her son and claim the crown for her family. Each woman has a secret weakness—a lover, a heartbreak, a lie. But each is willing to pay the steepest price to bring down her rivals once and for all.

Filled with passion, romance, betrayal, and divine magic, Black Salt Queen journeys to a gorgeous precolonial island nation where women—and secrets—reign.]]> 393 Samantha Bansil Akankshya 0 advanced-reader-copy, to-read 4.19 Black Salt Queen (Letters from Maynara, #1)
author: Samantha Bansil
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: advanced-reader-copy, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In My Mother's Footsteps: A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home]]> 57810613 ‘Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes� my mother once told me. As a small child, I looked up at my mother and clutched her hand. The puffiness of her palm reminded me of a loaf of warm pita bread, and when she laced her fingers into mine like a pretzel, I felt safe. I would have walked with her to the ends of the earth.

When Mona moved from California to Ramallah to teach conflict resolution in a school for a year, she kept a journal. Within its pages, she wrote her impressions of her homeland, a place she had only experienced through her mother’s memories.

As she settled into her teaching role, getting to know her students and the challenges they faced living in a militarized, occupied town, Mona also embarked on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem.

Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighborhood, listening to the muezzin’s call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after fifty-nine years of exile, it was Mona’s mother who held her daughter’s hand as they visited Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City. Their roles were reversed. Mona had become her Mama’s legs and her memory � and the one to tell her story going forward.

In My Mother’s Footsteps is a moving and heart-rending journey of a daughter discovering her roots and recovering her mother’s beloved past. It’s also an intimate and tender account of daily life for Palestinians as never seen before. For fans of The Bookseller of Kabul and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.]]> 292 Mona Hajjar Halaby 1800196113 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.31 2021 In My Mother's Footsteps: A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home
author: Mona Hajjar Halaby
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 5: Dueling Emotions]]> 56297955 568 Rumiko Takahashi 142156792X Akankshya 4 4.59 2010 Inuyasha (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 5: Dueling Emotions
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:

]]> A Place for Us 36840397 A Place for Us unfolds the lives of an Indian-American Muslim family, gathered together in their Californian hometown to celebrate the eldest daughter, Hadia's, wedding - a match of love rather than tradition. It is here, on this momentous day, that Amar, the youngest of the siblings, reunites with his family for the first time in three years. Rafiq and Layla must now contend with the choices and betrayals that lead to their son's estrangement - the reckoning of parents who strove to pass on their cultures and traditions to their children; and of children who in turn struggle to balance authenticity in themselves with loyalty to the home they came from.

In a narrative that spans decades and sees family life through the eyes of each member, A Place For Us charts the crucial moments in the family's past, from the bonds that bring them together to the differences that pull them apart. And as siblings Hadia, Huda, and Amar attempt to carve out a life for themselves, they must reconcile their present culture with their parent's faith, to tread a path between the old world and the new, and learn how the smallest decisions can lead to the deepest of betrayals.

A deeply affecting and resonant story, A Place for Us is truly a book for our times: a moving portrait of what it means to be an American family today, a novel of love, identity and belonging that eloquently examines what it means to be both American and Muslim -- and announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.]]> 385 Fatima Farheen Mirza 1524763551 Akankshya 0 maybe 4.17 2018 A Place for Us
author: Fatima Farheen Mirza
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Homeseeking 211025407 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593712993.

An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.

A single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.

At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.]]> 512 Karissa Chen Akankshya 0 maybe 4.24 2025 Homeseeking
author: Karissa Chen
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Audition 216247518 One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. A mesmerizing Mobius strip of a novel that asks who we are to the people we love.

Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an elegant and accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, and young—young enough to be her son. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In Audition, two competing narratives unspool, rewriting our understanding of the roles we play every day—partner, parent, creator, muse—and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us best.]]> 208 Katie Kitamura 059385232X Akankshya 0 to-read 3.60 2025 Audition
author: Katie Kitamura
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Universality 214269374 Remember—words are your weapons, they’re your tools, your currency: a twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power from a "powerful new voice in British Literature� (The Sunday Times).

Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, in the midst of an illegal rave, a young man is nearly bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar.

An ambitious young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement that has taken up residence on the farm. She solves the mystery, but her viral exposé raises more questions than it answers, Who wrote it? Why? And how much of it is true? Through a voyeuristic lens, and with a simmering power, the book focuses in on what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean.

The thrilling novel from one of the most acclaimed and incisive young novelists working today, Universality is a compelling, unsettling celebration of the spectacular, appalling force of language. It dares you to look away.]]> 176 Natasha Brown 0593977300 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.44 2025 Universality
author: Natasha Brown
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spirit Bares Its Teeth 89144437 Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.]]> 399 Andrew Joseph White 1682636186 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.48 2023 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity, #1)]]> 13481748
But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in “Verity’s� own words, as she writes her account for her captors. Truth or lies? Honour or betrayal? Everything they’ve ever believed in is put to the test…]]> 353 Elizabeth Wein Akankshya 0 to-read 4.10 2012 Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity, #1)
author: Elizabeth Wein
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All My Rage 57899793 Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.]]> 376 Sabaa Tahir 0593202341 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.48 2022 All My Rage
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wide Sargasso Sea 25622780 Wide Sargasso Sea, a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys’s return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction’s most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.

A new introduction by the award-winning Edwidge Danticat, author most recently of Claire of the Sea Light, expresses the enduring importance of this work. Drawing on her own Caribbean background, she illuminates the setting’s impact on Rhys and her astonishing work.]]> 176 Jean Rhys 0393352560 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.63 1966 Wide Sargasso Sea
author: Jean Rhys
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 4: Hard Choices]]> 56294919 568 Rumiko Takahashi 1421567911 Akankshya 5 4.57 2010 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 4: Hard Choices
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 3: New Allies, New Enemies]]> 56294916 576 Rumiko Takahashi 1421567903 Akankshya 5 4.65 2010 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 3: New Allies, New Enemies
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 2: New Allies, New Enemies]]> 56294918 568 Rumiko Takahashi 142156789X Akankshya 5 4.64 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 2: New Allies, New Enemies
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 1: Pulled Through Time!]]> 56294243 576 Rumiko Takahashi 1421567881 Akankshya 5 graphic-novels 4.61 2009 Inuyasha. VizBig Edition, Volume 1: Pulled Through Time!
author: Rumiko Takahashi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
I will never rate an Inuyasha ep lesser than 5 stars. Episodic manga for teens at its finest, also functions very well as a comfort read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Passengers on the Hankyu Line]]> 223854441 Welcome aboard the Hankyu Line train!

Come along on a heartwarming, funny, and perfectly cozy voyage with the charming and relatable passengers—including one dashing dachshund—whose lives intersect and affect each other on one of Japan’s most romantic railway lines from international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.

Between the two beautiful towns of Takarazuka and Nishinomiya, in a stunning mountainous area of Japan, rattles the Hankyu Line train. Passengers step on and off, lost in thought, contemplating the tiny knots of their existence. On the outward journey, we are introduced to the emotional dilemmas of five characters, and on the return journey six months later, we watch them find resolutions.

A young man meets the young woman who always happens to borrow a library book just before he can check it out himself, a woman in a white bridal dress boards looking inexplicably sad, a university student heads home after class, a girl prepares to leave her abusive boyfriend, and an old lady discusses adopting a dog with her granddaughter.

With stories that crisscross like the railway lines, the Hankyu train trundles on, propelling the lives and loves of its passengers ever forward.]]> 256 Hiro Arikawa Akankshya 0 to-read 3.80 2008 The Passengers on the Hankyu Line
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Vanishing World 219300660 From the author of the bestselling literary sensations Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings comes a surprising and highly imaginative story set in a version of Japan where sex between married couples has vanished and all children are born by artificial insemination.

Sayaka Murata has proven herself to be one of the most exciting chroniclers of the strangeness of society, x-raying our contemporary world to bizarre and troubling effect. Her depictions of a happily unmarried retail worker in Convenience Store Woman and a young woman convinced she is an alien in Earthlings have endeared her to millions of readers worldwide. Vanishing World takes Murata’s universe to a bold new level, imagining an alternative Japan where attitudes to sex and procreation are wildly different to our own.

As a girl, Amane realizes with horror that her parents “copulated� in order to bring her into the world, rather than using artificial insemination, which became the norm in the mid-twentieth century. Amane strives to get away from what she considers an indoctrination in this strange “system� by her mother, but her infatuations with both anime characters and real people have a sexual force that is undeniable. As an adult in an appropriately sexless marriage—sex between married couples is now considered as taboo as incest—Amane and her husband Saku decide to go and live in a mysterious new town called Experiment City or Paradise-Eden, where all children are raised communally, and every person is considered a Mother to all children. Men are beginning to become pregnant using artificial wombs that sit outside of their bodies like balloons, and children are nameless, called only “Kodomo-chan.� Is this the new world that will purify Amane of her strangeness once and for all?]]> 240 Sayaka Murata 0802164668 Akankshya 3
Normality is the creepiest madness there is.

Amane, the protagonist, lives in a world evolving away from the family unit as artificial insemination becomes the norm. The plot follows her love life incessantly (with detached, clinical wording) and leans more into the scifi genre in the third part of the book, which is really the "good" part, for lack of a better word. The book is pretty short, full of sardonic humor and wry insights, and a surrealist plot. The ending is extreme and exists to drive home a point. Consider it driven, and consider me repulsed.

Is there any such thing as a brain that hasn’t been brainwashed? If anything, it’s easier to go insane in the way best suited for your world.�

I'd recommend this to people who have a high, giant tolerance for unconventional plots and for major triggers. Think Kazuo Ishiguro or Haruki Murakami, but weirder. It raises so many questions about intimacy, conformity, and social taboos that I really liked, but chooses difficult plot points to go along with this. I'm conflicted about this book, so I'll leave this at 3 stars.

Anyway, thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!]]> 3.50 2015 Vanishing World
author: Sayaka Murata
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
Almost a perfect execution of a wacko idea—completely demolished by the ending.

Normality is the creepiest madness there is.

Amane, the protagonist, lives in a world evolving away from the family unit as artificial insemination becomes the norm. The plot follows her love life incessantly (with detached, clinical wording) and leans more into the scifi genre in the third part of the book, which is really the "good" part, for lack of a better word. The book is pretty short, full of sardonic humor and wry insights, and a surrealist plot. The ending is extreme and exists to drive home a point. Consider it driven, and consider me repulsed.

Is there any such thing as a brain that hasn’t been brainwashed? If anything, it’s easier to go insane in the way best suited for your world.�

I'd recommend this to people who have a high, giant tolerance for unconventional plots and for major triggers. Think Kazuo Ishiguro or Haruki Murakami, but weirder. It raises so many questions about intimacy, conformity, and social taboos that I really liked, but chooses difficult plot points to go along with this. I'm conflicted about this book, so I'll leave this at 3 stars.

Anyway, thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!
]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214333691 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 400 Suzanne Collins 1546171479 Akankshya 4
I've reread the original Hunger Games trilogy more times than I can keep track of. I've grown attached to all the characters in it, so to see a whole bunch of them in this one had me gasping at every cameo. Seriously, this was my Avengers: Endgame. Or maybe Catching Fire is after this prequel?

Everything I expected in this book (Haymitch's games have already been shown in Catching Fire) was retconned on almost every page. I love having the rug pulled from beneath me by a good plot, and this was the perfect setting for it. This already makes this book a great recommendation for fans of the original trilogy. The plot was perfect beyond being engrossing, though, since it extended the events of tBoSaS and showed us how resistance to the Capitol's authoritarian law never went away. It was a continuous conflict, a continuous fight for freedom, which just shows why Katniss' public rebellion was such a spark to the rebellion. It also shows why Katniss' public rebellion was such a big deal to the districts, and such a failure by the Gamemakers. Snow is also a major character in this one, and the motif of authoritarian control being resisted through art continues in this one. Honestly, I'm just impressed Suzanne Collins manages to add so many layers to a completed masterpiece of a trilogy with a prequel.

Now for just a few complaints. Why did this book feel so forced and surface-level? I've never felt this about Suzanne Collins' writing, but it finally hit that note when she introduced multiple District 12 characters I was so excited to read about and gave them about a line of characterization. She also had meticulously built the personalities of so many characters in the original trilogy that there's really not all that much to add in this one, and the obvious absence of certain characters in the future gives away the fates of many characters here. I also wish this book had followed Haymitch more after his Games, but that epilogue was a beautiful, if heartbreaking, addition to Haymitch's characterization. This book is just trauma, honestly, if not for a brilliantly constructed retcon and peek behind the curtain of the events of Catching Fire. So much of the plot of that book is unknown to Katniss' character, and a prequel was a perfect way to depict the rebellion plot brewing for decades.

In conclusion, who cares? I'm probably going to be rereading this one as much as I did the others. The Hunger Games series continues to be unabashedly brilliant, relevant, and heartbreaking.]]> 4.68 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
If there's one thing Suzanne Collins can do with a Hunger Games book, it's break my heart completely. 4 sopping stars (and a few complaints).

I've reread the original Hunger Games trilogy more times than I can keep track of. I've grown attached to all the characters in it, so to see a whole bunch of them in this one had me gasping at every cameo. Seriously, this was my Avengers: Endgame. Or maybe Catching Fire is after this prequel?

Everything I expected in this book (Haymitch's games have already been shown in Catching Fire) was retconned on almost every page. I love having the rug pulled from beneath me by a good plot, and this was the perfect setting for it. This already makes this book a great recommendation for fans of the original trilogy. The plot was perfect beyond being engrossing, though, since it extended the events of tBoSaS and showed us how resistance to the Capitol's authoritarian law never went away. It was a continuous conflict, a continuous fight for freedom, which just shows why Katniss' public rebellion was such a spark to the rebellion. It also shows why Katniss' public rebellion was such a big deal to the districts, and such a failure by the Gamemakers. Snow is also a major character in this one, and the motif of authoritarian control being resisted through art continues in this one. Honestly, I'm just impressed Suzanne Collins manages to add so many layers to a completed masterpiece of a trilogy with a prequel.

Now for just a few complaints. Why did this book feel so forced and surface-level? I've never felt this about Suzanne Collins' writing, but it finally hit that note when she introduced multiple District 12 characters I was so excited to read about and gave them about a line of characterization. She also had meticulously built the personalities of so many characters in the original trilogy that there's really not all that much to add in this one, and the obvious absence of certain characters in the future gives away the fates of many characters here. I also wish this book had followed Haymitch more after his Games, but that epilogue was a beautiful, if heartbreaking, addition to Haymitch's characterization. This book is just trauma, honestly, if not for a brilliantly constructed retcon and peek behind the curtain of the events of Catching Fire. So much of the plot of that book is unknown to Katniss' character, and a prequel was a perfect way to depict the rebellion plot brewing for decades.

In conclusion, who cares? I'm probably going to be rereading this one as much as I did the others. The Hunger Games series continues to be unabashedly brilliant, relevant, and heartbreaking.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 210868783
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Akankshya 5
2025 reread: 5 stars. I'd like to plead temporary insanity for rating this any less than 5 stars; it's just that I hated being in Coriolanus Snow's head. I've built up my tolerance for unlikable protagonists since, and I can really appreciate this novel now. On the reread, the symbolism that had initially seemed heavy-handed hit me just right. This is a perfect execution of the descent into the evil nature of a person. Man, Suzanne Collins can write. More than that, she writes perfectly re-readable books.]]> 4.13 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
2022: 3 stars

2025 reread: 5 stars. I'd like to plead temporary insanity for rating this any less than 5 stars; it's just that I hated being in Coriolanus Snow's head. I've built up my tolerance for unlikable protagonists since, and I can really appreciate this novel now. On the reread, the symbolism that had initially seemed heavy-handed hit me just right. This is a perfect execution of the descent into the evil nature of a person. Man, Suzanne Collins can write. More than that, she writes perfectly re-readable books.
]]> <![CDATA[Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World]]> 214268997
A transformative guide to rethinking our approach to goals, creativity, and life itself from a neuroscientist and entrepreneur, and the creator of the popular Ness Labs newsletter

Life isn’t linear, and yet we constantly try to mold it around linear goals: four-year college degrees, ten-year career plans, thirty-year mortgages. What if instead we approached life as a giant playground for experimentation? Based on ancestral philosophy and the latest scientific research, Tiny Experiments provides a desperately needed reframing: Uncertainty can be a state of expanded possibility and a space for metamorphosis.

Neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff reveals that all you need is an experimental mindset to turn challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. Readers will replace the old linear model of success with a circular model of growth in which goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted—not in a vacuum, but in conversation with the larger world.

Throughout the book, you will ask hard questions and design simple yet meaningful experiments to find the answers. You will learn how to break free from the invisible cognitive scripts that shape your life, how to harness the power of imperfection, and how to make smarter decisions when the path forward is unclear.

This is a guide to:
� Discover your true ambitions through conducting tiny personal experiments
� Dismantle harmful beliefs about success that have kept you stuck
� Dare to make decisions true to your own aspirations
� Stop trying to find your purpose and start living instead

Tiny Experiments offers not just practical tools to make sure our most vital work gets done, but a guide to reawakening our curiosity and drive in a noisy, busy, disaffected world, so that we can discover and pursue our most authentic ambitions while making a meaningful contribution.]]> 304 Anne-Laure Le Cunff 0593715136 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.26 Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World
author: Anne-Laure Le Cunff
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Unmapping 216601229 Intimate and spellbinding, The Unmapping is a character-driven, literary speculative exploration of a city’s descent into chaos and confusion, perfect for fans of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid.

4 a.m., New York City. A silent disaster.

There is no flash of light, no crumbling, no quaking. Each person in New York wakes up on an unfamiliar block when the buildings all switch locations overnight. The power grid has snapped, thousands of residents are missing, and the Empire State Building is on Coney Island—for now. The next night, it happens again.

Esme Green and Arjun Varma work for the City of New York’s Emergency Management team and are tasked with disaster response for the Unmapping. As Esme tries to wade through the bureaucratic nightmare of an endlessly shuffling city, she’s distracted by the ongoing search for her missing fiancé. Meanwhile, Arjun focuses on the ground-level rescue of disoriented New Yorkers, hoping to become the hero the city needs.


While scientists scramble to find a solution—or at least a means to cope—and mysterious “red cloak� cults crop up in the disaster’s wake, New York begins to reckon with a new reality no one recognizes. For Esme and Arjun, the fight to hold the city together will mean tackling questions about themselves that they were too afraid to ask—and facing answers they never expected. With themes of climate change, political unrest, and life in a state of emergency, The Unmapping is a timely and captivating debut.]]> 408 Denise S. Robbins 1964721067 Akankshya 4 advanced-reader-copy
The Unmapping has a wild and simple premise. At precisely 4 AM, all the buildings and blocks in New York City switch places randomly. Sheer, utter chaos ensues. Robbins does a phenomenal job of capturing how a city would respond to this chaos and follows a few key characters through the Unmapping. The book reads like a fever dream, surreal in all the plot points. I have a soft spot for books like this, and I was entertained thoroughly. This is very much a character-driven book, even though the plot is the really interesting thing about it, which would make this difficult to recommend to people. I went in expecting a fun read that would provide little to no explanation, and that is close to what I got, with a dollop of insightful prose, so I'm pretty happy with it.

Some things that really irked me though, was the one-dimensional characterization of most of the women in this book, and the stereotypical depiction of India. Esme was a favorite, but Arjun's character was pretty superfluous. I've forgotten every other character's name, but they were part of some brilliant world-building.

All in all, I think Robbins did a fantastic job of capturing a crisis that spreads (a very obvious inspiration was taken here) and creating fictional people who live in such a crazy world. Having gone through a global event or two in the past few years, I chuckled along with some of the things in this book. Buildings could start switching places and we'd still be expected to go on with life—yeah, I can believe that.

I have one final question though. Where did Central Park go? Did it stay together or get broken up? I demand answers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!]]> 3.72 2025 The Unmapping
author: Denise S. Robbins
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: advanced-reader-copy
review:
Wonderfully weird!

The Unmapping has a wild and simple premise. At precisely 4 AM, all the buildings and blocks in New York City switch places randomly. Sheer, utter chaos ensues. Robbins does a phenomenal job of capturing how a city would respond to this chaos and follows a few key characters through the Unmapping. The book reads like a fever dream, surreal in all the plot points. I have a soft spot for books like this, and I was entertained thoroughly. This is very much a character-driven book, even though the plot is the really interesting thing about it, which would make this difficult to recommend to people. I went in expecting a fun read that would provide little to no explanation, and that is close to what I got, with a dollop of insightful prose, so I'm pretty happy with it.

Some things that really irked me though, was the one-dimensional characterization of most of the women in this book, and the stereotypical depiction of India. Esme was a favorite, but Arjun's character was pretty superfluous. I've forgotten every other character's name, but they were part of some brilliant world-building.

All in all, I think Robbins did a fantastic job of capturing a crisis that spreads (a very obvious inspiration was taken here) and creating fictional people who live in such a crazy world. Having gone through a global event or two in the past few years, I chuckled along with some of the things in this book. Buildings could start switching places and we'd still be expected to go on with life—yeah, I can believe that.

I have one final question though. Where did Central Park go? Did it stay together or get broken up? I demand answers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
]]> She and Her Cat: Stories 60321429 For fans of Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs and Murata Sayaka’s Earthlings, this Japanese bestseller from renowned anime director Makoto Shinkai features four inspirational and heartwarming vignettes following women and their cats in their quests for love and connection.

Lying alone on the edge of the sidewalk in an abandoned cardboard box, a nameless narrator contemplates the indifferent world around him. With his mother long gone, his only company is the sound of the nearby train. Just as he fears that the end is near, a young woman peers down at him, this fateful encounter changing their lives forever

So begins the first story in She and Her Cat, a collection of four interrelated, stream-of-conscious short stories in which four women and their feline companions explore the frailty of life, the pain of isolation, and the limits of communication.

With clever narration alternating between the cats and their owners, She and Her Cat offers a unique and sly commentary on human foibles and our desire for connection. A whimsical short story anthology unlike any other, it effortlessly demonstrates that even in our darkest, most lonesome moments, we are still united to this wonderous world—often in ways we could never have expected.]]> 135 Makoto Shinkai 198216574X Akankshya 0 to-read 3.88 2013 She and Her Cat: Stories
author: Makoto Shinkai
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Long Bright River 51046755 Two sisters travel the same streets,though their lives couldn't be more different.
Then one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit—and her sister—before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.]]> 492 Liz Moore 0525540695 Akankshya 5 best-mystery, best-genfiction
I can't believe this is shelved as a mystery-thriller, it is first and foremost a strong literary narrative around addiction issues. Sure, there is a top-tier mystery herein, but Liz Moore created something phenomenal and poignant here.

The story follows Mickey, a police officer who patrols her Philadelphia neighborhood, always keeping an eye out for her sister, Kacey, a drug addict who works the streets. Things are made complicated when Mickey realizes she hasn't seen Kacey in a while, and a spree of murders of young women has taken over the neighborhood.

There is a current of anxiety that runs through this book, keeping the reader on their toes throughout. The gutwrenching inner lives and pasts of the characters are revealed little by little, painting them all in shades of gray. Moore does significant handholding to tell you how to feel about each of them, even acknowledging that people are both good and bad, two sides of the same story. I'm in absolute love with her writing style and plotting though, and loved every subtle and in-your-face theme or reveal.

The book presents a balanced, optimistic, and realistic lens of the reality of the opioid crisis while addressing the faults in a system that allows for the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable members of society, and broke my heart for the characters (who seem so close to real) in the process.

All of them children, all of them gone. People with promise, people dependent and depended upon, people loving and beloved, one after another, in a line, in a river, no fount and no outlet, a long bright river of departed souls.

One of the saddest title name drops. Full-fledged five stars! Read if you like sad, well-written books with realistic characters.]]> 4.18 2020 Long Bright River
author: Liz Moore
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: best-mystery, best-genfiction
review:
Heartbreaking, powerful, complex, and utterly beautiful to read.

I can't believe this is shelved as a mystery-thriller, it is first and foremost a strong literary narrative around addiction issues. Sure, there is a top-tier mystery herein, but Liz Moore created something phenomenal and poignant here.

The story follows Mickey, a police officer who patrols her Philadelphia neighborhood, always keeping an eye out for her sister, Kacey, a drug addict who works the streets. Things are made complicated when Mickey realizes she hasn't seen Kacey in a while, and a spree of murders of young women has taken over the neighborhood.

There is a current of anxiety that runs through this book, keeping the reader on their toes throughout. The gutwrenching inner lives and pasts of the characters are revealed little by little, painting them all in shades of gray. Moore does significant handholding to tell you how to feel about each of them, even acknowledging that people are both good and bad, two sides of the same story. I'm in absolute love with her writing style and plotting though, and loved every subtle and in-your-face theme or reveal.

The book presents a balanced, optimistic, and realistic lens of the reality of the opioid crisis while addressing the faults in a system that allows for the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable members of society, and broke my heart for the characters (who seem so close to real) in the process.

All of them children, all of them gone. People with promise, people dependent and depended upon, people loving and beloved, one after another, in a line, in a river, no fount and no outlet, a long bright river of departed souls.

One of the saddest title name drops. Full-fledged five stars! Read if you like sad, well-written books with realistic characters.
]]> Tom Lake 63241104 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> 309 Ann Patchett 006332752X Akankshya 0 reading-passive 3.92 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: reading-passive
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The True Story of Hansel and Gretel]]> 216408 A poignant and suspenseful retelling of a classic fairy tale set in a war-torn world.

In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel." They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called "witch" by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children. Louise Murphy's haunting novel of journey and survival, of redemption and memory, powerfully depicts how war is experienced by families and especially by children.

"Lyrical, haunting, unforgettable." --Kirkus Reviews

"No reader who picks up this inspiring novel will put it down until the final pages, in which redemption is not a fairy tale ending but a heartening message of hope." --Publishers Weekly]]> 297 Louise Murphy 0142003077 Akankshya 0 maybe 4.01 2003 The True Story of Hansel and Gretel
author: Louise Murphy
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel (The Books of Earthsea)]]> 214504702 Ursula K. Le Guin’s timeless and revered A Wizard of Earthsea is reimagined in a richly expansive graphic novel by acclaimed artist Fred Fordham, creator of stunning adaptations To Kill a Mockingbird and Brave New World.

"The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream." —Neil Gaiman

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and unleashed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

Experience the bestselling first adventure of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle as a masterly crafted graphic novel. Fred Fordham brings new life to Le Guin's iconic fantasy classic with his breathtaking illustrations and thoughtful text adaptation.]]> 288 Fred Fordham 0063285762 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.07 2025 A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel (The Books of Earthsea)
author: Fred Fordham
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ten Incarnations of Rebellion 218460368 From the New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi comes an epic and daring novel that imagines an alternate version of India that was never liberated from the British, and a young woman who will change the tides of history.

Kalki Divekar grows up a daughter of Kingston—a city the British built on the ashes of Bombay. The older generation, including her father, have been lost to the brutal hunt for rebels. Young men are drafted to fight wars they will never return from. And the people of her city are more interested in fighting each other than facing their true oppressors.

When tragedy strikes close to home, Kalki and her group of friends begin to play a dangerous game, obtaining jobs working for the British while secretly planning to destroy the empire from the inside out. They found Kingston's new independence movement, knowing one wrong move means certain death. Facing threats from all quarters, Kalki must decide whether it’s more important to be a hero or to survive.

Told as ten moments from Kalki’s life that mirror the Dashavatara, the ten avatars of Vishnu, Ten Incarnations of Rebellion is a sweeping, deeply felt speculative novel of empowerment, friendship, self-determination, and the true meaning of freedom.]]> 320 Vaishnavi Patel 0593874765 Akankshya 4 TL;DR: A truly unique work based on an alternate history world where India did not become independent from colonial British rule in 1947. Perfect for historical fiction enthusiasts, but take care if you're not familiar with India's history, there's not much context given here and history has literally been rewritten.


The year is 1962, and our protagonist, Kalki Divekar lives in a version of Mumbai that is oppressed, violent, and ruled by British propaganda—an alternate timeline that was just a higher degree of violence away. The world feels so terrifyingly plausible, that at times you forget that you're not reading true "historical" fiction. This novel focuses on Kalki and her fight for freedom in this world, interspersed with retellings of the stories of the ten incarnations of Vishnu. Vaishnavi Patel does not shy away from asking difficult moral questions about violence, sacrifice, imperialism, and classism in this one, and maintains a balance between the story of the characters, the myths, and social ideological discussions.

I've grown up learning as much as I can about Indian mythology and freedom fighters, through my education, stories told to me, and my own interests. This book is a shining example of the author's deep respect and fascination for the same. I think I find this novel to be extremely emotionally compelling because of that deep connection to these aspects. That said, I have thoughts.

The good:
I loved, loved Kalki's character. An intelligent, nuanced, headstrong female character who yearns for freedom, and builds a liberation movement is a literal breath of fresh air in a genre where protagonists are typically thrust into the forefront of rebellions rather than leading them willingly. Patel also captures India's diversity in this book (an amazingly difficult task to do), while keeping the focus only on a city, and it shows that she's tweaking the history of a whole subcontinent. There are plot points and representations that I think border on wish fulfillment—advancement for historically oppressed groups faces a lot more resistance than the way it happens here, but at least Patel makes a point to discuss every such decision explicitly (if a little less subtly). I genuinely like how the plot unfolds, a top-tier grassroots rebellion narrative that connects the politics of an entire nation.

The bad:
The main place where this book suffers is that Patel's writing does not match the standard of her idea in places. The writing is powerful in places, but painfully simplistic in places, which makes the flow inconsistent. Several times, Kalki goes through some traumatic experience and sits down with a friend or something and goes like, hey, let's recount a myth to ourselves, in a monologue, to calm ourselves....as real people do. That's a stylistic choice, but my immersion took major hits here. This book also needed to be much longer, perhaps double the length. Kalki's and the rebels' backgrounds needed more expansion, and the historical events were too fast-paced and packed with details to be completely immersive.

The ugly:
I must say I am super miffed about 1) a certain predictable plot point that a novel focusing on rebellion tends to have happening in this one and 2) a certain character's irredeemable actions which the narrative tries to redeem in a way?! Nuance was lost on me here.

Overall, this is the kind of book that fiction is made for, and I'm so glad I got to read it. Would it have been a much better read for me if it were longer and more polished? Absolutely. 3.75 stars, rounded up.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!]]> 4.24 2025 Ten Incarnations of Rebellion
author: Vaishnavi Patel
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves:
review:
TL;DR: A truly unique work based on an alternate history world where India did not become independent from colonial British rule in 1947. Perfect for historical fiction enthusiasts, but take care if you're not familiar with India's history, there's not much context given here and history has literally been rewritten.


The year is 1962, and our protagonist, Kalki Divekar lives in a version of Mumbai that is oppressed, violent, and ruled by British propaganda—an alternate timeline that was just a higher degree of violence away. The world feels so terrifyingly plausible, that at times you forget that you're not reading true "historical" fiction. This novel focuses on Kalki and her fight for freedom in this world, interspersed with retellings of the stories of the ten incarnations of Vishnu. Vaishnavi Patel does not shy away from asking difficult moral questions about violence, sacrifice, imperialism, and classism in this one, and maintains a balance between the story of the characters, the myths, and social ideological discussions.

I've grown up learning as much as I can about Indian mythology and freedom fighters, through my education, stories told to me, and my own interests. This book is a shining example of the author's deep respect and fascination for the same. I think I find this novel to be extremely emotionally compelling because of that deep connection to these aspects. That said, I have thoughts.

The good:
I loved, loved Kalki's character. An intelligent, nuanced, headstrong female character who yearns for freedom, and builds a liberation movement is a literal breath of fresh air in a genre where protagonists are typically thrust into the forefront of rebellions rather than leading them willingly. Patel also captures India's diversity in this book (an amazingly difficult task to do), while keeping the focus only on a city, and it shows that she's tweaking the history of a whole subcontinent. There are plot points and representations that I think border on wish fulfillment—advancement for historically oppressed groups faces a lot more resistance than the way it happens here, but at least Patel makes a point to discuss every such decision explicitly (if a little less subtly). I genuinely like how the plot unfolds, a top-tier grassroots rebellion narrative that connects the politics of an entire nation.

The bad:
The main place where this book suffers is that Patel's writing does not match the standard of her idea in places. The writing is powerful in places, but painfully simplistic in places, which makes the flow inconsistent. Several times, Kalki goes through some traumatic experience and sits down with a friend or something and goes like, hey, let's recount a myth to ourselves, in a monologue, to calm ourselves....as real people do. That's a stylistic choice, but my immersion took major hits here. This book also needed to be much longer, perhaps double the length. Kalki's and the rebels' backgrounds needed more expansion, and the historical events were too fast-paced and packed with details to be completely immersive.

The ugly:
I must say I am super miffed about 1) a certain predictable plot point that a novel focusing on rebellion tends to have happening in this one and 2) a certain character's irredeemable actions which the narrative tries to redeem in a way?! Nuance was lost on me here.

Overall, this is the kind of book that fiction is made for, and I'm so glad I got to read it. Would it have been a much better read for me if it were longer and more polished? Absolutely. 3.75 stars, rounded up.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
]]> <![CDATA[The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport]]> 200535595 The Day I Became a Runner starts from a striking premise-that, since running is a solitary activity conducted in the public sphere, women who take up this sport pose a more direct challenge to patriarchy than those who play sports such as badminton, cricket and tennis. To support this thesis, award-winning journalist Sohini Chattopadhyay presents the compelling stories of eight athletes spanning the entire history of independent India and involving women from a wide range of social and geographical backgrounds.

Whether it is Ila Mitra, who could have been the first Indian-origin woman at the 1940 Olympics, or Mary D'Souza, who ran and played hockey for India through the 1950s; Kamaljit Sandhu, a star hockey player who made history for India in Bangkok, 1970, or P.T. Usha, who redefined the 1980s and the decades that followed for women in sport across the country, each of the women in this book will inspire and encourage the women reading it to break barriers and chase their dreams.

Written with remarkable insight and poignancy, The Day I Became a Runner is an alternative account of the Indian republic chronicled through the lens of its women athletes. In that sense, it is a women's history of India.]]> 383 Sohini Chattopadhyay 9356994692 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.33 The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport
author: Sohini Chattopadhyay
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secret History 29044 559 Donna Tartt 1400031702 Akankshya 3
“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty—unless she is wed to something more meaningful—is always superficial.�

A book that purposefully obfuscates so much of the truth and meaning, it is impossible to understand if it's satirical or tragic, and it walks that line continuously. As is the case with so much classic literature, this book doesn't stand on its own. It requires immersion or knowledge of Greek tragedies, Dionysian myths and a need to understand it's inspiration, The Bacchae, by Euripides. I was out of my depth, and that's on me, so I don't think I can perceive what is so compelling about this book.

"If one is to read Dante, and understand him, one must become a Christian if only for a few hours...It was the same with this. It had to be approached on its own terms, not in a voyeuristic light or even a scholarly one. At the first, I suppose, it was impossible to see it any other way, looking at it as we did in fragments, through centuries. The vitality of the act was entirely obfuscated, the beauty, the terror, the sacrifice...Quite simply, we didn’t believe. And belief was the one condition which was absolutely necessary. Belief, and absolute surrender."

For the first 100 pages, I was hooked, intrigued and reading compulsively. All of a sudden, once the author was done with the setting, she refused to move the plot onwards for an excruciatingly long time. The book kept swerving from boring to interesting until the end. Most truly interesting/disturbing/intriguing plot points are vaguely implied, so readers can dissect and theorize, but that has significantly irked me, and I typically love an open ending. It has despicable characters, who spend most of this 500+ pager talking about nonsense and taking various drugs (and I typically enjoy unlikable characters). The exploration of academia is few and far between, the charismatic teacher, Julian, fading away from the foreground as soon as the setup has been accomplished. Admittedly, the foreshadowing and setting of themes is brilliantly done, the writing is flowery and evocative, and the implications make it a much more enjoyable story.

“Death is the mother of beauty,� said Henry.
“And what is beauty?�
“Tǰ.�
“Well said,� said Julian. “Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.�

“And if beauty is terror,� said Julian, “then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?�
“To live,� said Camilla.
“To live forever,� said Bunny, chin cupped in palm.

A tepid 3/5, will probably have me scratching my head at it appearing in best-of/classic lists for years to come.]]> 4.17 1992 The Secret History
author: Donna Tartt
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:
I get why this book is so hyped, close to being considered a modern classic, I do (maybe). It's not for me though.

“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty—unless she is wed to something more meaningful—is always superficial.�

A book that purposefully obfuscates so much of the truth and meaning, it is impossible to understand if it's satirical or tragic, and it walks that line continuously. As is the case with so much classic literature, this book doesn't stand on its own. It requires immersion or knowledge of Greek tragedies, Dionysian myths and a need to understand it's inspiration, The Bacchae, by Euripides. I was out of my depth, and that's on me, so I don't think I can perceive what is so compelling about this book.

"If one is to read Dante, and understand him, one must become a Christian if only for a few hours...It was the same with this. It had to be approached on its own terms, not in a voyeuristic light or even a scholarly one. At the first, I suppose, it was impossible to see it any other way, looking at it as we did in fragments, through centuries. The vitality of the act was entirely obfuscated, the beauty, the terror, the sacrifice...Quite simply, we didn’t believe. And belief was the one condition which was absolutely necessary. Belief, and absolute surrender."

For the first 100 pages, I was hooked, intrigued and reading compulsively. All of a sudden, once the author was done with the setting, she refused to move the plot onwards for an excruciatingly long time. The book kept swerving from boring to interesting until the end. Most truly interesting/disturbing/intriguing plot points are vaguely implied, so readers can dissect and theorize, but that has significantly irked me, and I typically love an open ending. It has despicable characters, who spend most of this 500+ pager talking about nonsense and taking various drugs (and I typically enjoy unlikable characters). The exploration of academia is few and far between, the charismatic teacher, Julian, fading away from the foreground as soon as the setup has been accomplished. Admittedly, the foreshadowing and setting of themes is brilliantly done, the writing is flowery and evocative, and the implications make it a much more enjoyable story.

“Death is the mother of beauty,� said Henry.
“And what is beauty?�
“Tǰ.�
“Well said,� said Julian. “Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.�

“And if beauty is terror,� said Julian, “then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?�
“To live,� said Camilla.
“To live forever,� said Bunny, chin cupped in palm.

A tepid 3/5, will probably have me scratching my head at it appearing in best-of/classic lists for years to come.
]]> Malice Aforethought 41843432 "Possibly the best shocker ever written." � The English Review
Dr. Edmund Bickleigh married above his station. Although popular and well respected in his little Devonshire community, he seethes with resentment at the superior social status of his domineering wife, Julia. Bickleigh soothes his inferiority complex by seducing as many of the local women as he possibly can � but with the collapse of his latest fling and a fresh dose of sneering contempt from Julia, the doctor resolves to silence his wife forever and begins plotting the perfect murder.
With Malice Aforethought, FrancisIles produced not just a darkly comic narrative of psychological suspense but also a landmark in crime fiction: for the first time, the murderer's identity was revealed at the start of the tale. Hailed as a tour de force by the British press of its day, the book retains its shock value and stands at #16 in the Crime Writers' Association ranking of the Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.
]]> 289 Francis Iles 0486834611 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.03 1931 Malice Aforethought
author: Francis Iles
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Red House Mystery 1333202
In it, Milne takes readers to the Red House, a comfortable residence in the placid English countryside that is the bachelor home of Mr. Mark Ablett. While visiting this cozy retreat, amateur detective Anthony Gillingham and his chum, Bill Beverley, investigate their genial host's disappearance and its connection with a mysterious shooting. Was the victim, whose body was found after a heated exchange with the host, shot in an act of self-defense? If so, why did the host flee, and if not, what drove him to murder?

Between games of billiards and bowls, the taking of tea, and other genteel pursuits, Gillingham and Beverley explore the possibilities in a light-hearted series of capers involving secret passageways, underwater evidence, and other atmospheric devices.

Sparkling with witty dialogue, deft plotting, and an intriguing cast of characters, this rare gem will charm mystery lovers, Anglophiles, and general readers alike.]]> 156 A.A. Milne 0486401294 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.66 1922 The Red House Mystery
author: A.A. Milne
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Eurotrash 205478791
From “the great German-language writer of his generation� (Joshua Cohen) comes the second novel of Kracht’s career narrated by an eponymous “Christian� (the first was his best-selling 1995 debut, Faserland). Eurotrash begins in Zurich, where Christian has arrived to care for his eighty-year-old mother after her discharge from a mental institution. Reckoning with his family’s dark history—his long-dead grandfather was intimately associated with and unapologetically supportive of the Nazis—and struggling to navigate the emotionally wrenching terrain of his relationship with his mother, Christian sets off on a road-trip with her. As they traverse Switzerland in a hired cab, mother and son attempt to give away her vast fortune, which they’re carrying in a large plastic bag, to random strangers. By turns disturbing, disorienting, hilarious, and poignant, Eurotrash tells an intensely personal and unsparingly critical story of contemporary culture; a story that shows us a writer at the pinnacle of his powers of insight and observation.]]> 192 Christian Kracht 1324094567 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.66 2021 Eurotrash
author: Christian Kracht
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Katabasis 210191773 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 560 R.F. Kuang 0063021471 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.26 2025 Katabasis
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I Am Not Jessica Chen 61374793
Now trapped inside Jessica’s body, with access to Jessica’s most private journals and secrets, Jenna soon discovers that being the top student at the elite, highly competitive Havenwood Private Academy isn’t quite what she imagined. Worse, as everyone—including her own parents—start having trouble remembering who Jenna Chen is, or if she ever even existed, Jenna must decide if playing the role of the perfect daughter and student is worth losing her true self forever.]]> 320 Ann Liang 133552312X Akankshya 4 not-yet-published
This book is about Jenna Chen, a teenager who has been trying all her life to be as successful as her smarter, fitter, apparently better-looking cousin, Jessica Chen—so much so that she wishes she was her—until one day, Jenna wakes up in her cousin's body. Ann Liang writes in the dedication, “For anyone who’s ever wished they could be someone else�, and that is the core of the whole story.

Ann Liang does this thing with her YA books, where she introduces light magic realism which is never explained, and is just there to drive the plot. It is the fewest of plot conveniences that will never irk me. I liked Jenna's arc, even though it is very predictable. As a YA book, this is probably five-ish stars. I needed an extra nugget of plot though, even though I deeply connect with the themes. A very strong 3.5 from me. A few quotes to love:

Success is only meant to be rented out, borrowed in small doses at a time, never to be owned completely, no matter what price you're willing to pay for it.

Everyone is still obsessing over their test papers, comparing answers, and for a few seconds, standing there in the doorway, the whole thing strikes me as entirely ridiculous. Nonsensical. All this trouble, all this scheming and grieving and competing, for what? A number that will shed its meaning in less than a year?

We turn pain into a story, because then it has a purpose. Then, we reason, there was a point to it all along. But sometimes pain is just pain, and there’s nothing particularly noble about clinging to it.]]> 4.08 2025 I Am Not Jessica Chen
author: Ann Liang
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: not-yet-published
review:
An emotional YA contemporary story about the pain of academic struggle, the cost of success, and the pressure of excellence.

This book is about Jenna Chen, a teenager who has been trying all her life to be as successful as her smarter, fitter, apparently better-looking cousin, Jessica Chen—so much so that she wishes she was her—until one day, Jenna wakes up in her cousin's body. Ann Liang writes in the dedication, “For anyone who’s ever wished they could be someone else�, and that is the core of the whole story.

Ann Liang does this thing with her YA books, where she introduces light magic realism which is never explained, and is just there to drive the plot. It is the fewest of plot conveniences that will never irk me. I liked Jenna's arc, even though it is very predictable. As a YA book, this is probably five-ish stars. I needed an extra nugget of plot though, even though I deeply connect with the themes. A very strong 3.5 from me. A few quotes to love:

Success is only meant to be rented out, borrowed in small doses at a time, never to be owned completely, no matter what price you're willing to pay for it.

Everyone is still obsessing over their test papers, comparing answers, and for a few seconds, standing there in the doorway, the whole thing strikes me as entirely ridiculous. Nonsensical. All this trouble, all this scheming and grieving and competing, for what? A number that will shed its meaning in less than a year?

We turn pain into a story, because then it has a purpose. Then, we reason, there was a point to it all along. But sometimes pain is just pain, and there’s nothing particularly noble about clinging to it.
]]> Earthlings 50269327
Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki's family are increasing, her friends wonder why she's still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki's childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself with a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?]]> 247 Sayaka Murata 1783785675 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.59 2018 Earthlings
author: Sayaka Murata
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Fine Balance 11059934
Written with compassion, humour and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured and powerful novel by one of the most gifted writers of our time.]]> 624 Rohinton Mistry 0571248241 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.40 1995 A Fine Balance
author: Rohinton Mistry
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dream Count 219521090 A publishing event ten years in the making�a searing, exquisite new novel by the best-selling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists�the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires.

Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until � betrayed and brokenhearted � she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America � but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.]]> 416 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 059380273X Akankshya 5
This story is about four women: Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor, who are unlikely friends in many ways, and the way they navigate the disconnect between their expectations from life and their realities. Each character is carved out meticulously by Adichie, their interconnected stories explored from different perspectives, their thoughts realistic and discrete. Every time I believed to had understood a character, Adichie revealed another layer, and I grappled with how to feel about them. I ended this book with a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, and a lot of respect for Adichie's raw talent for writing.

Reminiscence and yearning lie at the core of this book. All of the women are in their early to older forties, looking back on their lives, and pondering what they could have done differently. Very little in the name of plot appears, and when it does, it is visceral and poignant, beyond infuriating. For a book that is so feminist and that centers women and their lives, it revolves quite a bit around men. Then again, it makes sense in the context of the meaning behind the name of this book. The central question that runs through this novel is What is it to be truly known?

Adichie writes in her author's note, Novels are never really about what they are about, as she reveals what really led her to write this narrative, and end it as she did. So much is packed and explored in this novel—race, belonging, class issues, societal norms, immigration, sexism, corruption, morality, and choice. The characters, with all their differences, embody different belief systems that clash sometimes, and turning the lens upon them through each other's gazes as well as tertiary characters is an innovative written analysis of coexistence.

I'm not even sure who to recommend this to. The writing gets ornate to the point of flowery, the setting seems more haphazard than intentional, and you don't really get a resolution or tension in the story so much as endless introspection. I fell in love with the book, so I'd still herald this as an absolute work of art, and I'd say pick this up if you want a story with a deep emotive core, truly realistic (unlikable) characters, and masterful writing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor publishing for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!]]> 3.96 2025 Dream Count
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: advanced-reader-copy, best-genfiction
review:
Dream Count is Adichie's first fiction book published in a decade, and needless to say, the book community is elated. I had been eagerly awaiting to read this book for so long, and the best thing was that it was exactly as beautiful as I thought it would be. Adichie is a proficient writer, and her prose is readably profound, flowing smoothly through digressions, and the emotional core of this story engrossed me thoroughly.

This story is about four women: Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor, who are unlikely friends in many ways, and the way they navigate the disconnect between their expectations from life and their realities. Each character is carved out meticulously by Adichie, their interconnected stories explored from different perspectives, their thoughts realistic and discrete. Every time I believed to had understood a character, Adichie revealed another layer, and I grappled with how to feel about them. I ended this book with a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, and a lot of respect for Adichie's raw talent for writing.

Reminiscence and yearning lie at the core of this book. All of the women are in their early to older forties, looking back on their lives, and pondering what they could have done differently. Very little in the name of plot appears, and when it does, it is visceral and poignant, beyond infuriating. For a book that is so feminist and that centers women and their lives, it revolves quite a bit around men. Then again, it makes sense in the context of the meaning behind the name of this book. The central question that runs through this novel is What is it to be truly known?

Adichie writes in her author's note, Novels are never really about what they are about, as she reveals what really led her to write this narrative, and end it as she did. So much is packed and explored in this novel—race, belonging, class issues, societal norms, immigration, sexism, corruption, morality, and choice. The characters, with all their differences, embody different belief systems that clash sometimes, and turning the lens upon them through each other's gazes as well as tertiary characters is an innovative written analysis of coexistence.

I'm not even sure who to recommend this to. The writing gets ornate to the point of flowery, the setting seems more haphazard than intentional, and you don't really get a resolution or tension in the story so much as endless introspection. I fell in love with the book, so I'd still herald this as an absolute work of art, and I'd say pick this up if you want a story with a deep emotive core, truly realistic (unlikable) characters, and masterful writing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor publishing for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
]]> Wittgenstein’s Mistress 51506 279 David Markson 1564782115 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.94 1988 Wittgenstein’s Mistress
author: David Markson
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics]]> 35604796 The untold story of the heretical thinkers who dared to question the nature of our quantum universe
Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr's students vigorously protected his legacy, and the physics community favored practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin. And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and of the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.
]]> 384 Adam Becker 0465096050 Akankshya 0 maybe 4.26 2018 What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
author: Adam Becker
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Hungry Ghost 125941845 Winner of 2023 Harvey Award for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book

Valerie Chu is quiet, studious, and above all, thin. No one, not even her best friend, Jordan, knows that she has been bingeing and purging for years. But when tragedy strikes, Val finds herself reassessing her priorities, her choices, and her body. The path to happiness may lead her away from her hometown and her mother’s toxic projections—but first she will have to find the strength to seek help.

This beautiful and heart-wrenching young adult graphic novel takes a look at eating disorders, family dynamics, and ultimately, a journey to self-love.]]> 208 Victoria Ying 1250328020 Akankshya 4 4.12 2023 Hungry Ghost
author: Victoria Ying
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Wool (Silo, #1) 18626815
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.]]> 530 Hugh Howey Akankshya 4
This is a story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where humans are confined to live underground, with only an obscured view of the outside. The people who voice a desire to leave their underground home, are allowed to. This is a hard science fiction dystopian novel, so you may be wondering if there's a catch. There are so, so many, and they're a fun and engrossing ride to get to. There's action, intricately unraveling plots, and a lot of worldbuilding, which is so fun in a constricted space, and makes this a unique narrative. The romance is the worst thing about the novel; Juliette, the main character, is the absolute best thing. She's one of the most nuanced and capable female leads I've read in the sci-fi genre.

This was a somewhat disjointed tale, made up of five novellas rather than a continuous novel, and it is long. For this reason, it feels excruciatingly slow paced in parts, but served up twists consistently and had my jaw on the ground for most of those. This is the kind of book I'd stay up late to finish before school. It captures that 2010s dystopian story craze pretty well. In the midst of it, Hugh Howey has packed such societal insight in these that they are still relevant today. That being said, am I intrigued enough to read the sequel/prequel? Nah.]]> 4.30 2012 Wool (Silo, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
Wool was so insanely good. Not very aptly named, but the TV adaptation fixes that by calling it Silo.

This is a story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where humans are confined to live underground, with only an obscured view of the outside. The people who voice a desire to leave their underground home, are allowed to. This is a hard science fiction dystopian novel, so you may be wondering if there's a catch. There are so, so many, and they're a fun and engrossing ride to get to. There's action, intricately unraveling plots, and a lot of worldbuilding, which is so fun in a constricted space, and makes this a unique narrative. The romance is the worst thing about the novel; Juliette, the main character, is the absolute best thing. She's one of the most nuanced and capable female leads I've read in the sci-fi genre.

This was a somewhat disjointed tale, made up of five novellas rather than a continuous novel, and it is long. For this reason, it feels excruciatingly slow paced in parts, but served up twists consistently and had my jaw on the ground for most of those. This is the kind of book I'd stay up late to finish before school. It captures that 2010s dystopian story craze pretty well. In the midst of it, Hugh Howey has packed such societal insight in these that they are still relevant today. That being said, am I intrigued enough to read the sequel/prequel? Nah.
]]> The Last Samurai 190372 544 Helen DeWitt 0786887001 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.12 2000 The Last Samurai
author: Helen DeWitt
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Where Mayflies Live Forever 96179733 ‘Hard-hitting� Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

‘[A] novel of deep feeling� Tanuj Solanki

Residents of a small town in Tamil Nadu are stunned by the beheading of a prominent man, whose head is missing from the scene of the crime. Everyone suspects Veni, a geography teacher at the local school, but she appears to have vanished from the face of the earth.

As the police gather testimonies from those who closely knew Veni, unsettling truths about this seemingly unknowable woman’s past gradually come to the fore. Where is Veni? The question haunts her family and other townsfolk, but the investigating officer has a different Who is Veni?

Where Mayflies Live Forever is as much a suspenseful mystery as it is a story about one woman’s self-discovery in the natural world, with a disillusioned but probing heart. Anupama Mohan’s astonishing literary debut, written in fiery yet sublime prose and rendered with extraordinary power, is an absorbing exploration of violence and trauma, choice and identity, and the journey to find oneself in the wild.]]> 150 Anupama Mohan 9390742595 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.89 Where Mayflies Live Forever
author: Anupama Mohan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club, #2)]]> 55457493
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?

But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?]]> 422 Richard Osman Akankshya 0 dnf
There's a spy thriller inside my cozy murder mystery and I am perplexed. It's only book 2 and the characters are already caricatures of themselves. I may continue reading sometime in the future, but this does not bode well for a rating. ]]> 4.36 2021 The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club, #2)
author: Richard Osman
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: dnf
review:
DNF at 40%

There's a spy thriller inside my cozy murder mystery and I am perplexed. It's only book 2 and the characters are already caricatures of themselves. I may continue reading sometime in the future, but this does not bode well for a rating.
]]> One of Us Is Dead 58482479 The highly anticipated new thriller from the bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage.

Opulence. Sex. Betrayal � Sometimes friendship can be deadly.

Meet the women of Buckhead—a place of expensive cars, huge houses, and competitive friendships.

Shannon was once the queen bee of Buckhead. But she’s been unceremoniously dumped by Bryce, her politician husband. When Bryce replaces her with a much younger woman, Shannon sets out to take revenge �

Crystal has stepped into Shannon’s old shoes. A young, innocent Texan girl, she simply has no idea what she’s up against �

Olivia has waited years to take Shannon’s crown as the unofficial queen of Buckhead. Finally, her moment has come. But to take her rightful place, she will need to use every backstabbing, manipulative, underhand trick in the book �

Jenny owns Glow, the most exclusive salon in town. Jenny knows all her clients� secrets and darkest desires. But will she ever tell?

Who amongst these women will be clever enough to survive Buckhead—and who will wind up dead? They say that friendships can be complex, but no one said it could ever be this deadly.]]> 312 Jeneva Rose Akankshya 0 reading-passive 3.77 2022 One of Us Is Dead
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: reading-passive
review:

]]> Foster 61206869 An international bestseller and one of The Times' "Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century," Claire Keegan's piercing contemporary classic Foster is a heartbreaking story of childhood, loss, and love; now released as a standalone book for the first time ever in the US

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household--where everything is so well tended to--and this summer must soon come to an end.

Winner of the prestigious Davy Byrnes Award and published in an abridged version in the New Yorker, this internationally bestselling contemporary classic is now available for the first time in the US in a full, standalone edition. A story of astonishing emotional depth, Foster showcases Claire Keegan's great talent and secures her reputation as one of our most important storytellers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802160158 Akankshya 2 shorts ‘You don’t ever have to say anything,� he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.�

Foster is a 100-page novella about a young girl who goes to live with a "foster" set of parents for a short time. It's a simplistic, yet sentimental and profound tale.

Keegan uses sparse prose, alternating between describing long-drawn circumstances and quiet co-existences to paint a picture of life in rural Ireland. I can appreciate the muchness of the emotion in this story, given it's from the perspective of a young child, how short it is, and how simple the plot and dialogue really are; but I cannot fully compliment it as something that has the perfect amount of detail. It is arduously slow, senselessly contrived, and feels unfinished. Given this is so highly regarded, this may be the perfect example of "it's not the book, it's me".]]> 4.39 2010 Foster
author: Claire Keegan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: shorts
review:
‘You don’t ever have to say anything,� he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.�

Foster is a 100-page novella about a young girl who goes to live with a "foster" set of parents for a short time. It's a simplistic, yet sentimental and profound tale.

Keegan uses sparse prose, alternating between describing long-drawn circumstances and quiet co-existences to paint a picture of life in rural Ireland. I can appreciate the muchness of the emotion in this story, given it's from the perspective of a young child, how short it is, and how simple the plot and dialogue really are; but I cannot fully compliment it as something that has the perfect amount of detail. It is arduously slow, senselessly contrived, and feels unfinished. Given this is so highly regarded, this may be the perfect example of "it's not the book, it's me".
]]> Dark Places 6569735 370 Gillian Flynn Akankshya 0 reading-passive 3.99 2009 Dark Places
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: reading-passive
review:

]]> A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 49980599 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.]]> 528 Betty Smith Akankshya 0 to-read 4.49 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
author: Betty Smith
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1943
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry]]> 24111210 Alternate cover edition for 9781616204518

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over -- and see everything anew.]]> 258 Gabrielle Zevin Akankshya 0 to-read 4.08 2014 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, #3)]]> 59122160
The Shadow lies across the Pattern of the Age, and the Dark One has turned all his power against the prison that binds him. If it fails he will escape and nothing will stand in the storm that blows then . . . save the man that was born to battle the darkness: Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn.

But to wage his war Rand must find Callandor, ancient Sword of the Dragon . . . and the Forsaken will shatter the world to thwart him.]]> 672 Robert Jordan 0356517020 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.18 1991 The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, #3)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time #2)]]> 58663237 Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.

The Forsaken are loose, the Horn of Valere has been found and the Dead are rising from their dreamless sleep. The Prophecies are being fulfilled - but Rand al'Thor, the shepherd the Aes Sedai have proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, desperately seeks to escape his destiny.

Rand cannot run for ever. With every passing day the Dark One grows in strength and strives to shatter his ancient prison, to break the Wheel, to bring an end to Time and sunder the weave of the Pattern.

And the Pattern demands the Dragon.]]> 671 Robert Jordan Akankshya 0 to-read 4.48 1990 The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time #2)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1)]]> 59084667
In this Age of myth and legend, the Wheel of Time turns. What was, what may be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.]]> 804 Robert Jordan 0356517004 Akankshya 0 to-read 4.07 1990 The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales]]> 57640291
Featuring a new preface, Oliver Sacks’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks’s splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine’s ultimate responsibility: “the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject.”]]> 320 Oliver Sacks 0593466675 Akankshya 0 reading-passive 3.77 1985 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
author: Oliver Sacks
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: reading-passive
review:

]]> White Bird 42898923 Wonder story

In R. J. Palacio's bestselling collection of stories, Auggie & Me, which expands on characters in Wonder, readers were introduced to Julian's grandmother, Grandmère. Here, Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère's heartrending how she, a young Jewish girl, was hidden by a family in a Nazi-occupied French village during World War II; how the boy she and her classmates once shunned became her savior and best friend.

Grandmère's harrowing experience movingly demonstrates the power of kindness to change hearts, build bridges, and even save lives. As Grandmère tells Julian, "It always takes courage to be kind, but in those days, such kindness could cost you everything." With poignant symbolism and gorgeous artwork that brings Grandmère's story out of the past and cements it firmly in this moment in history, White Bird is sure to captivate anyone who was moved by Wonder.]]> 220 R.J. Palacio 0525645551 Akankshya 4 graphic-novels Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

A middle-grade, historical fiction graphic novel about the Holocaust from a young French Jewish girl's point of view, who went into hiding during World War II. It's a poignant and intuitive tale and a perfect tie-in to the Wonder series. Great for young readers!

In these dark times, it's those small acts of kindness that keep us alive, after all. They remind us of our humanity]]> 4.50 2019 White Bird
author: R.J. Palacio
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

A middle-grade, historical fiction graphic novel about the Holocaust from a young French Jewish girl's point of view, who went into hiding during World War II. It's a poignant and intuitive tale and a perfect tie-in to the Wonder series. Great for young readers!

In these dark times, it's those small acts of kindness that keep us alive, after all. They remind us of our humanity
]]> Marble Hall Murders 217432780 Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery from Anthony Horowitz—another tribute to the golden age of Agatha Christie featuring detective Atticus Pund and editor Susan Ryland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders.

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel, and her Greek boyfriend Andreas in search of a new life back in England.

Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pund’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series. Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Elliot insists, by poison.

As Susan begins to read the manuscript’s opening chapters, the skeptical editor is relieved to find that Pund’s Last Case is actually very good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who, though mortally ill, is poisoned—perhaps by a member of her own family. But who did it? And why?

The deeper Susan reads, the more it becomes clear that the clues leading to the truth of Marian Crace’s death are hidden within this Atticus Pund mystery.

While Eliot’s accusation becomes more plausible, his behavior grows increasingly erratic.. Then he is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Susan finds herself under police scrutiny as a suspect in his killing.

Three mysterious deaths. Multiple motives and possible murderers. If Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pund’s Last Case, she may well be the next victim.]]> 592 Anthony Horowitz 1443469610 Akankshya 0 to-read, not-yet-published 4.57 2025 Marble Hall Murders
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read, not-yet-published
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Akankshya 4
The Thursday Murder Club is a group of four octagenarians who meet every (you guessed it) Thursday in their shared retirement home, Coopers Chase, to discuss unsolved murders when a recent murder falls in their lap. Do they solve it? They do, and how. If you like Agatha Christie, and are more of a Marple fan than Poirot, you would love this.

You can tell this is the author's debut work. You can also tell that he's written this more as a screenplay than anything else. The chapters are minuscule, the characters are numerous, the focus shifts erratically from one to the other, and yet—the mystery unfolds satisfyingly, and there is a healthy number of bait-and-switch twists and plodding detective work. Osman also surprised me by including a poignant exploration of old age amidst all the murder mystery shenanigans, and had me tearing up here abd there. All the same, I know I've read something destined to shine brighter on screen (and there's going to be a movie soon). 4 stars for a great mystery, and memorable characters, and 1 star withheld for some unknowable aspect that would have made it a perfect written work.]]> 3.87 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
This was a reread, and I stand firm at 4.25ish stars. A sweet little murder mystery book that scratches the whodunnit itch, while being incredibly easy to read. No wonder this is so popular and so well-loved.

The Thursday Murder Club is a group of four octagenarians who meet every (you guessed it) Thursday in their shared retirement home, Coopers Chase, to discuss unsolved murders when a recent murder falls in their lap. Do they solve it? They do, and how. If you like Agatha Christie, and are more of a Marple fan than Poirot, you would love this.

You can tell this is the author's debut work. You can also tell that he's written this more as a screenplay than anything else. The chapters are minuscule, the characters are numerous, the focus shifts erratically from one to the other, and yet—the mystery unfolds satisfyingly, and there is a healthy number of bait-and-switch twists and plodding detective work. Osman also surprised me by including a poignant exploration of old age amidst all the murder mystery shenanigans, and had me tearing up here abd there. All the same, I know I've read something destined to shine brighter on screen (and there's going to be a movie soon). 4 stars for a great mystery, and memorable characters, and 1 star withheld for some unknowable aspect that would have made it a perfect written work.
]]> <![CDATA[The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright (The Africa List)]]> 42682854 The Upright Revolution. Blending myth and folklore with an acute insight into the human psyche and politics, Wa Thiong'o conjures up a fantastic fable about how and why humans began to walk upright. It is a story that will appeal to children and adults alike, containing a clear and important message: "Life is connected."

Originally written in Gikuyu, this short story has been translated into sixty-three languages--forty-seven of them African--making it the most translated story in the history of African literature. This new collector's edition of The Upright Revolution is richly illustrated in full color with Sunandini Banerjee's marvellous digital collages, which open up new vistas of imagination and add unique dimensions to the story.
]]> 48 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 0857426478 Akankshya 0 maybe 3.91 2016 The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright (The Africa List)
author: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Hangsaman 131177 Hangsaman is Miss Jackson's second novel. The story is a simple one but the overtones are immediately present. "Natalie Waite who was seventeen years old but who felt that she had been truly conscious only since she was about fifteen lived in an odd corner of a world of sound and sight, past the daily voices of her father and mother and their incomprehensible actions." In a few graphic pages, the family is before us—Arnold Waite, a writer, egotistical and embittered; his wife, the complaining martyr; Bud, the younger brother who has not yet felt the need to establish his independence; and Natalie, in the nightmare of being seventeen.

The Sunday afternoon cocktail party, to which Arnold Waite has invited his literary friends and neighbors, serves to etch in the details of this family's life, and to draw Natalie into the vortex. The story concentrates on the next few critical months in Natalie's life, away at college, where each experience reproduces on a larger scale the crucial failure of her emotional life at home. With a mounting tension rising from character and situation as well as the particular magic of which Miss Jackson is master, the novel proceeds inexorably to the stinging melodrama of its conclusion. The bitter cruelty of the passage from adolescence to womanhood, of a sensitive and lonely girl caught in a world not of her own devising, is a theme well suited to Miss Jackson's brilliant talent.]]> 191 Shirley Jackson 0445031174 Akankshya 0 maybe 3.78 1951 Hangsaman
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Greek Lessons 61686012 “Now and then, language would thrust its way into her sleep like a skewer through meat, startling her awake several times a night.�

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon the two discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to each other. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity—their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.

Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.]]> 192 Han Kang 0593595270 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.54 2011 Greek Lessons
author: Han Kang
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Natural Beauty 61420120 Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.

Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.

A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.]]> 272 Ling Ling Huang 0593472926 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.79 2023 Natural Beauty
author: Ling Ling Huang
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grave Empire (The Great Silence, #1)]]> 214229274 From critically acclaimed author Richard Swan, Grave Empire begins the epic tale of an empire on the verge of industrial revolution, where sorcery and arcane practices are outlawed � and where an ancient prophecy threatens the coming end of days.

Blood once turned the wheels ofempire. Now it is money.

A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and theEmpireof the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await.

But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, theEmpire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse.

Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days—the Great Silence.

It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and theEmpireon the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save...]]> 529 Richard Swan Akankshya 0 maybe 4.17 2025 Grave Empire (The Great Silence, #1)
author: Richard Swan
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> Snow, Glass, Apples 45303582
A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren't so happily ever after.

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula Award-winning and Sunday Times-bestselling writer Neil Gaiman (American Gods) comes this graphic novel adaptation by Colleen Doran (Troll Bridge).]]> 64 Neil Gaiman 1472262913 Akankshya 3 graphic-novels
I'd read the original short years ago, and it blew my mind a little bit. It was the first dark fairytale retelling I'd ever read. This graphic novelization is actually quite beautiful, with very pretty depictions of horrifying things (that tends to scare me). Reading this as a young girl, I didn't catch a lot of the misogyny herein. The underage women are all the manipulators and all the older men are victims of their sexuality here. So that's the absolute worst. I'm rating this a 3 star because the art was actually so good (I'm in the minority as I say this) and the ending is top tier.

Read if you like dark fairytale retellings, don't mind adult...visualizations of things, and horror. ]]> 4.01 2019 Snow, Glass, Apples
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
I actually really liked the ideas and the art in this graphic novel. Big disclaimer: this is a very adult novel. Proceed with caution.

I'd read the original short years ago, and it blew my mind a little bit. It was the first dark fairytale retelling I'd ever read. This graphic novelization is actually quite beautiful, with very pretty depictions of horrifying things (that tends to scare me). Reading this as a young girl, I didn't catch a lot of the misogyny herein. The underage women are all the manipulators and all the older men are victims of their sexuality here. So that's the absolute worst. I'm rating this a 3 star because the art was actually so good (I'm in the minority as I say this) and the ending is top tier.

Read if you like dark fairytale retellings, don't mind adult...visualizations of things, and horror.
]]> 2023 on ŷ 62316199 2023 on ŷ should make an interesting and varied catalogue of books to inspire other readers in 2024.

For those of you who don't like to add titles you haven't actually 'read', you can place 2023 on ŷ on an 'exclusive' shelf. Exclusive shelves don't have to be listed under 'to read', 'currently reading' or 'read'. To create one, go to 'edit bookshelves' on your 'My Books' page, create a shelf name such as 'review-of-the year' and tick the 'exclusive' box. Your previous and future 'reviews of the year' can be collected together on this dedicated shelf.

Concept created by Fionnuala Lirsdottir.
Description: Fionnuala Lirsdottir
Cover art: Paul Cézanne, Bibémus Quarry, c.1895
Cover choice and graphics by Jayson]]> Various Akankshya 5 review-of-the-year
The best books I read in 2023, in no particular order (it's probably in order, honestly speaking):

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
I read this towards the end of the year and I couldn't stop reading: review. It deserves all the love, awards, and more (a movie to be released soon!).

2. In the Lives of Puppets
A retelling of a classic, with queer representation, straddling multiple genres - an incredibly creative and humorous novel.

3. Independence
A historical fiction written by one of my absolute favorite authors and one that I read at the speed of lightning: review!

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Transformative non-fiction biography disguised as a fantasy/magical realism title: review!

5. A Matter of Death and Life
Another transformative non-fiction memoir hidden under a pretty cover: review!

And now, my stats, powered by Storygraph finally rendering my year in stats after 10 days. This is just a way to say that if anyone is into it, please follow me on !

I read a lot of fiction (80%). Somehow, I've also fooled myself into reading a load of nonfiction as well, as evidenced by the 40% representation in my top 5.

My favorite genres were Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical and Literary. It seems that trend will continue now and forever.

I want to mention a few books that I loved and couldn't find time to review (and still don't).

The Widows of Malabar Hill was a brilliant new type of mystery-thriller-historical fiction with great twists and three more books to read in the future!
The Final Empire was a reread that held up the magic (literally). The next two books were a disappointment, so I'm pretending they didn't happen.
Saga as a series was a fantastic find, of which the second one: Saga, Volume 2 was the peak. Finding them in a hidden corner of the library was my biggest joy.
I finally read some hard science fiction by the queen herself: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World Is Forest, and was blown away by her imagination. I can't wait to read more of the Hainish Cycle.
Lab Girl was a surprisingly great biography/short story omnibus.
I finally understood what (good) cozy fiction was with Remarkably Bright Creatures. An octopus protagonist? Hell yes.
I read a bunch of books on mental health, but Em and The Big Hoom stands out as some brilliant fiction set in India.
Alias Grace was another Margaret Atwood book that I read - is there any genre she cannot write? This book and its faithfully adapted Netflix series are one of the best pieces of literature I've seen. I didn't know it was based on a real story until the end of the book, which packs a different punch to the story and its ending.
I have to mention The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett who has won my adoration by only writing mysteries in the quirkiest ways possible.

Yay 4 books]]> 4.10 2023 2023 on ŷ
author: Various
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: review-of-the-year
review:
2023 ended up being a great year for me and my books. I started with a goal of 25 books, went up to 50 books with a streak of 5-star reads, and ended with a whopping 75 books. Almost 24,000 pages!

The best books I read in 2023, in no particular order (it's probably in order, honestly speaking):

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
I read this towards the end of the year and I couldn't stop reading: review. It deserves all the love, awards, and more (a movie to be released soon!).

2. In the Lives of Puppets
A retelling of a classic, with queer representation, straddling multiple genres - an incredibly creative and humorous novel.

3. Independence
A historical fiction written by one of my absolute favorite authors and one that I read at the speed of lightning: review!

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Transformative non-fiction biography disguised as a fantasy/magical realism title: review!

5. A Matter of Death and Life
Another transformative non-fiction memoir hidden under a pretty cover: review!

And now, my stats, powered by Storygraph finally rendering my year in stats after 10 days. This is just a way to say that if anyone is into it, please follow me on !

I read a lot of fiction (80%). Somehow, I've also fooled myself into reading a load of nonfiction as well, as evidenced by the 40% representation in my top 5.

My favorite genres were Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical and Literary. It seems that trend will continue now and forever.

I want to mention a few books that I loved and couldn't find time to review (and still don't).

The Widows of Malabar Hill was a brilliant new type of mystery-thriller-historical fiction with great twists and three more books to read in the future!
The Final Empire was a reread that held up the magic (literally). The next two books were a disappointment, so I'm pretending they didn't happen.
Saga as a series was a fantastic find, of which the second one: Saga, Volume 2 was the peak. Finding them in a hidden corner of the library was my biggest joy.
I finally read some hard science fiction by the queen herself: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World Is Forest, and was blown away by her imagination. I can't wait to read more of the Hainish Cycle.
Lab Girl was a surprisingly great biography/short story omnibus.
I finally understood what (good) cozy fiction was with Remarkably Bright Creatures. An octopus protagonist? Hell yes.
I read a bunch of books on mental health, but Em and The Big Hoom stands out as some brilliant fiction set in India.
Alias Grace was another Margaret Atwood book that I read - is there any genre she cannot write? This book and its faithfully adapted Netflix series are one of the best pieces of literature I've seen. I didn't know it was based on a real story until the end of the book, which packs a different punch to the story and its ending.
I have to mention The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett who has won my adoration by only writing mysteries in the quirkiest ways possible.

Yay 4 books
]]> We That Are Young: A novel 37585107 496 Preti Taneja 0525521526 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.45 2017 We That Are Young: A novel
author: Preti Taneja
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Greenteeth 214175074
Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor. Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family � as well as the very soul of Britain.]]> 287 Molly O'Neill 031658424X Akankshya 3 advanced-reader-copy
Jenny is an endearing protagonist, morally grey and whimsically fearsome, and I greatly enjoyed the story from her, or the "monster's" point of view. The introduction to this fae world and integration of many English, Welsh and Scottish folklore led to beautiful and nostalgic imagery as I read this. The conclusion to the story is quite interesting, albeit parts of it were a little predictable. I'm not sure if the book should be classified as cozy or traditional fantasy, but I know that I was both entertained and a little bored in places. This is a debut, so some of the pacing issues can be chalked up to that. I'd recommend this to fantasy lovers who like a dash of folklore, found family, little to no romance, and quests!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review!]]> 3.91 2025 Greenteeth
author: Molly O'Neill
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: advanced-reader-copy
review:
This is a fun story centering on Jenny Greenteeth, a thousand-year-old lake monster who encounters a witch thrown into her lake one day. There's a lot that happens in this book, which is a cozy fantasy, and also a quest narrative. The cozy fantasy aspect and the characters were top notch, but the traditional fantasy tropes and the quest were a little lackluster, due to which the middle of this book feels drawn.

Jenny is an endearing protagonist, morally grey and whimsically fearsome, and I greatly enjoyed the story from her, or the "monster's" point of view. The introduction to this fae world and integration of many English, Welsh and Scottish folklore led to beautiful and nostalgic imagery as I read this. The conclusion to the story is quite interesting, albeit parts of it were a little predictable. I'm not sure if the book should be classified as cozy or traditional fantasy, but I know that I was both entertained and a little bored in places. This is a debut, so some of the pacing issues can be chalked up to that. I'd recommend this to fantasy lovers who like a dash of folklore, found family, little to no romance, and quests!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review!
]]> The Famished Road 101094
In the decade since it won the Booker Prize, Ben Okri's Famished Road has become a classic. Like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, it combines brilliant narrative technique with a fresh vision to create an essential work of world literature.

The narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute.]]> 512 Ben Okri 0385425139 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.76 1991 The Famished Road
author: Ben Okri
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth]]> 42462068
The original Thai langaue edition of The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth won the prestigious South East Asian Writers ("S.E.A. Write") Award for fiction and was best-seller in Thailand. It is translated into English by Thai film critic and recipient of France's Chevalier dans I'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Kong Rithdee.

Attuned to the addictive rhythms of a Thai soap opera and written with the consuming intensity of a fever dream, this novel opens an insightful and truly compelling window onto the Thai heart.]]> 208 Veeraporn Nitiprapha 6164510139 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.95 2013 The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth
author: Veeraporn Nitiprapha
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience]]> 58330567 Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.

Over the past two decades, Brown's extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown's singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn't give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.

Brown shares, "I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves."]]> 301 Brené Brown 0399592555 Akankshya 0 audiobooks, reading-passive 4.33 2021 Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
author: Brené Brown
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: audiobooks, reading-passive
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead]]> 54614429 WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .

A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?]]> 274 Olga Tokarczuk 0525541349 Akankshya 4
Now here's a book where I don't want to give anything away. Not the genre, the premise, or even the protagonist's name. Some of these are not to spoil the plot, and one of these is not to spoil a joke. I'll try a one-liner. This is a story about a weird old lady obsessed with astrology in a small Polish village where a bunch of murders happen.

What unfolds is a slow-paced, atmospheric tale of a small village, its people, culture, and seasons, and our protagonist's life within these. The prose is almost experimental, with random capitalized words to call the reader's attention pronouncedly. The intangible beauty of seasons in the Polish countryside is constructed masterfully by the author, Tokarczuk, even as the descriptions meander, leading to an immersive narrative. Nature, animals, and insects are as much characters in this book as any people. Beneath the plot, Tokarczuk discusses the hypocrisy of human behavior toward animals, and questions the concept of perspectives, and societal beliefs. There is a strong undercurrent of feminism within this novel, quite subtly done, sardonic, and poignant.

The book was shortlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize and Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel a few months after the translated version was published. This is deserved award-winning literature, one of the more rewarding ones to read, yet difficult to do so at the same time. Recommended to readers who don't mind slow or weird plots, and like literary reads.]]> 3.88 2009 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:
A rather boring book, slow-paced and quite weird. It really grew on me as I kept reading, and ended with a captivating finish.

Now here's a book where I don't want to give anything away. Not the genre, the premise, or even the protagonist's name. Some of these are not to spoil the plot, and one of these is not to spoil a joke. I'll try a one-liner. This is a story about a weird old lady obsessed with astrology in a small Polish village where a bunch of murders happen.

What unfolds is a slow-paced, atmospheric tale of a small village, its people, culture, and seasons, and our protagonist's life within these. The prose is almost experimental, with random capitalized words to call the reader's attention pronouncedly. The intangible beauty of seasons in the Polish countryside is constructed masterfully by the author, Tokarczuk, even as the descriptions meander, leading to an immersive narrative. Nature, animals, and insects are as much characters in this book as any people. Beneath the plot, Tokarczuk discusses the hypocrisy of human behavior toward animals, and questions the concept of perspectives, and societal beliefs. There is a strong undercurrent of feminism within this novel, quite subtly done, sardonic, and poignant.

The book was shortlisted for the 2019 International Booker Prize and Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel a few months after the translated version was published. This is deserved award-winning literature, one of the more rewarding ones to read, yet difficult to do so at the same time. Recommended to readers who don't mind slow or weird plots, and like literary reads.
]]> Darkmotherland 210244636
An epic tale of love and political violence set in earthquake-ravaged Darkmotherland, a dystopian reimagining of Nepal, from the Whiting Award–winning author of Arresting God in Kathmandu

In Darkmotherland, Nepali writer Samrat Upadhyay has created a novel of infinite embrace—filled with lovers and widows, dictators and dissidents, paupers, fundamentalists, and a genderqueer power player with her eyes on the throne—in an earthquake-ravaged dystopian reimagining of Nepal.

At its heart are two intertwining narratives: one of Kranti, a revolutionary’s daughter who marries into a plutocratic dynasty and becomes ensnared in the family’s politics. And then there is the tale of Darkmotherland’s new dictator and his mistress, Rozy, who undergoes radical body changes and grows into a figure of immense power.

Darkmotherland is a romp through the vast space of a globalized universe where personal ambitions are inextricably tied to political fortunes, where individual identities are shaped by family pressures and social reins, and where the East connects to and collides with the West in brilliant and unsettling ways.]]> 768 Samrat Upadhyay 1641294728 Akankshya 0 maybe 3.05 2025 Darkmotherland
author: Samrat Upadhyay
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI]]> 198678736 **A New York Times Bestseller**

'Co-Intelligence is the very best book I know about the ins, outs, and ethics of generative AI. Drop everything and read it cover to cover NOW' Angela Duckworth

Consumer AI has arrived. And with it, inescapable upheaval as we grapple with what it means for our jobs, lives and the future of humanity.

Cutting through the noise of AI evangelists and AI doom-mongers, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick has become one of the most prominent and provocative explainers of AI, focusing on the practical aspects of how these new tools for thought can transform our world. In Co-Intelligence, he urges us to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher and coach. Wide ranging, hugely thought-provoking and optimistic, Co-Intelligence reveals the promise and power of this new era.]]> 243 Ethan Mollick 075356078X Akankshya 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
author: Ethan Mollick
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Celestial Bodies 49382648 256 Jokha Alharthi جوخة الحارثي 1948226944 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.35 2010 Celestial Bodies
author: Jokha Alharthi جوخة الحارثي
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Slow River 270259
Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, and taught her how to reinvent herself again and again. No one could find Lore now: not the police, not her family, and not the kidnappers who had left her in that alley to die. She had escaped…but the cost of her newfound freedom was crime and deception, and she paid it over and over again, until she had become someone she loathed.

Lore had a choice: She could stay in the shadows, stay with Spanner…and risk losing herself forever. Or she could leave Spanner and find herself again by becoming someone else: stealing the identity implant of a dead woman, taking over her life, and creating a new future.

But to start again, Lore required Spanner’s talents–Spanner, who needed her and hated her, and who always had a price. And even as Lore agreed to play Spanner’s game one final time, she found that there was still the price of being a Van Oesterling to be paid. Only by confronting her family, her past, and her own demons could Lore meld together who she had once been, who she had become, and the person she intended to be…]]> 352 Nicola Griffith 0345395379 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.84 1995 Slow River
author: Nicola Griffith
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kairos 62972496 294 Jenny Erpenbeck 0811229343 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.48 2021 Kairos
author: Jenny Erpenbeck
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[There Is No Antimemetics Division]]> 54870256 Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn't share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams... But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can't record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you're at war? Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not your first day.This ebook is an official release by me, qntm from the SCP Foundation wiki! PM me if you require confirmation. This ebook collects all of my Antimemetics Division SCP-055, SCP-2256 and the complete serials There Is No Antimemetics Division and Five Five Five Five Five.]]> 220 qntm Akankshya 5 best-scifi, underrated-gems
Science fiction stories can be eerie at times, but this one was beyond terrifying. Brilliant concept, commendable execution. Reading it felt like a fever dream. I found myself rereading just after completing it almost compulsively. This is a unique novel with an unconventional style of writing and a plot on a different level of inventiveness. Five stars for blowing my mind out of the water.]]> 4.23 2020 There Is No Antimemetics Division
author: qntm
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: best-scifi, underrated-gems
review:
Reread 2025: I stand by everything I said. Still a brilliant unique book.

Science fiction stories can be eerie at times, but this one was beyond terrifying. Brilliant concept, commendable execution. Reading it felt like a fever dream. I found myself rereading just after completing it almost compulsively. This is a unique novel with an unconventional style of writing and a plot on a different level of inventiveness. Five stars for blowing my mind out of the water.
]]> <![CDATA[The Cat Who Saved Books (The Cat Who..., #1)]]> 56755560 The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others � and the tremendous power of books.

Grandpa used to say it all the time: 'books have tremendous power'. But what is that power really?

Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.

After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .

Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.]]> 198 Sōsuke Natsukawa 0063095726 Akankshya 3 audiobooks
"Reading a book is a lot like climbing a mountain.�
“What do you mean?� His curiosity piqued, Rintaro had finally looked up from his book.
His grandfather wafted his teacup slowly under his nose as if savoring the aroma of the tea. “Reading isn’t only for pleasure or entertainment. Sometimes you need to examine the same lines deeply, read the same sentences over again. Sometimes you sit there, head in hands, only progressing at a painstakingly slow pace. And the result of all this hard work and careful study is that suddenly you’re there and your field of vision expands. It’s like finding a great view at the end of a long climbing trail."

So, this book is beautiful. It's a somewhat episodic tale of a young boy, Rintaro, who inherits a second-hand bookshop from his grandfather and has to "save books" with the guidance of a cat. There's very little "cat" in this book for what I expected from the title, but there's a lot of insightful saving of books. This book had some astute observations about book readers and publishers, which is super valid in today's world. I won't give anything away, but will say it was quite profound for such a simplistic little tale.

3.5 stars, recommended to fans of Japanese literature and cozy fantasy lovers.]]> 3.74 2017 The Cat Who Saved Books (The Cat Who..., #1)
author: Sōsuke Natsukawa
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: audiobooks
review:
I'm a simple woman. I see a cat on the book cover -> I read the book.

"Reading a book is a lot like climbing a mountain.�
“What do you mean?� His curiosity piqued, Rintaro had finally looked up from his book.
His grandfather wafted his teacup slowly under his nose as if savoring the aroma of the tea. “Reading isn’t only for pleasure or entertainment. Sometimes you need to examine the same lines deeply, read the same sentences over again. Sometimes you sit there, head in hands, only progressing at a painstakingly slow pace. And the result of all this hard work and careful study is that suddenly you’re there and your field of vision expands. It’s like finding a great view at the end of a long climbing trail."

So, this book is beautiful. It's a somewhat episodic tale of a young boy, Rintaro, who inherits a second-hand bookshop from his grandfather and has to "save books" with the guidance of a cat. There's very little "cat" in this book for what I expected from the title, but there's a lot of insightful saving of books. This book had some astute observations about book readers and publishers, which is super valid in today's world. I won't give anything away, but will say it was quite profound for such a simplistic little tale.

3.5 stars, recommended to fans of Japanese literature and cozy fantasy lovers.
]]> The Picture Bride 60814226 Could you marry a man you’ve never met? Three Korean women in 1910 make a life-changing journey to Hawaii where they will marry, having seen only a photograph of their intended husbands.

Different fates await each of these women. Hong-ju, who dreams of a marriage of ‘natural love�, meets a man who looks twenty years older than his photograph; Song-hwa, who wants to escape from her life of ridicule as the granddaughter of a shaman, meets a lazy drunkard. And then there’s Willow, whose 26-year-old groom, Taewan, looks just like his image �

Real life doesn’t always resemble a picture, but there’s no going back. And while things don’t turn out quite as they’d hoped, even for Willow, they do find something that makes their journey worthwhile � each other.]]> 320 Lee Geum-yi 1922310859 Akankshya 0 maybe 3.47 2020 The Picture Bride
author: Lee Geum-yi
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: maybe
review:

]]> My Friends 217163697 #1New York Timesbestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.]]> 448 Fredrik Backman 1982112824 Akankshya 3
My Friends is a story about art and belonging. It's about a young girl, Louisa, and her adoration of a famous painting. The story of this famous painting, and its famous painter, are told in this book, along with Louisa's experiences in the present. The stream-of-consciousness prose is immersive and easy to read, and the plot unfolds slowly and intentionally. Sadly, I couldn't deeply connect with any of these characters, nor the plot, so the book fell a little flat for me.

Backman's typical life-affirming style is present throughout this novel, but this is him at his most verbose, meandering, and saccharine. Some chapters, some characters, and some ideas were beautiful, so I did enjoy those. This novel hinges on the nostalgia of childhood friendships, and that does feel like a warm hug in this form of words. I chuckled at some jokes and cringed at others.

2.5 stars rounded up. That said, I would still recommend this to Fredrik Backman fans, and literary fiction enthusiasts. I suspect this will end up being an outlier review.

The book gods over at Netgalley (and Atria Books, of course) have blessed me with an ARC ]]> 4.58 2025 My Friends
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: advanced-reader-copy, not-yet-published
review:
Look, no one is more surprised than me at this rating. I am an avid fan of Fredrik Backman’s work. I even read his Instagram captions and chuckle occasionally. All the same, I have ambivalent feelings about this one.

My Friends is a story about art and belonging. It's about a young girl, Louisa, and her adoration of a famous painting. The story of this famous painting, and its famous painter, are told in this book, along with Louisa's experiences in the present. The stream-of-consciousness prose is immersive and easy to read, and the plot unfolds slowly and intentionally. Sadly, I couldn't deeply connect with any of these characters, nor the plot, so the book fell a little flat for me.

Backman's typical life-affirming style is present throughout this novel, but this is him at his most verbose, meandering, and saccharine. Some chapters, some characters, and some ideas were beautiful, so I did enjoy those. This novel hinges on the nostalgia of childhood friendships, and that does feel like a warm hug in this form of words. I chuckled at some jokes and cringed at others.

2.5 stars rounded up. That said, I would still recommend this to Fredrik Backman fans, and literary fiction enthusiasts. I suspect this will end up being an outlier review.

The book gods over at Netgalley (and Atria Books, of course) have blessed me with an ARC
]]> Barbara Isn't Dying 60656565
With biting humour and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and house-husband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara. Little by little, Walter’s rough facade begins to crumble—and with it his old certainties about his life and family.]]> 180 Alina Bronsky 1609458435 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.64 2021 Barbara Isn't Dying
author: Alina Bronsky
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unbury Carol 35274560
Only two people know of Carol’s eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and—when she lapses into another coma—plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her . . . alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol’s dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave.

And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her—summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself.]]> 367 Josh Malerman 0399180168 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.32 2018 Unbury Carol
author: Josh Malerman
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Flights 36885304 Flights interweaves reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. Chopin’s heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time. Where are you from? Where are you coming in from? Where are you going? we call to the traveler. Enchanting, unsettling, and wholly original, Flights is a master storyteller’s answer.

Here I am --
World in your head --
Your head in the world --
Syndrome --
Cabinet of curiosities --
Seeing is knowing --
Seven years of trips --
Guidance from Cioran --
Kunicki: water (I) --
Benedictus, quivenit]]> 416 Olga Tokarczuk 0525534199 Akankshya 0 to-read 3.73 2007 Flights
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2025 on ŷ 216825549 2025 on ŷ should make an interesting and varied catalogue of books to inspire other readers in 2026.

For those of you who don't like to add titles you haven't actually 'read', you can place 2025 on ŷ on an 'exclusive' shelf. Exclusive shelves don't have to be listed under 'to read', 'currently reading' or 'read'. To create one, go to 'edit bookshelves' on your 'My Books' page, create a shelf name such as 'review-of-the year' and tick the 'exclusive' box. Your previous and future 'reviews of the year' can be collected together on this dedicated shelf.

Concept created by Fionnuala Lirsdottir.
Description: Fionnuala Lirsdottir
Cover art: Paul Cézanne, Vase of Flowers and Apples, 1889-1890
Cover choice and graphics by Jayson]]> Various Akankshya 0 review-of-the-year 4.71 2025 2025 on ŷ
author: Various
name: Akankshya
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: review-of-the-year
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We’ll Always Have Summer (The Summer I Turned Pretty, #3)]]> 60530511
It's been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college—only, their relationship hasn't exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It's time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever.]]> 291 Jenny Han Akankshya 1 3.70 2011 We’ll Always Have Summer (The Summer I Turned Pretty, #3)
author: Jenny Han
name: Akankshya
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:
Wow the bar was low but this book went lower.
]]>