New year, new books! I love starting the year with a pile of books at home waiting to be read. Here’s what I kicked off January with. As always, my favorite(s) are in bold.
- Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life: Growing up in India, Viswanathan Anand was an almost constant fixture in the news. It’s not like Indian parents needed another person they could compare their child to, but in this case, it was warranted. His learnings from being the first World Chess Champion from Asia are easy to read, but not necessarily revelatory. I still enjoyed an insight into the mind of a humble genius
- The Tenant (Korner and Werner, #1): This is a quintessential Scandinavian crime drama. I didn’t hate it but I’ve certainly read a lot better in the genre
- The Royal Runaway: I was watching The Crown at the time and going through a phase. It was a fun beach read when I was actually on the beach this year, so I will have fond memories of it
- I Owe You One: Chick lit at its best and worst. Enough said
- You Are Not Alone: If this book isn’t made into a TV show à la Big Little Lies, I would be surprised. Driven by characters that are mostly all women, it’s a quick read with a few expected turns
- One to Watch: This was chick lit as well but worth writing about because of the protagonist, who is a plus-size blogger asked to be the lead on a Bachelorette-esque show called Main Squeeze
- Permanent Record: I knew the basics about Edward Snowden and honestly thought his “crimes” involved a level of hacking beyond my understanding, but hearing him narrate his version of the story made me realize that either the man is a humble genius and/or intelligence agencies are held together by glue
- The Glass Hotel: This book was widely circulated on social media and I picked it up out of curiosity. It was well-written but the exotic setting was an elaborate shroud for a really thin plot. This could have been a really wonderful book with a more well thought out plot in my opinion
- Pachinko: Ahhh, I have always loved multi-generational stories of human drama. A Little Life, Memoirs of a Geisha, Kane and Abel, The Namesake, and One Hundred Years of Solitude are some of my favorites in this genre, and I can now add Pachinko to the list. It’s a story that unravels gently, picking up in pace naturally with the events of history in the book. I see now why it’s so highly recommended!