October Reads!

Hi Readers! October has been the most productive month in terms of reading. I read SEVEN BOOKS THIS MONTH, which is quite an accomplishment, I’d say. Of these 7, I truly liked reading 4 books! It is quite a mix of genres, but as you all know, I read as per my mood, so it’s all random. Here are mini reviews of the books I read this month!





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~~ON THE COME UP by ANGIE THOMAS~~

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s second novel. The first one was ‘The Hate U Give’ on which I did a review that you can check out here. The first novel was incredible & I loved reading it. Not only did it talk about important matters, it also had an interesting story. Alas, I can’t say the same for ‘On the Come Up’. This one seems to have similar patterns as in the first book. I know there are significant matters relating to people of colour in the US, but writing about the similar things isn’t really good enough to keep the readers hooked.

It is the story of a 16/17 year old girl named Bri who wants to be a rapper. Her family is poor & her mom wants her to focus on school instead of rapping. The book starts with the rap story, but somewhere along the way, it changes its course & becomes about something else. The only thing I liked about it is Bri’s character. She is so set in her head with her principles & thought process. She can identify wrong from right & has the courage to speak up about it. In any coming-of-age novel, I haven’t seen a character with such a clear head, at least for 80% of the book. Well, I have rated it at 3/5 on Goodreads!

~~NORWEGIAN WOOD by HARUKI MURAKAMI~~

Haruki Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’ was something I was excited about, but I didn’t like it much. Since I have started reading a lot again, I can easily read even a bad book in a matter of 3 to 4 days. Same goes for this one. This is the novel that gave Murakami global fame, but somehow I never really did get the point of this book.

The story is with a lot of ups & downs. It talks about mental illness, so naturally it has a lot of emotions involved, but somehow those emotions never find their way into the words & into the reader. It was just a depressing story with no real meaning in it. I rated it at 2/5 on Goodreads.

~~NORMAL PEOPLE by SALLY ROONEY~~

Normal People by Sally Rooney kept cropping up in a lot of lists of book recommendations & so I finally read it only to be disappointed.

It is the story of Connell & Marianne throughout a 4 or 5 year period. It is nothing but an on-again-off-again sexual relationship. Reading this reminded me of Norwegian Wood in a few ways. The girl is broken & the boy will do anything she tells him to do. The whole story was kind of sadistic & just not worth it. I rated it at 1/5 onGoodreads.

~~THE ADVENTURES OF SALLY by P.G. WODEHOUSE~~

This one was a lovely surprise! It was my first Wodehouse read & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though the story was simple, it was entertaining. I loved the language & Wodehouse’s way with words. Even though you can predict the ending, it is still a delight to read British English not too old but not too new.

The story is about Sally who inherits a lot of money, how she spends it & how she meets interesting people along the way. It is always a thrill on every page. I am definitely going to read more books by P.G. Wodehouse. I rated it at 4/5 on Goodreads.

~~THE GREAT GATSBY by F. SCOTT FITZGERALD~~

This one needs no explanation & is a standalone classic. I am not usually a fan of classics, mostly because of the old English & difficult to follow story which is in reality quite straight forward. But, The Great Gatsby was sure an exception. (Jane Eyre is also an exception, FYI.) In its simple way, it was quite extraordinary. Sad yet leaving you with so much to hope for in life. If you haven’t read it yet, you definitely should! I rated it at 4/5 on Goodreads!

~~A WILD SHEEP CHASE by HARUKI MURAKAMI~~

As you all know, I loved Murakami’s ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’. You can read the review here! I have rated it at 4/5 on Goodreads.

~~THE MOMENT OF LIFT by MELINDA GATES~~

The show stopper is indeed Melinda Gates’s ‘The Moment of Lift’. I have a lot of thoughts on this, which I still have to collect & put them in words effectively. So, a full-fledged review on this will be coming up soon! I have rated it at 5/5 on Goodreads.

That is all for now! I have read 35 books & plan on reading a minimum of 5 & a maximum of 15 more till year end. I’m always up for book recommendations, so you can drop some in the comments below!

Until next time,