The first month of the year saw me get through a few books. I usually target 2 books a month but despite being extremely busy this month I managed to read 4 books. When I say read I mean I read 2 books and listened to 2 on audibles (that counts, right?). Though I’m still not the biggest fan of audio books – it is convenient and adds productivity to a lot of my down time so I’m sticking with them. I read a wide variety of books this month from Indian mythology to self help to classics. Here is my reading list –

The Liberation of Sita by Volga (Popuri Lalita Kumari)

I started off my reading for the month with this light read that I finished reading in a night. This book revolves around Goddess Sita from the popular Indian mythology – Ramayana after she has been abandoned by her husband, Lord Ram. The book has 5 short stories that detail Sita’s interaction with key women from the mythology through her life journey that help her evolve, understand life better and eventually help her be liberated from her earthly ties. These women are Surpanakha, Renuka, Urmila and Ahalya. Their stories and perspective of life that they’ve gained from their struggles helps Sita through her own struggles. The book is amazing – it moved me and had me teared up constantly. I’d definitely recommend this to everyone who has read or knows the story of Ramayana.

Rating – 5/5

Check it out here.

Atomic Habits by James Clear (audibles)

This was my first experience with an audiobook. I usually steer clear of self help books but since I have been struggling with my habits over the past few months (another after effect of 2020), I decided to give this book a try. James Clear has some amazing tips and advice. He breaks down each habit into cue, craving, response and reward. He further goes on to describe how to work on each part of the habit. The underlying message of the author is that you need to change your identity – choose what type of a person you want to be and update & upgrade your habits to match the same. I think the book was too long with too many objectives in it and by the end I found it extremely overwhelming. I would have preferred to have the book split in 2 parts. I think the advice in the book is very useful and do recommend it everybody. I’d recommend to go through each section slowly implementing all that you learn before moving to the next section.

Rating – 4/5

Check it out here.

10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak

The plotline of this book really intrigued me and I went through this book in 4 days (which is very fast for me since I only read for an hour or so every night). If after you heart stopped beating your brain continued working for a few more minutes, what would flash through your mind? After her death, Leila spends the last 10 minutes and 38 seconds of her life – going through all the important moments in her life and more importantly thinking about her 5 friends that had helped through most of her life. The book is based in Istanbul and gives a glimpse into the life in Istanbul including the struggles faced by those considered “different” (sex workers, singers, transgenders, dwarves). The book is divided into 3 parts – the first part focuses on giving us a glimpse into Leila’s life, the second part focuses on her friend’s dealing with her death and the third part on her afterlife. The first part had me hooked – Leila’s story is bound to keep you turning the pages. The second part didn’t impress me much – since the focus shifts from Leila to her friends, friends who were barely introduced to us in the first part. By the third part, I was reading to finish the book. It was an interesting read but the second half wasn’t as interesting and had me losing interest. I hadn’t formed any connection with her friends and had to keep reminding myself who was whom – so I couldn’t relate much with their struggle with dealing with the loss of their friend.

Rating – 3/5

Check it out here.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (audibles)

My second Audible book for the month was a super light listen – following Alice in her crazy adventures through wonderland. I had read the abridged version of this book in school and enjoyed it a lot. While looking for a second book to listen to – I found this (for free on Amazon Audible) and decided to listen to it. The story is definitely a fun and light one. A young girl named Alice falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world filled with fun and weird creature. What follows is one adventure after the other as she makes her way through the fantasy world. I loved the voice of the performer (Jodie Comer) – she did the various bits in a very cutesy manner (as is required for such a cutesy novel). It was a fun break to listen to the novel instead of binge watching shows/YouTube videos though I still have to get used to audiobooks. I found myself often drifting off into my own thoughts or reading a notification and losing my place in the story. But here’s hoping it gets better with the future audiobooks.

Rating – 4/5

Check it out here.

These were my January reads. I’m halfway through one more book which I’ll include in my February reads. After not reading at all in December, I’m impressed my how much reading I got done in January. How are you doing on your reading goals for 2021?

PS: I will be taking 2 weeks off from here to focus on some other things since I’ve been finding it hard to manage my time (if only I would stop procrastinating) as well as work on some health issues (read as: anxiety). I will be back super soon. 🙂 ❤

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