Latest Reads

1. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
2. Before We Say Goodbye
3. The Collected Short Stories of Satyajit Ray
4. Interpreter of Maladies

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The Handmaid's Tale

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Author: Margaret Atwood Acquired in: October 2020 Ah, the glee of finally reading a book you've wanted to for a long time is a feeling like no other. And yes, The Handmaid's Tale is like no other. Books like these belonging to speculative fiction have enormous potential for imagination. Margaret Atwood's work aims to show what a government led by a fundamentalist regime would pan out.  A radical quasi-Christian outfit overthrows the US government and establishes a totalitarian theocracy named the Republic of Gilead where women have no rights. They have no right over their bodies; only fertile women are considered useful. Women hold different positions on the social ladder according to their past roles in pre-coup America- the Wives, the Handmaids, the Marthas, the Econowives and the Unwomen. Due to the dangerously high levels of radioactive pollution, most Gileadians are sterile, including the new elite consisting of the Commanders and their Wives. To somehow salvage a chil...
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A Man Called Ove

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Author: Fredrik Backman Acquired in: July 2022 I'm a fan of Fredrik Backman's books. Subtle humour, a tear or two, Ikea meatball fanatics, police silently hating their jobs, grandparent-child dream teams, hostages rallying for their incarcerator - love it. To this hodgepodge pile I've happily added A Man Called Ove, a book about a sad old man who cares little for anybody's sympathy. Ove is a stickler for principles. He drives only a Saab, does his own house and car repairs, distrusts technology, hates bureaucrats and goes to work without fail, even on the day after his wife's funeral. Emotions confused him and he found work to help him understand or often, repress the intangible. Losing his job was the final straw that sent him into a depressed spiral leading him to decide to kill himself. To his eternal chagrin, a riotous Swedish-Iranian family who introduces themselves to the neighbourhood by mowing down Ove's mailbox have other plans. Being taciturn meant...
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The Book Thief

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Author: Markus Zusak Acquired in: April 2018 A little girl once caught Death's attention. Since he liked how her story went, he decided to share it with us.  And when Death tells a story, you really have to listen.  9-year-old Liesel and her brother Werner travel to Munich with their mother, to meet their new foster parents. Their mother would soon leave them, just like how Father did long ago, because of 'Kommunist', a word she doesn't know the meaning of and is too afraid to ask. Aboard the cold train, the ill little boy dies. With Werner's soul in his arms, Death watches Liesel pick up a black book forgotten by a gravedigger and hold it close, something to remind her of her brother. At that moment, the Book Thief is born. In Liesel's life, the appearance of books is often followed by death, though she doesn't notice this sinister pattern, because well, it's World War 2. The Book Thief is the second book about the Holocaust and WW2 I've read writte...
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