Books I read from January-March 2021

 Since today is World Book Day, I decided to share an update on the books I read over the past three months.

1. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans)

Genre: Classics

Era: 1820-1830 England

I had my reasons for not liking this book. The book started on a very jolly note- us following the life of 9-year-old Maggie Tulliver and her older brother Tom and the various shenanigans that they got up to as kids living near a mill and the relationship between the Tullivers and the families of the sisters of Mrs. Tulliver. However, the book gets pretty grim with a financial crisis and saving the honour of a bankrupt family with a bedridden man of the house. And then there is the loss of childhood and innocence for Tom and Maggie. The story deals with pretty hard-hitting topics of perceptions of beauty and disability in early 1800 England society. The most difficult part of the book to read however was how a woman's morality would be questioned if she would be kidnapped by the fiance of her cousin and it would be defined as elopement and ruin a woman's reputation if she does not come out of the incident as the wife of her predator. It reminded me of Lydia Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and it had appeared strange to me how everyone was questioning Lydia's virtues in the story when it was clear Mr. Wickham who had no interests in marrying her and ruin the reputation of the Bennets. But the most unfortunate part was the book had a pretty abrupt ending without giving us a proper closure for all the characters.

2. Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India (International Edition)

An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India (Indian Edition)

by Shashi Tharoor

Genre: History/Political

I was motivated to read this book after I had watched Tharoor on the Oxford Union debate "Does Britain owe reparations to her former colonies?" This book was a heavy read, not because of the "Tharoorsaurus" but because my entire being and soul felt heavy. It however answered some of the age-old questions around the globe faced by the major Indian diaspora: "Weren't the railways, the education system, the English language, a blessing in disguise for British colonialism in India?" All of us are taught Indian history and World History in school. But only as an adult did I learn to realise the terrible consequences and side effects that has been brought on to the "once-upon- a- time-colony" countries around the globe in the post-colonial era and now even in 2021. The painful part to read was when your subconscious mind is simultaneously drawing up conclusions from how a tiny pore that was drilled into by the concept of Divide et impera has today become a huge black hole- eating up our nation from the inside out in the 21st century. It also sheds some light on the painful reality of Indians always feeling insecure in their identity and our inbuilt ability to judge ourselves and each other without the need of any external force. But I am also grateful that this book exists for some curious person out there in the world to educate themselves of the horrors of colonialism so that it does not become a trend to dwell on the imperialist past with a sense of nostalgia for pleasures brought on by draining the economy of other nations.

3. Grishaverse Trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Seige and Storm, Ruin and Rising) and Six of Crows (SOC) Duology (Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom)

by Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy and Young Adult (YA)

Since my previous two reads dealt with such heavy topics and I was having an extremely busy month in March, I decided to relax by providing my brain with junk food which is the YA genre. Well basically I listened to all these on audiobooks. The YA genre (although I am sadly no longer YA) is a guilty pleasure of mine and is a good distraction from stress. On top of that when there are fantasy elements in it, I feel like I am a bookworm on crack. Although the Grishaverse trilogy was nothing unique and followed all popular YA tropes smashed into one, I somehow really enjoyed the world-building and was happy to suspend my belief in the disbelief. As far as the story was concerned, I enjoyed the Six of Crows duology much more than the Grishaverse trilogy. This was simply because the character building and character development in SOC were better whereas at points in the Grisha trilogy I used to be annoyed and frustrated with the protagonist. Besides, I get easily hooked onto plots with cons and heists. This is when I realised that I also wanted to be one of those snobs who would compare the Netflix series (once I watch it) with the books.