Hi everyone! How are you all?

I really hope you all are safe and staying in. If you get too anxious, just breathe and pray. Let’s hope this too shall pass.

Was there ever a time I used to post monthly wrap-ups on time? I certainly can’t recall. As far as 2020 goes, it completely slipped my mind to post a reading wrap-up of the first two months. Yeah, I know that doesn’t paint me in a good light. Anyways, I am quite happy with the amount of books, and the kind of books I have been reading so far this year. Of course, I’m blissfully ignoring the list of books I need to read for college, but I am making a lot of progress with my physical TBR books.

January Reads

Art Matters by Neil Gaiman

I started my year with a re-read. Art Matters by Neil Gaiman is a treat and an inspiration for readers, writers and all kinds of artists around the world. It is the kick in the back and the spark of encouragement you need to get back to creating your art. It also gives us the much-needed reminder of how valuable and resourceful libraries are. This is a book I would recommend to everyone, whether you are a writer, painter or someone who wants to try their hand at any art form but they are holding themselves back. Imagine and create because art matters.

Rating- 5/5

The Bad Beginning and The Reptile Room (Book 1 and 2 of A Series of Unfortunate Events)

I’ll admit, these books have their charm. They are very cleverly written and are quick to read. Once you start, you do wanna know what happens to the characters. But also, what the hell? I couldn’t help asking myself why I was reading about bad things happening to children. Well, Mr. Snicket does warn in the beginning so I can’t blame him. But anyway, I’m not sure what to say more about these two books. I enjoyed them but I also didn’t like them. I think I’ll continue with the series but I’m not in a hurry to at the moment.

Rating- 3/5

A Line In Water by Amrita Pritam

Amrita Pritam is an Indian author who fascinates me and I really want to read more of her poems and other writings, especially in Punjabi and Hindi. This book was alright. Perhaps the English translation lost the essence or maybe the story didn’t touch me. Read my short Goodreads review of it here.

Rating- 4/5

Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis

I listened to this audiobook every day for about a month while commuting to college. It made me feel like a badass (or at least inspired me to become one) every day. Its a self-help book, especially for all 21st-century women.

Rating- 5/5

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I don’t think I understood this book

And believe me, it is very hard to admit that after only hearing magical things about it from everyone. I did get some of the life lessons it was trying to convey but this book didn’t make an impact on me.

Rating- 3/5

An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India by Shashi Tharoor

The history textbook that I definitely needed to read. I needed to expand my knowledge of colonialism and its impact on India beyond what I learned in school, and after touching on this subject once again in my second semester of college, I had to pick up this book. It served its purpose. I gained detailed insight into the “era of darkness” and came to know about the repercussions of the British Raj we are facing even now. This book is filled with information and historical events and I read it, I didn’t study it. But even if I just remember 20% of this book, it was worth it.

Rating- 4/5

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

This book gave me all the feels. I blushed, I laughed, I cried. It follows Tanner, a bisexual teen who recently moved to Utah. He joins a writing class and starts liking Sebastian Brother, the mentor of the class. This was the first time I read a YA novel that also had a religious element to it. I was apprehensive about how the author would deal with it and how the story would conclude. However, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Rating- 5/5

February Reads

Harnessing Light by S.B. Goncarova

I posted a full review of this book! You can read that here.

Rating- 4/5

Total Law of Attraction by David Che

Honestly, I barely remember this book. This was a short audiobook I listened to on Storytel. I don’t remember it being much different than other books on the law of attraction.

Rating- 3/5

13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck by Ashwin Sanghi

Prior to this, I had read 13 Steps To Bloody Good Wealth by the author. The same thing goes for both the books – If you follow the techniques and tips that are given, you will benefit a lot from this book. If you don’t, you won’t get much out of it.

While this book is a fast read and I found a lot of logical and useful things, I felt that the same thing was repeated again and again. Seek more opportunities, grab the right ones, follow your intuition and be nice. There are also stories of many people on almost every other page and while that may be interesting to many readers, I found it quite tedious.

Rating- 3.5/5

The Rudest Book Ever by Shwetabh Gangwar

I have been avoiding writing anything about this book because I know whatever I say will not do it justice. The sole purpose of this book is to make you think. As the author says, it’s not a self-help book, it is a book of perspectives. I definitely need to read this book again to grasp its full glory and to talk about it more, This book is written by one of my favorite Youtubers, Shwetabh Gangwar. I would highly recommend you all to check out his channel. To put it simply, his content is enlightening. He looks at every situation in life logically and gives you something to consider. He also has an English channel- Mensutra.

Rating- 5/5

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

This is one of those rare cases where the writing gets to my heart rather than the story. There are many passionate and heartbreaking passages in this book. However, I couldn’t get emotionally invested in the story. I think that’s because it was hard to decide what to even feel for the characters- pity, hatred, or affection. As the name suggests, this book is about an affair. I liked that it showed the story from the perspectives of all the three people involved in the affair. The book talks about love, death, religion, and even about writing.

Rating- 3.5/5

I hope you liked this post!

Have you read any of these? Which books did you read recently? Comment down below!

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