Books I read in September, 2020

Books
Written By

The books and my thoughts

Ahh September, the first time I got on a place since COVID started dominating our lives. Here is what I read! There is more fiction, which I am happy about.

Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave

I remember seeing this book on someone's Instagram Stories and the title appealed to me. I have a soft spot for an intergenerational story and this one delivers. It talks of three women and their stories as they battle with society's expectations of a well behaved desi woman and the women they want to be.

I wasn't a big fan of the ending as it seems like the author was too eager to tie everything up with a neat bow. It tries to tell us a story of compassion and growth, however you see limited growth from the protagonist Simran.

However, I think this story has good representation of Indian cultures and traditions, of the rules that society unknowingly puts upon you, and the utter gravity to be that perfect women. A good holiday read. Why not follow this up with Indian Matchmaking on Netflix - your Indian culture primer kit.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

I have no comments. It became available on Libby just as I was going on holiday. I knew it would be a bad. But come on, possessive, broody, unattainable vampire? The 16 year old in me still has a crush for Edward Cullen.

Please don't judge me.

The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood

My second poetry anthology on my journey to read more poetry in 2020. I didn't realize that Margaret Atwood also wrote poetry, till I polled my Instagram followers for poetry I should be reading.

[Spoilers] It took me a while, but I realized that the book itself is named after the children's rhyme Ring a Ring o' Roses. Reading poetry, specially that of Margaret Atwood's makes me wish I was back in my 9th grade Literature class, where our teacher helped us identify tropes and re-reading key lines, unravelling the story behind them. Being able to understand poetry may take time, however, I am willing to put in the effort.

Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One by Emily Heyward

Emily Heyward's brand Red Antler has worked with some of the most iconic startups of the past decade, such as Casper, Allbirds, Brandless and Prose. These are brands that I always come across on my Instagram. This book talks about the importance of aligning brand, product, user and company. I read the book for the case studies and it didn't disappoint.

2020 reading list

I use Libby to maintain a list of books I want to read, so I know exactly what I will be reading for the rest of 2020 so here goes:

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