Books I read in September 2021

September was a month of travel and hence a month for reading! I readfive book this year and here is a review of them all! Enjoy!

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

I can't believe I hadn't read Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. It's a beautifully written story about how mental illness and addiction can ruin a family's trajectory. It does this with the added intersectionality of how people of color and their families suffer from these problems than their white majority counterpoints.

Eat a Peach by David Chang

I listened to Eat a Peach as an audio book when driving and on flights. I have been an admirer of David Chang's work for a long time so I was happy to read his "memoir" of how he got started in the business and what inspires him. The book was narrated by him as well so it was great to hear him tell his own story. Sort of like being out to drinks with him! However, the one issue I had with the book was that the didn't address his relationship to Peter Meehan who was reported to have created a toxic workplace culture at LA Times Food and was also a partner to David Chang in many of his ventures.

Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney wrote a new book so of course I had to read it! I got lucky and my library had a copy available! The book talks about complicated human relationships with the same grace and sensitivities as her previous works. I loved every second of it and was rooting for the characters from start to finish!

The Healing of America by T. R. Reid

I am joining the Google Health team due to which I am reading up as much as I can about the health space. This book was highly recommended by a bunch of people to understand the healthcare space. This book analyzes the different health care systems around the world and talks about how USA can strategically improve its health care system. It's a great read for anyone who is as confused by the different health care systems around the world as I was.

The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli

This is a book I came across while browsing Indigo in Canada. It's a book about a Canadian woman with an Indian mother and the expectations associated with being an Indian woman. Specially one who is trying to recover from a broken heart while dealing with these expectations. The book definitely hit close to home and I found it to be a good holiday read.

My 2021 reading goals?

• Continue to read more poetry!
• Read more about the space of health, be it nutrition, mental health, physical health, etc.
• Try to get into audio books. I don’t think I will but it’s worth a shot. I strongly believe that listening to audio books is useless as you don’t capture or understand the content fully.
• Continue reading books by diverse authors.
• See my wider reading goals here.