“A Man called Ove” by Fredrick Backman

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white, But she was as color. All the color he had.”
– Fredrick Backman, A man called Ove
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Ove is a grumpy man on the exterior but if one peel through the outer layer, they will find a loveable man, one who is staunch on his principles and has come to become bitter in life due to the loneliness and sadness that surrounds him.
What happens when a chatty couple moves next door and tries to strike a friendship with our cranky old man.
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The story is packed with all the emotions, sadness, heartbreak, laughter, the joy of an unexpected friendship and the innate bond of selflessness.
It highlights the sorrows of losing a loved one, the constant melancholy that reminds one of the loss, and the isolation that eats you up.
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Adjourned with beautiful metaphors, the humour, and witty narrative makes an impression on you, even while discussing sombre or depressing topics.
What really stands out is the relationship between Sonja and Ove, their marriage, their relationship, their heart-rending love even when the two people were at the opposite end of the spectrum.
“Ove had never been asked how he lived before he met her. But if anyone had asked him, he would have answered that he didn’t.”
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A highly recommended warm and fuzzy read, one that is sure to make you laugh and cry at the same time.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Genre: fiction, contemporary, humour, swedish, adult-fiction
Reading difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐/5

“Tin Man” by Sarah Winman

“And I wonder what the sound of a heart breaking might be. And I think it might be quiet, unperceptively so, and not dramatic at all. Like the sound of an exhausted swallow falling gently to earth.”
-Sarah Winman, Tin Man

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A short and beautiful story of two boys Ellis and Michael who are friends since childhood. Having been through a lot, turmoil in the family life, troubled childhood and loss of their dear ones made them close friends. They spent a lot of time together exploring the town and then their relationship became something else.

“Ghachar Ghochar” by Vivek Shanbhag

“Words, after all, are nothing by themselves. They burst into meaning only in the minds they’ve entered.”
                       -Vivek Shanbhag, Ghachar Ghochar

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A story of a close-knit family which goes from living in a cramped, small house to being the owner of a large house in a posh area of Bangalore, all because of a member of the family, turning his spice business into a fortune.
The story unfolds how when money comes along, the family dynamic changes, how the definition of love and support in a joint family transforms and how ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ things go once an average middle-class family, turns rich almost overnight.

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself”
                                   -Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

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Jane Eyre is the perfect Victorian classic, with the title being the name of the main protagonist.

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Jane, an orphan kid living with her aunt and cousins at the Gateshead hall. As any other orphan of her time, she is pretty much treated very badly, to the extent of being locked up in a room to learn to ‘behave’.

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Jane, a young kid of ten years, sent away to a religious boarding school – Lowood Institute. Even though she has good company, the inhabitants of the institution are constantly starved and cold for the lack of warm clothes.

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Jane, a young lady now, works as a governess for two years in Lowood and goes on to be a private tutor to a little girl named Adele, at a country house called Thornfield. There she meets  Mr. Rochester, the owner of the house and a series of events conspire between the two of them.

“The handmaid’s tale” by Margaret Atwood

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”  -Margaret Atwood, The handmaid’s tale

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The handmaid’s tale is a dystopian narrative set in the Republic of Gilead where a theonomic military dictatorship exists in what is present-day Massachusetts. The government is thrown off and a totalitarian Christian theonomy reigns. Human rights are diminished and women’s rights are heavily curtailed. The women of the society are now compartmentalised based on various functions and emphasis is now wholly in the act of reproduction making it the centre of the order.

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As the protagonist puts in these words:
” I am a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Inside it is a space, huge as the sky at night and dark and curved like that, though black-red rather than black.”

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger

“I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.”      -J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

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Ever came across a book that has no solid plot or storyline but still gets to you in so many different ways. Well, this is that book for me. “The catcher in the rye” by J.D. Salinger is a classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion. It is a story about Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenager, who has to leave his prep school in Pennsylvania, under some circumstances. So instead of going back to his home in New York, he decides to go underground, exploring New York for three days.

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What follows is a simple and yet complex account of a child’s understanding of the world. A world in which he tries to fit again and again but being sixteen-year-old, he is too naive and confused. Still, he has his own expectations and he eventually finds himself lost.

“The subtle art of not giving a f*ck” by Mark Manson

“Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle”
                                                               -Mark Manson, The subtle art of not giving a f*ck”

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In this time of sugar-coated advices and when self help books just talks about smiling more, being sweet all the time and trying to let go, etc., this one comes as a pleasant refresher.

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“The subtle art of not giving a f*ck” by Mark Manson is a self-help guide at its core, but is so different from your run-of-the-mill personality development books. In its essence, the book talks about how to stop focusing on being “positive” all the time and learn to accept the negative experiences also.

“Sapiens: A brief history of humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari

“You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”

“Sapiens: A brief history of humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari is an enthralling account of human history, right from the time when humans and chimpanzees used to share the same ancestors, down to how we came to be what we are today. The book also dwells into insights about what might be in store for us in the future, going by our history so far.