Goodreads Of October 2021

Apart from celebrating my birthday, a road trip to New Jersey with halts in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Halloween night at a haunted house, I read four books in the month.

I got the recommendation from my sister about 2008 Booker prize winner The White Tiger, a story about a poor Indian man Balram Halwai who is ambitious, cunning, and opportunist and wants to come out of his shithole(rooster coop) by breaking the shackles of family, poverty, and morality. The writer describes parallel worlds of light and darkness existing in India and contrast between them. Balram comes from the darkness and ends up in the other part of society. What a man from the darkness has to suffer and what’s it like to be in darkness is beautifully portrayed by the writer. There comes a time when you justify the acts of Balram considering all the bondages trapping him to remain in darkness. This would be my First Pick for the month.

Hyperbole and a Half is the collection of posts from the famous blog of the same name by Allie Brosh. She wrote her life experiences and memories in a webcomic way with funny sketches and her humorous writing. “Warning signs”, “The god of cake”, “The simple dog”, “Lost in the Woods”, “The hot sauce debacle “, “The parrot”, “Dinosaur”, and “The party” were my favorite recollections. It’s one of the best webcomic novels I ever read. Quick read and very funny. Highly recommended. Without a doubt my Second Pick.

S. No.	Title	Author	Format	Genre	Rating
1	The White Tiger	Adiga, Aravind	Book	Fiction	4/5
2	Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened	Brosh, Allie *	Book	Graphics/Comics	4/5
3	A Lesson Before Dying	Gaines, Ernest J.	Book	Historical Fiction	3/5
4	Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It?: A Mother’s Suggestions	Marx, Patricia	Book	Graphics/Comics	2/5

A Lesson Before Dying is the story of a black man- Jefferson who gets framed in the murder of his employer in a shootout. In his defense, his lawyer compares him to a “Hog” which is stupid and not worth of electric chair. But the all-white jury decides in favor of his death punishment. Later his Aunt begs the narrator Grant, an educated black man to help Jefferson die with dignity. She wants him to visit Jefferson and make him a man. The author beautifully portrayed that time period, racism, unfairness, lack of education, and divide in the society.

Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It?: A Mother’s Suggestions is an average read. A short book in which the author presented her mother’s views, opinions, and sarcasm in graphical form. Just a one-time read.

Let me know if you have read any of these?

Happy Reading! Keep Traveling !!!