Book Love - 2013
Continuing with the tradition of chronicling my reading journey on this blog (2011, 2012) here's my list of books I read/fell in love with this year. As a occupational hazard, I cannot really shy away from jotting down some reading statistics and analysis here.I read 21 books this year. (goodreads list here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4760161?shelf=what-i-read-in-2013) much much much less than the previous years. But this year I also had to indulge my time in many exhaustive and time consuming, dedication testing activities. So I was not able to accommodate as much reading as I would have liked. Many books which I wanted to read were just pushed away because of their size and sometimes lack of attention. Anywho, I am happy I read some gems this year which just made up for the lack of volume.My top picks being:1. Contact by Carl Sagan - Science fiction woven with the vagaries of being a human. This book presents most bold ideas of world peace, progress in such a humble and visionary manner that one cannot help but love it. FANGIRL forever. Oh! Carl Sagan you make my heart giddy with your vision and ideas.2. Mother of 1084 by Mahasweta Devi. - A truly multifaceted story in just 130 pages! Only a gifted artist can tell a tale with such courage and honesty and silently make you think about the hypocrisy of our society and the prevailing double standards, intermixing the political and the apolitical in a fine manner.3. Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - With this I have read the entire repertoire of JL. I loved it because the story sucked me in, made me care about the characters, even irritated me at times because no one seemed to find any solace despite the subtle drama unfolding in their lives.4. Atonement by Ian McEwan - What a book! what a book! I was torn apart by the love story. I was also humbled by its humanness.5. Born to run by Christopher McDougall - I ran a half marathon this year. And I got inspired by this book A LOT. That is a testimonial itself.6. Kingkiller Chronicle (1 and 2) by Patrick Rothfuss - I was bored by the book in the beginning but the world of alars and magic charmed me like any fantasy fiction can! Kvothe I await your adventures in the final installment of the saga.7. The last mughal by William Dalrymple - If one likes to read history I highly recommend Will Dalrymple to you because, he weaves stories out of simple incidences and takes you to a Delhi that was and probably still is. Fell in love with Delhi post this read.As every year, I have grand plans for 2014 too! The idea is always to read a little bit of every genre.Recommendations and suggestions and your favorite reads are welcome!happy reading!