What have I been reading..so far?

*Abysmal edition*I realized half of 2018 is over and I should take a stock of the books I have read so far. Very thrilled to report that I have hardly read anything! I have many excuses but an inability to find the motivation and the right books to read are the main. By right I mean all the books I have picked up are great, but I am not in the right space to read them. Yet. Anywho without further ado, here it is:

• The little prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery - I bought this on a Mumbai trip from a nice bookshop in Bandra. It was an easy but deep read. It's simple writing and philosophical undertones kept me hooked. I am still learning all the small things the little prince contemplates about in the bigger scheme of things.
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - Did I tell you Neil Gaiman is the best? Even when he re-imagines and writes some of these ancient tales! This was a fast and easy read (except for the Norse names. My brain got a spasm trying to learn to pronounce these correctly).  Some stories were hilarious. Some rather grim. I particularly enjoyed the one about how great and bad poets rather poetry came into being. Read!
• Meb for mortals by Meb Keflezighi - It isn't a great inspiring athlete book, per se. But its a great peek into the routine of someone as accomplished as Meb.  I learned a few simple running tricks and have learned a lot many stances and posture exercises from this book. (Borrowed this from one of the running Gurujis)
• Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman - I started reading this in 2017 but kind of finished it in 2018. I say kind of because a book like this needs to be re-read. Taken in slowly. If you have not tried reading it already, I highly recommend. Insightful is the most common adjective when it comes to describing this book. But generally fun is also what I found it :)
• Remnants of a separation by Anchal Malhotra - This book looks at the partition and people who migrated around that time through the lens of material memory. This is a unique perspective and brings forth very personal tales of love and loss. While initially, the book does come across as plain interviews, but its written with such great empathy that the stories start growing on you. I have never missed my aaji and her quilts more!
• Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - What a lovely, heartbreaking, well-written book! I have been a huge fan of Adichie's writing. But this epic story and her writing took their time to grow on me. The characters, their struggles, the civil war which is in the background at first and then takes the center stage and how it changes everything around - it first moves you and then makes you contemplate the morality of humans in the complicated world. The triumph in the writing is, it doesn't diminish anyone or their struggle as the war expands. It is empathetic, human. If you must read one book by Adichie then it is this.
• Things a little bird told me by Biz Stone - I mean this book was not on my list, but a colleague had a copy and it came across as an easy read and that's what I needed to push myself to read more at that point. And easy breezy it was! It tells the story of the rise and rise of Twitter and the existential crisis at its core. Not the best-written tech book out there but tells a good story, of one of the tech giants of our times.

I also started reading 'A suitable boy' (bought) by Vikram Seth in May and 'All the light you cannot see' (borrowed) by Anthony Doerr. While the first is magnificent but huge (I have made it through half way) the second is frustrating despite having a great historical fiction premise. So to put my energies elsewhere I started reading Prayaag Akbar's Leila (borrowed from a friend). I hope to be able to write about them in the next edition of these blog posts.Until then recommend away any great books you have read this year?