It's a particularly blue monsoon: July at the Reader's Nook
Philosophy, crime and thriller, magical realism, and literary fiction -- it's been a rather eclectic month of books!
Dear reader,
The sky outside my window has turned a stormy shade of grey. There’s a hint of moisture in the air, and breeze has an undercurrent of coolness. It’s rained somewhere, not too far away. It’s been an unusually wet July, perfect for cozying up with steaming mugs of strong, black coffee and a good book to keep me company.
It felt like the right time to dig into something nice and meaty. One of those books that makes you want to highlight every second page. That lights up your brain. That helps you weave together various strands of thought and adds to your own understanding of the world.
John Kaag’s American Philosophy: A Love Story ticked all those boxes for me. I exported all my highlights to my Notion database earlier this week, and will go through and add some notes in the coming weeks.
The other highlight of this month was Gabrielle Zevine’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I didn’t think I would love it as much as I did — this is definitely one to add to the re-read pile. And I have a bunch of highlights to go through from this book, too, including some that I highlighted simply to serve as reminders to myself.
How do you organize the notes and highlights from the books that you read?
Books I read
American Philosophy: A Love Story by John Kaag
John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book.
American Philosophy is an intellectual tour de force: part memoir, part philosophy, and part intellectual history. A depressed Kaag stumbles upon the Hocking library, where he finds a treasure trove of rare and valuable books that are crawling with insects and full of mold. Among the shelves he discovers rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant, and handwritten notes from Whitman and Frost. As Kaag begins to read through these volumes and catalog them, he “embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence.” Among books on philosophy and psychology, he finds treaties on spirituality and Eastern mysticism, and the ideas that influenced the philosophers of that age. Ideas that are still alive today. If you have even a passing interest in philosophy, you will enjoy this book.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zavin (Winner of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards)
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts. Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.
For the longest time, I ignored Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, because I thought it would be a book about gaming, and I’ve never been a fan of computer games. But when I heard someone say that it is an excellent study on the creative process, I added it to my to-read list. I finally got around to reading it this month, and oh boy, was I in for a treat! Yes, it is a book about games and gamers and gaming. But more than that, it is a book about friendship and creative collaboration and the drive to achieving creative mastery and the people and systems that not just support, but elevate your creativity. Masterful in its execution, sweeping in its scope and immersive in its game building, if you haven’t read this book, please do yourself a favor and read it now! I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas (A book by an Asian author)
Amid incessant rains pounding down on Mumbai, Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput is called to a shocking crime scene. A male body is found dismembered on the steps of a Kaali temple. Drawn into his flesh are symbols of a tantra cult. The desecration of a body at a Hindu place of worship puts the city on edge and divides Arnav’s priorities: stopping a fanatic from killing again and caring for his wife who’s struggling through a challenging pregnancy. Then video footage of the murder is uploaded onto the account of a Bollywood social media influencer, triggering twists in the investigation Arnav didn’t see coming. Caste systems at war. A priest under suspicion. And an anonymous threat that puts his wife’s welfare at risk. When more bodies are found, the savagery of the city begins to surface—and Arnav fears that no one is safe from a bigger storm brewing.
Coming on the heels of Biswas’ The Blue Bar {which I read and reviewed earlier this year}, The Blue Monsoon does not disappoint! It’s the second book in the Blue Mumbai series, and is even more explosive than the first. Weaving together ritualistic murders, the evils of India’s caste politics, and underworld mafia dons, with themes of family dynamics and love and loyalty, this is an intense read that will have you reeling with the twists and turns that it takes. This is a must read if you like crime and thrillers. While it can stand alone, I would recommend that you read The Blue Bar first.
(I received an ARC via Netgalley; expected release date: 24 October 2023)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern.
Oh, how promising this book seemed, and how badly it let me down! It sounded like a book that combines magical realism with food and family secrets, but it was altogether disappointing. For one, though the characters talk to each other, there is no conversational format, nothing to indicate dialogue, which makes it very jarring. The characters are largely wooden — there’s no examination of what drives them, what makes them who they are. Why is Rose’s mother so sad, despite the fact that she has the freedom to pursue all of her hobbies and has a seemingly happy family life? And Rose’s father may be a bit emotionally distant, but he’s a good man. There is no explanation for why their relationship soured, or why her mother chose to have an affair for 10 long years without letting anything on to her husband. There’s no real explanation for why Rose’s brother is so emotionally distant, and even more strangely, no one seems overly concerned about his regular disappearances. Despite its exciting premise, it fails miserably in its execution.
Monthly round-up
Things that caught my attention this month
⫸ Ever wondered where thriller writers find their inspiration? Lisa Jewell shares her secrets.
⫸ Self-help was never supposed to work: An absolutely fantastic brief history of the self-help industry by
who writes the immensely enjoyable Ok Doomer.⫸ This absolutely magnificent flashmob organized on the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell. 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l'Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs regaled the unsuspecting townspeople — children with kites, elders with walkers, couples holding hands — with an unexpected symphony. I had goosebumps watching this!
⫸ Combine this with the neurophysiology of enchantment. Perhaps that explains the goosebumps and tears while I watched this performance!
Thank you for being here and for spending some time in my bookish world. Hit reply and tell me what you’ve been reading and enjoying this month!
Happy reading,
Shinjini