December TBR

Another month flew by and we are in the last month of 2017 which also happens to be the time of the year. Winter is upon us and it’s time for some cozy reading and by now, I am mostly seen in the vicinity of oversized jumpers, delicious cookies, and silly blankets. Honestly, this has been a fabulous year for me with my TBR pile shrinking (just a little bit !) to joining Bookstagram. A mellow November has made me exhilarated by the thought of reading so many more books this month! Summing up my December with the exploration of different genres including short stories along with the traditional re-read of the month.

• Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. – Goodreads

This is my first Murakami. I have heard so many excellent reviews about his writing style and I’m really looking forward to this one.

• The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

The Shadow Lines presents a rich tapestry of plots and characters to trace several decades of events from the perspective of the anonymous narrator of the book. It follows the life of the protagonist and narrator, a young boy hailing from a middle-class background, and dissects as many as seventy years of his life, traversing back and forth between the cities of Calcutta, Dhaka, and London. – Goodreads

As an initiative of reading about Indian folklore more, my December pick is Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines. The blurb is so intriguing that I instantly bounced it up on my TBR.

• Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee

The possibility of change, of starting anew, in this stunningly beautiful and poignant collection of short stories, is at once terrifying and filled with promise.For those Indian-born women living new lives in America, independence is a mixed blessing.It means walking the tightrope between old treasured beliefs and surprising newfound desires and understanding the emotions which that conflict brings. – Goodreads

I am experimenting my December reads with pitching in some short stories. This one in particular deals with the custom of arranged marriages in India and I think I would relate to the stories on some level.

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred’s nor that of the two men on which her future hangs. Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Atwood’s devastating irony, wit, and astute perception. – Goodreads

Atwood has already charmed me with her language in her previous works. The Dystopian aspect of the book made me eager to read this.

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

After the war, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire pursues wealth, riches and the lady he lost to another man with stoic determination. When Gatsby finally does reunite with Daisy Buchanan, tragic events are set in motion. Told through the eyes of his detached and omnipresent neighbor and friend, Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald’s succinct and powerful prose hints at the destruction and tragedy that awaits. –Goodreads

I am picking this book as the re-read of the month as I had enjoyed reading it the first time (which was ages ago!). I may also watch the movie adaptation in order to do a comparative analysis of the novel and film.
I am also going to cast some Harry Potter spell around Christmas to get into the celebratory mode with butterbeer, lights, and presents. That’s all for December bookworms. Thanks for reading. If you have read any of the aforementioned books, hit me up in the comments section.

Happy (Christmasy) Reading!