Twas a good year for reading began my 2021 book list blog. The same applies for 2022 as well, it took me a while to get reading added as proper habit. While talking to a close friend about reading during the year he noted that I had successfully assimilated reading into daily life as a strong habit. That is so true, I used audio books again a lot this year ( close to 1/3rd of the books) and combined it mostly with long walks outside. Most of the summer I would get up early and go for a long walk with the intention of listening to a book and end up improving my general fitness level as a bonus. This year I started frequenting the library a lot mainly to take my daughter there for her to pick up books and in the bargain started borrowing and reading a lot of physical books from the library as well.
In terms of what I read in 2022, there were some of my usual interests - countries/people around the world, cricket biographies and productivity/improving myself genres but this year I covered a lot of nature books which were among the ones that gave me the most joy. Lot of reading this year was also driven by chatter on a few book review/recco groups I frequented - which were close to half of the books I read and some picked up from other book lists from previous years.
So without much further ado here is the actual list. I have sorted it into Non-fiction ( with sub categories of my own) and Fiction
Non Fiction
1.Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
I read this somewhat viral essay - 'I was a cable guy and saw the worst of America' and then proceeded to pick up this book which is a sort of memoir but more of collection of essays covering her childhood growing up in a cult, how she got ill-treated when folks in airforce figured she was gay and her subsequent life living paycheck to paycheck and of course the Cable guy one which again is a superb read on how it is like for female blue collar worker.
2.War Minus The Shooting : A journey through South Asia during the 1996 Cricket World Cup by Mike Marquesee
This was one of those classics which almost went out of print and then got back into circulation recently and was covered passionately by a lot cricket podcasts and followers. Was a good trip down the memory lane as he tours the subcontinent and not only covers the game but also its a commentary on these nations.
3.100 Things We've Lost to the Internet : by Pamela Paul
4.This is How They Tell Me the World Ends : The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perloth
Really scary read! Super long read though. The author takes a highly technical field and lays out in somewhat easy to understand language and very frightening. Change your passwords asap and add multi-factor authentication!
5.Four Lost Cities : A Secret History of Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
6.Arriving Today : From Factory to Front Door -- Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy by Christopher Mims
Pandemic brought into focus supply chains and how extended they are. The author starts from a factory in Vietnam where the parts that make up a humble cell phone charger are assembled and packaged into a box. He follows this phone charger box through the supply chain from Vietnam factory to port to ships that transport most of the stuff we buy, ports in US, 18-wheeler trucks to Amazon's somewhat automated warehouses/ fulfillment center till the last mile UPS truck which drops a package at customer's doorstep. He follows the entire journey and takes a look at the lives of all these folks who make instant gratification happen.
7.No Spin : My Autobiography by Shane Warne
One of the all time greats passed away suddenly, so picked this one up to read.
8.Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence by Shrayana Bhattacharya
This was one of those books someone had recommended last year to get a sense of real India. It was very illuminating read. Its not SRK the actor but the concept/myth of the ideal partner which gets examined as the author walks us through her own story and stories of several young women across social strata and how they fared in their relationships/marriage. SRK appears as a totem for most of these women. Very interesting read.
9.Life is Short And So Is This Book by Peter Atkins
10.Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna
11.Whole Numbers and Half Truths by Rukmini S
Very interesting read, the author uses numbers to probe further some common questions/opinions and helps us understand the complex country that is India.
12. Half Lion : How P.V.Narasimha Rao Transformed India by Vinay Sitapati
Another book I totally enjoyed as kid who grew up in 90s India and Rao govt is one the earliest ones I can remember as I started listening to TV news daily around this time. My memory of the man was that he was a controversial figure who presided over some tough times and miraculously managed to survive ( corruption allegations aside) with a minority Govt for a full term. Though I sort of knew PVNR was some sort of scholarly person, it was only when I read this book I learnt more about the man who was a polymath with wide range of interests ranging from literature, philosophy to even computer science . The author got access to Mr.Rao's personal papers and uses that plus interviews among other sources for this biography and paints a very vivid picture of a man of two parts. PVNR perfected the art of running with hare and hunting with hound while running his minority Govt and managed to usher in some remarkable reforms in the economy. Book is a good read to revisit and see how he managed to pull this off and in a sense its a lesson in management too. The book like all biographies with inputs from well wishers of a remarkable person is slanted in his favor. The author to his credit does look at several taints in PVNR's legacy as well. I really loved this book.
13. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
14. How China Sees India and The World by Shyam Saran
15. Line and Strength by Glenn McGrath
I'm not sure how I ended up reading this, but it was good read as a sporting tale. One of the greatest fast bowler ever was dismissed as an untalented bowler in his youth. He grew up in rural Australia and so easily could have just given it up and stuck with farm work. Instead it was sheer willpower to prove himself coupled with incredible hard work day and night that managed to turn him into a power house.
16. The Untold Story of the Talking Book by Mathew Rubery
This probably will be a post on its own, the story of audiobook at a personal level. I keep telling a lot of people how awesome audiobooks are and have had several conversations on this medium. This book goes back to the roots and is a detailed account of how this medium evolved over last 100 odd years.
17. The Cryptopians : Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze by Laura Shin
Crypto stories are usually wild, this is an account of how Ethereum one of the top cryptocurrencies / framework/platform which underpins a lot of innovation in this space came to be. While Vitalik is the main name, there is a foundation / group which sort of manages it. This is the behind the scenes account of the chaotic rise of this platform and various factions trying to get close to the power center.
18. Like, Comment, Subscribe : Inside Youtube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination by Mark Bergen
Our favorite time sink - Youtube. This is a very neat book chronicling its origin as a video sharing platform to getting bought by Google and the subsequent evolution into what it is now. Unlike some other business stories that we read, this feels different because a lot of us had seen/used this product for a long time now and sort of saw how it slowly but firmly entered our daily lives. This is no dry read, this is an interesting behind the scenes look which pretty much rips into the company with at times harsh lens. The book also looks at the key part of Youtube's rise - Creators and how often they get the short end of the stick and how despite its commitment for being a force of good - the drive for profits/poor decisons led Youtube/Google into becoming a place for violent, racist and harmful content as well and how they struggled to deal with it. Felt the author was a bit harsh sometimes towards a company which seemed to make mistakes by inaction or misplaced ideals rather than any malice.
19. Nothing Like I Imagined by Mindy Kaling
Set of light hearted personal essays by Mindy Kaling which was a fun read.
20. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Friend of mine had mentioned this earlier and I wanted to pick up a running related read this year. This covers the celebrated authors thoughts on running in general and what it means to him and his notes in general for a period of over an year and half as he runs a few marathons and competes in triathlon.
Travel / Countries / Cultures
21. The Nine Lives of Pakistan : Dispatches from a Precarious State by Declan Walsh
A look into a nation full of contradictions ( which to me is not a bad thing per se) by a foreign correspondent who spent several years in the nation. He paints a portrait of the nation through life/stories of 9 personalities from Pakistan. Was an interesting read but again I'm sure most Pakistanis will think its superficial. It was like reading multiple well written long form articles and the author ultimately got expelled from the country for his reporting which rubbed the military rulers the wrong way.
22. Sovietistan : Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Krygyzstan and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland
I really like this genre of a traveler who explores far flung corners of the world and documents life in these countries. This was written almost 10 years back and this is an English translation of the original - but its great to learn about Stans about which I almost knew nothing until I read this book. One minor quibble is that she looks at country from western lens for most part and doesn't get to understand the culture / some strange practices in some of these countries from a a local perspective.
23. Radio Shangri La : What I Learned in the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli
Started with great hope and was a bit let down mainly because of my expectation didnt match. Nevertheless a ring side account of Bhutan as it started opening up to outside world and impact it had on its people. The author is a TV/radio show host from US who gets a chance of visit Bhutan and train folks at a new semi private radio station set-up to cater to younger crowd. It turns out to be a healing journey for her in some part but its also about globalization and western influence. These are like flames before moths and their lure is so hard to resist. Perspectives matter, for the author who was from US the visits were an escape from commercialism but for the Bhutanese she meets the peaceful, tranquil life is also filled with lot of hardships and the commercial life in western world is what many aspire for.
24. Cool Japan Guide : Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen by Abby Denson
Super light book I picked up from library mainly because the cover looked catchy and the fact that this was a travel and cultural guide book written in comics format. Seemed so apt for Japan. Was a breezy read but realized as I read that this must be pretty outdated by now as it was written in 2013.
Nature / Animals / Plants
25. The Inner Life of Animals : Love, Grief, and Compassion : Surprising Observations of a Hidden World by Peter Wohlleben
I have been reading his books last couple of years which were focused on trees & forests, this one was on animals. Equally good.
26. The Songs of Trees : Stories from Nature's Great Connectors by David George Haskell
Haskell tells us stories about trees across the world covering various types of trees and his connection with some of them which co-exist with human population.
27. Cities and Canopies : Trees in Indian Cities by Harini Nagendra
Decided to try an Indian equivalent of the book just above this one to learn more about trees in Indian cities.
28. The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
We use words like bird brain without realizing how wrong it is. The author travels around the world and brings some truly remarkable accounts of intelligence of various bird species. She primarily covers what scientists have uncovered from research but also includes several anecdotal tales too which make it interesting. Its a truly comprehensive book on bird intelligence. This has inspired me to add several other related books into my reading list for next few years.
29. Whatever You Do, Don't Run : True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison
This was a truly delightful account of some interesting incidents from his life as safari guide in South Africa and Botswana. Love for animals and nature combined with loads of humor made this a wonderful read.
30. The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony
A South African game park owner decides to accept into his private game reserve a group of 'troubled' elephants who were deemed nuisance and close to being shot. He takes a lot of effort in trying to ensure this magnificent heard gets comfortable there and in the process forms an incredible bond with them. Though this is a non-fiction book, it has a very gripping and exciting plot with ill-treated and angry elephants, poachers and other problems surfacing and despite all this there are some incredible stories/incidents of intuition and trust displayed by these wonderful animals with the author. Found it really moving.
31. Wild Lives - Leading Conservationists on the Animals and Planet They Love by Lori Robinson
Partly as result of the 2 books above, I tried reading more on conservationists and the great work they do. This book celebrates 20 such heroes across the globe and highlights the great work they do even when faced with incredible odds and great personal danger.
32. Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passerello
This one has 16 very well written essays about different animals named by humans and in public view over various periods spanning fossils, circus animals, animals from paintings, royal palaces and some wild animals capturing public imagination and getting a name from their fearsome reputation. Her writing is something else, brings out so much color and transports you to that era where the story is set. A very different book from others in this list yet similar in the sense that while this is about animals its also equally about humans and their attitude towards nature and these animals which fascinate and terrify them until they can control and subjugate them. Was not a breezy read by any means and it takes time to get used to, plus some stories full of cruelty makes you really sad. I ended up reading this over a few months.
33. H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald
I had seen this in my cousin's list but could not remember the details and amazon/good reads kept recommending this one given what I had been reading in that time. So I basically got into this without clearly understanding it, which made it a bit hard to process this. It took a while to come to grips with this one. She covers a few things - her experiences grooming a hawk primarily. This interest in falconry was developed from reading a lot of books during her growing up years - mainly "The Goshawk". So when a tragic event happens in her life as a way to cope with grief which constants envelops her, she decides to take get a hawk and raise it. Which as we learn is very hard and the book is at once about her coming to terms with a personal loss and this hard challenge which she contrasts with how the famous author of Goshawk fared while raising his hawk ( terribly). In a sense this is a memoir plus nature book and a look at falconry in past. It was still hard book for me to process and took me while but I was glad to have stuck to it and finished it.
34. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans De Waal
This matched rest of the reading this year on this theme of animal / bird intelligence and was a look at several such stories/examples.
35. Ranger Confidential : Living, Working and Dying in the National Parks by Andrea Lankford
We often complain that pay for some very important jobs ( like school teaching in US) are shockingly low and I learnt about one more such job with this book. Its a look at National Parks system which to me coming as an outsider was one of the most wonderful things I saw in US. How well set-up these parks are and how they are maintained and the role they play. This was a gut punch of sorts to realize how poor the working conditions and pay is for some of these passionate folks who help in running of these parks. Its just incredibly unfair.
Business/Productivity
36. Inspired : How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
Among the best books in this genre and a must read for any PM.
37. How I built This : The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs by Guy Raz
I love the Podcast - 'How I built this' and used to often listen to this and this is like a best of version where he distills a lot of lessons and stories from the podcast as a book
38. The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
As someone who manages a small team, I felt it was a good idea to turn to a good resource to pick up a few pointers and this was truly good.
39. Start With Why by Simon Sinek
Basic point is that we get caught up with the 'What' and 'How' and don't spend enough time examining the 'Why' before we get started.
40. Outcomes Over Outputs : Why Customer Behavior is the Key Metric for Business Success by Josh Seiden
Was something an Agile coach recommended and decided to give it a try. Its short book and makes the point quickly and efficiently which was good. Essentially asking us to build things with focus on what we want to achieve rather than building features. Its a mindset change which gets explained well.
Fiction :
41.The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
This was a book about books with basic plot being a book reading list that gets passed between strangers who borrow books from a library and ending up changing their life for the better. The books in the list were also a nice collection and I hope to read some of those classics again. Was a nice warm read. This is an ode to reading and to the power of books to heal and bring joy.
42. The Quiche of Death by M.C.Beaton
43.The Vicious Vet by M.C.Beaton
These two books were part of Agatha Raisin murder mystery series. This is a successful middle aged PR woman who decides to retire pretty early and settle down peacefully in British Countryside ( Cotswolds) only to find herself solving murder mysteries in rural England. I read a few and then tried the TV series so I can watch it with my wife. The TV series were a big let down after reading the books, so maybe I might pick this series up again later.
44. The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
Recco from a book reading group. This was somewhat similar to #41 - The Reading List and another of those warm reads but was tad predictable after a point.
45. Moustache by S.Hareesh ( malayalam translated into English)
This was a super interesting book which is hard to classify or slot. It was not an easy read and you need some context to understand it, plus I feel the English translation might have dropped a few things along the way which probably made it harder. This is a story of myths which as it gets passed along start ballooning and an event when it gets related can take many variations based on story tellers. Lot of hard passages as well but again found it pretty easy to read and the whole concept fascinating. Only after I read this I heard from my friend Ramki about this being a super controversial one in Kerala and can understand why.
46. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Recco from Indukka and this was easily the best fiction book I read this year. This is set in Australian outback as two brothers catch up to look at the unnatural death of a 3rd brother and they slowly revisit their troubled past. While is was a bit dark and packed enough suspense yet the characters were very well fleshed out that you feel a sense of connection to all of them. The whole Australian outback with vast properties in harsh desert climate spread out of over a huge huge distance with chances of interacting with other humans being very low is something the author superbly sets it up and its a key part of the story.
47. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
I wanted to read more science fiction but ended up with just 1 this time. This is soon to be a movie/tv series I hear so don't want to spoil anything.
48. Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian
Super interesting book this one. Its for most part a tale of a desi kid growing up in suburban US ( where I live) in 90s with pushy barely white collar job parents eking out a living pushing the kids to excel in academics. So it spans adolescence, weigh of expectations and social pressure from multiple sides other kids who want to break the boundaries and strict Indian parents who don't want kids to do any nonsense. The classic stuck between rock and hard place coming of age story of children of first gen immigrants. Then out of nowhere this spins into a different trajectory with introduction of dark magic/fantasy bit but still at the same time it remains a very human story of dreams, hopes, disappointments and redemption.
49. The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate ( First Edition Library series)
50. Murder Is a Must by Marty Wingate ( First Edition Library series)
51. The Librarian Always Rings Twice by Marty Wingate ( First Edition Library series)
Murder mysteries set in and around a library which stocks First Edition books of murder mysteries. The main protagonist who solves the murder mysteries is the curator of this library collection and is an everyday woman character. Was a total meta one thats what made me pick this one up from my local library. Was just okayish but since I ended up picking the Book 3 at first by mistake, I decided to read the first 2 as well. This was a pretty light read.
52. The Tales of India by Svabhu Kohli
This was another surprising find at my local library. This a collection of folk tales from India collected around late 19th century / early 20th Century and published 110 years back in British India. This edition pulls 16 stories/folk tales from 3 different books - stories from Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Punjab. There were a few stories I probably heard when I was a child but those versions very much milder than the ones in this book. That's probably what 80-90 years did to these tales. I really enjoyed this book. There were a few stories I heard as kid but in much more sanitized form than the ones here but majority were unknown stories but several were delightful reads. I look forward to trying get more such folk tales next year.
53. Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Set in small town Alabama this novel starts in 1980s in a post-civil rights America which still is only slowly coming to terms with intermingling of races. The story begins in an old age home with a chance encounter between two women of different eras. Its the classic set-up of older women inspiring the younger one and most of the story is tales from rural Alabama settlement from 1930s to 1950s. You get the proper southern charm as you meet a whole host of characters that populate the small town during that period. Touches upon co-existence, non-traditional families and empowered women in a heart warming tale. Was pretty sad when the story was ending as it was such a delightful read. Another interesting thing was this being a big book and because I started when I was pretty busy with work - I took a while to finish and library loan ended. So when I renewed it, I took an audio book to continue the story and it was read in a southern accent which was very enjoyable too.
54. The Animals In That Country by Laura Jean McKay
Lot of my non-fiction reading at one point this year was around Birds & Animals and what they do, how smart they are and then out of nowhere I came across the blurb about this book which is about a flu which hits Australia where this story is set which makes it possible to humans to understand Animals. The premise was exciting and the book takes this complex subject and deals with it ingeniously. Its not for everyone though with its mad max dystopia type treatment.
So the tally at the end of the year was 54. I did want to hit at least 52 books - 1 for every week and I'm happy that I managed to clear that easily. The split between Non-fiction - 40 and Fiction -14 is a bit uneven but that is expected. I can't exactly pin point what/how but somehow started picking up a lot of nature related reads and that dominated my reading. By default I pick up non-fiction works and it needs some effort to pick up fiction and read for me at this point. I'm hoping I can cover more fiction reads next year. Reading means several things to me, the primary one being a source of joy and relaxation, nothing like losing yourself in a book but at the same time I hope to learn more about the world around me, several topics of interest and improve myself to become a better human being.
While it does look like I read quite a bit, what this list does not cover is the list of books I dropped somewhere along the lane because I got distracted with my phone and library loan period ended or I just gave up. There were periods where this publicly declared challenge of 1 book a week, spurred me to read and sometimes that lead to reading at good pace but there were equally periods where I struggled to read and got bogged down as well. As we march through 2023, I hope I can channelize the good periods and keep this up and continue to do better in 2023 in terms of reading. Last year I started using Good Reads to capture the books I read and post the progress level purely from a self motivation perspective and found it worked for me. Hope to use GoodReads more effectively this year and maybe start writing some notes/reviews so I don't need to try and remember stuff when I publish this blog towards end of the year.
