My sister’s and my collection back home <3 Lots more in our Kindles now!

Preface

My reading time shot up ever since I came home to India in March. And I decided to review all the books I read, because:

• I don’t remember most of the books I read as a child (and I read a ton back then); sitting down to think and write about them might help with the retention.
• And perhaps all this writing would be good practice for my research career.

So here’s an ever-updating list of books I’ve read and reviewed, currently sorted in descending order of when I finished them. I’ve included a short blurb as to why I read each book. All ratings out of five.

• How to Build a Car, Adrian Newey
  • Rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Because I love Formula 1 and wanted to learn more about the engineering and technology that goes into the cars
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Because the book was highly rated and the author’s Anxious People is one of my favorite books.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
  • Rating: 2 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • I think I first read this in high school. With so many of its excerpts in common parlance, no wonder I was attracted to re-reading it.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Good Omens, Terry Pratchett
  • Rating: 2 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Because this book was highly rated as one of the most comedic ever. Oh well.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Klara and the Sun, Kazua Ishiguro
  • Rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • This was one of the most anticipated sci-fi books of 2021 in some list.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Because this book had an intriguing premise.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Martian, Andy Weir
  • Rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Because this book was rated as one of the best sci-fi books of the last decade. Well and truly so.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Beach Read, Emily Henry
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Recommended by Manika as unique kind of love story.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Re-read it because I wanted to revise the book that I have recommended countless times.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads

• The House in the Cerulean Sea, T. J. Klune
  • Rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Recommnded by Manika.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads

• Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
  • Rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Another one of those books “everyone should read”. Should take all those lists with a big pinch of salt.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • Rating: 2 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Another one of those books that ‘everyone should read’. Also recommended a long time ago by an avid reader.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads

• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • I ‘read’ this as part of consuming highly-recommended classics.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • I read this ‘horror’ book along with three interesting people as part of a Buddy Read on Goodreads.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • My rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Adrian Tchaikovsky makes you roots for a bunch of spiders. Who are sentient. Yeah… An incredible sci-fi gala of epic proportions!
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • A cute little story about people needing (good) company to truly thrive.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Anxious People, Fredrik Backman
  • My rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • I read this as part of r/books’ July reading. Never has an exploratory action resulted in such a high reward.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Amusing to see though that the same kind of worries about men, women, and marriage transcend cultures and centuries. Loved the old English.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie
  • My rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • No wonder this book is rated as one of the best murder mysteries EVER!
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • What if you met a person who knew almost all about how your life will unfold. How do you live with the knowledge of future, good and bad? A fun, heavy, thought-provoking book.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Hominids, Robert Sawyer
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • I really enjoy this genre of “education through fiction.” Full marks to the science and ideas introduced in this book — Sawyer does an excellent job at that as usual. The encapsulating fictional storyline was primarily engaging but at times jarringly poor.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
  • My rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • YNH traces the history of ideas — language, religion, money, agriculture, capitalism, and so on — and how these ideas, in turn, affected our culture and development. A fantastic read.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • My rating: 4 starts
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • What does on inside the head of someone who commits a crime. Before, during, and afterwards. Engrossing prose and intricate character development.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Tense, but not scary. I am hearing good things about the Netflix show, though.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• 12 Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Makes you uncomfortable. Makes you think. Makes you learn.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • A thought-provoking plot, not the best execution. I wish Black Mirror adapts this script.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Calculating God, Robert Sawyer
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Whichever side of the creationist debate you are on, this book is a fun ride; the author presents both sides of the arguments quite earnestly, with only subtle shades of bias. Robert Sawyer is a master of introducing thought-provokiong ideas through fiction.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • A Viking tale based on true events!
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• A Thousand Brains, Jeff Hawkins
  • My rating: 5 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Easily one of the most thought-provoking books on AI that I’ve encountered so far.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Three-Body Problem, Cixian Liu
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Incredible premise tainted by poor execution. I wish someone does justice to it with a TV show adaptation.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Sphere, Michael Crichton
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Another book with an incredible premise with a story that almost delivers but leaves you wanting for more.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • Another sci-fi classic: a mad scientist discovers invisibility but fails to undo it. Might have been a hit when it was published, had a lot more untapped potential IMO.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
  • My rating: 3 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • One of the most influential sci-fi authors predicts what the future of humanity could look like based on 19th-century society.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Flowers of Algernon, Daniel Keyes
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Kindle
  • Heavy stuff. A mentally-deficient man undergoes an experimental procedure to increase his intellectual capabilities, and us readers go through the journey from his point-of-view via his diary entries. And of course the procedure wasn’t so perfect after all…
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
  • My rating: 4 stars
  • Medium: Audiobook
  • George Orwell creates a wonderful allegorical drama to showcase how noble intents can devolve into brutal totalitarian regimes in no time. Eerie how relevant the book is ever since it was written in 1945.
  • Review: My full review on Goodreads

I’ll keep adding the books from before March 2021 as and when I get time. More details on my Goodreads profile.

Let me know if you have some recommendations or want to discuss one of the above!