January 2023 Reading Wrap-Up.

Hello, and happy February! January was a tiring, but overall good month for me: I traveled for work, visited a couple new (to me) bookstores, and am three books ahead of schedule to meet my 2023 reading goal! My average book rating this month was 4 stars out of 5, and three books were 5-star reads – definitely a great start to the year! See the titles I read, my thoughts on each book, and my ratings below.

These are the books I read in January:

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karuntilaka. A Sri Lankan photographer wakes up dead in a “celestial visa office” with no recollection of how he died. He has seven days (moons) before his soul leaves his body, so he uses those seven days to guide his loved ones to shocking photographs that he believes could end the war in Sri Lanka. This novel was so eye-opening and creative and stunning. While parts of the book dragged for me, the story was wrapped up so beautifully that the novel as a whole seems perfect to me.
My rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. Yinka is a 30 year-old British-Nigerian woman with an Oxford degree, a great job, a close-knit circle of friends…and a mom and aunties who literally pray out-loud for her to find a husband. As the prayers from her family wear on her, Yinka decides to take matters into her own hands, and find a romantic partner. Overall, I found this novel endearing (even when Yinka made bad decision after bad decision), easy to read, and pretty funny. I had issues with the ending, though: I felt that some storylines wrapped up “neatly” at the expense of exploring relationships in a deep and realistic way. Still, this was an enjoyable read with a very positive message.
My rating: 4 stars out of 5.

I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee. This is the true story of author Baek Sehee’s experience being treated for dysthymia (persistent, mild depression). As somebody who is interested in psychology and enjoys books about therapy (fiction and nonfiction), I was seriously disappointed by the lack of depth in this book. Most of the book is literally just selected transcriptions of therapy sessions that the author recorded, with minimal insight/reflection until the last 30 pages of the book. The therapy sessions also seemed awfully repetitive to me. This could be a reflection of the time it takes for therapy to result in meaningful change, but even so – why make the book so repetitive? Essentially, I liked the idea behind this book, but the structure didn’t work for me and I wanted more depth and insight from it.
My rating: 2 stars out of 5.

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet. A young woman believes that a controversial psychiatrist has driven her sister to suicide; so, under a false identity, she becomes one of his patients to learn more. This novel initially intrigued and hooked me, but ultimately lost steam and fell flat. I enjoyed the interesting ideas about psychology, the self, and authenticity interspersed throughout the book (although they did become a bit repetitive). My main issue with the novel, though, was that the female protagonist was written with less depth than the dangerous male psychologist. I am a fan of writing complex/controversial characters with nuance and compassion, but the way the characters were written in this novel just didn’t work for me.
My rating: 3 stars out of 5.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. A young Black girl named Pecola Breedlove knows she is ugly – why else would she be treated so differently from the pretty white kids? Told from the perspectives of the people who shaped and witnessed Pecola’s childhood, The Bluest Eye is a poignant examination of the damage caused by societal beauty standards. It’s hard to say that I enjoyed this book, because it contains many disturbing scenes, but it really is a masterfully written story with an important message. Even though this was a challenging read, my life is better for having read this book.
My rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Tell Me How To Be by Neel Patel. Akash and his mother, Renu, are adrift in the world in their own ways, and they aren’t close – geographically or figuratively. But one year after the death of her husband (Ashok) Renu decides to sell her Illinois home and move back to London, inviting her adult sons to help pack up the house and commemorate the anniversary of Ashok’s death. Throughout this visit, Akash and Renu are consumed by secrets from their past, and eventually forced to confront their painful histories. Tell Me How To Be is a beautifully written novel about the consequences of secrets, shame, and unhealed pain. Despite the heavy subject matter, the book is peppered with humor in a way that successfully breaks up the heaviness. Both Akash and Renu are deeply flawed characters, but Patel wrote their stories with so much compassion and tenderness that I was always rooting for them – even when their behavior infuriated me!
My rating: 5 stars out of 5.