Books I Read In June

June was an average reading month for me. I read six books which included a classic, a mystery and a historical fiction. So here are the books that I read:

This is the first book that I have read by Keigo Higashino and I just loved it. It’s a murder mystery with a difference. The murder takes place in the beginning of the novel and what follow is the ingenious cover-up and the police investigation lead by Inspector Kusanagi, with a little help from the brilliant physics professor, Manabu Yukawa. The climax is both chilling and moving, and confronts emotions that crime fiction rarely covers. The Suspect of Devotion X is not simply an extraordinary thriller but a love story. A very strange one, but a love story nonetheless. It will linger long in the memory.

I picked this book after reading so many good reviews in online book clubs. But this one was completely unexpected. Though the title mentions it but I thought that surely it does not contain erotic stories. But it did.

The story revolves mainly around Nikki, a first-generation Punjabi, born and raised in England. She's a bartender trying to earn some extra money and so she signs up to teach creative-writing classes at the Gurudwara in Southall. During the class, Nikki finds out that most of her students are illiterate Punjabi widows looking to kill the boredom and routine by engaging in lively erotic storytelling.

Of course, the story is more than just that. It is funny and a bit tense. There is murder, jealousy and scandal. It deals with the challenges that multi-cultural people face when it comes to tradition, pressures of close-knit communities, family relationships, and so much more.

This is again one of those books which make me fall all the more in love with Paulo Coelho’s writing. It is a sentimental novel that tries to explore the notion of good and evil. The basic premise is that a stranger with a tragic past comes to a small town. He buries 11 bars of gold in the woods and he shows Chantal Prym, the local barmaid and tells her the buried treasure and promises that it will belong to the villagers on the condition that they have to murder one of their own. This will help the stranger decide if people are basically good or evil. Chantal struggles with whether to tell the other villagers of the deal. It now falls on her shoulders to only save her village, and prevent her people from committing a crime they have deemed justifiable. This is indeed one of Coelho’s masterpiece and a must read.

Haruki Murakami’s first novel Hear the Wind Sing is mostly a bit unfocused, rambling and yet it’s kind of compelling because of how well written it is!

This book doesn't really have a plot as such - it follows our narrator who spends his time sitting in his favourite J’s bar with his best friend The Rat, chatting, watching baseball, and pursuing a girl with nine fingers.

The book on the whole is directionless and at times it didn’t make sense but still I was strangely fascinated with Murakami’s words. It was a good, quick read.

This book is by the Immortal Writers’ Centre which has researched and written the first draft while the concept is by Amish and he has cleared the manuscript.

This book is based on the story of King Suheldev who saved India from the barbaric Turks by defeating them in the Battle of Bahraich. The book lacks the philosophical touch of Amish. Though the opening chapter about the attack on Somnath Temple was brilliant but afterwards the story kind of lost its sheen. I found the book pretty average.

The Metamorphosis is a strange novella about a young traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa who transforms overnight into a monstrous insect. This renders him unable to work and as he was the sole earner, the family now struggles to find another source of income to sustain the household. As Gregor becomes useless, he is marginalized and despised. The climax comes as quite a shock and one is left heartbroken and sad for Gregor. This timeless classic exposes an ugly yet a painfully true side of the society which casts aside its members when they have cease to be of use. This is a brilliant piece of literature and a pure pleasure to read.