All the Bright Places🪐 - Jennifer Niven

This was a great book. Very sad ending, but still great. This book revolves around mental health. It’s about two teenagers, Theodore (Finch) and Violet Markey(Ultraviolet Remarkey-ble), who go to the same school. Finch is known as a Freak because he’s different. He has an abusive father, an uncaring mother, and indifferent sisters. Violet is a bright girl but with demons in her past (her sister died and she survived in a crash), which have put a halt to her life.

Show Your Work - Austin Kleon

This is the first audiobook I’ve read/consumed, which made me realize audiobooks are great, but not for self-help books. I couldn’t highlight anything when I wanted to and couldn’t take notes. But the book itself was pretty good and engaging. It’s basically promoting the #buildinpublic moment everyone is talking about on Twitter nowadays. The key takeaways from this book are:- Being a genius isn’t a necessity - Oftentimes, amateurs get better results than experts at a particular art because to them, there are no rules/preconceptions.

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

Saying this book is about vampires (who’re on the cover btw), would be incorrect in my opinion. This is a great book about solitude/isolation/loneliness. It’s way different than the movie (which is about zombies). It doesn’t have a happy ending. But it does have an unexpected ending. The story begins with Robert Neville (the protagonist), using various objects like crosses/garlic/stakes to protect his place against the vampires who attack him every evening after sunset.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

I’ve been writing reviews for the past 12 books, which gets quite boring after a first few books. So starting this one, I’ll be writing a short summary and just give my rating. This book revolves around 3 characters, Lord Henry, Basil the painter and obviously Dorian Gray. It begins with Basil painting a portrait of Dorian, who at the beginning of the book was a nice/pure hearted person, and Lord Henry introducing himself to Dorian, against the will of Basil.

Sherlock Holmes : The Sign Of The Four - Arthur Conan Doyle

This was a pretty interesting read. Also an easy read. Being an admirer of the Sherlock Holmes movies and the TV series, this was right up my alley. The portrayal of Sherlock by Watson is so damn good. Though I was surprised to see characters like Major Sholto and Mary Morstan being so different than the TV series. One thing I found that could be done better was the ending of the book.

Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell

Not a good book. Can’t possibly recommend this. There’s just no story build-up. Everything is slow and inconclusive. The ending is neither sad nor happy. Again inconclusive. No lines I wanted to highlight. No passages with too much feel. It was an average read at best. In the end, there should’ve been some consequences for all Eleanor’s step-father did to her. Or at least they should’ve ended up together. It was way too predictable what was going to happen at the end.

the perks of being a wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

Really good book. The sort of book you can read when you’re feeling sad/nostalgic and feel good after finishing it. I’d already seen the movie like 10 times so everything was sort of expected, and for the first time I can’t seem to decide which was better, the book or the movie, because the book had a more detailed story, but the movie had Emma Watson and many aesthetic scenes (yes, the pickup truck in tunnel scene).

Tuesday's with Morrie - Mitch Albom

This is a masterpiece. If there’s ever a book to make one cry, this is it. I can’t possibly recommend this book enough. There hasn’t been a book before in which I’ve highlighted so many passages. So beautifully written and so sad at the same time. It’s about Morrie Schwartz, the author’s Sociology professor. He suffers from ALS and is slowly losing the basic functioning of his body. But still, he doesn’t seem to be lost.

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

Quick read, quotable lines, but nothing special. The story should’ve been a bit more conclusive. Not a bad book in any way, but not great either.The book is about Holly Golightly, a Hollywood actress, magazine lover, and a sort of girl to live life to the fullest. The way she spoke was really good, but that’s pretty much all there was to the book. The story isn’t that intriguing. Also a bit about more about here whereabouts and her ending up with the protagonist would’ve been better.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

If I had to describe this book in one word, it’ll have to be “Beautiful” or “Happy”. It’s so captivating and so well written. It’s very different than all of Dicken’s works I’ve read so far, but a masterpiece indeed. A very short book, but with a great story. It can be read in a couple of hours and if you haven’t read something in a while, it’s a great one to start again with.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

This was an interesting read. Dickens' books are pretty slow, but the way the story builds up towards the end is just beautiful in all of his books I’ve read till now. And this one surely keeps up with the trend. Though some parts of the book were predictable (like the convict’s role in Pip falling into fortune), it was still an awesome read. A bit more happy conclusion towards the end (mostly pertaining to Pip and Estella) would’ve been nicer, but nothing wrong with what happened as well.

In an Instant - Suzanne Redfearn

This was a good one. It’s a quick and really addictive read. I read in a single day. I chose to read this book as I just couldn’t find myself reading another page of Pride and Prejudice, and the summary I read of it on Goodreads was really nice. The overall theme of the book is sad but the ending is really full of redemption. The POV is really unique and I hadn’t thought of this before.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Read around 70-80 pages and couldn’t make myself go through it any longer. The book is so damn slow and boring. Yeah, the title is sort of justified, but not an easy read in any way (IMO). Rating: NA

Vicious - V.E. Schwab

This was a less serious book than the ones I’ve read before. I have read several fiction books but none like this (supernatural/fantasy). The best thing about this book was the author’s way of writing. It was crystal clear, easy to understand and very unique. The reader got to know about two different times at the same time, alternating every chapter. There was a 12 year gap in every alternate chapter at the beginning and the story in both seemed to lead to the other.

Diary of a young girl - Anne Frank

This was a special book. It’s not really a novel but an actual record of events by a 13 year old girl who ended up being the victim of the holocaust. Should one expect this book to be perfect? Absolutely not, it isn’t meant to be perfect. One also can’t expect good writing from a 13 year old going through one of the greatest tragedies on the face of the planet.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

The correct way to describe this book would be sad. So many people die. That seems to be the overall theme of the book. I even considered leaving this book half way through but picked it up again because its so beautifully written. It’s sad for sure but makes you wanna keep on reading or thinking about what’s gonna happen next. Why do most of the books either start or end with a death.