Category: Books

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the pioneers in Indian cookbook writing—Madhur Jaffrey in her autobiography Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, set in the 1940s is a heartwarming and delightful book to read. I first picked up this book when I was interested in researching food memoirs; how recollecting the experiences of eating impacts our memories. I was supposed to finish this book and write an abstract including two more food memoirs for a PhD interview. Alas! The research never came to fruition but the book remains with me. Like a memorable gastronomic experience.

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Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Famed writer of Fault in Our Stars (I haven’t read it yet), author John Green wrote Turtles All The Way Down through the lens of a teen protagonist named Aza Holmes.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two of the greatest philosophers — Aristotle and Dante have nothing to do with the story. This story revolves around a Mexican-American teen Aristotle Mendoza and his friend Dante Quintana. Aristotle (Ari) is a boy who struggles to accept many things in his life. As a teenager, he faces monotonous days where nothing much happens and he contemplates how he feels undeserving of all the good things that life has provided him with. One can say, Ari, suffers heavily from low self-esteem and prefers to stay in shadows rather than face the spotlight under any circumstances.

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Graduates in Wonderland: The International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale 
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Do you have a soul sister to whom you confide all your experiences including asking silly questions and getting back even sillier answers? Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale is written in a contemporary epistolary form; exchange of emails in between these two authors give you an insight about their lives in new places and adventures that they come across.

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The Food of Love by Anthony Capella
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The only other book I have read of Anthony Capella is The Various Flavours of Coffee. The book had strong characters as well as involved certain political activism that made the story impactful and ended without any flattery. On the other hand, The Food of Love was the complete opposite.

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