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A secret line of people lives out on the Yorkshire Moors in England. These people eat books. They retain the book’s content after eating it. They eat maps to remember the routes and the destinations. For dessert, they sink their (book)teeth into romance. Children, when they have to be punished, are forced to eat dictionaries, which are considered mundane. Devon Fairweather is a part of an old, reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brother eats stories of adventure while she is fed fairy tales and cautionary stories.

Then she has a son. He isn’t a book-eater like her. Instead, he feasts on the minds and souls of people. Devon flees with her son, Cai, as she doesn’t want him to be turned into a weapon for the family as most mind-eaters are destined to become. Devon must figure out how to cure her son or risk losing him forever while dodging her family. Every soul Cai consumes makes him lose a little of himself so Devon doesn’t have a lot of time.

Almost every other BookTuber I have subscribed to on YouTube mentioned ‘The Book Eater’ by Sunyi Dean in their videos last year. The story—about a clan of book-eating people if you can call them that—sounded intriguing. But I couldn’t find the book anywhere. Then I came across a copy at Bookverse in Civil Mall in Kathmandu. Despite the tiniest font size ever, I bought it. My friends said I’d probably go blind by the end of the book. Having heard so much about it, it was a risk I was willing to take.

I must confess I wish the font size was better but I have no other complaints with the book. The story is fascinating. The writing is gorgeous. The characters are lovely, complex, and interesting. The events line up beautifully. There is always something happening, you are never bored, and the story moves forward at a comfortable pace. I could conjure the scenes in my head as Dean has masterfully crafted her world, paying attention to even the most minor detail.

The narrative alternates between the past and the present but it’s not difficult to keep track of what’s happening in the two timelines. The past and the present chapters complement one another, making it easy for the readers to figure out the intent behind the protagonist’s actions. The story deals with some important issues like trauma and patriarchy. I had to put the book down to think about things several times. Dean makes you contemplate quite a lot.

If I’m honest, the story takes on a dark, sinister tone at times. A five-year-old devouring people’s minds and adopting their personalities feels a little disturbing. At one point, having devoured over 25 people, he acts like an adult. His words and actions don’t suit him. It quite literally gave me the chills. Dean uses this opportunity to ask some provocative questions about how our minds define us. It was insightful but creepy nonetheless. All in all, I enjoyed ‘The Book Eaters’ and I would highly recommend it.

Fantasy fiction/Horror

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58724745 

The Book Eaters

Sunyi Dean

Published: 2022

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Pages: 298, Paperback

I don’t cook regularly. But I’m fascinated by cookbooks. And I’ve recently begun collecting cookbooks as well. Did I cook much in the past month? No. But did I buy several cookbooks and spend hours going through them? A big, resounding yes. It’s comforting to know that I have an arsenal of recipes at my disposal should I ever need them. One of my all-time favorites is Reader’s Digest’s ‘The Great 5-Ingredient Cookbook’ which has recipes of 250 simple, healthy dishes that you can whip up in less than 30 minutes.

‘Masala Memsahib’ by Karen Anand has recently been added to my list of favorites. This is a cookbook in memoir form. It’s part travelog too. It takes us on a journey across five Indian states, namely Goa, Gujrat, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. There is a smattering of mouth-watering local cuisines along with their histories. Anand also gives brief introductions to different eating and cooking practices, and shoutouts to people who have influenced her in her culinary crusade of sorts across India.

The book is divided into different sections, each dedicated to a certain type of cuisine. There are 100 plus delicious, easy-to-replicate recipes. Most recipes in Masala Memsahib are authentic home-style recipes. The focus is on harnessing the natural flavor of the main ingredient using the right masala combination and not letting the spices overpower the dish.

I love the recipes of the Prawn with Green Chilli, Boatman Fish Curry, and Corn in a Creamy Sauce. They can be whipped up in minutes with basic ingredients that almost every household has in its pantry. Anand runs a successful gourmet business and consults for luxury hotels and restaurants. Her love for food is evident in Masala Memsahib where she offers genuine and practical tips and tricks to make delicious meals.

The book is interspersed with photos not only of food but of people Anand has met in the course of her travels. It feels like a photobook because of the perfectly-shot full-page photos. I have taken to keeping the book in my living room and dipping into it whenever I have some free time. I usually find I’ve spent more than the several allocated minutes going through the book and have marked a recipe or two to try out next. Masala Memsahib is great for those who don’t have much culinary expertise but would like to, every once in a while, prepare a gourmet dish to surprise their family members.

Masala Memsahib

Karen Anand

Published: 2022

Publisher: Macmillan

Pages: 252, Paperback

Ann Patchett is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have read and loved ‘Run’, ‘Commonwealth’, and ‘Bel Canto’. I have a copy of ‘The Dutch House’ on my shelf reserved for that time when I hit a reading slump. I know Patchett will get me out of it. I recently came across one of her essay collections while browsing at the bookstore. I had no intention of buying a book. I had made a pact with my husband that I wouldn’t buy any books in January. I was waiting for a friend and had stepped into the bookstore to kill some time.

But there were only two copies of ‘These Precious Days’ and I had never seen the book at any other bookstore. I just couldn’t walk away. I went back to the bookstore a few days ago to buy a copy for my friend. The blurb at the back of the book says, ‘Read it, cherish it, buy a copy for your best friend, then read it once more.’ I want to give this book to anyone who is feeling upset or unsettled in life. It’s filled with nuggets of hard-earned wisdom. Patchett’s writing takes your mind off things. And you can relate to so many things that it makes you feel a little less lonely.

The essays are personal. In one Patchett talks about her relationship with her three fathers, and how each of them taught her different things. “Without ever meaning to, my father taught me at a very early age to give up on the idea of approval,” writes Patchett while speaking about her father’s scorn for her writing. When her mother remarried for the third time, Patchett was just 27. Something about her mother’s easy approach to marriage, of not giving up on it despite hers not working out, made Patchett more accepting of life’s ups and downs.

In another essay, she talks about the hardships in a writer’s life, the uncertainty that comes with being a writer, and the many pressures and pitfalls of publishing. Another deals with the often harrowing and intrusive questions that are raised about her decision not to have children. “To have a child required the willful forgetting of what childhood was actually like; it required you to turn away from the very real chance that you do to the person you loved most in the world the exact same thing that was done to you. No. No, thank you.”

In Those Precious Days, the longest essay of the collection and the one the anthology is named after, she writes about her friend Sooki’s battle with cancer. Patchett and Sooki strike up a rare friendship after the two cross paths when Patchett is called upon to interview Tom Hanks for his book, ‘Uncommon Type’. Sooki is his assistant. There are also lighthearted essays that are filled with warmth and humor. She writes about how owning a bookstore has changed her life. She writes about her mother, her husband, and her dog. That everyone and everything is just fodder for a writer is made evident by her eagerness to write about them all.

 Some essays are short and some are long. But they all feel complete by themselves. Many of them have been previously published in various publications, though the book versions have been slightly tweaked. Patchett’s insight and compassion infuse life into the stories. Patchett is first and foremost a storyteller but she shines as an essayist too. “Essays never filled my days,” she says in the first one in the collection, “But they reminded me that I was still a writer when I wasn’t writing a novel.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56922687-these-precious-days  

Those Precious Days

Ann Patchett

Published: 2021

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Pages: 322, Paperback

Rebecca F. Kuang, better known as R.F. Kuang, is the author of the hugely popular ‘The Poppy War’ trilogy. The first book ‘The Poppy War’ was published in 2018. The subsequent novels in the series, ‘The Dragon Republic’ and ‘The Burning God’, were published in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Kuang released a standalone novel ‘Babel’ or the Necessity of Violence in 2022. ‘Yellowface’ came out in 2023.

The Poppy War series was a bestseller. Some of the bookstores I frequent had to restock it multiple times as there was a big demand for it. Booksellers said those who didn’t read a lot too came searching for it. Many people bought all three books in one go. The craze had caught on. Babel debuted at the first spot on The New York Times Best Seller list, and won Blackwell’s Books of the Year for Fiction in 2022 and the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

I haven’t read The Poppy War but I did read Babel. It’s a thick book but I loved it. In comparison, Yellowface is slimmer. But the writing is as gorgeous and the story is gripping, albeit slow at times. I began reading Yellowface at the end of December 2023 and finished it on the first of January 2024. I like to say I ended my reading year on a good note and had a great start to another one.

June Hayward isn’t having much luck as a writer. Her debut book received a lukewarm response. She struggles to pay rent as well as come up with an idea that will make a good story. Her college friend, Athena Liu, on the other hand, has skyrocketed her way to stardom. At just 27, she has three bestselling books, a Netflix deal, and an awards nomination list that is ‘longer than a grocery list’. June is jealous, and perhaps a bit resentful tool. Why should Athena have so much while she has so little?

Then Athena dies and June takes her recently completed first draft of her newest manuscript. It’s the story of Chinese laborers in World War I. It’s the only copy that exists. Athena writes on a manual typewriter and she doesn’t share her work with anyone. June polishes the draft and submits it to her agent as her own work. It gets published and June suddenly has everything Athena ever did. But the secret soon comes out as all secrets do, and June finds herself doing things she wouldn’t normally do to hold on to her newfound fame.

One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the discussion on stories and who gets to tell which kind of stories. Do you have to come from a certain community to be able to write about their hardships? Does privilege mean you can’t be empathetic? June is an unreliable character and that keeps you on your toes while reading the book because you don’t know if you should trust what she’s saying. But Kuang is a convincing writer. She makes you feel for her characters even though they are in the wrong. I loved Yellowface and would highly recommend it. It’s enjoyable. The ending falls a little flat but makes up a little by leaving a lot of room for imagination.

Yellowface

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62047984-yellowface 

Rebecca F Kuang

Published: 2023

Publisher: The Borough Press

Pages: 323, Paperback