Notes On A Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

I am not a non-fiction reader. I usually pick up books with cute covers and great reviews. Once in a while if I am bored with cuteness, I dug into GR and find books that can be different but useful. So, this is one of the books that I picked up on a whim and it turned out to be amazing. A five star for sure and every reader must try to read this book.

The book focuses on depression – reasons, symptoms, consequences and how to stop it from re-occurring. It is a compilation of all the things that the author has suffered from in his life in terms of depression. The author claims that depression can take over your mind even if you know how to control it or what will happen. It is something that requires constant monitoring. The author has given a lot of suggestions in the book in which you can keep a check on yourself and stop from suffering from depression.

There were three main attractions in the book that instantly made me want to read it.

· The first chapter had a section called ‘Crash’ that compared the mind with a computer. The person feels that there are many tabs open in the brain and they don’t know about which to switch off and that creates a major problem in the end. This line attracted me the most because I can relate to it.

· The author has very well highlighted the overuse of social media. This made me realize that even being a bookstagrammar, it is not necessary for me to be online round the clock. I just have to devote an hour and give time to things that I like the most and that is READING.

· And finally, the author won the feminist in me. The author has used the word ‘she’ as a pronoun in almost all examples. Usually, everyone uses ‘he’ when they talk in third person but I noticed that there was not even a single example where the author used ‘he’.

These were some of my major observations. There are so many that I did not acknowledge in this small review but the book is a MUST-READ even if you have not suffered from depression.

By A Thread – Lucy Score

Problems and desire are two sides of a coin and one cannot overcome both things at a time. There are problems in the life of every person and they have to work on solving them before they can take a step towards their desire. The struggle would become more complicated if your haunting past hinders with the present.

The story revolves around one such person who has a lot of problems to solve before reaching their desires. The regular problems that a person faces in their daily life are highlighted along with the insecurities that are hard to overcome. Maintaining a balance in the life of the person is tough anyway and adding a mix of problems along with a complicated love life makes it even more tough. The book is a good read that will keep you glued to every page and the twist at the end would definitely make you cry.

Beach Read – Emily Henry

What are happy endings? Something that stays for eternity or something that stays for a while and makes you happy? Happy endings are designated to give you happiness and motivate you to achieve it at any cost. However, to believe in it, you will have to have faith in it along with some experience.

The books cover the story of an author who thinks that she is happy but her world gets shattered by some incidents that take place in her life. She thinks that she cannot move ahead in her life and write something about happy endings but when she meets him, her perspective for life changes. Both the characters are struggling with their own problems but at the same time, they are helping each other.

The attraction of the book is the language and the conversations between the characters. It is a perfect mix of sadness and happiness. It is a bit dark but then sometimes there are somethings that the reader needs to learn while reading.

Head Over Heels – Hannah Orenstein

Coping up with life becomes very tough when you are not able to achieve something for which you have worked your whole life. These times could be very tough as you would be standing in a mode where you do not have a plan B and also, you do not know anything about handling failures. Well, the person has to come out of such things and eventually, get on track with their lives, but ‘how’ remains a mystery to solve.

The story revolves around the theme of Gymnastics as the author herself has been a gymnast. The world of gymnastics is unknown to many of us and the book provides all the information about the struggles of a gymnast to get a chance in the Olympics. The story describes the daily life of a gymnast which include their never-ending practice hours and career choices. A mixer of sexual harassment and mental abuse along with rigorous training gives a daunting side to the story. The sport is short-lived but the practitioner has to give up their life to be there and when they fail, they get lost in misery. An informative and pager-turner book for sure.

Love Yourself – Rakhi Kapoor

The book starts with a remarkable question of ‘Who is responsible for your happiness?’ The answer to the question is simple but if you answer that then there should not be a problem of you being devoid of love. The author herself has experienced some rock bottoms in life which turned out to be a lesson for her. She has suffered from numerous things and through her experiences she was able to define the eight things that are important for ‘self-love’.

The eight things are Sleep, selfish and sexuality, embrace yourself and care for the people around you, laugh your heart out to let go, fart or poop without caring about the world, lead your way instead of following others, own your failures and learn from them, have a vision and try to achieve it, express yourself and do what you like. These eight things are the most essential to achieve anything in life and also for enjoying life.

The author highlights the importance of life with some incidents and to-do-list that can attract the reader. If you are one of those people who are feeling low in their life then reading this book can help in solving any major problem in your life.

Tweet Cute – Emma Lord

When social media becomes the life of the people, how are they going to cope up with dating difficulties? Is it possible to find true love by being anonymous on social media? Or by taking up a social media war? Tweets, fb and insta has become the new trend for teenagers and it is tough to cope with it and stay updated. Meanwhile, the difficulties with their daily life keeps on increasing.

The book highlights a teenage couple of social media century who are too engrossed in it that they fail to notice the sparks that are present in reality between them. Mixing this awkwardness with some family drama would take you to a roller coaster ride of emotions which the teens are unable to fathom. A quick and light read for evenings that you have to spend alone.

The Diary Of My Love – Deesha Sangani

Mental health issues are given the desired focus in the recent age. People have started talking about their problems and it has become quite easy to find the perfect solution. However, there are people who will have to go through these things numerous times and they would need all the strength to overcome the problem.

The story of the book focuses on mental health. It highlights the struggle of the female MC that she has gone through in her life. The character has a habit of writing a diary and it is a good habit because it helps in easing the pain that the person feels. The story moves through the pages of the diary and describes the journey of the character. Not only the journey but also the ups and downs that she faces at every turn in her life.

I liked that the main focus of the author was on the term ‘relationships’. Many people are struggling with the problem of maintaining their relationships and if they cannot then breaking up is also tough for them. All these issues in the relationship often impart pressure on the mind which is tough to handle. So, it is important to acknowledge them and then try to solve them. This aspect of the book was very well portrayed. However, I think that it would be very helpful if the author had described the same depth for the other person also. The other POV is present but in limited amounts. A good and short book with easy language.

Pokhran – Uday Singh

There are two sides of any coin and the same is true in every aspect of life. There are many things that are good for some and at the same time worst for other people. However, sometimes, when the things are good then it is tough to believe that it can be bad for other people. So, many times, people do not think about the consequences.

The title of the book is about a very proud experiment for India. The Pokhran experiment was conducted as a hidden spy project and its success was always questionable. However, after getting the desired success, people were very proud and happy for India. The story does not focus on the success but on the other side of the coin and that is the impact of the project.

The story revolves around the life of the character who had been infected by the harmful rays of the nuclear project. The character is handicap because of the radioactive fallout and his journey of revealing the truth glues the reader to every page. The book is for sure a page turner and the struggle of the character looks real. However, it felt that the story moved at a very fast pace. Instead, a better description and longer storyline would have been more interesting. The concept was well displayed and in depth.

The Roxy Letter – Mary Pauline Lowry

Is it possible to have everything in your life? If yes then what if you do not have everything and can’t see having everything in the foreseeable future? People are bound to dream about things that they want in life. They are greedy and would want to have everything at once but then they have to remember that they have to work hard to get the desired things.

Something like that happens with Roxy. She likes to write letters which she never intends to send but it makes her feel accomplished in life. However, her life is very unhappy according to her because she is literally living in the past. People around here know her talent but there are some things that she will have to let go by herself. Her coping-up struggle will make you feel sad and at the same time, you would wish that she sees herself and respects herself as a person.

Respecting ourselves is the most important thing and Roxy learns that in a hard way. Let’s start checking our achievements instead of failures for motivation.

First Star I see Tonight – Susan Elizabeth Phillips

A Classic SEP book!!

What can you do for love? Dying for love is easy and quite popular. Are you ready to leave the most important thing in your life to get love? Every person has a particular habit or behaviour that they cherish the most. It can be ego, being bold, fierce or even stubbornness and they need to think that can they leave that habit and be vulnerable in the relationship?

Piper Dove has been known for being fearless and bold but being vulnerable and dependent is not one of her virtues. However, she has to let go of herself from these things and cherish her relationship with the star quarterback. Well, it’s a beautiful journey from her being closed to being vulnerable. The story will definitely make you fall in love all over again and that too without any boundaries!!