నేనూ, పుస్తకాలూ, రెండువేల పదిహేడూ …

వ్యాసకర్త: పద్మవల్లి
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I haven’t got to read as much as I wished in 2017, I got to know few new writers and some great books. I had the opportunity read a few good books on Nigerian/African culture and Civil War / Biafran war.

1. The Council of Dads (My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me): Bruce Feiler – A memoir written by a dying dad, who selected 6 best men from his life, to tell his daughter about him.

2. Small Great Things: Jodi Picoult – This deals the with racism in America. A white baby dies in the nursery in hands of an African American Nurse, and she is charged with murder. The hospital makes her a scape goat. Another white lawyer helps her to get the justice. Very gripping story. I still had to find a book by Jodi, that bored me.

3. The High Mountains of Portugal – Yann Martel – I tried my best to complete and follow the story, but it is a total dragging for me. So far only the book by Yann I couldn’t like.

4. Arrow of God: Chinua Achebe – African Trilogy #3.

5. Collected Poems: Chinua Achebe

6. Homegoing: Yaa Gyasi – The story of two sisters and their families, spanned over seven generations, three centuries and across continents. It narrates the history of Africa (Ghana), it’s slavery and struggle for freedom.

7. Chike and the River: Chinua Achebe – A children’s story by Achebe.

8. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World: William H McRaven – Extended version of the graduation commencement speech at University of Texas, Austin, by Retired Navy Admiral.

9. Half of a Yellow Sun: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A historical fiction novel about the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War). This one and “There was a Country” by Chinua Achebe help me understand the Biafran history to great extent. One of the good books I have read this year.

10. We Should All Be Feminists: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – An Essay based on her 2012 Ted Talk, explains why we all, including Men, should be feminists. She explains what really feminism is about. Very interesting read. Must listen to the original Ted talk.

11. The Thing Around Your Neck: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A collection of 12 short stories about immigrant life of Nigerian students in America. These stories point out the cultural differences between Nigerian and American lives and how the relations affected here and back home. Good collection of stories.

12. Americanah : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A story of a Nigerian woman Ifemelu, who emigrates to America for higher education and better life. It is about her struggle with the racism, identity and cultural differences, and learning what it meant to be “a black” in America.

13. Purple Hibiscus : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Story of a 15 year old wealthy Nigerian girl, how her family suffered by religious but dominating and cruel father. She will have different outlook on life when she visits her aunt in Nigeria, where she experiences real happiness and freedom.

14. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Fifteen Valuable suggestions from Adichie to her friend, who is a new mom, on how to raise a feminist daughter to become strong and independent woman. A good book for every teenage girl to read.

15. Hatchet: Gary Paulsen – A story of a boy who trapped alone in a dessert after a plane crash and his struggle to get rescued. Had to read this after many years of the first read, to help a friend’s daughter with her summer reading assignment.

16. You are the Best Wife: A True Love Story: Ajay K Pandey – The real story of a young couple, who changed the perspective of each other’s lives, and endured tough times. But he lost his wife at very early and wrote this story as tribute to her.

17. Larger Than Life: Jodi Picoult – A short story based on the study of memory in elephants, bonding between mother elephant and calf, parental love. The novel Leaving time is extension of this story.

18. My Sister’s Keeper: Jodi Picoult – Story of a little girl, who was a designer baby, born to be a life saver of her terminally ill sister. At some point she is tired of going through the procedures for her self to save her sister, and files a case against her parents. A movie based on this with the same name, a must watch for Alec Baldwin.

19. Men Without Women: Haruki Murakami – A collection of short stories with the theme of single men. Portraits the lives of men without women in their lives. A good collection.

20. Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science: Atul Gawande – With the help of true cases, Dr. Gawande explains the power and limitations of medicine. No matter how prepared you are, complications arise. Just like any of his other books, this is also has gripping narration and a good insight on uncertainty of life and medicine.

21. Behind Her Eyes: Sarah Pinborough – A Psychological Suspense Thriller, with a brilliant ending. I hardly pick up this genre

22. Fever Dream – Schweblin, Samanta

23. Thirteen Reasons Why: Jay Asher – A teenage girls commits suicide and leaves the 13 clues what lead her to the destiny. Very thought-provoking novel. Makes us worried to how to protect our kids from these evil acts. There is a series on Netflix, but somehow, I didn’t find interesting to watch completely. For me it lacked the holding power after reading the book. Heard it’s worth watching.

24. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: Mitch Albom – I am a hard core fan of Mitch Albom. I hardly skip reading him. In this story of a gifted musician, who can affect other’s lives with the strings of his old guitar, turning blue. With the message ‘everyone joins the band in this life and those connections change us’ Albom gave us another novel which hard to put down.

25. The Museum of Innocence: Orhan Pamuk – An innocent passionate love story of a young Turkish man with his poor beautiful cousin. It was a good read, but it I was not very impressed on the whole.

26. My Name is Red: Orhan Pamuk – A murder mystery set in 16th-century Istanbul, emphasizes the power of art attaining eternity through it.

27. Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance: Atul Gawande – Another good book by Dr. Gawande. He explains how doctors continuously strive to perform best, with the options available for them to provide quality care in every situation.

28. The Checklist Manifesto- How to Get Things Right: Atul Gawande – The most useful techniques used not only in medicine but every aspect in life. With examples he explains how following a checklist tremendously improved performance, quality from airline operations to simple business areas. Most of these are very applicable to simple life events as well.

29. Life and Other Near-Death Experiences – Camille Pagan – This one is a total disappointment. Ever since I read Proof of Heaven a few years ago, I was looking for a book with a similar name, supposed to be near death and after death experiences. I was misled by this title, and it’s mere romance story. This is the one I wasted my precious time on.

30. Nineteen Minutes : Jodi Picoult – Another gripping novel by Judi. It took only 19 minutes for a teenager to cause a massacre in the high school cafeteria. What are the pre and post traumatic conditions, and how the lives changed after that?

31. The Things They Carried: Tim O’Brien – A semi fiction (semi memoir), based on writer’s war memories. Talks about the emotional baggage the soldiers carry with them throughout their lives. May be it’s 4th time of reading this classic.

తెలుగు:
కథలు / నవలలు:
బోయకొట్టములు పండ్రెండు – కరణం బాలసుబ్రహ్మణ్యం పిళ్ళై
నల్లమిరియం చెట్టు – డా. వి. చంద్రశేఖర్ రావు
గాలికొండపురం రైల్వే గేట్ – వంశీ
గోకులంలో రాధ – వంశీ
మంచు పల్లకీ – వంశీ
కొత్త కథ 2017
ఆత్మీయం – దాసరి అమరేంద్ర
మూడు నగరాలు – దాసరి అమరేంద్ర
విదేశగమనే – తాడికొండ శివకుమార్

కవిత్వం:
మ్యూజిక్ డైస్ – అరుణ్ సాగర్
మత్సువో బషో హైకూయాత్ర – వాడ్రేవు చినవీరభద్రుడు
నిద్రిత నగరం – వైదేహీ శశిధర్
పునశ్చరణం – వైదేహీ శశిధర్
కుందాపన – రవి వీరెల్లి