Ranjani Rao's Blog: Book Launch Updates, page 7

Book Reviews – How Education Impacts The Lives of Women

  For some weird reason I found myself reading two books simultaneously. Both were based in the US, featured female protagonists and had an underlying theme of education. However, that’s where the similarity ended. The first, Educated by Tara Westover was a contemporary memoir that told the story of a girl who had entered a…

Midyear Review – Reading, Writing and Other Projects

  Like last year, I am using The Goodbye 2021 Hello 2022 planner this time as well. However, I didn’t do such a great job of updating it at the end of the first quarter. However, I sat with it over the weekend to do a mid-year check-in.  Bookish adventures  Every year I start with…

What We Count and What We Collect

  Now that July is here, it is clear that half of 2022 is gone. That’s 26 weeks done and dusted. Earlier this year when I read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, I was struck by how we measure our life quantitatively. Our existence on this planet is counted in days, weeks, and months.…

Book Review – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

  The book stood silently on my bookshelf, awaiting its turn. Perhaps it heaved a sigh every time I picked something else – a glossy new read from the library, a highly recommended audiobook or even a classic. I love memoirs yet I hesitated to pick this one. Why? Because I knew the story. Or…

Author Interview – The Reluctant Mother by Zehra Naqvi

  The Reluctant Mother by  Zehra Naqvi The Book: The Reluctant Mother is a book of rage. Rage at being alone in your pain, having your conflict belittled, and your struggles trivialised. It is the story of a young woman who seeks to find herself in a world that constantly tries to define her and…

Why Awards Should Not Be The Measure of a Book or it’s Author

When Arundhati Roy shot to fame after her novel The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize, I became a reluctant observer of the excitement that follows when Indian authors are nominated for grand prizes. I was living in the USA when Roy won the prize. Given that the Booker is featured prominently in…

Reading Adventures With Unusual Protagonists

  Ever since I discovered audiobooks, I have galloped through my reading list, particularly the fiction section. I typically choose books with female protagonists. Biased? Perhaps. But I find the lives of women more multi-dimensional and therefore more interesting. Both their outer and inner lives are deep and rich and filled with introspection and meaning.…

Why I Have Mixed Feelings About Mother’s Day

  Every year on Mother’s Day I think about all the articles I have written about motherhood. The day and its associated fanfare serves as a cue to write something new.  In May 2021, a few months before my children left home to pursue their future away from home, I compiled several of my past…

The Great Resignation Offers An Opportunity For A Major Rethink

  Like many employees adjusting to a “work from office” routine after the recent update to Covid-19-related rules, I was relieved to leave my workplace at the end of a day that seemed unusually long. By the time I reached home after my 45-minute commute, I felt exhausted. And it was only Tuesday. How had…

A Fun Reading “Project” That Took Me From UK To Australia

  I did not set out to intentionally read books with the word ‘project’ in the title. It just happened. Two novels that came to my attention in quick succession seemed to have a deliberate focus towards the discovery or attainment of something – in one case, authenticity, a nebulous concept and in the other,…