Mini Reviews: Freakonomics, The Secret Garden, & When Dimple Met Rishi

Here we are, still playing catch up, with two rereads and two books I read for the first time.

One of my goals for this year is to read at least twenty-four non-fiction titles, and I’m happy to say that I’m more than on track. Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics were some of the first non-fiction books I picked up this year and they were a great place to start, and very different from the usual non-fiction I read (I tend to gravitate towards memoirs). I wouldn’t normally pickup this type of book but Freakonomics came highly recommended by both my dad and my husband. There’s a lot of interesting information in Freakonomics that I feel is worth knowing. As for Superfreakonomics, I didn’t quite like it as much as Freakonomics. The topic of global warming aside, it could be I just wasn’t as interested in the material and there were some conclusions I thought obvious, so in that sense when they finally got to them by that point I had stopped caring. In short, these are both really interesting reads but I most definitely preferred Freakonomics to Superfreakonomics

The Secret Garden is one of my favourite children’s classics, it’s a feel good novel that reminds me so much of a fairytale. Mary, the main character, goes through some really great, and really believable character development, and I always enjoy reading her story. When I heard Karen Gillan did a narration for this story (free on Apple Books!) I knew I had to reread this one in that format, and it was an absolute pleasure. Definitely recommend!

The first time I read When Dimple Met Rishi I could not bring myself to review the novel because I was feeling way too many things. Reading When Dimple Met Rishi was the first time I truly felt represented in a novel and the first time I realized how much representation can mean to a person. A lot of Dimple’s experiences (many of which had to do with culture and being a POC) spoke to my own experiences, and at different points in my life even my familial relationships have been similar to Dimple’s. Dimple can come off a bit strong, she’s motivated, determined to make something of herself in the male-dominated field of computer science, she knows she wants to put her career first, and doesn’t want a boyfriend, these are all things that I was during my undergrad, and they make me root for Dimple in ways I haven’t for any other character. But let’s be real here, the real star of the novel is Rishi, he’s the sweetest, most soft-hearted love interest ever and enough reason to give this one a chance. 

If you’ve read any of these books or plan to read them, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Happy reading <3.