Picture Book - Laxmi's Mooch by Shelly Anand

Illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
Endpapers:  Pale simple drawings on solid orange that explain nine Hindi words used in the story

found at Ellsworth Public Library

2021, Kokila/Penguin Random House

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:   4.42 - 820 ratings

My rating:  4.5

Illustrations:  big, bold, brightly colored

Text:  Just 1 -2 sentences per page.

1^st line/s:  "Hi!  I'm Laxmi.  Come here.  Closer.  You see that?  That's my mooch."

My comments:  After a young Indian-American gets noticed for the tiny dark hairs on her upper lips (mustache = mooch), she has a talk with her parents and is made to realize that this is a normal - and good - thing.  References are made to Frida Kahlo.  Then she returns to school and has kids examine their own upper lips - and on those that are completely hairless she draws on a mooch for them.

    Acceptance for all!  Everyone's different!

Goodreads:  A joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl's journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache.

          Laxmi never paid much attention to the tiny hairs above her lip. But one day while playing farm animals at recess, her friends point out that her whiskers would make her the perfect cat. She starts to notice body hair all over--on her arms, legs, and even between her eyebrows.
        With her parents' help, Laxmi learns that hair isn't just for heads, but that it grows everywhere, regardless of gender. Featuring affirming text by Shelly Anand and exuberant, endearing illustrations by Nabi H. Ali, Laxmi's Mooch is a celebration of our bodies and our body hair, in whichever way they grow.

12. There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Listened on Audible/Chirp
narrated  by Vikas Adam & Soneela Nankani
Unabridged audio (11:36)
2019 Simon Pulse
378 pgs.
Contemporary YA Romance
Finished 1/19/2020
Goodreads rating:
My rating: 2.5
Setting: Contemporary California, near SF/San Jose?

First line/s:   "Ashish Patel wasn't sure why people ever fell in love."

My comments:  This was just too sweet and sappy, repetitive and cute.  Yes, I can definitely say it was cute.  I suppose there are YAs that would enjoy this, but as someone who totally enjoys YA books, that person wasn't me.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
          The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?
          Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
          Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.
          Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?

19. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

listened on Audio
read by Myra Syal
Unabridged (10:34)
2017, William Morrow
304 pgs.
Adult CRF, quite racy in places!
Finished  2/19/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.91 - 25,470 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary London

First line/s:  :Why did Mindi want an arranged marriage?"

My comments:  This book IS actually full of exotic stories, as well as insight into the Punjabi/Indian/Sikh culture in contemporary London. Told from the point of view of a modern British young woman of Punjabi heritage, the twists, turns, inter-generational friendships, arranged marriages, and honest peeks into a fascinating culture enthralled me totally. And listening to the lilting accented reader was a special added treat.

Goodreads synopsis:  A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.
          Every woman has a secret life . . .
          Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community.
          Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind.
          As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

59. Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Bedani

listened to on Audible
2015 Lake Union Publishing
377 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 9/25/2017 (my 46th wedding anniversary)
Goodreads rating:  3.94 - 28,501 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Palo Alto, CA

My comments:  Beautifully read by Karen Peakes, the story is told by four women - a mother and her three daughters, as they reflect upon their lives and the different paths they've had to take because of the now-comatose father's abuse.  Four different stories, actually five if you include the granddaughter's, which is told by her mother.  Women deeply damaged by one man, and now, finally, discovering how to heal.  There's a  little bit too much philosophizing, but as I listened to this on a 16-hour drive, I didn't mind too, too much.  Great setting: contemporary Palo Alto, California.  An interesting, character-driven story, and an opportunity to watch and think about four very different relationships with one difficult man.

Goodreads synopsis: When her father falls into a coma, Indian American photographer Sonya reluctantly returns to the family she’d fled years before. Since she left home, Sonya has lived on the run, free of any ties, while her soft-spoken sister, Trisha, has created a perfect suburban life, and her ambitious sister, Marin, has built her own successful career. But as these women come together, their various methods of coping with a terrifying history can no longer hold their memories at bay.
          Buried secrets rise to the surface as their father—the victim of humiliating racism and perpetrator of horrible violence—remains unconscious. As his condition worsens, the daughters and their mother wrestle with private hopes for his survival or death, as well as their own demons and buried secrets. 
          Told with forceful honesty, Trail of Broken Wings reveals the burden of shame and secrets, the toxicity of cruelty and aggression, and the exquisite, liberating power of speaking and owning truth.