Book Title: The Art of Being Grateful & other stories
Author: Manali Desai
No. of pages: 63
Publisher: Amazon
Genre: Short Stories
Do I recommend it? Sure!

Thanks to Manali Desai for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Art of Being Grateful and other stories is a collection of eight very short stories and 20 tiny tales. The book is like a big basket of treats that tells us stories rooted in various themes ranging from little things in our daily lives that somehow end up being quite big. There are stories about us adjusting to a new home and family to self-happiness to love to adoption. There are stories about every thought that we’ve all come across during this worldwide lockdown party.

MY READING EXPERIENCE

To be honest, I seldom read books that are a collection of short stories. I usually prefer novels. However, I read this book during an extremely hectic week at work. And I couldn’t be gladder about it.

Since the stories were hardly one or two pages long, I can’t be talking about plot and structure, like I usually do. But the characters were pretty relatable and it felt like we all know such characters in our daily lives. And reading about those characters and their everyday struggles that seem very small and negligible but actually aren’t was wonderfully refreshing for me.

I liked how the author weaved her stories based on some morals. But she also stated them at the end of the stories. I’d rather have her work a little more on the stories themselves and leave the morals out of the book. The stories definitely had the potential to deliver the messages by themselves. The writing in the book was easy breezy and could’ve been better if the stories and the characters were developed a bit more.

Overall, it was a feel-good experience to read this book. I am going to cherish a few parts, for sure!

Also read: Irrationally Passionate – Book Review

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"I was a bespectacled teenager who also happened to be short and chubby. You know the type of girl people usually assume to be studious and academically brilliant. And so far, I had been able to pull that image off quite well." – Self-Happiness Above All The Art of Being Grateful and other stories by @manali1988 is a collection of eight very short stories and 20 tiny tales. The book is like a basket of treats that tells us stories rooted in various themes. They range from little things in our daily lives that somehow, someday end up being quite big. There are stories about us adjusting to a new home and family to self-happiness to love to adoption. There are stories about every thought that we’ve all come across during this worldwide lockdown party. To be honest, I seldom read books that are a collection of short stories. I usually prefer novels. However, I read this book during an extremely hectic week at work. And I couldn’t be gladder about it. Read the full review on my blog! Link is in bio. 🙂 Overall, reading the book was a feel-good experience for me! So, I'd like to thank the author for this opportunity! And I wish her all the best for future endeavours. #qotd Tell me a short story that you really like. #ipreview via @preview.app #theartofbeinggrateful #bookstagram #booklover #shortstories #bookstagrammer #bookstagramindia #bookstagramkolkata #kolkatabloggers #bookbloggers #bookreviews #readmyblog #readmorebooks #keepcalmandreadon #bookishlife #readerslife #feelgood #fresh #refreshing #loveforreading #loveforbooks #selflove

A post shared by Pratyusha Sen (@that_little_woman) on Aug 30, 2020 at 7:43am PDT

Quick Question: Which short story do you usually recommend?