Three Things

Inspired by Holly from Poetry Forge – An interesting way to inspire a conversation. The first two stay the same and the third thing is chosen by the …

Three Things

I really liked this post shared by Tammy and so re blogging it. Here are my three things for today.. Both Tammy and I would love to hear your three things for today too πŸ™‚πŸŒΈ


Something of Beauty – When I was cycling in the morning, I saw either sides of the road lush with bougainvillea flowers of all colours.. it was gorgeous!


Something of interest – I want to learn a few dance moves from YouTube on a Hindi song that I saw other people dancing to on Instagram 😁


Something Difficult yet Worthwhile – I’m trying to take a step back and look at the bigger picture every time I get anxious or stressed, to ask myself, β€œdoes this situation really warrant my stress?” It’s harder said than done but when I’m able to achieve it , it feels good πŸ™‚

All About April 2022 – Trip to London, Bday Celebrations, Parties and Hardly any Reading!

This post decided it didn’t want to be boxed into a category or labelled. It called itself fluid. It is a little bit of a wrap up post, its also a travelogue, a lifestyle post, definitely not a reading wrap up post (even though this blog is supposed to be a reader’s blog), and will have a lot of random updates about what I did in April this year. I mean its totally up to you if you want to read further, and if not, that’s alright too. πŸ˜€

Travel:

I traveled to London for two weeks in April, to visit my sister. This was my first international solo trip with my daughter. Well, my mom traveled with us too, but my husband didn’t. This trip was less of a traveller’s trip and more of a much needed family get together kind of trip in a beautiful city. So I won’t be telling you about all the new sites and places I visited. Because I didn’t. Instead, I’ll just throw in a bunch of photos to remember all the delicious food I ate – in restaurants, pubs and the ones cooked by my sister, all the silly pictures I took with my daughter, the one run I did in London, well because every runner should run in every location they go to πŸ˜‰ And the perfunctory visit to the bookstore – Waterstones. Maybe next time Ill find out an independent book store and visit them. I had the most amazing two weeks with my sister, mom and daughter. The weather was excellent – spring at its best. The company, comforting and the food and booze relaxing. I was also able to meet up with a few of my friends who had moved to London, so that was an added bonus πŸ™‚

My daughter had a super fun vacation too because there were no rules there and she could eat her fill of pancakes, waffles and pasta for her meals. Not to forget the unforgettable trip to Legoland and being completely spoiled with gifts from her aunt πŸ˜€

Birthdays and Other Parties

April became a month of parties, starting with the beer crawl I went to with my friend. After that it was a bunch of get togethers with my family and friends in London, followed by the biggest party f the year – my daughter’s birthday party – she turned six this year! And then finally, a few dinners with friends and a super fun and charged aqua Zumba session – my first!! I loved everything I did in April πŸ˜€

Reading, Running and Getting my First Short Story Published!!

I wanted to train for a 10K and started the Hal Higdon running program in April. I also joined my local running group and it has been a bitter sweet journey of running so far – the waking up part being bitter and the running part being sweet. Remember I had written a post about my running updates a while back? If you don’t, this is where it is. I’ll write down a much detailed post about how my running life has been going later. But basically, for the fifteen days that I was in London, I ran just two days. I’m proud of the fact that I still ran at least a day and could brag about the fact that I ran 6K in London!!! By the riverside! I felt blessed πŸ™‚

The same went for my reading too. I had lofty goals of reading by the riverside, or in the park when I was in London. But I literally read only ONE book in the whole of April!! Not proud of this. And this was an audiobook about running too. I’m trying to catch up with my reading goals slowly in May πŸ™‚ I realised, that when I travel with my daughter or have a really busy social life, I hardly get time to read or write. I have to admit, I didn’t write at all.

Despite my inconsistency with writing, I got the best and the most shocking news of my life in April. One of the short stories I had submitted was selected for an online publication!!! It is an anthology of short stories called ‘Disobedient Girls‘ and my story is called ‘Masked Love’. I would love it if you would like to read it and give me your feedback and give us budding writers some love πŸ™‚ You can find the kindle book here πŸ™‚

Whew! I feel like I just ran a 10K! In terms of trying to remember all the things I did in April! I miss you April..you were so good to me! However, its almost end of May and I have some great and some not so great things to say about May too. Next month though..heheh

How have you been doing? How was your April and how is May treating you so far? I’d love to read your travel and life and reading update blogs too – so don’t forget to leave a comment! πŸ™‚ Sending some laughter and sunshine your way πŸ™‚

I Lit A Candle for You Today

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I’ve always been afraid of dying. Which is so strange, because its like being afraid of sunrises or sunsets. They are inevitable and might lead to something beautiful, and yet.

However today, I’m feeling a different kind of fear. Or maybe heartache. The fear of having the people I love leave me forever. As in, dying. I miss my dad. Today is his third death anniversary. People say that time heals everything. You might be left with a scar, but the pain becomes a phantom pain or even a non existent one.

But what if that isn’t true? What if the pain never actually goes and the tears are always there and with each year you miss the one you love and lost even more? At least that’s how I feel. Every milestone I achieve, every difficulty I face, every time I am hurt, every time I feel immense joy, in almost every thought, he is there. I miss him so much. I have songs that can trigger tears. Places that can trigger tears. Even smells, the aftershave he used to put, the drinks he liked, so many triggers.

The only thing that becomes easier with time is to pretend that it doesn’t hurt anymore. That you have been healed because you are going through life. It becomes necessary to wake up with a smile and a purpose every morning, because I realised, just like I depended on my dad, my daughter depends on me. And then, what if my dad is somewhere around in essence? He wouldn’t want me to completely break down right? He would want to see me grow into old age and have no regrets, right?

So, I missed you some more today

I cried some more today

I smiled at our memories today

I spoke to your picture today

I lit a candle for you today..

Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper makes me want to be young again

I binge watched Netflix’s adaptation of one of my favorite graphic novels by Alice Oseman – Heartstopper, last night. Needless to say, I loved the screen adaptation as much as I had loved the books!

I can’t stop smiling and thinking about the show and all the characters coming to life for me from the book. If you are a book nerd like me, you’ll know how special it is when the screen creators actually do a good job in casting the right people and keeping the script absolutely the same as that in the book. So thank you so much for doing that!! πŸ™‚ Everything about the show was spot on – from the way the actors played their characters, their look, the background, the rooms, the little animations added in, the background score…everything!!

After watching the show, I re-read all the four graphic novels again. I didn’t want this warm mushy feeling of happiness inside me to stop. But it also made me wish I was young again. The world is so full of possibilities, and love and hope when you’re younger. Then you become forty and turn into a loveless, dissatisfied cynic, searching for meaning and worthwhile connections. LOL!

I have a handful of people in my life who I feel like I can’t live without. But they’re all so far away. In the show, I felt like I could really relate to Tao’s character and his nightmare of losing his friends when they grow older, move away, get jobs and probably have partners and a family. In my 40s, I have a job, a home, a loving family, but I miss the excitement of first love, I miss the feeling of being cherished by someone and most of all, I miss hanging out with my best friends. They’re all continents away and yes, technology helps, but nothing compares to spending physical time with your besties πŸ™‚

So this show and the book (like other books that Alice has written, my favorite being Loveless), made me feel all kinds of emotions. I felt loved and happy, but I also felt alone and old πŸ™‚ I wonder if someone has written a book about a 40 year old finding love, or re-finding love, or getting to be with her friends again forever or finding new friends within her vicinity with whom she can truly be herself? Maybe that’s a story I should write about? πŸ˜‰ πŸ˜€

Whatever it is, Heart Stopper and the cast made my day and probably my week too. If you haven’t already watched the show and read the graphic novels, please do!! It doesn’t even matter if you’re straight or gay or young or old. I felt like there was something wonderful about these characters and the plot that will make you come alive and happier at the end πŸ™‚

Now that I’ve satisfied my heart’s desire to let the strangers know about my feelings, I’m going to go back to listening to the Heart Stopper mixed tape playlist on Spotify and scroll through the endless fan art and memes like a true obsessed fan πŸ˜€

My Running Life – Goals and Updates

Did you know I am a runner too? Just like I call myself a writer πŸ™‚ I haven’t run a marathon or published a book yet. But I’ve been running since 2014 and writing since even before that. Both give me a lot of joy and peace along with being therapeutic. I’m not an athletic person in general and I run away from gyms like they’re the plague. But somehow, I like running. Or well, jogging. Or maybe walking and running..LOL..

Also it helps that running is one of the cheapest and most accessible sport one can take up – yes, running is a sport! yay! And its something I can enjoy solo or in a group too. There are many other reasons I run, but that post will be for another time I think.

Although I’ve been running since all these years, Ive never taken it up a notch. Mostly comfortably sticking to the 5KM distance and maybe one or two 10KM social runs.

Somehow, this year, I wanted to do something to celebrate completing four decades of my life. And no, I’m not planning to run a full marathon, but closer – a half marathon. I reached out to some expert runners I know and asked them for tips to start training. They shared the Hal Higdon training plan for 10KM with me and suggested that I first aim trying to run 10KM in 70 minutes and follow that training. And then start training for the half marathon using his novice training plan.

I’m in week two of the 10KM training plan and so far I’ve managed to stick to it πŸ™‚ Here’s a snapshot of my progress so far:

As an additional effort, I’ve also joined my local running group to train strength and run long distances with them for three days a week, so my husband can go cycling on the other three days. I’m thankful to him for sacrificing his cycling days so I can train for this.

I have two challenges – waking up extremely early in the mornings and being consistent.

I thought writing about my running training progress and its ups and downs will encourage me to stick to it better. Who knows..I’ll check back in soon then! Wish me luck! πŸ™‚

Seven Fictional Heroines who rocked their short hairdos

It’s a fact widely accepted now that much of what a female body and everything about how her appearance should look like is dictated by everyone else other than the woman herself. And if, for some reason, women choose to dress and look as per their own wishes, they are either stereotyped or dismissed or ridiculed.

I myself have been waging a daily war with my family and so-called well wishing friends with regards to the length of my hair and the number of tattoos on my body or the lack of jewellery I adorn or the fact that I have a functioning and comfortable wardrobe but nothing that suits the conforms of the traditional society I live in.

So, I keep looking for inspiration from real and fictional women who have defied gender stereotypes with their looks and absolutely rocked in it. In this post, I’ve put down some fictional female characters who I absolutely love πŸ™‚

Note: A lot of the images below have been taken from Pinterest and are not created by me.

Delilah/Lila Bard from Shades of Magic series. She needs to blend in, so what better way to do so than looking like a guy. She is fierce, ambitious, courageous and unapologetic about everything she does and desires.

Runin/Rin Wang from The Poppy War trilogy. Never have I come across a more badass and strong female character in my reading life. Rin is absolutely ruthless, but she gets the job done. I think she was the first asexual fictional character I read about. She was someone who valued her friends much more than the person she loved romantically.

Juniper James Eastwood – the youngest of the Eastwood sisters from the book – Once and Future Witches. This character is differently abled and even that doesn’t stop her from waging a full war against sexism to support the Suffragette movement. She is clever, quick to act and again, has a lot of courage and grit. Even a watered sewered prison will not break this one.

Hazel Grace Lancaster from The Fault In Our Stars. I fell in love with her character from the moment I met her in the book. I loved her passion towards her favorite book, towards wanting to meet her favorite author and towards experiencing everything she could, despite fighting a chronic illness.

Juliette Cai from These Violent Delights is NOT a tomboy, just because she has short hair. In fact, she is your femme fatale, who is sexy and lethal. However, she also loves deeply and is loyal to the people she loves.

Velma from the Scooby Doo series. Now, I agree, now when I watch the shows again, I’m not a big fan of the way Velma was portrayed in the shows and the comics – she was definitely boxed as the boyish, spectacled nerd in the show. But I was always inspired by her. I loved her no nonsense attitude and her intelligence all throughout the Scooby Doo shows πŸ™‚

Dani Brown, from Take a Hint Dani Brown. I can’t tell you how much I loved the characterisation of Chloe and Dani. But Dani, with her short pink hairdo, her intelligent mind, her kind heart and her focus towards her career completely had my heart.

And then there’s finally me. Oops! Definitely not a fictional character this one, but I just wanted the world to know that just because I chose to have my hair short, I’m not asking to be boxed into any particular category – tomboy, older woman, non binary, feminist, blah, blah.. This is simply a choice that I don’t want to be questioned about. I don’t want people to stare at me or tell me the very obvious, “oh, you’ve cut your hair very short eh!” Just let me be, just like I let you be πŸ™‚

I’m sure I must have missed a lot of other fictional female characters who rocked in their short hairdos. Who are your favourite short hairdo women characters – real or fictional? Do you think that the length of the hair of a female character changes the way she is perceived by both the readers and writers?

Dead Weight – The obsession with female bodies and their weight

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I went for a Hindu funeral ritual last weekend. A distant family member had died, and we have this ritual on the thirteenth day where friends and family are invited for a meal, after a puja is done, to say goodbye to the spirit of the one who has passed.

I don’t know if its an Indian thing, or this is the case with all family gatherings – be it a wedding or a funeral – its hilarious, annoying, petty, political and well, as good as watching any reality TV show. As long as you are not the topic of speculation that is.

This time, the topic of conversation is a favourite – the shape and size of the bodies of all the women present in the room. You would probably think, oh, the men are at it again is it? But no, it was the men and the women – the ones passing judgement and the ones accepting that yes, something needs to be done about their body size or weight.

A gentleman sporting a pot belly remarked, “oh these are your daughters ? They are so skinny though. Girls at their age should eat more and have a ‘fit’ body you know. They look really weak.”

Another gentleman who was very skinny himself, remarked at another young girl, who had lost a lot of weight with a lot of dedication and will, “you know, you lost too much weight though.”

She replied, “Two years back, when I was heavier, you said I needed to lose weight.”

The sarcasm was lost on the gentleman in question however.

An older man remarked on another older lady, who had recently lost a lot of weight to a serious illness, “Madam, you have lost so much weight! But you know, now you look much better!”

She replied, “I just wish I felt as fit as you think my body looks.”

Two other slightly curvaceous older women remarked, “well, we couldn’t lose weight even if we wanted to! We love to eat so much!”

Another girl said, “but why does it even have to matter as long as you feel good in your body?”

This went on for hours. The same conversation took different forms and was aimed at different people in the room – all obviously women. How to lose weight, how not to lose weight, what to eat, what not to eat. How to be ‘just the right size and shape’. But what is the right size for a woman? Who gets to define this? And for how long will women have to carry the burden of ‘dead weight’ that constantly brings them down or makes them uncomfortable in every darned social gathering?

Instead of talking about size, wouldn’t it be easier to talk about feelings and health? How are you feeling in your skin? You look great, just the way you are! πŸ™‚

Life Diaries and Reading Wrap Up – Feb 2022

Thank goodness the month of romance is over. I’m not against love or romance really. In fact I believe I’m a hardcore romantic and have a high place for all sorts of love in my life. But really, all those red heart balloons and sugar sweetness were starting to get to me..LOL

February was a good month though, I feel like I was able to manage my time especially with respect to work, exercising and reading much better. It also helped that my daughter’s school started offline classes so I get two extra hours to focus on work now. Here’s a quick recap of my month πŸ™‚

Reading

  • How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell (⭐️⭐️⭐️) – Non fiction collection of arguments by Jenny Odell, where contrary to the title of the book, she urges readers to pause and spend some time mindfully. Given the current attention economy and hyper capitalism, it is impossible to actually do nothing. But it is possible to take a pause, spend physical time with friends, family and neighbours, go out for long walks in nature, give yourself some offline time, to recharge and help yourself and the planet in general.
  • Vengeful by V E Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) – I won’t lie, this might be completely biased, but I love VE Schwab’s writing and the X-Men kind of Universe. I love having explicit Ace representation in books and reading about morally gray characters. I love books on the found family trope. The writing was fast paced and exciting and I had a lot of fun reading the second book from the Villains duology πŸ™‚
  • A Spindle Splintered by Alex E. Harrow (⭐️⭐️⭐️) – Alex E. Harrow has become another go-to author lately since I loved both her full length standalone novels – 10,000 Doors of January and Once and Future Witches. This book however is a novella and a fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It has some really good themes, but I guess I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others because the characters were much younger and I wanted the story to take a different path I guess. A recommended read for Young Adults nevertheless πŸ™‚
  • The Greatest Odiya Stories Ever Told (⭐️⭐️) – My only disappointing read this month. This book is a collection of translated short stories from Odiya to English, so I really wanted to love the stories and promote them. But I guess the era the stories were written in didn’t make me relate to them as much.
  • Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) – A gorgeously illustrated book with Zen and Buddhist philosophies about navigating life. Great for a coffee table book or to read to children.
  • The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) – I know this book had some issues, but I won’t lie, I did enjoy this book a lot, mainly because it talks about the power of books and book clubs in healing and providing a community of like minded people who can become friends eventually too πŸ™‚

Writing

I had reduced my writing goal to trying to write just on the weekends instead of daily. And that could include any form of writing , such as journaling, working on my short stories or full length novels or blogging. The miss was that I didn’t even stick to writing on all the 8 weekend days. I wrote just on three of those days. I am still working on trying to improve my writing frequency and making it consistent, like I’ve been able to do with my workouts. My friend and writer Tammy inspires me a lot to write more and make time for writing. You can visit her blog here.

The success however was that I did write, edit, review and submit a short story for an Indian online magazine – Tell Me Your Story! πŸ™‚ I haven’t heard back from them and in most probability my story might not get selected, but I’m still glad that I was able to write and submit a short story πŸ™‚

Other Life Updates

  • My workouts have been getting better in terms of consistency and I am enjoying it like that. I went for some cycle rides, ran 5k and 7K, walked a lot. But the biggest find of February was the Nike Training app, suggested by my best friend. This app worked for me because they have short workouts for HIIT, Strength, and Yoga stretches ranging from 10 mins to 45 mins. It’s also fun to share your progress with your friends and try doing the same workouts together..:)
  • We discovered some really good Asian food places in Feb. One was a food truck right next to our house serving Vietnamese Pho and salads! Since Ive eaten Pho from Vietnam, I felt that the taste wasn’t exactly recreated, but still, it was better than not having a food truck altogether! We also went to a Japanese place and I had some really good Tonkatsu Ramen and sushi..yum!! πŸ™‚
  • I had a girls night out with my neighbour after ages and we had a lot of fun drinking Martinis and talking about everything under the sun. I had a few good chill Friday nights too, where we relished our stock of Glenlivet with some awesome music and conversations – just me and my husband and watsapping my friends πŸ™‚
  • We were invited for a dinner party and our host made some delicious local cuisine of missal paav and falooda. And I also made quite a bit of progress in reducing my intake of packaged junk food like chips during my 4 pm hunger pangs, and replaced them with yogurt, fresh fruits, salty nuts, rice cake with seasoning or cheese chilly toasts πŸ™‚
  • Finally, the only thing I managed to watch and enjoy (embarrassed to say I still haven’t finished it though lol) was this Korean romantic drama called ‘Nevertheless’. I loved one of its songs – Love me like that, a lot too πŸ™‚ I love how nicely they make these Korean dramas and how realistic they seem to be. Are Korean people really this gorgeous and thoughtful and romantic though, or is this another fairy tale that mainstream feeds us? πŸ™‚

That was how my February went…how was yours? What went well and what didn’t? Tell me anything you want in the comments section πŸ™‚

Life Diaries and Reading Wrap Up – Jan 2022

First wrap up post for 2022!! Wow, its that time already! A lottt happened in Jan I must say, so this might be a long-ish post. Read or skim through or skip altogether..whatever suits your fancy πŸ™‚

Reading

  • Under The Whispering Door by T J Klune (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) – I am in love with TJ Klune’s books. I couldn’t have picked a better book to start my year with. Warm, funny, all about found family and gay love, about love, death, loss, grief and hope. Everything packed up like a warm hug πŸ™‚
  • Summer Days and Summer Nights (⭐⭐⭐) – A good book for a pool side or beach read, but I think the stories are more suited for young teenagers or young adults than a 40 year old like me. I do love YA fantasy but somehow I felt aged out of the romance stories.
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (⭐⭐⭐) – Book 1 of the Schoolomance trilogy. Imagine a dark Hogwarts mixed with Lord of the Flies. Only, with more helpful children. And a really sarcastic and yet lovely anti heroine as the lead. I managed to read the book because of the main character El/Galadriel, but somehow I didn’t feel much for any of the other characters. Maybe book 2 will solve that?
  • The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (⭐⭐⭐⭐) – I know this book received mixed reviews and I agree there were some issues with the book and the overall writing quality. But my reading experience wasn’t marred by it somehow and I really liked this book. Its a book I read in a single sitting and would recommend to amateur readers.
  • The Greatest Odia Stories Ever Told (⭐⭐) – I had high hopes from this translated collection of Odiya short stories, but I was disappointed. There are some really good cultural descriptions but those are mostly of an older Odisha or the villages where the population is still poor and superstitious. Being an Odiya from the 21st Century myself, I didn’t find the stories uplifting or enlightening.

Writing

I still haven’t found a schedule to call my writing time. But lately I have been thinking about not taking my writing as seriously. Between my job, family, health and reading – I am left with no time and I dont want to stress myself out just thinking about the fact that I’m not writing. So I’ve decided not to make any writing goals and write whenever I feel like. In Jan I journaled almost daily and I wrote a few blogs. I feel content with that πŸ™‚

Life

  • My entire family was down with Covid for the first two weeks in Jan, so it was mostly a lot of resting and reading and watching shows on screen. Slowly, we started to get out energy back and getting back into the world by the third week. I was glad for the time off from work though, because I had a lot of weakness during the first two weeks
  • We went for a couple of treks to a nearby hill top and I cycled my first 20K with friends. I also ran 6.5K and a 5K in Jan and I definitely worked out a lot more once I got better πŸ™‚
  • I tried out a lot of different food over the last few days. Ordered Nepali momos from a friend who opened her shop recently, got mom to try Japanese cheesecake, and discovered a food truck selling Vietnamese Pho which is one of my favourite dishes to eat πŸ™‚ I also bought two delicious pork jam and pork thhechha in jars and been relishing them with breakfast and lunch whenever I can πŸ˜‰ On one weekend, we stepped out for lunch with cousins and it was a lovely day of asian sushi and sunshine πŸ™‚

That’s how my January went. How was yours? I’d love to hear about your highlights or even lowlights from Jan πŸ™‚ Drop in a comment πŸ™‚

Favourite Reads/Books from 2021

I stopped writing book reviews on my Blog since a while now. I know I loved writing these reviews but I realised that I was reading faster than I had the time to write long review blogs for the books I read and so I just stopped.

However, I did still want to list my favourite books that from 2021. I love books that make me feel something – joy or heartbreak or teach me something new or have realistic protagonists. And all of the books below did that.

Here is a peak into some of my favourite reads from 2021 πŸ™‚

Standalone Fiction

  • Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut: Satire on saviour complex and the pointlessness of human evolution
  • Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri: A diary like story about a middle aged single woman’s journey to self discovery
  • Daura by Anukrti Upadhyay: An eerie folktale retelling set in Rajasthan, India
  • Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu: A dark comedy on Asian specific racism in America
  • Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger: A new age fantasy murder mystery with an Ace protagonist!!
  • My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologies by Fredrik Backman: A heart touching story on found family and the power of love and helping others to deal with grief and loss
  • Loveless by Alice Oseman: Another Aro-Ace lead protagonist’s identity journey. A book I wish I had available when I was younger.
  • Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon: A refreshing YA romance where the lead female protagonist stands up for why romances are equally important as any other work of literature
  • The Once and Future Witches by Alex E. Harrow: A brilliant feminist retelling of many classic fairy tales with three famous witches’s journey during the beginning of the Suffragette movement
  • No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood: Shortlisted for the Booker 2021, this modernistic writing takes you out of your comfort zone with its acerbic and poetic description of life on the internet, along with personal struggles

Non Fiction

  • Chup by Deepa Narayan: On the life and subtle yet permanent discrimination that middle class Indian women face
  • Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar: An essay written by Dr. Ambedkar to the Indian leaders at the time stressing on the importance of abolishing the caste system in India
  • But You Don’t Look Like A Muslim by Rakshanda Jalil: The author’s autobiography on life as a middle class Muslim woman in India and the day to day racism she faces due to her religion
  • Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn: A collection of essays written by various prominent authors on what Love means to them
  • Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: Extremely funny and sometimes heart warming advice on Life and Writing
  • Hunger by Roxanne Gay: The author’s autobiography depicting her rape and her subsequent relation with her body and food and her eventual healing
  • Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space by Amanda Leduc: An impressive argument that the author makes around how ableist Fairy Tales are and how we can make space for differently abled protagonists in our stories as well
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle: An inspiring and uplifting account by the author who found herself in her 40s, and now she asks every woman to be the Cheetah she is born to be
  • The Comfort Book by Matt Haig: I prefer Matt Haig’s non fiction to his fiction books. Another book that is great to read every morning or before going to bed..short, uplifting messages on life and how to deal with it

Books that are part of a Series:

  • Sourcery and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett: Books 5 and 6 from the Discworld series. I love the sarcasm and the humor in this series..simply rib tickling!
  • The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart: The first book from The Drowning Empire trilogy. I loved the book, the characters, the plot – everything!
  • Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: I didn’t know this was part of a series, but then the second book released last year, so looks like we will get a lot more from this group of Septuagenarians and their murder solving skills πŸ˜‰
  • Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert: The last of the Brown Sisters romance trilogy. A romance that I’d recommend to every romance lover for the warmth, love, supporting cast and witty banter
  • Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas: Books 2 and 3 from the Throne of Glass series. I simply loved the scenes with Abraxos and Manon and Dorian. Need to finish this series soon though
  • A Dead Djinn In Cairo by P Djeli Clark: So, Im not sure if this can be called a series, but basically this is the first novella where our protagonist and the steam punk world is introduced. There is a follow up novella and then the novel – A Master of Djinn, set in the same world featuring the same characters. Hoping to finish all three books from this world in 2022 πŸ™‚
  • The Burning God by R.F Kuang: Oh man, what an epic and spectacular and heartbreaking ending to this superb trilogy! I can’t stress on how much Ive loved all the three books from this trilogy and how much these books taught me about Chinese history
  • Vicious by V.E. Schwab: I just loved this X-men sort of story about two best friends who become villains. The first book from the Villains duology and also another book with Ace rep.
  • The King of Scars Duology by Leigh Bardugo: Aah, the end of Grishaworld and I’m in love with this feminist fantasy. In love with Nikolai, Zoya, Genya and Nina!
  • These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong: First book from the duology set in Shanghai, with a Romeo and Juliet retelling. Loved it and can’t wait to finish the finale πŸ™‚
  • Dune by Frank Herbert: I actually didn’t like the fact that the book has many sexist themes, but then I can understand it was written in a time when the world was predominantly patriarchal. But the entire concept and the author’s imagination was mind blowing!

Poetry and Illustrated Books:

  • Dearly by Margaret Atwood: A collection of poems on feminism, death, ageing and other subjects
  • Kari by Amruta Patil: An illustrated book set in Mumbai with LGBTQIA and mental health representation
  • Coffee Days Whiskey Nights by Cyrus Parker: I loved this collection of modern poems on life alternating between morning poems and night poems

Whew, I finally finished writing this post..LOL! Have you read any of these books? If yes, which was your favourite? If not, tell me some of your favourite books from 2021 that you’ve been going around recommending to all your friends? πŸ™‚