Some reads in the last months (year? idk. What is time, etc). I wish I had made immediate notes/reflections as soon as I finished reading a book. Not listed: library books I read but forgot to document, some books for research, a lot more poetry, some self-help books, lots of short stories.
Realising that my recent reading has largely been corralled to the confines of American publishing. Making a conscious effort to step out of this boundary when choosing my next reads. Also, a note of appreciation for the libraries in the Bay Area. One of the nicest things here.
Elizabeth Strout - Oh William!
Joy Harjo - She Had some Horses
Valeria Luiselli - Tell Me How it Ends (Beautifully written, taut exposition on America’s borders, with a focus on undocumented children and a reminder that these cruelties are not a political anomaly of recent times) Excerpt: pic 3, 4.
Leslie Jamison - Splinters (elegant divorce memoir)
Claire Keegan - Antarctica (re-read)
Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (you know how some books arrive when you need them? This was one of those. I read it at a time when I was contending with a deep loneliness around my migration/dislocation)
Tony Tulathimutte - Rejection (Partial re-read. Caustic. Smart. Some stellar writing around internet culture. Discomfitting. Reading some stories feels like you are privy to someone's ugliest thoughts. A slight tendency to sometimes trip over itself)
Virginia Evans - The Correspondent
Arundhati Roy - Mother Mary Comes to Me (loved this. Would also recommend the @himal.southasian review of this by Supriya Nair)
Claire Keegan - So Late in the Day (re-read)
Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (re-read)
Annie Ernaux - A Simple Passion
Elena Ferrante - The Days of Abandonment (re-read)
Bhanu Kapil - Schizophrene (complemented this with @dnaimom ’s Between the Covers episode with Kapil. This is a post about recent reads but I also want to plug this podcast bc it's so thoughtfully done and the writers are asked excellent questions and I learn so much from each episode)
Kim Addonizio - What is this thing called love (re-read) (excerpt: pic 5 & 6)
....Continued in commen
Home ❤️🔥🫀 Your 90-year-old grandmother making suruttapam for you (unasked. We do not condone unpaid senior citizen labour) as soon as you land. Your loved ones readying things according to your quirks, likes. Loved ones who know your quirks and likes. Long conversations. Easy laughter. Laugh-till-your-sides-hurt-laughter. Your family stocking up on your favourite snacks. Your family eating the snacks they stocked up for you before you're able to get to it. Sometimes, an imperfect, limpid salve. Inspiration. On some days, a cut. Old haunts. An aged cat who reluctantly puts up with you. Girlsgirlsgirlsgirls. Friends who make sure the trips and hangs spill out of the group chat. Sun, sea, sand. Running into all your past selves and shadows in wonderful and terrible ways. The sound of rain. The smell of rain. Passion projects. Ridiculously good food. Tea: herbal and verbal. All the short eats. Sunsets. Humidity. Heartbreak. A city which seesaws between cosy and claustrophobic depending on your mood. Love, love. So many iterations of love. ❤️🔥
S and I were hunting for a recipe but got sidetracked by the Invalid & Convalescent Cookery section in the Daily News Cookery Book and I have so many questions.
Wrote an essay. You know where to read it. Been very moved by people who have written in, and some of the stories/experiences shared — thank you for sharing your stories, thank you for reading.
Been preoccupied with this particular portrait of a past self sitting in a corner aggressively eating short eats (!) after getting scared by the pre-school’s interpretation of Santa Claus (!!) and dissolving into loud tears at the pre-school Christmas party (!!!). Just been thinking of her, thinking of the year that was, and wondering what new shapes the year that is to come will take. Also now craving short eats at 4am, so there's that.
Poems in 4 and 5: from Diane di Prima’s Revolutionary Letters — first read, first book purchase for the year.
Tt in 6: nolahairyfairy on tiktok
Poem in 8: June Jordan.
Excerpt in 9: Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny — last read for 2025.
Happy international Naza day, world. ❤️ May we all have a Naza in our lives to nudge us out of comfort zones, take multiple pictures of ourselves when we're feeling too shy, miss trains with grace and panache but have so much fun in the process, do impromptu beach and food hangs with and aways, always dream boldly. 💫
