Started Reading This Book Today

“I don’t want to have [children]. I want to meet them. My child.”

What a book… just… beautiful

I love the way in which it approaches taking about women’s experiences. Their pain. Their needs. Their desires.

The way it talks about motherhood, about wanting to have/ not have kids, and how society seems to have this ownership over womens bodies and their decisions.

..the constant shifting of power had done its damage. I didn't know then, but it was the beginning of an apathy for my own self that would last for a long time. Our lives were controlled from elsewhere and the dreams that we dreamt were always at the mercy of someone else, someone occupying us, ruling us.

The next book we voted for for our next book club meeting is Farah Bashir’s Rumors of Spring. It is sometimes difficult to articulate to my friends about the life in Kashmir under curfews and lockdowns, growing up in the shadow of militancy and the trauma and turmoil that my parents and grandparents were surrounded by in their youth. This there is quite an important pick, and I am looking forward to sharing and discussing the book and it’s themes with my friends this Sunday.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Babel by R F Kuang

kuangrf has done it again. Reached into my chest, ripped out my heart, and stomped on it, beating it into a pulp. And I’d let her do it again.

Babel is such a brilliant piece of work. It’s devastating, but it is also revealing. As a brown person, participating in the academic world in the United Kingdom, it has forced me to look deeper into the culture I am a part of, a culture I am promoting, and how important ot is to challenge and push boundaries. Not only of the institution I am a part of, but of my own.

This novel dismantled and reimagined the dark academia genre masterfully, and I will be forever in awe of how well crafted it all was.

I will also be incredibly grateful for the representation it offered. For me, to see Muslims represented in in genre, in this way, I can’t express how important that was.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I finally read Piranesi! I first started reading this book in 2021, but I just could not get into it. It just felt like I was forcing myself to get past the first few pages, and so I decided to leave it to one side for a bit.

I recently re-visited it again, after being encouraged by my friend to do so, and I am so glad I did, because this time, I loved it! I took my time with the story, letting Piranesi guide me through the house, as he discovers more about its inhabitants, and how they came to be there. It is truly a strange but fascinating tale of one man and his relationship with the place he inhabits.

The prose is charming, and while I initially found it to meander quite a bit, as I got comfortable with the writing style, I did find that it suited the story it was a part of. It reminded me a bit of Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun both in terms of the way the writing flowed, and in the way Klara and Piranesi viewed the world around them. There is a marriage of joy and melencoly to both their stories, which I found to be quite beautifully done.

• Sunday Stack •

We all have books which we started reading, but for one reason or another, didn’t manage to get through. These are some of mine. These are books I either started reading, but never got around to finishing, as well as soon books I just really want to read this month, but because I have so many unfinished books, I am a bit hesitant to start new ones! 😅

A Little Life by Haya Yanagihara

My feeling about this book are extremely complicated.

I can see why people like the writing style, and why they love the characters as much as they do. Yanagihara really does a beautiful job of drawing you in in the beginning, and making you really investing in these characters, so much so that, even after things start to unravel, when you start to learn about Jude’s coping mechanisms, when you see him go through an extremely traumatic and abusive relationship, when you find out about the abuse he suffered as a child, somehow, you keep on reading, hoping against all hope that soon things will get better. That there will be a happy ending for these people after all.

Some people have talking about how what Yanagihara has done is simply expose us to the suffering that is already out there. That we are forced to confront that there is so much more behind the brave face we see people put on, that for some people, it is so difficult to escape the cycle of abuse, that sometimes, sadly, there is no happy ending. And I can see that.

I can also see, and agree that the trauma described in this book is a lot, and it goes too far. There is so much suffering, far more than anyone is capable of holding. I personally found it incredibly difficult to read those sections of the book, which dive deep into Jude’s suffering. I often found myself skipping over over those parts because I didn’t want to see it. It felt invasive, and uncomfortable and inappropriate.

At the end of the day, I stand by the fact that this is not a book I can recommend to people. I bought it over a year ago, and only recently started reading, and at one point I decided I didn’t want to read anymore. I do have a rough idea about what happens because I have seem way too many reviews and posts of this book over the past year to help me decide if I want to see why so many people like it despite everything.

I am afraid I cant say that I love this book. Props to Yanagihara for how she made us care so much about the characters, but i cant say that I will be revisiting it anytime soon. You are not missing out on anything if you choose not to read it.

🥩Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

I am still reading Nightbitch but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on it so far…

Firstly, it really reminds me of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I know that this may not be the most ‘original’ observation, and others who have read the book would have drawn on the similarities as well, but the parallels are interesting. Both women have been ‘stopped’ from working by their husbands, and a complication and troubled relationship with motherhood, which had bought on a great deal of stress and anxiety for the women, manifesting in some concerning and and disturbing ways. It is also evident that the mental health of these women is not taken seriously, or dealt with sensitively by their partners.

As a woman myself, I can relate to the anxieties surrounding dependence and impending motherhood. The idea of being do dependent, almost at the mercy of a partner, where it is usually the mother who is expected to give up her ambitions, careers, freedoms etc. to take care of their children can be daunting. It is an immense responsibility, and you are expected to put on the performance of the grateful wife, or a doting mother, and never show any cracks.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

So, I don’t usually read romance novels, and contemporary romance is a genre I tend to avoid. Not because I think they are badly written or anything, but I just don’t tend to pick them up when browsing for books.

but this year, I wanted to read more books which I normally wouldn’t, so when I saw this book in Tesco while i was put grocery shopping, I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

and I have to say, I quote enjoyed it. It was fast paced (I read it in one sitting!) It was fun, cute, and used the fake dating tropes really well, and did not take itself too seriously. The characters were relatable and lovable, and there were so many scenes where I could not stop smiling and giggling because of the awkward (and cute) situations Ahn put Olive and Adam in.

I liked that the setting was that of a university, with both characters being into STEM, as I have seen too many rom-coms set in the publishing world now, and I like this this went in a different direction.

My only issue would have been the sex scene? It just took me out of the flow of the story and felt awkward and a bit too much?

I finally read a Sally Rooney!

I decided to start with Normal People, as I was already familiar with the characters and they story (because I had watched the show) and I have to say, for all their communication problems, and their self sabotage, and their refusal to be happy, I quite liked the book! I get why the Connell and Marianne act they way they do, but I love them so much, I really wish they would allow themselves to be happy with each other and face the challenges life throws at them together. I would like to imagine a life for them where they get married, have a beautiful family, and get the life they really deserve!

(Can you tell I want all romances to have happy endings, with sunshine and rainbows and love and hugs 🤗😅)

I finally got around to reading The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, and it did not disappoint! By now I know that Shafak’s writing style is something I really enjoy, so it was easy to slip back into her prose and let it carry me away on a journey through London and Cyprus.

This story really moved me in ways I didn’t quite expect it to. Tales of forbidden love are available in abundance, but the way it was written, in the backdrop of so much pain and unrest, I was not expecting it to hit me like it did.

🗝Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman 🗝

Thank you @hotkeybooksya for sending me a copy of the book! 💛

I was very excited to read this YA novel, an Indian-inspired story (it’s going to be duology actually), set in a land where magic, a prized resource, is the only thing between peace and war. When magic runs out, four estranged royal siblings must find a new source before their country is swallowed by invading forces.

At a personal level, it is always great to see how the YA community is growing, creating a space for rich and diverse stories from different communities and cultures. To see not only a small ‘italicised’ mention of a familiar word or a phrase, but a whole book (duology eventually) be that immersive, from the characters names, backgrounds, clothing, foods etc. made me very happy.

It’s took me a while to get fully immersed into the story, as all the different characters were introduced and the plot was set up, but once it kicked off, I found myself yelling at the characters, ‘omg please just talk to each other’ and when they did I was cheering for them saying, ‘see this is why communication is key!!’ 😆 There we’re a lot of twists and turns, and it was a fun experience to watch it all unfold!

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals--personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others-that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America's most tangled, honest, human roots.

The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar.

“The most important places on a map are the places we haven’t been yet”

The story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker.

It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour’s mother once knew is changing, and it isn’t long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour’s idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without. More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen and a widow’s daughter, knows she must do something to help her impoverished mother. Restless and longing to see the world, she leaves home to seek her fortune. Disguising herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to create a map of the world. In his employ, Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures.

This book. Oh my God. I don’t know how to write a review for this book where I am not just gushing about how much I loved it. It felt like this book was written for me. It beautifully married the genres of fantasy and historical fiction, and reminded me of the young Meher, who would just sit in one corner with a book and read it like nothing else mattered in the world.

Zeyn’s storytelling is beautiful, its lyrical, and it is magical. You really do get lost in his world, and he manages to tell the stories of Nour and Raiway in a way which does the characters and their journeys justice. They are so easy to fall in love with and to root for. I really felt that I was right there with them, feeling all the emotions they were feeling. I was scared for them, I cried with them, and I was smiling with them.

The pace is a bit slow, and I would say that you should read at least a couple of chapters to really get into it, to give it a fair chance, but once you are in, you are in. I don’t think it would have worked well at any other pace than what it was.

I do not want to give too much away in my review, because I want you to go in as I did, with some awareness of the setting and the plot, but then just let the magical storytelling carry you away.

We Were Never Here

[AD] Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?

Thank you @MichaelJoseph for the advance pdf

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz hooked me from the very beginning, and once I started reading it, I didn’t stop until I had read the last page! A fast paced, thrilling read, it really pulls you in, and unravels in some really unexpected ways.

As I read on, I could really feel Emily’s anxiety, her worries, her doubts, and her fear. Watching her coming to terms with her relationship with Kristen, and realising the influence she has had on her life, and how Kristen is still trying to hold on to, in fact tightening her grip, around Emily, all made for a thrilling read. Bartz did a good job of slowly revealing details through the novel, and yet, still manages to give you a surprise ending.