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I read Boulder earlier this year for an amazing book club I recently joined, and oh my, I loved the protagonist. I loved her for her flaws, her self-centredness, her inability to communicate, her insufferable disdain for motherhood. I even saw a little of myself in her. Can we have more such unlikeable female protagonists, please (especially those that don't care about being unlikeable?)? At the book club, someone also pointed out how by not revealing the protagonist's gender at the beginning of the narrative, some are tricked into believing it's a man (but she's not, she is a woman who is self-absorbed and commitment-phobic and a bit of a drifter).

I started reading Enter Ghost some time back and it is so beautiful, so intense. And then a few days ago I wandered aimlessly into a tiny bookshop with a friend and picked up The Colossus of Maroussi by Miller and now I just want to visit Greece. They're both so stunning, I might just review them here.

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I hope you’re all doing well. 🌿

I need your help to share my family's story and raise awareness about our struggle. Every voice counts, and your support means the world. 🙏

💬 Please reblog my pinned post or, if you're able, consider donating just $5—it could be life-changing for those facing unimaginable hardship.

Your kindness and solidarity make a real difference. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 🤍✨

@derawi1994

Some audience members might say that Portrait of a Lady on Fire isn’t so revolutionary : after all, there have been tons of films made recently on queer and female subjectivity. What’s so special about this one?

I found the film to be quite scorching. The cinematography-- although it captures nothing but calming blue seas, muddy landscapes, and the dull interiors of an aristocratic household-- made me feel restless from the get-go. There is an unquiet, defiant presence lurking beneath the quietest moments in the film. Some would call this presence desire, but I’d call that an understatement.

I loved the fact that the film had very little male presence: in 18th century France, the interiors of female oppression had an almost caged quality, and this was a space overwhelmingly occupied by women. 

Film Recommendation

Nayak: The Hero (Bengali)

9/10

Film Recommendation

Certified Copy (French, Italian, English)

9/10

Abbas Kiarostami's film about an intriguing relationship between a French antiques dealer and an English writer is set in Tuscany. It explores issues pertaining to authenticity through the strange, often surprising camaraderie between the two protagonists. In a way, this film engages with Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by asking us what it even means for something to be truly authentic: to an extent, isn't everything original merely a copy of something else, and isn't every "copy" an "original" in its own way? The most important question this film asks from the tussle between what apparently constitutes authenticity and what does not is: does it even matter?

Film Recommendation

The Wind Will Carry Us (Persian/Farsi)

9.9/10

I love Abbas Kiarostami's work. His films are famous for documentary-style narratives, for conversations carried on in cars, for his use of dialogues interspersed with Persian poetry, and lush rural landscapes. This film is so heartwarming in the way that it explores extremely complex themes with such simplicity: it dives into contrasting rural and urban views on labour, gender equality, economic repercussions, even the performative nature of rituals and documentation. Lots of characters are heard but never seen, and towards the end it somehow leaves you feeling inexplicably overwhelmed.

Here's a quartrain a character quotes from Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat that I particularly love:

"They tell me the other world is as beautiful as a houri from heaven!