Lets Talk About Books

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It’s been raining books around me for last three weeks.

I bought ‘The Pawn’ by Aimie Carter, a coloring therapy book for adults, and ‘It’s all in the Planets’ by Preeti Shenoy. I left off ‘The Pawn’ in the middle- didn’t have the patience to complete it. It is of young adult genre, and my sister liked it a lot; but I felt like having seen it all, known the twists and turns before it happened. It seemed a bit slow for my taste. Or maybe I no longer like thrillers, mysteries and all things young adult. I am more drawn to simple, philosophical, personal, and memoir-like narratives. Will start reading ‘It’s all in the Planets’ soon.

I also borrowed ‘The Fifth Mountain’ by Paulo Coelho from the office library, read and had it returned- all in a week. It was as good as ‘The Alchemist’. Now I have borrowed ‘The Vedic Art of Face Reading’ by Jaico Publications. It is descriptive about personalities, has illustrative content, but is funny at various points. Interesting though! Yesterday evening I sat with a mirror in one hand and the book in the other, deciphering which category of noses my nose belonged to. And then asked my mother to select the shape of the eyes that matched mine perfectly. It was fun. Time pass and laughter.

I had completed reading ‘In Other Words’ – a memoir by Jhumpa Lahiri in September. But I have not yet completed reviewing it. I am still halfway through it. There are just so many things that I want to write about the book in just 700-800 words that it is difficult for me to choose it right and manage to keep it brief. It coming soon, though!

In my To-Be-Read pile I have ‘Kafka on the Shore’ by HarukiMurakami, ‘Coinman’ and an ebook by Novoneel Chakraborty. Therefore, I am not able to take up any more books for book review recently. I keep getting emails but I don’t respond to them, knowing that I won’t be able to do justice to the book, if I take it up now. I felt guilty about it earlier, but I know I am doing the right thing. I should have the right and the means to choose which book I’m going to read- to invest my time and emotions on.

Am I stepping back on what I pledged in my last post, about doing more reviews (well, almost pledged)? No. Come November, and I’d be taking up more. I want to listen to audio books, for a change. I can just plug in the ear phones and listen to it, whenever, wherever, amidst work, during walk, while travelling to office, in restrooms, in bed, any time- the possibilities are just so many. The only audio book I have ever listened to was ‘Eat, Pray,Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert.


PS:  I just signed up for the #100HappyDays. My challenge begins today. Seems daunting. You can follow @pratikshyam in twitter for my daily clicks. Wish me luck. J

 Linking the post to Day Five of #UBC , and #DailyChatter.


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Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju
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