I have never read such an intellectual book about Roses. When I got into it, I was not at all prepared for the amount of information I am about to consume. Orwell's Roses is about Orwell and the roses but not exactly about them at the same time.

Divided into 7 parts, it feels like an ode to the writer himself. Despite the strong biographic mood, Orwell's Roses also deals with nature, politics, art and life of Orwell through his writings. Now, I haven't read anything that's written by Orwell but this book made me search for everything he wrote.

There's also this interesting tangent with Tina Modotti and Stalin's Lemons, but Solnit ultimately comes back to Orwell. Roses in this book is not just a flower but also a symbol for revolution, freedom and casual pleasures of life. I particularly enjoyed part 2 where she talks about the perils of coal mining. The Spanish Civil War part is also enlightening with so many new things that I was not aware of previously.

With that all said, I particularly like how Solnit didn't idealize the man. His shortcomings are also discussed with along with his deep roots in colonialism. I also like to note that as much as this book talks about the past, it does highlight the monstrosity of the present times too. And the finishing touch with a rereading of 1984 has increased my interest in the book.

I must be lying if I said that I totally enjoyed this book. There were some parts that dragged and I had to switch this for reading other books. and I found the pacing in the middle of the book a bit lagging for my taste. However, I must admit that I am new to reading essays and it might be something to do with me. Overall, I found this book thoroughly entertaining and informative. This is my first Solnit and I look forward to reading more of her.

Thank You, NetGalley and Granta for providing me with the ARC.

Strange. Weird. Deceiving.

These three were the words that were in my mind when I finished reading Indelicacy. It has a whimsical air that was appealing and kept me hooked to the book. Now, I want to love this book. I saw people gushing about it in bookstagram and I expected myself to like it too. However, I must say that we didn't agree with each other.

I really liked the writing style. There is a plot, a very loose one but we are told what happens at the end. And it creates a fable-like atmosphere on how the story is told. This book is a feminist fable (IMHO). women here are given names and importance where men don't play a huge role other than providing women both pleasure and money.

I felt like I am too traditional with my reading choices while reading this book. The short choppy sentences and the short chapters(?) didn't work for me at all. I liked Vitoria and her need to have female friendships. It isn't something I read every day and the women with their bond were a delight to read. Though she does questionable things to get her husband off her back, I didn't even feel an ounce of sympathy for that man.

I was surprised at myself but hey, at least she got to do what she wanted to do all her life. I think this book resonates more with artists and people who have the need to be consumed by the arts. I have to come out here and accept that I am too shallow for this. I do enjoy some good writing or art for sure but this consuming need, that ain't me. Finally, I feel that this book didn't deliver everything that's promised in the blurb. And that left me thankful for its slim volume and the few parts that I enjoyed.

Every first day of the school year will start with a game of Name place Animal Thing. We will gather around the desks, hunching and thinking hard for the unique words to write in the respective columns. It is my favourite activity and the only good thing about the back to school scenario. Anyway, this book does capture all the nostalgia of those school days where our only problem was to complete the homework and not fall asleep in the physics class.



Lyndem does a wonderful job of bringing back childhood memories. This book maps the journey of a girl from childhood to adulthood. And I find this theme of other prevalent throughout the book. Not in a negative light but how this sense of other is ingrained in our memories by various events that inflict deeply. There is the comparison between Khasis and non-tribals, Christians and non-Christians, natives and outsiders, friends and not friends, well, you get the idea. This sense of other is absent in the 8-year-old girl but by the time our D reaches her 20s, she can identify this otherness.



Another theme I found interesting is the sharp critique of religion. Religion, which is supposed to be a solace for people turns into a weapon. And this is enforced by the religious institution by guilt-tripping. Most of us give into it but then many don't. This religious scenario is somewhat different to what I grew up with but the guilt-tripping and refusing to answer remains the same.



I adored the setting of Shillong. The hills, the culture is all something I loved a lot about this book. The city is full of politics. I must say growing up, I didn't know many of the events that took place and I did read up on the issues I missed out on. Through the eyes of D, we see the city changing, figuratively and metaphorically.



Now, coming to my favourite part. The last story of this book wrecked me. Without spoiling much, it is about the best friend of D. The bond between Yuva and D is something that made me cry and though I saw that the end coming, I was not expecting it to affect me a lot. And in a way, it marked the permanent loss of innocence in D. Throughout the stories, there is a small amount of loss of innocence, but this completely bid farewell to whatever little innocence she held. And that's how we are thrown into adulthood, aren't we? Unexpected events at an unexpected time.



With that all said, this book is no way near perfect. Some structural problems had me pulling my hair. But at the end of the day, It was worth it. I can see why it was shortlisted. However, I can't see this one winning the prize.

I must say that I didn't prepared to like this so much. But Hustvedt with her wonderful writing trapped me in the book. There is a mundanity of everyday life and the introspection of mind that comes with it. It gave an aura of rich inner as well as outer life. Set in the 80s and 90s of SoHo New York, What I Loved explores the art, love, passion, family, friendships with a whole lot of philosophy and psychology.



We follow Leo Hertzberg, an art historian, navigating his life in the art scene of New York. He befriends Bill, an upcoming artist, who will rise in fame later. They are both married and have kids at the same time. They even live in the same building. Later Bill divorces Lucille and marries Violet, his model for the series of paintings called Self-Portrait which is also the first portrait Leo buys of Bill's art. It is all nice and domestic with these couples writing papers, essays, making art and having dinners frequently while the children play. The perfect academic life.



I am particularly interested in the works Violet did for her books. She went out and researched hysteria and the treatment of women in the Charcot hospital for one of her books. And I am amazed by the theories and incidences that happened to women there. The atrocities that are performed in the name of treatment and experiments made me gag. She also researched anorexia and it made me question my relationship with food and people a lot. I kind of hated the art references and descriptions. It was a bit pretentious at places but very vital to the plot. But again, I don't have the brain to imagine art with the description and it dampened my experience a bit.



There were all types of love. Paternal love, passionate love, art love and especially the love between friends or bromance as I like to call it. This love acts as the crux of the story. And whatever we end up doing in life does involve love or the lack of it. It is the love for life in general. We don't live as a separate entity. We are always in constant interaction with others. It can be art or books or food or even people for that matter. Violet calls this phenomenon mixing and this mixing is what influences our actions and reactions in this world.



I enjoyed the characters in this book. Though this book is Leo's, I am enamoured by Violet. She is someone who brightens up your space. And I am terrified of Mark. He is sort of a psychopath with a compulsion to lie. His shenanigans with another artist create a sort of whodunnit atmosphere in the later halves of the story. With how the first part is written, you won't even guess the turn the writing takes. And I don't know how to feel about Lucille, Mark's mother. Something did happen between Lucille and Mark that made him unable to connect with the others. So we get a closed-off person with no emotions whatsoever that perform according to the people and is also extremely charming. What Mark lacks in emotions, his charms make up for it.



This book is not exactly what you'll call uplifting or hopeful. The image of an elderly professor, blinding and alone doesn't make a cheerful picture. Leo lost everything. His relatives to Holocaust, his son to water, his friend, his wife and friend's wife to grief, and himself to the pain and numbness. However, this is a book that makes you think and rethink your identity as a person. The world penetrates us in the form of music, books, arts and experiences. And sometimes we end up as spectators in our life. Grief, love, loss and pain are all a part of us. And at the end of the day, losing your eyesight or being alone doesn't matter. We have far more demons to worry about, isn't it? 


With that all said, this book brings a voyeuristic nature of the art where the art and artist becomes one. And I live for those experiences. Don't give up on the book because of the first part. This book bangs like a big bang.

Mohamed says in an interview that 'fortune men' is a term used for Somali sailors by the other Somalis because of the fortune they earned through their travels. Well, it's not a secret that it all turned unfortunate for our Mahmoud Mattan. Wrongly accused of a murder he didn't commit, we follow Mattan navigating his life with the impending punishment. And we can't forget the tangent that follows the life of the family who survived Violet Volacki.


Now, I don't want to go into the details of the plot as many of you might be familiar with it. And I am going to write only what I liked and what didn't work for me in this book. First of all, I am amazed by the amount of research Mohamed has done. I can't even imagine the hard work, the reading and the bulk of interviews she has to do for this book. And the way she wrote it, made the book even more interesting. I mean, this is a book where everyone knows the ending. But the way Mohamed approached it made the book more mysterious and alluring. I literally couldn't put it down.


The way she wrote Mattan is what dragged me into this book. Mattan is not a saint obviously. He had his moments, his crisis of faith with everything around him and the trauma he faced in a foreign land because of skin colour, which is all relevant even today. My first thought when Mattan was caught by the Police was, 'why is he talking back? Shouldn't he be more respectful and cooperative ?' I am not going to lie, I was so ashamed of thinking that. He hasn't done anything wrong. It was only because of their agenda that he was there in the first place and why he has to respect someone when it is not given to him.


It reminded me of a Tumblr post, "If you don't treat me like an authority I won't treat you like a person." And that's exactly what happened to Mattan. He was a petty thief. But he is also a person who is worthy of respect. When that is not given to him, he resorts to rebellion which didn't end fruitful for him. But it is not new, is it? Treating a person as they seem fit by authorities or any person who considers themselves as authorities is universal. I have seen a lot of such incidents happening in my own country, state, city, street and home even. And that makes me think that we as humans will always look for ways to look down on someone that is not us.


I also liked the story of the Volacki family members. Their names have been changed in the book which I guess is by the request of family members. I would've loved to read Diana and Grace and what they thought about Mattan's execution. But their storyline ended halfway through the book which feels abrupt. Mattan was survived by his wife and 3 sons who struggled a lot to clear his name. I have read a few interviews by them and I stopped after a point as it became overwhelming. The trauma they have to face throughout their life because of the failure of law and the delayed compensation that is provided to them cannot make up for the lost years.


I have a few choice words for the very racist solicitor of Mattan. Had Mattan had a person like Thurgood Marshall arguing his case, the prosecution would've been dusted to oblivion. But instead, he had a solicitor who openly mocked his own client as "Half semi-civilized savage" which eventually lead to the conviction of Mattan. The only thing that didn't work for me in this book is the pace. The first few chapters were so dragging and slow in the pace that I thought of giving up the book altogether. But then again, I am happy that I persevered through that phase and got to read the trial and stuff that made the book more exciting.


The Fortune Men had me thinking a lot about the current political situation all over the world that discriminates and dehumanizes people for their lack of privileges. It had me thinking about my standing in many of the situations and I love it when a book does that. So, read this book, not for its booker nomination but the experience it brings you.

“When I was younger, thinking about whether I wanted children, I always came back to this formula: if no one had told me anything about the world, I would have invented boyfriends. I would have invented sex, friendship, art. I would not have invented child-rearing.”

― Sheila Heti, Motherhood



I once read a post on Tumblr about how after a man identified what makes a woman pregnant, the whole dynamics of child-rearing changed. The discovery of the penis makes a person pregnant has created a sense of possessive egotism among the people to have biological offspring. While everything evolved, this possessive hold continued to remain the same.



Giving birth to a child is a complex process. A simple google search spews a huge set of statistics on how childbirth is one of the leading causes that leads to maternal mortality. The history of menstruation in itself says a lot about how hard it is to create a single life and nurture it into a full-fledged human being. Reading all these science facts should encourage me against having a child. However, I want to be a part of this miracle. Ever since I saw the wrinkly face of my very small sister, I know I want to be a mother.



And reading this book just solidified that thought. Yes, this book is about why the unknown narrator didn't want to be a mother. I enjoyed reading the prose and it made me think in many places. Especially about how society is not kind to the people who don't want to be mothers at all. I like to be a mother and I want to be one but doesn't form the axis of my life. The thought that a person should put being a mother before their life sounds ridiculous even to me. 



And yet again, we are shown that we control a person by controlling their body. The current situation all around the world is also not helping. Just because one wants to be a mother doesn't mean I should expect the same from others. I don't know why this common sense is absent among the 'World Leaders'. Nothing good is going to come when we force a person to have a child that they don't want or a child that won't survive birth. Pregnancies are not inconvenient and a 2-week old foetus is not a person. By focusing the shame on women (and people who can get pregnant), people are kept in line. 



I don't want to go into complete details as I am afraid of giving up too many details. But, I enjoyed the exploration of mother-daughter dynamics in the book. The narrator, her mother and her grandmother all form some kind of love triangle. Yet again decades later, WW2 has this spectral presence in this book. The narrator says that she is writing this book to make her mother happy and her mother studied to become a doctor to make her mother happy. You can be anything you want, but nothing can beat the acceptance of your mother. And it is painful when that is withheld from you.



What didn't work for me here is the repetitive dreams. It was all fine and good but after a point, it was like journal entries. Also, the I Ching method did help to explore the mind but I got weary after a few chapters. I don't know whether it is intended or not, but the blatant ignorance of the narrator around contraception is appalling. I mean, she didn't want to get pregnant but the birth control she uses is withdrawal? And yes, some places were too first world for me that screamed privilege. However, I am not the target audience and I am going to ignore that. I guess this book is a form of catharsis for Heti and I hope it served the purpose.



I realize this is not the review I had in mind but hey, it doesn't get any better either. I suggest you read this book with an open mind and read it because it explores motherhood that is refreshing.

This is a purely bookstagram made me do it moment. I came across the ARC of The Fell in NetGalley and I knew I had to get it. The fear of missing out real you guys and I am seeing so much of Moss in my TL from some of the awesome bookstagrammers. Anyhow, I am so glad that I got this book as it deals with the lockdown and the claustrophobia of quarantine.


The Fell is told by four people. Alice, Kate, Matt and Rob, each of them coping with the pandemic in their way. Kate, a single mom and a furloughed waitress, is under quarantine for the possible exposure. This places her son, Matt also in quarantine as a close contact. Alice is a well-off elderly woman, who is also a cancer survivor, is at home desperate for human contact instead finds comfort in her home-baked cookies and electric blanket. Matt, an angsty teenager without much angst and Rob, a mountain rescuer. These 4 are brought together when Kate decides to break her quarantine and go for a casual evening stroll in the hills that is called The Fell.


Moss has executed the stream-of-consciousness in such a way that I ended up excited more than I ought to. The minds of these four are bared to us and every thought of peril, every casual indulgence felt more urgent. I am spooked by how real it felt. It's like living in a lockdown all over again. I especially loved Alice, with her ruminations about people and her desperation for human contact. And it was sad thinking about all the elderly people who were alone but couldn't go out - because they might catch the disease - but also it is expected of them to stay indoors. I also didn't realise how dehumanizing it would've been for them to depend on someone to do even the grocery shopping or to buy other necessities.


We police and judge people for their choices but we don't know what they are going through, do we? I am yet again reminded that a simple act of kindness is most important in these times. We know so many of our acquaintances who died than our previous generation. We have attended and heard about too many funerals to count. And yet, we live on judging others for the way they chose to live their life when we swept our fuck ups under the carpet.


It's a very slim novel of 160 pages but does the job. The pandemonium and the uncertainty of the pandemic are what did for me. There is this dread that goes round and round. The dread so many of us are familiar with but then again, so many of us threw the caution to the wind just for an ounce of normality. I don't agree but I understand. With that being said, I am not a fan of the somewhat ableist tone of this book. I agree that we are all doing the best we can but a book like this from a well-acclaimed author is kind of off-putting. I especially don't encourage breaking the quarantine however much I understand the characters. And all this kind of resulted in a book I enjoyed over parts, even though I went absolute bonkers over the writing.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for granting me the ARC. Much grateful.

One of the best mythology I have read this year. I was a bit skeptical since I am a newbie to Norse Mythology but this book just breezed. I cannot say one bad thing which in itself is something I am amazed at. Also, I kind of liked the reclusive I am done with the world witch vibe and Loki, oh my Loki. It's all lovely and I enjoyed a lot. I am waiting for more from the author. So excited.

If you overlook the obvious colonial mentality and blatant racism, this book is again one of the best I have read this year. I especially love the stream of consciousness writing that just felt too real. Once again I am amazed at how far we have come in terms of medical care. I have read this for the course of Trauma Literature and it just brought different perspectives that was not privy to my eyes in the first place. I suggest you to read this especially for the writing and the sheer brilliance.