A dear reader doc, some unfinished business

My life is a sum total of unfinished.

Unfinished conversations, stories, books. Movies were always unfinished, so they don’t count. I have been longing to simply write away on a blank page. So here I am, typing away; not sure where this is going; but also meddling in my mind if I have a picture to go with the post.

The new year new me flu has found its way to me. A quick math on how much time is spent for ‘take a book; update on Goodreads; take a picture; tweet it; Instagram it’ opened my eyes (not really, always knew that). Before you know you are replying to comments and not really reading; losing sleep and waking up groggy eyed. This year I am hoping to find some balance in creating content that is worth to you and me (fingers crossed such a balance exists).

I read a lot this month. But I am also making some changes in my reading life, rather ‘social media reading life’. I have been reading more and updating less. Don’t be alarmed; all the review copies and new releases will find its way to you. But the older releases, I am keeping them to myself unless it is the ‘five-stars-this-is-so-fantastic’ read of the year. It is just easier to manage time that way. And I need time this year, quite a lot of it.  I preached that ‘you are still a reader whether or not you update your social media‘ last year and maybe it is time to put those words into action.

The Buy, Borrow, Skip section on books will continue on my Instagram Stories. I was worried about it and asked on my Stories yesterday. So  touched by your response of how much you love it. But does ‘Skip’ sound a bit mean to authors? I don’t know. The best place to be in sync with my new reads is Twitter. Ultimately I want to cut a few frills and tell you what books are best to spend your time on. Again, not to worry, the lengthy reviews on the blog and elsewhere are going to continue, but they would be more customized.

I don’t want to write 1000 words on ‘maybe you will like this book, it was not for me’ anymore.

Or, to be blunt, I am bored of those.

In other news, I ate a lot of things because post-Christmas cakes and bakes are totally a thing. The new favourite tea is weak Assam tea. Yes, weak; very weak in fact. It is a thing.

I had an amazing (rather frightening) end to 2018 bingeing on YOU on Netflix. It was super creepy and so addictive. I don’t think I can ever strike up a conversation with a book seller, surrounded by shelves of books, without ever thinking of Joe Goldberg and his maniacal ways. And the book references – such a joy! I was sucked in to Twitter fan base and sub tweets of the TV show for a shockingly long period, I admit. I tried getting into Pretty Little Liars but frankly 8 seasons is overwhelming for me. It is definitely a guilty binge with Gossip girl meets I know what you did last summer. But I wiki-read the whole plot, like you do. Don’t we all? I am a big fan of movies about food and this one listing my favourite food movies, has gotten a lot of replies (thank you!) that I am planning to work my way through them. I did not realise there were so many more movies about food. I really enjoyed Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat if documentaries are what you are after. Samin Nosrat is practically another Julia Child with her infectious laugh and earnestness to experience food. (Of course I had to plug Julie and Julia in this post).

Back to books! Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is the best thing I read this month. Two Netflix shows and several Youtube videos later, I am so buying the next thing that Trevor Noah writes. My favourite book of the month is The Heavens by Sandra Newman. It comes out in the UK in May from Granta and it is absolutely glorious. Travelling through dreams, William Shakespeare, glitzy parties (and a cover that goes so well with it), it is an absolute wonder of a book. So be prepared to hear me talk about it like how I went bonkers about Sally Rooney’s Normal People (In case you missed it – I wrote about Normal People being the best love story (Frolic)).

Also it was the most splendid feeling to read the last book in Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy. Set in 14^th century Russia and filled with Slavic myths and Russian fairytales,  it is the perfect winter read. I have grown old with the series starting from being head over heels in love with The Bear and the Nightingale, followed by The Girl in the Tower. The third book, The Winter of the Witch, was the perfect end and I love how Arden spun actual historical elements into the story. The trilogy is a heady mix of politics, spirits and war. (More about it on my Huffpost India piece here).

I wanted to write a non-bookish post but we have talked more books than anything else in this post. Perhaps at the end of the day, that’s who I am – as Sid says in his blog post on book drought and re finding the joy in reading, I can talk books day and night.

I stop typing. The end.

Wait, are these letters going to be a monthly feature? A weekly feature? Maybe sending out a newsletter is the ‘hip’ thing? Or tinyletter? Is this even a letter?

No answers, only questions. I leave this unfinished.