{"id":8744,"date":"2021-11-04T22:42:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T17:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/?p=8744"},"modified":"2021-11-04T22:42:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T17:12:46","slug":"my-cozy-autumn-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/my-cozy-autumn-list\/","title":{"rendered":"My Cozy Autumn List"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have been staring at blank pages for too long until I thought I should just write. Something. Anything. So here we are! I am not a seasonal book reader. I enjoy a summer read in April or in December. But I do admit, some books are just nicer to read when the air is turning cold? For example, The Snow Child<\/em>. I can read it every year for winter and not get tired of it. Some books and movies are like warm hugs for cozy nights. Here are some books and movies that made my autumn days warmer and nicer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have fallen in love with cozy books all over again that I want to read nothing else but them. I revisited Excellent Women<\/em><\/a> by Barbara Pym. I remember reading the first chapter when we first moved to a teeny tiny apartment in Mumbai. It felt fitting to read it again now when I have moved into another new home. If there\u2019s a book that\u2019ll have you craving tea at every other page, this is it. I loved it so much. Even better that it ends with wine and a job and not with a man who promises you a happily ever after. I had to close the book and laugh, then read the passages again to laugh some more. That\u2019s how much I loved Pym\u2019s excellent women. A constant supply of tea is a must. Excellent Women<\/em> also reminded me of how warm and comforting some books make you feel. Mental note to add more cozy reads to my TBR; so more Pyms to read over the winter. There\u2019s No Fond Return for Love<\/em> which is about women in science, unrequited love, female friendships, and coffee\u2014that I am currently reading with high hopes. A Quartet in Autumn<\/em> awaits. But I reckon it would be winter already by the time I pick that one up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also binge read a cozy mystery, Magpie Murders<\/em><\/a> by Anthony Horwitz which I did not expect to love but I so did! It was incredible! Magpie Murders <\/em>begins with an editor reading the manuscript by a popular writer (the one who literally saves the publishing house from going under). Popular writers need not be likeable, and that\u2019s exactly the problem. Our editor loves her job, but doesn\u2019t care \u2014 rather vehemently dislikes \u2014 the man who pens down their bestsellers. Without giving too much away, there are puzzles to solve, a murder \u2014 an actual murder \u2014 that reflects the novel, and publishing politics, all mixed well into a nice, chunky book. It isn\u2019t a perfect book. You might think it could have been shorter. But read with with something hot, under a warm blanket, and you\u2019ll love it so much! <\/p>\n I enjoyed the cherry blossom festival and autumn in equal measure with the four sisters. Years and seasons pass so quickly that I wish I could do things with as much ease as fictional characters\u2014go abroad to learn doll making, or watch a dance festival or escape to Tokyo. Yukiko, the silent and indifferent sister, was the one who caught my eye at the start of the novel. But I soon found myself cheering for the youngest, rebellious Taeko who eloped, had affairs, then tore her heart open for love, and decided to be a seamstress while being part of an orthodox family and society that scorns working women. I can feel the burden of the second sister, Sachiko, who seems to have so many strings to pull to keep the family together. But it is the eldest Tsuruko that evades me. She feels impenetrable, like how elder daughters usually are. And that makes me want to ask her, \u2018Are you okay? You can tell me anything\u2019. At the end of the day if you ask me \u2018is the book worth the hype\u2019 \u2014 I don\u2019t know. I have enjoyed dipping into the lives of these Japanese sisters, getting tangled in love affairs, background checks for prospective brides, joint family hierarchies, and class clashes. It has been a while since I have been so wrapped up in a family, and hence these sisters feel dear to me, like my own.Read<\/h2>\n
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Another fitting seasonal read is The Makioka Sisters<\/em> by Junichiro Tanizaki, translated from the Japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker. I am in the last stretch, at Book 3, of the novel. So I can\u2019t say much. But it is slow and indulgent. This book had been on my someday-I-should-absolutely-read-this-but-not-today list for years. I was so happy that the stars aligned and I could finally pick this novel up. The reading experience was greatly elevated as I was reading it with a bunch of wonderful people at @thesachelbookclub<\/a>. This is one of those novels that calls for equal measures of solitary reading and discussions. If not for the book club, I would’ve missed Tanizaki’s connection to Tokyo that reflects in his writing. Or that the original Japanese title translates to ‘Light Snow’ and not ‘The Makioka Sisters’. Or that Yukiko, whose name alludes to snow, is almost the sole heroine in Book 1, which makes sense with the original title. It was enlightening to dig deep into why the sisters seem to take so many Vitamin B shots or how the aristocracy is crumbling but class divisions are not.<\/p>\n
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