Ravneet🌻

Dostoevsky ♥️ In 2023, I had made a resolution to read all of Dostoevsky’s five major novels and somehow managed to read Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov all in one year, making it quite the highlight for that year. This year, I have decided to focus on not just reading new books but also rereading the ones I loved immensely. In that list, I ended up including all works of Dostoevsky I have read so far and now I am so glad to have these amazing novels to look forward to once again this year. What works are you planning to reread this year?

“Love was a country he knew nothing about.” Another Country was my second Baldwin after Giovanni’s Room. This was a highly ambitious work of Baldwin’s, the manuscript of which he carried around with him for years as he “sought the ease and peace and time to finish the book,” finally finishing it with a deep sigh of relief in Istanbul after 13 years. It took me a long while to finish this book even as I was staggered by Badwin’s genius as he explored themes of love, identity, race and sexuality through a small group of people living in New York during the 50s. It is a world where love and hate, violence and intimacy are found co-existing in relationships, where each character is deeply flawed and are themselves not just the victims of violence, cruelty and emotional and physical abuse but also the perpetrators of the same. More than plot, this book explores their inner struggles as they try to find their footing in a society divided by race, gender and sexuality even as they feel alienated not just from the world around them but from each other. With beautiful prose characteristic to Baldwin, the narrative is intense, hard, heavy and passionate. While the book was not what I had expected initially, the hold it had on me while I was reading it is one that is not going away anytime soon. Baldwin is an author whose insight into the human nature is fearless and brutally honest and makes it hard to look away no matter how much you might want to. One of my favourite quotes about Baldwin comes from Dr. Lesley Nelson which also serves as an important reminder while reading Baldwin because he won’t promise you the easiest of times- “Don’t be afraid of the way his work bites- the discomfort is necessary for change” and on this note, I am looking forward to reading his works of nonfiction next.

“Above all else I wanted to be understood. I wanted it to be understood that sometimes the falling evening shadows made my mood plummet into its own black shadow. I wanted it to be understood that my brain drowned in anxiety. I wanted it to be understood that I was scared of people getting angry at me for my many anxieties. I wanted it to be understood that I was hard to understand and that I was well aware of this.” Elysian Fields by Twila Gingerich is a beautiful, raw, and gut wrenching narrative that provides an intimate glimpse in the life of Imogen, as she navigates her way as a college student, battling with anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. The book almost reads like Imogen’s diary considering how closely we follow her as she battles her way through life. She is making progress in her life, going to therapy, taking medication that is finally working for her, communicating about her needs more with people close to her when she has to face an incident that has the ability to dismantle everything she has worked towards until now. This was a very well written book, and one that gives a very real and close look at what mental illness can feel like and the impact it can have on every single aspect of the lives of ones suffering. It was a revelation to follow a narrator so personally for whom world doesn’t work as smoothly as it seems to for everyone around her and how the lack of normalcy and predictability in her own life makes her feel isolated from everyone around her. It gives us an honest and raw portrayal into her vulnerability and fears as well as beautifully showcases her connection with nature and the solace she finds in its constantly changing seasons. This book deserves all the recognition for its tender and personal insight into the impact of mental illness and bringing us one step closer on a long road to understanding it better. Thank you @twilagingerich for writing such a beautifully devastating and lyrically descriptive book and for gifting me a copy 💌

I got done with my exam yesterday so spent the entire day today trying to bring my room to some semblance of normality and ofc started with the bookshelves which is always my favourite part but also the one that leaves me with zero energy to do anything afterwards. At the same time, nothing can compete with the feeling of contentment that fills me once every book is at its place even if it’s in the overgrowing stacks that won’t fit into any shelves. I am finally looking forward to some chill time spent reading books, something I haven’t done for the past two weeks. I have made some reading resolutions I am determined to keep up with this year which include finally reading quite a few anticipated books as well as rereading more books. Besides that, I am excited to see what this year has in store but for now I just want to express my gratitude to every single one of you here. Happy New Year ✨

January reading list 📚✨ It’s a new year and ofcourse I too have a long list of books I want to read in 2025, but I am starting my January with two books from my 2024 reading pile only. I have been reading Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet on and off for the past few months but I am hoping to finish it in all its entirety in January. I started Baldwin’s Another Country in December but due to time constraints and the fact that I was loving what I was reading, I decided to keep it aside until I could do it justice and give it the time and attention it deserves. I am saving it for after 7th of January since I am not reading anything until then. Two of my reading resolutions for 2025 are to read more Indian Literature as well as non-fiction books and I have decided to read one book of each every month. Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence came highly recommended by @_notesandnovels and The Aquariums of Pyongyang is a book @dearmydash has been telling me to read ever since she first read it two years ago so I am eagerly waiting to read it. I am hoping to read a lot more books this month but for now, these will remain priority for me. What are your reading resolutions for 2025?

2024 was a year of filled with beautiful moments spent with my best friends, travelling, going to bookstores, seeing some of the best sunsets, and ofcourse moon gazing 💌 looking forward to 2025!✨

Hamish Morjaria’s The Curse of Muziris was truly a thrilling ride that kept me on the edge of my seat, especially towards the end. With its captivating narrative and its short chapters this book was unputdownable. The way it alternated between different time periods, places and perspectives made it so enjoyable and addictive. The book follows Dr. Harveen Gill, an archeologist determined to prove her mettle, as she tries to uncover the location of the lost port of Muziris, once a legendary trading port in India which disappeared after the first century. Another narrative follows a trader, Jayesh in 72AD as he hides an important religious relic, after it wreaks devastation on its arrival in India. As Harveen comes closer to uncovering the truth about the port and the hidden relic, she has to deal with the Vatican’s Santa Alleanza, a deadly and ruthless intelligence service who are determined not to let a truth that would shake the very foundations of the Christian religion come to light. I read this book amid a very busy schedule and yet found myself intrigued by its intricate web of history, mythology and secrets. I am also really looking forward to its film adaptation. It would be incredible to see this magnificent tale brought to life on screen. Thank you @panmacmillanindia for the copy!

favourite books from the last six months 📚💌 I’ve been very lucky to have read some really good books in the last six months. But there are some books I find myself thinking about every day. Each of them have been an incredible & unforgettable experience and one I wish I could go back to over and over again. Ever since I read it, I’ve been in awe of Jon Fosse’s Septology. The way it challenged me as a reader, the way it completely took over my mind, making me immerse myself fully into its stunning narrative makes this a book of a lifetime. The Strange Case of Billy Biswas is a book I am always going to cherish. Even thinking about it is bringing tears into my eyes just because of how much I loved it and everything it talked about. I still find it unbelievable that not more people know about this book because it is a brilliant work of Indian literature that should be more talked about and it deserves so much love and recognition. If you take one recommendation from me, let it be this one. Reading Beautiful World Where Are You made my heart ache. What I wouldn’t give to experience it for the first time again. I have never related to a book more in my life and now I find myself thinking of it every single day and to think I was scared of reading it at first because of all the bad reviews. A big thanks to every one of those girls who dm’d me about this book, saying how much they really loved it. If it hadn’t been for you, I might not have picked this one up so soon! A Fine Balance is a book that took me a long while to pick up but when I did, it was impossible to divert my attention to anything else. The time period it is set in is a time that haunts the history of our country and to read about something that I have grown up listening to bone chilling accounts of, told in a narrative that was a perfect balance of heartbreaking and hopeful was a stunning experience. East of Eden is Steinbeck’s masterpiece and also the reason I have been in a kind of reading slump ever since I finished it. This is a book I want to come back to over and over again just because of how brilliant it was. A new favourite classic! Which are your favourite books from this year?

I finished The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus last week. It is one of Camus’ most talked about works and so I couldn’t resist picking it up so soon after getting a copy. Did it go the way I expected? Not at all. I either overestimated myself when it came to reading philosophical works or I underestimated Camus. I was expecting to breeze through this work. I didn’t. It took me days to finish it despite the fact that it was less than 140 pages and the text challenged me at every page. It is a text that requires you to pause and reflect very often and it’s not so easy to comprehend everything in one reading. Despite it going half over my head I continued with book because it was my first reading and I didn’t want to burden myself with over analysing and trying to grasp everything. In the coming months, I want to read more about Camus and this work in order to understand it so that at the time of my second reading I am able to keep up with it a little more.

“She seemed to him an exquisitely coloured vignette heading the first chapter of his new life.” Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark is the perfect book to get you out of a reading slump. When I picked this book, I was struggling to finish a single book and my current reads were piling up next to my bed. This book came at the perfect time and I read it under 24 hours which was very satisfying. Originally written in Russian, it was retranslated into English by Nabokov himself when he didn’t like Winifred Roy’s translation. It is a short novel which follows a rich and respectable married man and his obsession with a young girl- a blind obsession that has him being made into the ultimate fool, bringing a disastrous turn in his own life. With its dark humour and deadpan narrative, from the beginning itself, the book reads like one hilarious but ironical joke, providing the reader with a perfect blend of tragic and comic. If you are looking for something short, quick and easy to read to complete your reading goal for the year or just to get out of a reading slump, I would definitely recommend this book. It is also a great introduction to Vladimir Nabokov’s writing style and his works especially Lolita since both follow the similar theme of a grown ass man lusting after a young girl.

sometimes all you need is to sit under the blue sky and read a book your friend recommended At the end of november, I reread Willa Cather’s My Antonia, two years after being first introduced to the author through this work itself. It is the last book in her Great Plains Trilogy and one I loved even more this time. While I have read the first book, O Pioneers!, I only recently acquired a copy of the second book in the trilogy The Song of the Lark, and I am really eager to read this and more of Cather in the new year.

“This town is full of echoes. It’s as if they were trapped in the gaps of the walls or beneath the cobblestones. As you walk, you feel someone following in your footsteps. You hear things rustling. Laughter. Old laughter, as if it were tired of laughing. And voices that are weary from overuse. You hear all those things. I imagine the day will come when these sounds wither away.” Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo is a short, challenging but captivating piece of literature that follows Juan Preciado as he sets out for Comala to look for his father in order to fulfil a promise he made to his dying mother. As he reaches there, he finds it to be a dead town- a desolate and barren wasteland filled with restless souls wandering around. It is the tormented voices and memories of these dead people which reconstruct for the reader the life of Pedro Paramo- a life of violent passion, atrocities and tyranny. The narrative of this book is fragmented, non-linear and polyphonic. It changes from past to present, from one consciousness to another, blurring the lines between life and death, real and the supernatural. It is a book that demands your full attention. One of the reasons I picked this book was because of its impact on Latin American writers but especially on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose One Hundred Years of Solitude I read and loved immensely this year. It was fascinating to see the influence this book had on Gabo because only after reading this did I realise how the isolation of Macondo reflected the phantoms haunting Comala. Not only that, both the books explore the themes of solitude and violence with narratives that elude you unless you give them your full attention. Next time I read Pedro Paramo, I will make sure to read One Hundred Years of Solitude immediately afterwards so I can read the latter as a continuation of the former.