Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January, 2016

Featured Post

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

Books in the bag (India trip Part 1) | The Sunday Salon

This is where I am going to ignore the fact that it's been a month since we got back from India. Because I am still working on my posts about that trip. You know how that goes when you don't have time to even get the camera out and gather the photos. Butttttt, I've been working on this post for a while, if not by actually writing it, then by composing it mentally. One of my plans for the trip even before leaving was to visit a certain bookstore when we were in the husband's town and grab books written by Indian authors. I had been to that store (DC books) four years ago and had a vague memory of seeing many shelves of such books. However, when we went this time, we didn't see as many books by Indian authors as I had imagined there would be. That was a bummer but we still got some good books there. A week later, we were in Chennai when we decided to go to another bookstore (Starmark) at a mall. This wasn't in the plans so I am glad this happened because t

Six months! | Five on Friday

#Snomaggeddon! We were snowed in last weekend. I was working from home on Friday - well, working as well as I could with a feisty six month old who didn't nap as much or as long as her mom would like her to. But snow days have their own charm too even if all I like to do is stare at the snow. For all that long weekend fun, I came down with something on Sunday that shut me down for two days. So I was out on Monday as well trying to recuperate. Shreya turned six months last week! I had been waiting for this milestone from the day she was born. I knew she was going to be more interactive by then (she did start being more feisty at the four month point itself actually). Besides, the six month point was when I wanted to start her on solids (which is going shakily, btw). Now that six months is here, I do feel emotional knowing that another few months and she is going to be one year old! Two weeks back, our baby's nanny quit , with no notice and after taking an advance pa

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

When it comes to graphic novels or memoirs, I rarely ever read the back of the book or try to find out what the book is about. I am usually done with a graphic book within half an hour, and those 30 minutes either got wasted on a dud or spent with the most amazing comic book. Usually, it's the latter. If it's turning out to be the former, I tend to bail out very early. I am also usually indiscriminate with graphic books. As long as they are not part of a series or are not from the manga category, they find their way to my hands. However, when it came to Blue is the Warmest Color , I found myself ignoring that book. The cover art, as gorgeous as it is, didn't fascinate me for some reason. Plus, it kinda looked manga-ish to me. I know that's a stretch but who knows what the my brain sees when it looks at a picture. It was only after coming across a few articles / reviews recommending this book that I decided to give it a try.  The 30 minutes I spent with this

Reading Plans for 2016 | The Sunday Salon

I've been writing and thinking about this post for a while. At times, I was sure that I should not make any reading plans, but at other times, I craved some structure or plan to guide my reading. Initially, I started off with a bunch of goals, then later I stripped out a lot of it to focus on only what I really want to do this year. Obviously, going through half of January and not really reading much has helped put these goals in perspective. So rather than get lost in a sea of goals, I figured I could split them into stuff I definitely should do and stuff I would like to do. {Do} Start each month with a book from my shelf. Almost 28% of books I read last year were from my own shelves. That to me, is a win. I'm hoping to stay more or less around that same number or do better. {Want} Read a book from India each month. I have been very bad about reading books set in India. I do decent on trying to read diversely but not many of those books are from India. I only say I &q

Hitting milestones and losing help | Five on Friday

This week, we crossed a big milestone with Shreya. We started her on solids. For the past few weeks, she has been overly interested in my food and what I do with it. So now, whenever we seat her on her high chair, she is more than excited to be the one going to eat all that food. Suddenly, she feels like an adult, sitting in a chair, eating out of a bowl with a spoon. (Of course, I am the one holding the bowl and the spoon.) I initially wrote a very different point here but things changed couple of hours later. Shreya's nanny quit yesterday. She asked for her paycheck in advance on Wednesday (and we paid her), and then she left a letter in our diaper table yesterday saying she quit. So in addition to leaving us without another option at short notice, she has also taken our money. So much drama! I mentioned before that Shreya has not been warming up to her. Her babysitter would put her down in her crib to cry, not going to her until some time has passed. At one point, I had

Favorite-something books of 2015

Every year, I look forward to writing this post and highlighting the books that I raved about during the previous year. That doesn't mean it is easy to curate such a list. I find that once I put that initial list together, I like to ponder that for a while, reread my reviews, and rethink what I want to type here. Times like these, I am glad that I don't get through a lot of books in a year. One thing that occurred this time though was coming across a book I rated highly and... not remembering anything about it. Phoenix , a short story by Chuck Palahniuk, was an unputdownable read that left me thinking long after. I know it involves a couple going through a patch. I also know that I loved the construction of the story - how it made me sympathetic with one character only to turn the tables halfway through. But exactly what transpired - I am drawing a blank. It's a good thing that it is a story so I can read it again. Below are my favorite reads from 2015, in no particular

2015 in Life and Reading | The Sunday Salon

If I had to describe 2015 in three words, I would pick pregnancy, travels, and Shreya. But my reading didn't suffer either. Despite all the reasons I should have been busy in 2015, it was a pretty good year for my books. Life, mostly... January started with me being three months pregnant and finally out of the first trimester nausea. We had celebrated the New Year in DC (interestingly, that's where we were this January 1st as well). The next few months were a haze of work, ultrasound scans, and a feeling of impatience while waiting for the baby. We took a couple of weeks off in March to visit Toronto, Quebec City, and Niagara Falls, where we had a really amazing time. Plus, I brought home a truckload of books, so the trip was productive as well. Mid-June onwards, we started waiting for Shreya, who had her own schedule and would come out only after five weeks. By that time, all the dates that the family was betting on had come and gone. Shreya's first month was probab

Back from vacation | Five on Friday

We got back from India this past weekend and spent most of the evenings in a dreadfully sleepy state. The day after we reached home, we "napped" for six hours in the afternoon. With the baby. #facepalm The baby has been sleeping early every evening (at almost 4 PM), and she is usually up at 3 AM in the morning. I am now wired to also wake up without complaints (almost) at 3 AM, but boy, it will be great to be able to sleep a couple hours longer. A happy babe at 3 AM in the morning On Monday, a nanny started watching Shreya at our home. Shreya had recently started being clingy so it showed very clearly this week. She had a huge crying fit through most of Monday and part of Tuesday. She started responding better on Wednesday but Thursday was much of the same deal. She is also fighting a cold which is making it harder for her to settle down. It was rough. I really want this nanny thing to work out. I am not ready for daycares yet. The library branch I go to has been c