Miss Clueless

I finished the MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood. Book 1 in June and Books 2 &3 in July. Also read 3 other books- two of which were very short. I could read only a little in the first 3 weeks this month. Then things came up. 1. The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood Book 2 in the trilogy.  "...we must be a beacon of hope, because if you tell people there’s nothing they can do, they will do worse than nothing." Humans cause so much suffering on earth. At times, I wonder how the world will be without them. This trilogy offers a little peek into that world. The flood in the title is the flood that wipes out the human species.  2. MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood Book 3 in the trilogy.  Out of the 3, I like the first one. The rest are okay. But overall, I enjoyed the trilogy. 3. Justice for Animals, Martha C. Nussbaum "all animals, both human and non-human, live on this fragile planet, on which we depend for everything that matters. We didn’t choose to be here. We found our...

"By the time they have read enough books to actually reach a state of knowledge where they can do anything with it, they are dead." Quote from "The Humans" by Matt Haig. I guess, no time to lose. Keep reading. I may be able to make it. Also, no need to keep reading books if I don't enjoy them. This month, I didn't finish most of the books I started. 1. Speaking with Nature by Ramachandra Guha I wish more people cared about the environment, climate change, wildlife conservation, and animal rights, along with human rights. Lately, I have started picking up books on such topics. Speaking with Nature is about the origins of Indian environmentalism.   "The high living standards of one part of the world were in part enabled by its control of other parts of the world. Imperialism, the domination of one country or people over another, was therefore not just immoral, but also, in an environmental and ecological sense, unsustainable." Reading this was going ...

Time flies. May is done, well, almost.  Let's see what I read. 1. Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis You can guess from the name what the book's about.  "..the force of a new intelligence against the old ignorance. The struggle of an enlightened conscience against the whole brood of social miseries, born out of the stress and pain of a hated past." Talking about a miserable/hated past, one thing pops up: slavery is so bad that a mother chose to kill her own daughter so that she would never know what a woman suffered as a slave. I had heard of Margaret Garner before (I have read Beloved twice). I hate slavery.  Angela Davis is worth reading. 2. Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill "I had no clue what I could do, but I knew I was meant to do something." And she did.  She lived in a tree named "Luna", a thousand-year-old redwood, to save her from clear-cutting.  I'm a fan. 3. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert I haven't finis...

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Stoner by John Williams Demons (or The Possessed or The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Magus by John Fowles Crime and Punishment is one of my favourite books of all time. My fav by Dostoyevsky. It's my second time reading this book. It's got drama, psychology, philosophy, mystery, and even a love story. It's engaging throughout. Not a single sentence bored me.  Whether or not Raskolnikov will end up being a great man, doing great deeds, will depend on whom? There's an important character without whom he'll perish. Pretty sure. Remember, behind very successful man, there's a ... Stoner. American classic. This was a nice read. I can pick a good book, alright.  Demons. I didn't want to let go of Dostoyevsky after finishing Crime and Punishment. Among the four books considered his great works, this was the only one I hadn't read. So picked it up. Psychological drama. Tragedy. There's something very disturbing...

I don't have any source of income right now (except for a few hundred rupees per month). I don't monetise this blog either. Even if I do, can I sustain myself with that money? doubtful. I should have another source. I'll think of this later. What am I doing now? I am being there for my ageing parent. Helping with raising a child. Just being there for my family. Living a stress-free, peaceful life. At home, with pets. Things that matter more than money. But am I done with my career?  Definitely not.  I may not follow the conventional path, but I am on my own path. There will be more. I'm not willing to "wind up in obscurity". No. ---------- I still think of Ryan sometimes. ---------- Oh, hey, Manipur is on international news. For what? It's got to do with Israel. Embarrassing. I don't like it at all. People are stupid. ---------- Do you know? We are using up our planet almost twice as fast than it can regenerate.  I don't wanna be part of this.  Wha...

Ryan has been missing since yesterday. L got sick last night. Cold, blocked nose. Hardly any of us slept properly. Mom and I planned to go to this one cafe I've been telling her about. But a total shutdown is announced starting today ( 19th April 2026) . This is the thing. A normal, peaceful day is a rarity here. Anyway, I finished Stoner today. A novel by American author John Williams. Originally published in 1965. Genre: Campus novel.  Started reading it a few days ago. Took it slow.  This is probably the first time I've read this genre. It's unexpectedly good. Nothing special though. It's the simplicity I enjoyed.  An ordinary story about an ordinary, quiet man, born at the end of the 19th century, who became an English professor at Columbia University, Missouri. The book starts with his early life on a farm with his parents, his time at university, his married life, his life on campus as an English professor, his becoming a good teacher, and finding love, an...

Imagine the mother in the hospital. Her two children dead. Imagine her reaction when she found out. Can you? Think about it for a second. Before this, there was another news this month. About a seven-year-old girl. If you read about Manipur, you'll know what I'm talking about. Why must it be the children?  Why must it be anyone, for that matter? Why are we still killing each other? Do we really hate each other? The victims paying the price. Mostly ordinary citizens. Innocent children. Did they cause this? Did they deserve this?