Miss Clueless

What books have I read in July? Let's see. 1. The Indispensable Zinn, Howard Zinn 2. A Livable Future is Possible, Noam Chomsky, C.J.  Polychroniou 3. Manufacturing Consent, Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky 4. History of Manipur Pre-Colonial Period, Gangmumei Kamei 5. Rebel India, Henry Noel Brailsford 6. Rainbow Valley, L.M. Montgomery The Indispensable Zinn is a curated collection of Howard Zinn's most influential writings. The book highlights his lifelong commitment to social justice, anti-war activism, and grassroots democracy. It includes selections from A People's History of the United States and his speeches, essays, and personal reflections. He made a powerful case for ordinary people as agents of change in history, which is exactly the kind of thing I want to read, learn, and get inspired by. I'm very glad I picked this up. A Livable Future is Possible is a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky conducted by journalist C.J. Polychroniou (sounds like a chemical su...

 Today is the last day of June, and I feel compelled to jot down the books I read this month to reflect on my experience and learnings. These are the books: ~The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen ~My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy ~Annihilation of Caste by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ~History of Modern Manipur by Lal Dena Just four. It's okay, really. There is no compulsion to read 6/7 books every month. Reading fewer books doesn't mean I'm learning less. In fact, I learned more deeply. The books this month have been impactful in different ways. Clearly, there is a shift in my choices, and I feel this was meant to be. Meaning, I'm leaning more into nonfiction now. I guess I've always been angry and frustrated deep inside. Angry about the climate crisis, social injustice, discrimination, violence, war, exploitation, etc., etc. I was just deluding myself, living in the comforting world of fiction, escaping all these thoughts. As I read more nonfiction, I get angrier, but I k...

Reading Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq—the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025—was, I'm not going to lie, a frustrating experience. This is a collection of short stories about oppressed Muslim women, many of whom are trapped in painful, inhumane relationships, mostly with their husbands. What broke me was the fact that so many of these women had no way out. No choice. Their circumstances, their communities, and the world around them offered little to no support. Reading about their lives burned. It made me angry. It made me feel helpless.  But maybe that’s what this book is meant to do—hold up a mirror, make us feel the injustice, and help us understand what these women go through every day. Maybe if more people read these stories, things can change. Awareness is the first step. Empathy is next. Another thing that stood out to me was the writing itself. The book is translated from Kannada, and since I lived in a Kannada-speaking city for more than a decade, the language ...

The Doctor and the Saint  is a nonfiction essay, a theoretical debate between two towering figures in Indian history: B.R. Ambedkar and M.K. Gandhi. The "doctor" refers to Ambedkar, jurist, economist, and the chief architect of India’s Constitution, while the "saint" is Gandhi, the internationally revered leader of India’s independence movement. Roy challenges the sanitized image of Gandhi often taught in mainstream narratives, especially regarding his views and actions on caste. She contrasts this with Ambedkar’s radical anti-caste politics, his lived experience as a Dalit, and his demand for dignity and structural change. The book not only examines their ideological rift but also asks hard questions about how we remember history, who gets to tell it, and what justice really looks like. In the book , Arundhati Roy writes: For a writer to have to use terms like ‘Untouchable,’ ‘Scheduled Caste,’ ‘Backward Class,’ and ‘Other Backward Classes’ to describe fellow human ...

May was a month of mixed moods and powerful stories. Some books were as comforting as a bedtime drink, while others cracked open bigger conversations about history, identity, and mortality. Here's a look at everything I read this month: 📘  The Little Prince , Antoine de Saint-Exupéry A tender philosophical tale wrapped in a children's story about a young prince's journey through planets and people. This may be a global favorite, but you don’t always have to love what others love. Still, it was nice—gentle, wistful, and okay in the best way. 🧹  Kiki’s Delivery Service , Eiko Kadono A young witch starts her own delivery business and finds independence and friendship in a seaside town. Reading this felt like drinking a warm cup of milk. Pure comfort. 🌿  The God of Small Things , Arundhati Roy A haunting, nonlinear novel about forbidden love, caste, and childhood trauma in Kerala. I get why this is famous—and I totally agree. Roy’s language is lush, her story devastating. ...

Not all books are forgettable. Some linger like ghosts or old friends. Here are 5 that won’t leave me alone. 📘 The Bell Jar , Sylvia Plath What it’s about: A story about a young woman struggling with mental health and feeling out of place in the world. Read this if you like  emotional, honest stories that go deep, even when they’re hard to read. I’m scared of this book. And yet, I can’t stop thinking about it. Sylvia Plath doesn’t hold anything back; her words cut deep. If you’re someone who prefers cozy reads and gentle narratives, this is your warning: The Bell Jar is neither cozy nor gentle. It’s haunting. Somehow, it made me question other authors I once admired. It’s too intense to reread and too powerful to forget. 📗 Letters to a Young Poet , Rainer Maria Rilke What it’s about: A series of thoughtful letters full of gentle advice about life, art, and being true to yourself. Read this if you enjoy  quiet, reflective books and need a little creative encouragement....

April made me stronger than ever. It’s the books that I read, the characters, and the authors. These books will shock you, break your heart, heal you, inspire you, educate you, and, above all, make you stronger than ever.    ~The Color Purple by Alice Walker ~Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ~I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou ~Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin ~Beloved by Toni Morrison I have added some lines from each book that I'd like to revisit. The Color Purple by Alice Walker I started the month with this one. Published in 1982. Miss Celie finds her voice and healing through letters, sisterhood, and self-love. I’ll remember her and Shug Avery. It is because of this love that racism, as evidenced by belief in superior and inferior looks and mentalities, failed to impress me. if we persevere, we may, like her, eventually settle into amazement that by some unfathomable kindness we have received just the right keys we need to unlock ...

I've read Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Men without Women, First Person Singular, and The Strange Library. If there's one book I regret reading, it's Norwegian Wood. I was curious about the title, and it is quite famous, so I picked it up. If I had known what I know now, I would have never read. That book is so depressing. But boy! Was I excited to find cats carried mysterious significance in his writing, like in Kafka on the Shore? Oh yes! The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle took me to strange wells and shadow worlds. That was something. And The Strange Library was quite interesting. But that's all. I don't think I'm going to read another Murakami book. I have my reason.  After reading a few of his books, I started to see a pattern that I did not like: his female characters. If you've read his books, you may know what I'm talking about. I get it; his protagonists are solitary, introspective men, flawed, lonely, and even emotiona...

A little recap of what I've read in the past three months.  January ~Anne's House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery ~A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul ~Arrival/Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang ~Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw February ~A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf ~Winter Recipes from the Collective by Louise Glück  ~Dottie by Abdulrazak Gurnah  ~The Enigma of Arrival by V. S. Naipaul  ~The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón March ~Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ~The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ~Anne of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery ~Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan ~The Stranger by Albert Camus ~The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov To pick a favourite from each month: For Jan, I liked  A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul so much. I've been reading books by Western authors, mostly by white people, about white people. I've also read some Asian authors, but I...

Some titles describe. Some titles intrigue. And then, some titles don’t just name a book—they  whisper a feeling. For me, the most beautiful of them all is On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous  by Ocean Vuong I picked up this book following Andrew Garfield's book recommendations. When I first heard/saw this title, I was like, wow! Hmm... While I may not like the book as much (I mean, my favorites are other books), the title of this one tops all else I’ve read. I just want to appreciate it by making a blog post about it. It's a title that holds love, grief, beauty, and brevity—all at once. It doesn’t ask for attention. It deserves it. And a few others that live rent-free in my head (some of these may not be what you call beautiful, but I just like them): To Kill a Mockingbird The Book Thief One Hundred Years of Solitude Howl’s Moving Castle The Catcher in the Rye A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Bell Jar Never Let Me Go Piranesi Beloved The Time Traveler's Wife And Then There W...

I read Sapiens last year, and I still think about it sometimes. Especially these lines... The secret was probably the appearance of fiction. Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. The pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship, and not for the last time. It happens to us today. How many young college graduates have taken demanding jobs in high-powered firms, vowing that they will work hard to earn money that will enable them to retire and pursue their real interests when they are thirty-five? But by the time they reach that age, they have large mortgages, children to school, houses in the suburbs that necessitate at least two cars per family, and a sense that life is not worth living without really good wine and expensive holidays abroad. What are they supposed to do, go back to digging up roots? No, they double their efforts and keep slaving away. History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was plo...

I think 59 is a decent number; no speed-reading here, just enjoyment. Here's my list of 59 books I read in 2024. How many do we have in common? ;) A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara 😭 Pachinko, Min Jin Lee 😍 Yellowface, R F Kuang  Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev  Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez 😍 Post Office, Charles Bukowski  The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 😍 Kafka On The Shore, Haruki Murakami🙂 Middlemarch, George Elliot  To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 😍 Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones🙂 A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger🙂 Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie  Later, Stephen King  Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky  All Systems Red, Martha Wells  The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy  The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut  Piranesi, Susanna Clarke🙂 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain To the Lighthouse, Virginia Wo...

I read Orbital by Samantha Harvey, the Booker Prize winner for 2024, and here are a few lines worth remembering from the book, at least for me! .............. She finds she often struggles for things to tell people at home, because the small things are too mundane and the rest is too astounding and there seems to be nothing in between, none of the usual gossip, the he-said-she-said, the ups and downs; there is a lot of round and round. The strongest, most deducible proof of life in the photograph is the photographer himself—his eye at the view-finder, the warm press of his finger on the shutter release. I love the moon as it is, she said. Yes, yes, he'd answered, me too, but all those things are beautiful, because their beauty doesn't come from their goodness, you didn't ask if progress is good, and a person is not beautiful because they're alive, like a child. Alive and curious and restless. Never mind good. They're beautiful because there's a light in their ey...

I didn't know about Anne of Green Gables or any books in the series until I watched the Netflix series Anne With An E. I really enjoyed it and I came to adore Anne. So naturally I wanted to read the books and continue Anne's life in my mind, after finishing the series. I'm done wrapping up the 4th book, Anne of Windy Poplars. It's been such a delight. I've picked out some excerpts, and lines from the book here, some of which are my favorites, some that resonated with me, and some that reminded me of pieces of stuff.  1. Anne of Green Gables ~For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement. ~"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you." 2.  Anne of Avonlea ~Far and wide was a white carpet, knee deep, of hailstones; drifts of them were heaped...

"I like good strong words that mean something." "Have regular hours for work and play, make each day both useful and pleasant, prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty." "I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day." "If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now." "Love is a great beautifier." "When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least." "You have grown abominably lazy, you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly ...

So I recently watched the 2017 Russian adaptation of Anna Karenina , an eight-part series by Mosfilm (one of the largest and oldest film studios in the Russian Federation and in Europe, according to Wikipedia). This one takes a unique narrative approach, presenting the story from Vronsky’s perspective.  Let me tell you—I was absolutely enthralled. From the acting to the costumes, the sets to the overall production quality, I liked almost everything about this adaptation, except for a few scenes and bits here and there. The performances felt authentic and moving, capturing the essence of the novel’s characters with remarkable fidelity. So satisfying was this adaptation that I’m not eager to seek out others. Somehow, I feel that no other version could match the artistry of this one. I’d like to explore more films and series by this studio, and I most certainly will. And I don't know why it's got such low ratings: 6.3/10 on IMDb and 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. It DESERVES much higher!...

It was a joy reading Upstream by Mary Oliver. H ere are a few quotes and phrases from the book that I want to keep remembering. "you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life" "I quickly found for myself two such blessings- the natural world, and the world of writing: literature. These were the gates through which I vanished from a difficult place." "Reading, then writing, then desiring to write well, shaped in me that most joyful of circumstances- a passion for work." "..having chosen to claim my life, I have made for myself, out of work and love, a handsome life" "And that I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life. It is mine. I made it. And can do what I want to with it. Live it. Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes." "Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it c...

“Don’t you wonder sometimes, what might have happened if you tried?” “She always wanted to believe in things.” “All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.” “You say you’re sure? Sure that you’re in love? How can you know it? You think love is so simple? ” “The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.” “I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel, world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go.” "I could make out in the mid-distance, near where the field began to fall away, Tommy's figure, raging, shouting, flinging his fists and kicking out. I caught a glimpse of...