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. I'm leaning more into nonfiction now. I guess I've always been angry and frustrated deep inside. About the climate crisis, social injustice, war, etc. Living in the comforting world of fiction was an escape from all these thoughts. As I read more nonfiction, I get angrier, but I know I should keep myself informed of reality. Then perhaps I'd be able to do something about it. I'm not ...

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. 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 was infuriating. Aside from this, do I think it deserves the prize? I think there must have been books in the shortlist/longlist I'd've liked better than this, though I haven't read the others. Also, I found the book repetitive and predictable. The theme, the stories, the characters, maybe even the dialogues. 

The Doctor and the Saint  is a nonfiction essay that presents a theoretical debate between 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. The essay was published as the introduction to B.R. Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste, a text of a speech that was never delivered. Gandhi admirers beware! The book reveals some surprising, lesser-known facts about him. For one, he was consistently inconsistent. Who'd've thought! Caste system. Can someone please explain? AR : "What we call the caste system today is known in Hinduism's founding texts as 'varnashrama dharma' or 'chaturvarna', the system of four varnas. The approximately four thousand endogamous castes and subcastes (jatis) in Hindu society, each with its own specified hereditary occupation, are divide...

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 favourite, but you don’t always have to love what others love. Still, it was nice,  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. Sylvia Plath doesn’t hold anything back; her words cut deep. If you’re someone who prefers cosy reads and gentle narratives, avoid this book. [update: She was racist, wasn't she?] 📗 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. Of all the books I read last year, this one was my favourite. There’s something about the tone—so kind, respectful, and deeply caring.  📕 One Hundred Years of Solitude , Gabriel García Márquez What...

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 ...

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 the book series until I watched the Netflix series, Anne With An E. Oh, how I came to adore Anne. Then, I wanted to read the books and continue Anne's life in my head. It's been a delight.  I've picked out some excerpts and lines, some of which are my favourites, some that resonated with me, and some that reminded me of things.  1. Anne of Green Gables Orphan Anne Shirley is mistakenly sent to live with siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in Avonlea. With her vivid imagination, talkative nature, and warm heart, Anne slowly wins over the community while learning lessons about friendship, mistakes, and belonging. ~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, you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you." 2.  Anne of Avonle...

"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...

 " If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable. If you will love what seems to be insignificant and will in an unassuming manner, as a servant, seek to win the confidence of what seems poor, then everything will become easier, more harmonious, and somehow more conciliatory, not for your intellect - that will most likely remain behind, astonished - but for your innermost consciousness, your awakeness, and your inner knowing." "dear friend, embrace your solitude and love it." "Your innermost happening is worth all your love." "Do not expend too much courage or time to clarify your position to others." "We must embrace struggle. Every living thing conforms to it. Everything in nature grows and struggles in its own way, establishing its own identity, insisting on it at all cost, against all resistance." "To love is also good, fo...

"Piranesi" is set in a strange, dreamlike world called the House, an endless labyrinth of halls filled with statues. The protagonist, Piranesi, lives alone here, meticulously recording his observations in journals. He believes only one other person exists—the mysterious "Other," who meets him to discuss a search for "Great and Secret Knowledge." As the story unfolds, Piranesi begins to uncover the hidden truths about the House, his identity, and the unsettling reality behind his existence. The novel explores themes of memory, identity, isolation, and the nature of reality. It delves into how our surroundings shape who we are and challenges the idea of reality itself, while also examining humanity’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and the risks that come with it. Is It Worth Reading? Absolutely. "Piranesi" is a richly atmospheric, beautifully written novel that pulls readers into a unique, mysterious world. Though I found the first quarter of th...

  Opening Line:  "Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself." I read Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan , and there’s one thing I need to talk about: the chrono-synclastic infundibulum .  In the novel, the chrono-synclastic infundibulum is described as a region of space where different truths coexist simultaneously, and all perspectives are equally valid. It's a sort of cosmic zone where time, space, and reality bend in such a way that contradictory ideas can exist together without conflict. Within this region, the linear, singular perspective of time and reality breaks down, allowing for multiple realities to overlap. The character, Winston Niles Rumfoord, becomes permanently stuck in a chrono-synclastic infundibulum while on a space journey. As a result, he is no longer a solid being in one place or time but exists as a wave that can materialize on Earth, Mars, and Titan whenever these planets align with his wave trajectory. This gives Rumfoord ...