Friday Favourites: Notebooks + Plants + Books + Current Reads + Pouches.

 

1. Floral Notebooks from The Ink Bucket. 

Things of beauty and perfect pocket sized journals. 

2. Two Great Books I Read Earlier in the Year. 

Both set in cities I've called home, 

Bombay and Bangalore. 

The Alchemy of Secrets by Priya Balasubramanian is set in Bangalore in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid Demolition and how communal tensions can effect even the most peaceful neighbourhoods and change lives forever. It was a moving read and so relevant in these times. I really enjoyed this book, the writing was lovely and it brought to life the simmering tensions that we all felt in the aftermath of the riots of 1992 and that we occasionally feel every now and then. 

4/5 

Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges: This is one of the best things I've read all year. 

Bombay back in the day and a wonderful sense of community and a host of charming characters. 

So good! 

5/5 

3. Pouches from iTokri: I recently got these two embroidered pouches from iTokri. I love the NGO that makes these pouches, it's called Dastakar Ranthambore, the make beautiful things and work in animal conservation. I've bought many things from them over the years: cushion covers, little pillows, bags and pouches. We saw that they had some new designs and we had to get them. 

4. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara: My current read is a thing of beauty. 

Plot Summary: The stunning debut novel, from the author of A Little Life.

It is 1950 when Norton Perina, a young doctor, embarks on an expedition to a remote Micronesian island in search of a rumoured lost tribe. There he encounters a strange group of forest dwellers who appear to have attained a form of immortality that preserves the body but not the mind. Perina uncovers their secret and returns with it to America, where he soon finds great success. But his discovery has come at a terrible cost, not only for the islanders, but for Perina himself.

A faux memoir about a scientist and a Nobel Prize winner who is currently in jail after being convicted of sexual offences. A bit odd. A bit out there. But so incredibly well-written and I am only a little bit in, like 40 odd pages, but I am really loving this tale. I read A Little Life back when it came out and it felt like a punch to the gut...in mostly a good way, so I always meant to read the author's debut novel and it's taken me quite sometime to get to it. Well, better late than never. 

:) 

5. Flowers: My parent's winder garden is in bloom and nothing makes me happier. We have had a bad bout of something called mealy worms which we've managed to subdue with some rose and lavender toner and some detergent water. 

Uff! 

Be gone you creepy bugs. 

The poor Aparajita flowers were the worst affected. But it's on the mend now. 

Hope you are well this Friday evening. 

I am down with a bad bout of cold and occasionally cough. 

UGH! 

:( 

So hoping to rest this weekend and read my book and lie down. 

Hope you have a good weekend!