Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: February 2021.

 Hello Loves!

February draws to an end and it's time to talk about everything I've read this month. 

I had a pretty decent reading month, I read 10 books in total. 

A good solid number and I read some pretty good books. 

So let's jump into it shall we.. 

1. The Adventures of Goopy The Singer and Bagha The Drummer by Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury: I started my month with this book and it made me so happy. This story and these characters were a  huge part of my childhood and it took me back to my childhood summers and watching the classic films adaptations of the book made by Satyajit Ray, who happens to be the author's grandson. 

Sweet, warm and funny and such great art. 

So much nostalgia.

This book is a total treat. 

5/5 

2, Grandparents' Bag of Stories by Sudha Murty: Another children's book for me and this time by Sudha Murty. A set of short stories set during the lockdown, stories old and new and full of love and connections between grandparents and grandchildren. Soothing and comforting, good for kids and good for grown-ups. 

4/5 

3. Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson 

& 

4. Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson: I read two books by the author this month and I am a fan. She writes books based on real cases, stories from the News and fictionalises them. Stories of young black girls and their issues. 

Grown is about a young talented singer who is charmed and then preyed on by an older, established star. A story we all know and to see such stories on the News, it was interesting and heart breaking to see how these things affect the ones who live through this. 

Monday's Not Coming is about a young girl desperate to find her missing friend who no one else seems to miss. It raises the very valid question of if no one misses you are you really missing? 

I really loved both these books. 

I gave 4/5 to both books. 

Grown I liked a little bit better. 

5. Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: A historical fiction by one of my favourite writers. A bit of history I knew very little about and it was nice to read about a surprisingly strong and heroic woman. I am going to do a detailed post about this book soon. I am still mulling over how I feel about it I did like it for most part but there were some bits where I was quite bored during. 

3/5 

6. How To Be A Writer by Ruskin Bond: I've done a full review of this one. 

In short I loved it. 

This was my birthday read. 

Highly recommend. 

4/5 

7. If You See Me Don't Say Hi by Neel Patel: A collection of short stories set in the US, in Indian-American homes and families. Kinda melancholic, but heartfelt and sincere and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed pretty much all the stories in this set. I breezed through this. I picked it up on a whim and started reading it late one night and I found myself drawn into these stories and this diaspora world. 

4/5

8. The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor: Another favourite author of mine and this one was an atmospheric and spooky read. A full review for this one is up too. 

4/5 

9. Rebirth by Jahnavi Barua: Another read from my birthday week. A slow, deep, sad, heartfelt and moving and wonderful. I will do a full review soon. I do highly recommend this and Undertow by the same author, I read it last year and loved it. 

4/5 

10. Kadambari Devi's Suicide Note by Ranjan Bandyopadhyay: My last read for this month was this short novella about the death and life of Kadambari Devi, the sister-in-law of Rabindranath Tagore. It was interesting and gave you an insight into the illustrious Tagore family and the life and lows of a daughter-in-law of the family. 

2.5/5 

While I enjoy it for most part, I did feel like it would have made more sense in Bangla, some of it's essence was lost in English. 

Book Haul: Books of February 2021 (eBook Haul.)

 Hello Loves! 

Remember how I was saying I didn't buy any books in February? 

Well that went for a toss. 

Harper Collins was and is still having a Mega Sale on their ebooks and I went to check it out and got a few books from them and one other book that had been on my wishlist for a while. 

Six books in total. 

A small haul. 

But a happy one. 

I've already read this book. 

A fictional suicide note of Rabindranath Tagore's sister-in-law Kadambari. Full of musings, hurt, love and longing and an insight into the lives of the Tagore family. 

I will talk more about it my reading wrap-up. 

I do feel like this book would have been a good, a better read in Bengali. It felt a little...I don't know off in English. 

A new Anuja Chauhan book.

Yes please! 

A thriller.

Yes please! 

My hopes are high for this one. 

I am so excited to read this one. 

BOOKS BOUGHT/// 

1. Kadambari Devi's Suicide Note by Ranjan Bandopadhyay

2. A Spoonful of Curds by  Bharati Jagannathan 

3. The Secret Life of Debbie G. by Vibha Batra and Kalyani Ganapathi 

4. Ratna Dholi and The Best Stories of Dhumketu Translated by Jenny Bhatt 

5. Club You to Death by Anuja Chauhan 

6. Bena's Summer by Shibal Bhartiya 

My weekend is indeed all booked! 

Do go check out the #HarperCollinsMegaSale and treat yourself to some ebooks. 

Monthly Favourites: February 2021.

 Hello Loves! 

My favourite month of the year is almost over and it's honestly been a month full of joys big and small. 

My birthday. 

Feeling so loved and cherished. 

Celebrations. 

Cake. 

Good food. 

The last days of winters. 

Saraswati Pujo. 

Writing. 

Watching some good shows. 

So much amazing things I was gifted and some I treated myself to. 

:) 

It was a good month. 

A quiet month and one that I am so grateful for. 

Here are some of my favourites from my favourite little month. 

1. Piggy Cake: My birthday cake was a thing of joy. A pink Piggy cake for a girl who's childhood nickname was Piggy thanks to her propensity to pout and make a pig face on demand. It was super cute and delicious too. 

2. P Pendant: A gift of love that I wore on my birthday. 

P for Pooja. 

I love how minimal and lovely this pendant is.

3. Reading Favourites in February: I didn't read a LOT this month. I think I'll manage to read about 9 books in total this month. But I read some of my favourite authors- Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murty and discovered some new loves. I'll talk about my reads in my monthly reading wrap up. 

4. New BookSleeves: Got some new bookshelves in the mail from Reading Owl Creations and this one might be my favourite. Generously sized and squishy and it holds three paperbacks easily. I also got some Kindle sleeves from them. 

5. Kindle Reading: I read so much on my Kindle this month and bought only ebooks in February. I am so grateful for my Kindle and the ability to buy books in the middle of the night. 

6. Winter Mornings & Coffee: There are a few joys bigger and brighter in the world like the perfect combination of mild winter morning sunshine and a perfectly made cup of coffee. 

7. Studio Joyeeta Pouch and Brooch: My month started perfectly with this happy mail from Joyeeta. A pouch and a brooch and such happy art. 

A closer look at the brooch. 

8. Journal Of Beautiful Things: Finally set one of my journals and got to do it up prettily. I also bought a lot of new journaling supplies this month and I am so excited to incorporate them in new Journal spreads. 

9. Saraswati Pujo: The festival to celebrate the Goddess of Learning and Wisdom. It was a low key affair this year but the kids in my town were allll over town dressed up like it was their wedding day. Always fun to watch. 

10. Tuntuni: My dollie who is my main birthday present from my sister. She is customised and based off a picture from my childhood. She is the cutest. I love her so much. 

11. Beautiful Bookmarks: I bought a ton of bookmarks this month and nothing makes my heart happier. 

The ones in the picture above are from Tanuka Draws, I will share a proper look at them soon. 

12. Planner Pages: I went all out with my planner pages for my birthday week. 

Made it as cute as I could. And went crazyyy with stickers. 

February was a good month! 

Thank you more please! 

Hope your month was good too. 

Book Haul: Books of January 2021.

 Hello Loves! 

Time for this year's first book haul. 

Normally, February means buying a shit ton of books in honour and celebration of my birthday. 

But this year I didn't buy a single book in February. 

Not one. 

Who knew life would take such a turn? 

OK thoda zyada drama ho gaya. 

Well, thing is I am still in my hometown and I have been here since October of 2020 and God alone knows when I'll head back home to Bombay. In these four months, I've bought over 25 physical books and the thought of carting them back across the country makes me feel some kind of way! 

So I saw no point in adding to this existing load. 

I can always go back home and go crazy and buy more books. 

But for my birthday I decided to chill out and let it be. 

I did buy a bunch of books in January and I figured I'd share them with you now. 

What a pretty stack! 

BOOKS BOUGHT: 

1. Rebirth by Jahnavi Barua 

2. The Little Flower Shop by the Sea by Ali McNamara 

3. Grandparents' Bag of Stories by Sudha Murty 

4. How To be A Writer by Ruskin Bond 

5. The Adventures of Goopy The Singer and Bagha The Drummer by Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury 

6. The Namesick by Jhumpa Lahiri 

7. Interpretor of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 

8. Jungle Nama by Amitav Ghosh (this is review copy sent by the publishers) 

9. People's History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian 

I read this beautiful book for my birthday week and loved it so much. 

A full review will come soon! 

Something light and happy and fun and romantic. 

Mainly picked this one up for my sister who has read something by this author before and enjoyed it. 

How pretty is the cover art though? 

More comfort and joy. 

This one is a childhood favourite and one I read to start my birthday month. 

I started the year right by buy, well re-buying two of my favourite books by my favourite author. 

I cannot wait to re-read these and fall in love all over again. 

Read.

Loved.

Reviewed. 

I started reading this and then set it aside to read something more happy and festive for my birthday week. 

It's a good book, which I am going to pick up soon, maybe next month. 

Another book I've read, loved and done a full review on. 

So many brilliant books.

Some I've already read and others I hope to get to soon. 

Haul: Bookmarks from Horinsakua.

Hello Loves!

:) 

Today I want to share some beautiful bookmarks from Horinsakua aka Tejaswinee Hazarika, who is an IG friend of mine. 

:) 

The thing I love best about IG is the wonderful people I've 'met' and befriended over there. So many amazing creative and kind women. 

Tejaswinee is one of them. 

We bonded over our love for very odd Bengali TV shows and the adventures of Santu and Purna. 

:) 

Tejaswinee very kindly sent me her gorgeous creations for my birthday and it's so lovely, bookmarks just have my heart and these make me so happy. 

A sweet note. 

Three hand painted beauties. 

Flowers galore. 

A field of flowers. 

Love the colours on this one. 

My favourite sunflowers. 

Sunflowers just make me so happy. 

I love all of these floral beauties.

Thank you so much Tejaswinee for sending these my way. 

I love them! 

Go check out her work and treat yourself to something beautiful and floral.

Book Review: How To Be A Writer by Ruskin Bond.

 

Book: How To Be A Writer 

Author: Ruskin Bond 

Publisher: Harper Collins India 

Illustrator: Shamika Chaves and Chaaya Prabhat 

Pages: 126 

Read On: Hardback Edition 

How Long It Took Me To Read: 2 hours 

Plot Summary: Writing for me is the simplest and greatest pleasure in the world.

How to be a Writer is peppered with nuggets of practical advice for every person who is aspiring to write and be published, all told in Ruskin Bond's characteristic understated, tongue-in-cheek, humorous style.

So, what is it that a person requires the most to become a writer? A love of books, of language, of life, an observant eye and a good memory along with enthusiasm, optimism and persistence.

This book is an exclusive glimpse into the writing credo of Ruskin Bond, an author who has had an incredibly successful writing career spanning over seventy years.

Things I Liked: 

1. I read this beautiful book on my birthday this year, as part of my annual birthday tradition of reading Ruskin Bond on my birthday. I read it in under 2 hours and I highlighted some important bits and loved each page. It was a perfect birthday treat. 

2. This is a great book for anyone who aspires to be a writer, no matter their age. 

3. The wisdom in this book is in trademark Bond style. Simple. Straightedges forward. Important. Useful. 

4. The writing like every Bond book is simple, infused with warmth and so much avuncular wisdom. It was like getting some good advice from a beloved uncle or grand-uncle. Seriously, reading this book felt like sitting with a kind grand-uncle and getting advice over a cup of tea. 

5. The art is lovely. And adds so much beauty and loveliness to the book. It goes perfectly well with the subject matter. The illustrators have done a splendid job. 

The book comes with this postcard in the back. 

Look how pretty! 

6. The tips and advice in this book is pretty diverse and varied and give very sound advice from everything from how to write, writing habits, writing various genres and why to write. 

7. The book is great for kids (for whom it's intended) but it works really well for adults too. I ended up learning so much and highlighting loads. 

Rating: 4.5/5 

Highly recommend. 

Monday Moods: Brooch Haul from Naksha An Art.

Hello Loves! 

Today I want to share some seriously beautiful brooches from Naksha An Art .

They make some gorgeous jewellery and I had to treat myself to some of their brooches. 

I am definitely going to go back for some necklaces and earrings in the near future.  

Here's the bounty of goodies. 

A mix of painting and embroidery. 

A mesh of perfection. 

Hello Kitty. 

A cat who is in the middle of a meal. 

Love this one and have already worn it. 

Autumn leaves. 

Just look at the colours of fall! 

Just keep swimming! 

A forever favourite sunflower. 

:) 

Some Cactus love. 

Review: 

1. Every single thing is beautiful and perfectly made. 

2. The quality is great. 

3. The pricing is good too. 

4. The sizes of the brooch is generous too. 

5. The whole ordering and delivery process was smooth as well. 

Rating: 5/5 

Would highly recommend you go check them out and treat yourself to someone one of a kind, handmade and utterly gorgeous! 

Sunday Joys: Brush Pens + Instax + Bookmarks + Reading + Brooches.

 

1. Colours to brighten things up. 

2. Some Instax Magic and Memories. 

3. Bookmarks. 

4. Books and Brooches. 

5. Sunkissed Terrace Reading and Bookmarks that Spark Joy.