Words of September & October || I've been SO BUSY

My September was just as busy as I expected it to be and due to some last minute plans, my October calendar filled up too.

I'm usually pretty good at planning my events so that I have time to at least write the monthly wrap-up but it all went out the window this time. Some of it, in a good way that I can't wait to talk about! In fact, I have SO MUCH to talk about that I'll be cutting out some of the sections and intentionally writing lesser in other places so that I can talk about everything without spending a week on this post haha.

Grab a cup of your favourite drink and settle down, let's catch up 🍵

reading

Both the months were average reading months in terms of numbers, not too much but not too less either. I'm surprised I read that much considering how busy I was. In October, I actually didn't read for 2+ weeks because I was travelling and had no time to read. I made up for it by reading a lot while resting after I came back home haha. I read 17 books in total and crossed 100 books this year! I didn't notice that I crossed 100 until I was at 104 lol, I'm barely looking at numbers. It shows how much fun I'm having with reading 🙂

Out of the 17, 4 were rereads. Only 2 were paperbacks—I actually paused borrowing from the library because of travel plans and general busyness. The 2-week due dates only work when I've got enough time to read paperbacks. It's much easier to read e-books on the go.

I made good progress on the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge! I'm taking it seriously now that all the remaining prompts are things I need to read for outside of my usual reading. I need to plan for them and pick books intentionally. I checked off 6 prompts in the last 2 months! That includes a really hard prompt pair that I was worried about. I've only got 3 prompts left 😁

Let's talk about the books I read (excluding rereads). I'm writing shorter reviews (unless I have too much to say) this time because there are so many lol.

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. This was already on my Kindle and worked for one of the challenge prompts (book with title A Guide to...). It was cute. I enjoyed it. Not a brilliant read but a good cosy pasttime.

A Time of Witches by Madeline Martin. Listened to the audiobook on Libro.fm. It was for the challenge prompt "includes a conspiracy theory". I figured the witch trials can be labelled a conspiracy. I learnt a tiny bit about the history of the witch trials in England but otherwise the book was meh. I disliked the main character and the plot was average.

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. After LOVING 2 other books by the author, I wanted to read this too. Also worked for the challenge prompt "title beginning with the letter O". This was okay. The writing was good and I liked the wildlife conservation aspect. I learnt something new (how wolves help in raising forests and the Yellowstone Park wolf reintroduction story). The mystery aspect was meh, though. It was a good read but the other 2 were far better.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Due to all the hype, it got voted as the buddy read of the month in my book club. The character and the plot were such a mess, I enjoyed it haha. It was so fast paced and quick. I read it very quickly. I don't think it's a "good" or "intellectual" book, but it's great for entertainment and for book club discussions. People were divided over this and we had a handful of arguments over it haha.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Tackled this tome as a paperback after it was praised by a couple of readers in my book club. I really liked it. I loved the writing and the lives that it followed. I started losing interest after 600-ish pages when the most important character (according to me) stopped being on page. It could have been shorter but I enjoyed the slow-winding plot and the writing style. I loved reading about Kerala and Madras. Coincidentally, I went to Nungambakkam in Chennai a few days before I reached the part where one of the characters goes there! Reading the beautiful description of the place was heartwarming. I really liked the book. The title is apt.

The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary by Jessica Thorne. Listened to the audiobook on Libro.fm. This was a cosy companion read while I was tackling the above book. Low-stakes, cosy, with cute dragons on most of the pages. I didn't care for the characters or most of the plot, sadly.

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbag. A short novel originally written in Kannada, this packs a punch in subtext. I loved it. Read it quickly and thought about it for a long time. It says only what happened and it's upto the reader to read between the lines throughout the book. There is so much to understand and conclude from what happens and what's unsaid. Deeply relatable for middle-class Indians.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This was never on my TBR but when a few members from the book club began buddy reading it, I decided to pick it up too. It's so out of my comfort zone and there is probably a handful of things that I'm missing because I don't know the stories it's based on very well, but I enjoyed what I did understand. I think it could have been shorter and a bunch of the descriptions and random character backgrounds could have been removed, but overall, a fairly good book. We had a great book club discussion about it and I was glad I hustled my way to the meeting immediately after landing back in the city haha. I left the airport at 11 am, rushed home, freshened up, and reached them by 12:30pm. We discussed the book for hours.

In the Shadow of the Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck. 2 of the challenge prompts I was worried asks us to read books by related authors. I considered multiple pairs and was planning to read Kiran and Anita Desai. But just in case, I searched if any of John Steinbeck's family wrote books and turns out multiple did! I picked up this one because I was intrigued about the plot. I liked learning about the history of the Jade found in Californian coast and the known and unknown facts about it. The subtle politics in the book was mildly interesting to read, but the way the plot ended was so anticlimactic. The plot ended up being a dud. I'm just glad I can check off the prompts and that I learnt something entirely new. (I've become a random-facts-of-history buff lately.)

I needed a break from serious books after that and I had just returned after weeks of travelling, so I picked up One Moore Time by Mariana Zapata, the author's latest release, after seeing it on KU. It's 580 pages!! It was the slowest burn ever. The dude was basically a part of the family before anything moved on the romance front. It's a nice enough chill read, though. Could have been shorter but ok.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. Chose this for one of another prompt pair in the challenge. I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't for the challenge, but I'm glad I did. It was soo gossippy. I thought it was boring in the beginning but once I let go of seriousness, I could enjoy the tea in this, and there was a lot of tea 👀 The chapter where Hemingway and Fitzgerald go to the Louvre is the funniest, I can't believe it was published 😆 I ended up reading the Wikipedia page on Ernest Hemingway after this and I now know way too much about this man.

Needed another break so I picked up Replacement by Noelle Adams. This is a romance with a twin-switch in the plot. It was a short, comforting read. The people in this were shockingly mature adults. No third-act breakup. One specific scene (the metro station) from this has been living in my mind rent-free for days.

Then I read the previous book in the series, Recollection by Noelle Adams. The main character loses 6 months of memory and falls in love with the same man again. It was cute. The couple in this were a little too mature to be believable. My standards are low lol. It was ok but not a memorable read.

media consumed

TV Shows & Movies

Stopped my Netflix subscription so my media consumption has drastically reduced.

The only thing I watched was Hustle 5, the desi hip hop competition my friends got me into in August, on Hotstar. I actually kept up with it, watching new episodes as they released each week. I enjoyed some of the music a lot but the hardcore rap is still not my thing. Initially, Parv was my favourite artist but it switched to Harmeet by the end. Harmeet's music is so good. Love the meaning in them all.

Blog Posts

Was too busy to keep up with blog posts (I actually forgot about blogs for a few weeks...) but I read a few, here are some of them which I loved.

• The Country That Educated Itself Out of Empathy
• WHITE NIGHTS BY FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY – BOOK REVIEW
• SONY IS KILLING PHYSICAL DISCS: WHAT IF BOOK PUBLISHERS DID THE SAME TO YOU?
• A guide to all the notebooks I’m currently using
• What Makes A Special Edition ‘Special’ To Me // The Components That Entice Me To Buy Them, Their Contribution To Overconsumption & The Morality Of Resellers Hiking The Prices Beyond Belief

music

I am on a desi music kick. All the songs I discovered and have been listening to on repeat are Indian music. I LOVE them. What great music. It started with songs from Hustle 5 and Youtube auto-played other songs after it which were so good, I had to add them to my playlist.

My favourites from Hustle which I listened to on repeat for a few weeks:

This song is so catchy and meaningful! It's on a topic that I haven't heard of or read about in any art before: the phase of an artist where there is only one thing between the artist and their success, a small lie that they say to themselves—that they're not capable enough—in order to hide their laziness and lack of discipline. Not surprised it crossed 12 million views already. I highly recommend listening to it, even if you have to translate the lyrics to understand them.

The meaning in this song is gold and it's my favourite song by this artist. He seems to always pick topics that others don't include in their art. This didn't just hear this song, I saw it like it was a short film. The imagery is top notch. I will definitely be following Harmeet's music and I look forward to what he puts out in the future.

Super lovely, catchy song with a lot of meaning too. I loved how they all sang about what "maati" meant to them—the soil they come from, the sense of home and belonging, earth as something that gives and something we return to when we die, and more.

The songs I found via Youtube autoplay which are still playing on repeat:

The hook in Afsana is too strong. "Ghar kyu sajaya mera, pura hi jalade" (why did you decorate my home, just burn it all). Oof.

life

September was super busy with work and regular life. Mostly work, if I'm being honest. A lot of things were happening at work and I had multiple responsibilities with similar deadlines. I was trying to fit in working out in the day so I ended up working late most nights. I had to travel to Chennai twice (the first on a very short notice) to apply for US Visa. It was something I wanted to get done in case I needed it soon for work. There were multiple events as part of work too—a 5k run on a weekend, leadership visits, and sports competitions that I participated in and organised. too.

Outside of work and exercise, I prioritised going to book club meetings whenever I could. I got a flu shot for the first time—I almost bailed on it because I was busy and tired but I'm glad I got it done. I went to a "book walk" event on a Sunday. I used the Chennai visits to hang out with my aunt for a couple of days. Just looking at my September calendar makes me tired because most things on it weren't simple singular things—I had to intentionally plan everything properly and juggle logistics.

My mushroom lamp fell and shattered one morning and I was SO SAD. I loved that lamp so much. It made me happy. Almost exactly 3 years after I bought it, it died. That ruined my mood for multiple days, I was quite upset. I'm still upset about it, tbh. I buy few things and only very intentionally so I become attached to them, especially if they add to my daily joys. The mushroom lamp was one of my most favourite things in my home. 😢

Much of my free time in September went to trip planning because my friends and I decided to go to Vietnam midway into the month, just 2 weeks before I had to go. Aligning schedules to catch up and plan together and book stuff took a lot of effort. We actually couldn't book everything beforehand and ended up doing it during the trip whenever we had a pause.

We travelled to Vietnam for 12 days in the beginning of October and covered a LOT of places—Hanoi, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay, Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City. It truly felt like we were covering a country lol. It was a great trip, I really enjoy travelling with the people I went with. We had a good balance of pre-planning and leisure and on-the-go changes based on moods. I will attempt writing a trip log but with the amount I have to write, it'll probably take me a month. I still haven't finished my simple bullet-point trip log in my journal 😆

I returned to Bangalore with my friends and stayed there a couple of days before hopping on another flight home. I was so tired from all the travelling. I don't think I've recovered fully yet. And now I've already got another trip that's forming 🙃 I'll talk about it more when it happens because most details are not decided yet and I have a feeling they'll be decided very quickly right before I'll have to take off.

Considering all of the above, I haven't been making much progress on other hobbies and goals. I'm surprised I kept up with reading outside my comfort zone and with the challenge. I forgot about blogging and reading the Tamizh book and my knitting project. Actually, I've been spending my free time after returning cleaning much overdue things and doing home improvements that I procrastinated on. It's okay, though. This is how life is and it's part of the fun of it all.

Speaking of home improvements, I got a new desk! My last desk was a cheap stop-gap that I bought in 2019 and it was never meant to be a main desk or to be used for so long. It wasn't fully comfortable—especially not for working from home during the pandemic—but I "adjusted" and put myself through more struggle than necessary. It's so small that my work laptop takes up 3/4ths of the desk and there's no room for an open notebook at the same time 🙄 A part broke a few months ago and it's been super wobbly lately. It shook no matter how gently I wrote or typed. I finally decided to upgrade and got a big sturdy desk. It's TWICE the size and I finally have enough space to have a laptop AND a notebook open! Even multiple notebooks! I can paint on my desk and do artsy stuff! My mom said that she doesn't understand how I managed with the previous desk now that the new desk is here 🙃

I also got the IKEA pegboard to hold regularly used stationery and other things on the wall. I may have bought too many accessories for but I think I'll end up using them all. I haven't fully set it up yet—still figuring out the best uses and setup for me—but I already love it. It finally makes my room look lived-in (I usually put away everything immediately and haven't added wall decor so the room looked too clean and move-out ready lol).

Whether November will be busy or not depends on the travel plan. I've got to keep myself open for any possibility 😬 As always, we'll catch up afterwards and I'll tell you everything!

Meanwhile...

how have you been?

Are you doing well? What have you been upto? Did you travel anywhere? Are you also facing wild weather changes due to El Nino? (My city will run out of water reserves in November apparently...) Did you do anything new or out of your comfort zone? Let's catch up in the comments!