2021 has been the hardest year yet, yet now as the year is coming to an end, it’s all just the same, the joys and the cries and the silence. Even though it seems a year has passed in only a blink of an eye, looking back on all these newsletters, books read, movies watched and poems written, the evidence remains that the year has been lived through.
Booklist
Childhood Boyhood Youth - Leo Tolstoy 4/5 (Translator - Judson Rosengrant), Fiction
A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote 4.5/5, Fiction
Sidewalks - Valeria Luiselli 4.5/5 (Translator - Christina MacSweeney), Non-fiction
In Praise of Shadows - Junichiro Tanizaki 4/5 (Translator - Thomas J Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker), Non-fiction
Intimations - Zadie Smith 4/5, Non-fiction
The Fall - Albert Camus 4/5 (Translator - Justin O' Brien), Fiction
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari 4/5, Non-fiction
Weather - Jenny Offill 4/5, Non-fiction
Bluets - Maggie Nelson 4.5/5, Non-fiction
Death in Venice - Thomas Mann 3.5/5 (Translator - Michael Henry Heim), Fiction
The Algebra of Infinite Justice - Arundhati Roy 5/5, Non-fiction
Lie With Me - Philippe Besson 4/5, Fiction
The Way Home - ed. Aruna Chakravarti 4/5, Fiction
Bright Dead Things - Ada Limon 4.5/5, Poetry
Blue Horses - Mary Oliver 4/5, Poetry
The Doctor and The Saint - Arundhati Roy 4.5/5, Non-fiction
Diving Into The Wreck - Adrienne Rich 4/5, Poetry
Anecdotal Evidence - Wendy Cope 4/5, Poetry
The Old Man and His God - Sudha Murty 3/5, Non-fiction
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz - L. Frank Baum 3/5, Fiction
Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz 5/5, Fiction
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson 4/5, Fiction
A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood 4.5/5, Fiction
The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy 4/5, Fiction
Letters to a Young Poet - R. M. Rilke 3.5/5, Non-fiction
Prater Violet - Christopher Isherwood 4/5, Fiction
Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World - Benjamin Alire Sáenz 4/5, Fiction
Only Dull People are Brilliant at Breakfast - Oscar Wilde 4/5, Fiction
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie 4/5, Fiction
Five Run Away Together - Enid Blyton 4.5/5, Fiction
Poor Economics - Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo 5/5, Non-fiction
The Carrying - Ada Limon 5/5, Poetry
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 5/5, Fiction
Felicity - Mary Oliver 4/5, Poetry
Loveless - Alice Oseman 4/5, Fiction
Selected Poems - Sylvia Plath 5/5, Poetry
Whereabouts - Jhumpa Lahiri 4.5/5 (Translator - Jhumpa Lahiri), Fiction
You can follow my readings on Goodreads and Storygraph.
Movielist
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Bypass: Short film (2003)
Death of a Father: Short film (2017)
Saheb Biwi Aur Gulam (1962)
Guzaarish (2010)
The Red Balloon: Short film (1956)
Shabdo (2012)
Charulata (1964)
The Brothers Bloom (2008)
Our Little Sister (2015)
Slacker (1990)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Noukadubi (2010)
Mr and Mrs Iyer (2002)
Anuranan (2006)
Dosar (2006)
Baishe Srabon (2011)
Shondey Namar Aagey (2014)
Utsab (2000)
Praktan (2016)
Paromitar Ek Din (2000)
Belashese (2015)
Frances Ha (2012)
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Bong Connection (2006)
Fantasia (1940)
Masculin Féminine (1960)
Bande à part (1964)
Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) rewatch
My name is Khan (2010)
Ganashatru (1989)
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Sadgati: Short film (1981)
In The Mood For Love (2000)
Pele: Birth of a Legend (2016)
The Best Man (1999)
The Best Man Holiday (2013)
Mississippi Masala (1991)
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Hawaa Hawaai (2014)
Emma (2020)
Before Sunset (2004) rewatch
Before Midnight (2013)
Good Morning (1959)
All Too Well: Short film (2021)
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
Little Women (2019)
Uncle Frank (2020)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Breathless (1960)
Carol (2015)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Ahare Mon (2018)
Parched (2015)
Online Favourites
Radical Reads — Recommended reading lists from famous activists, athletes, artists, musicians, scientists, writers and more.
The Marginalian — (formerly Brain Pickings) is a nook of heaven in the internet created by Maria Popova, the author of Figuring.
The Alipore Post — newsletters, daily poetry, art and craft recommendations, run by the poet/artist Rohini Kejriwal.
Fertile Spaces — my curated playlists of artist's homes and work space, places that nurtures creativity.
Rajiv Surendra — found him through his home tour video, came to know that I already knew him from Mean Girls, an absolutely beautiful creative persona.
The Art Assignment — on art and art history through the lens of what’s happening today, curated by Sarah Urist Green (my favorites are the actual Assignment Episodes which we can try ourselves).
Jack Edwards — my favorite booktuber, both in terms of content idea and the actual review of books.
Art and Poetry — another of my curated YouTube playlists of artists and poets.
Authors in Conversations — second to movie watching the thing I like to watch the most are interviews, so curated a playlists of writers talking about things.
My poetry got featured in the Catharsis Magazine and in the Issue IV of Free Verse Revolution.
Would love to know about you all’s favorite reads, movies, videos, anything you would like to share. You can comment here, reply on email if you are already subscribed, or contact me via Instagram.
Until new year,
Enjoy your own company <3