#38// of libraries and climate cults

bling and libraries

Dear Reader,
How are you? I am writing this on a rainy day sandwiched between many lovely, sunny days. Today I remembered a nice librarian who told me she loved The Fantastic Mr Fox as I was checking the book out. I must’ve been in sixth grade then. I was astonished because my parents did not read the same books as me and here was an adult telling me she had read it, and later that day I would find that I loved it too. I used to wait impatiently to borrow books — it was a small private library that was open for few hours once a week—and I did borrow a lot of books. I would be praying that my dad isn’t too tired after work to drive me to the place: there are many times he chose a nap over the drive. I still feel sad and angry about it and though as an adult I can understand the tiredness that might’ve led to the nap, the memory stings. Because I would’ve finished all my library books in a week and there was no way I could go another week without taking new books. I had to make do with the much smaller school library on these missed visits. I remember this library fondly because it was here that I discovered different kinds of books. American magazines, the Harry Potter books (I read Book 2 before Book 1 because that was what was available), Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, classics, knitting books (I don’t knit), random books that look enjoyable. It is where I discovered that Babysitter books, Sweet valley High, and also the very important lesson, One, that people have different tastes—I did not like Robin Cook’s medical mysteries while my father enjoyed them. Two, that adults read big, fat popular fiction books that seemed boring to me. Three, that I could not check out Sidney Sheldon books (PS: I never tried).
 
This is what I’ve missed as I grow older. The choice of taking a random book knowing absolutely nothing about the author or whether it is famous or whether it is a bad book. The glorious freedom that comes with the knowledge that you can experiment with your reading tastes and abandon without guilt. Being barged with book updates and the ‘new’ takes off some charm about stumbling upon a book. I remember I bought Museum of innocence by Orhan Pamuk (in the days of one book a month rule, I bought it online) because of a text from my cousin. I was simply curious; I did not know who Pamuk was. I do not think I Googled. (Do we Google a lot more now?) Many of you who are reading this newsletter might laugh as it was one of Pamuk’s later works, and probably you were more aware of literary news. But honestly, a certain level of ignorance helps you read a book for what it is with no bias. I enjoyed it very much and went on to buy, borrow, read many of Pamuk’s books.
 
A question I am often asked about my brief life here in the US is the book culture. I bloody love it. I have been part of private libraries (none for many years), so the access to public libraries is unbelievably amazing. I cannot emphasize well enough how important a public library is to try out new books and find your taste. I love that I get to experiment in reading for my own pleasure, and also abandon mediocre books with no guilt. On the other hand, I am riddled with guilt thinking how I wouldn’t have utilized it to the maximum before my time here runs out. I hoped I would not be blinded by hype and buzz, but dig out strange, unknown books, or 'books I've always wanted to read' but I am all too human, and too easily tempted. We aren’t going to read all the books we want, ever, right? For now, I am happy with what I read; even if I’ve fallen back to books that everyone else is reading.
 
I also frequent bookstores a lot more. All my book buys after the move have been from stores (just luck okay; I am not against buying books online) and also, they’ve been more of a ‘browse for hours and find a perfect book’ instead of a pre-planned buy which makes the whole experience of buying them nicer. I loved my South Mumbai bookstores but they were really far from where I stayed and as someone who uses public transport and not Uber their way around, I would be quite tired after the travelling. Prices for new hardbacks here are high (compared to India) of course, in case you are wondering. But used bookstores, libraries and these cute Little free libraries that people put up in front of their houses have served me well. I find Little free libraries to be a great place to pass on books when we run out of space (without any need to divulge personal details/address to strangers when you mail a book). Sometimes I go back after dropping books off at a Little Free Library and feel thrilled when my books are gone to a new home, to another book lover.
 

Read

I’ve not been reading much. But here’s a book that kind of haunted me and this is what I wrote about it this month—

I read Eleutheria on train rides to Boston. It was eerily coincidental because I remembered I didn’t take a book after I locked the door, and ran inside and grabbed one—paperback, not heavy being the only criteria—and ran out. Willa, brought up on conspiracy theories by her doomsday prepper parents in rural Maine moves to Boston after their death. She is torn between her passionate affair with the confident Harvard sociology professor Sylvia Gill and the Freegan movement, a group that scavenges garbage bins to make a statement about the Western consumerist society and its excess wastage. When betrayed by the woman she loves, and inspired by a book ‘Living the solution’ that she finds in Sylvia’s library, Willa flees to Camp Hope in the island of Eleutheria in the Bahamas, to join the author and a group of eco-warriors and their cultish routine. Her unexpected arrival upsets the framework of the cult, including its public launch. I found Eleuteria to be a moving slow burn about the way individual and political actions affect not only the climate, but also the emotional despair that is a consequence of climate change. I had a personal connection with the book, in a way that I was hunting for the fictional lavish mansion where Willa and her social media savvy cousins crashed a party for a photo opportunity, or imagining Willa walking on the same pavement as I roamed Beacon hill, or trying to put a face to the characters in Eleutheria as people crossed my path on cobbled roads. Eleutheria, much like the story it tells, sometimes feels like a hallucination. It is novel about ideas—activism, climate change, capitalism vs consumerism, individualistic actions—told through flawed characters and a love story.
 
If you read till here, you might enjoy the complete list of amazing books of 2022 from which the above description was taken.
 

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Watch

I am not the biggest fan of reality TV, which often seems bland or forced, but perhaps Asians being the big achievers they are stereotyped to be, makes Bling Empire fun and entertaining. I find the lives of these crazy rich American Asians utterly irresistible. The show looks like a mix of styled and natural recorded shots with intermittent interviews (bitchy talk!). It is scandalous, gossip-heavy, glamour-heavy with insane parties (diamonds and caviar), lots of drama, uncomfortable amounts of money, elaborate Instagram photoshoots for content, fortune tellers and shamans. There’s an outsider ‘poor boy’ model Kevin Kreider who cannot stop himself from showing off his abs, socialites Anna Shay and Christine Chiu who seem to be in a perpetual fight on who is queen with their rich-people-games, Kane with his bling and shoes, entrepreneur Kelly with her boyfriend troubles, heir of denim empire Cherie who is impatiently waiting to be proposed to and many others.

I like trying (and failing) to wrap my mind over this wide display of generational wealth—like having 400k dollar spends on credit cards or ponies flying Emirates or that $19K monthly rent is cheap or exposing your private parts to the sun re-energizes them (love it when Kelly says I feel warm. Is that it?) or having Swarovski crystals on your toilet (!) or an awkward dinner conversation about who is wearing fake jewellery. I am deep into some internet pieces where I read that Anna didn’t know about Target store (why bother when you can fly to Paris at a moment’s notice) and Kane bought a Lamborghini with a credit card and Kelly’s most expensive ring costs 700…seven hundred thousand dollars! I have just finished a re-watch of Season 1 which is hilarious, bling worthy and binge worthy. Season 2, like all sequels, is mildly less entertaining. Anna and Christine are less catty, Kevin and Kim’s dating life seems too stretched out, Kane is simply ‘shit-stirrer’ as described in the show and the last episode ends on a cliff hanger (don’t do that!). The episodes aren’t edited tight like Season 1, almost as if they are stretching out the drama for another season. But in spite that, Season 2 is also unadulterated, unfiltered look at rich people living their lives and flaunting their money. And if there’s a Season 3, I am here for it.
 
In more popular watch list, do not sit on Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. It is the most audacious, ambitious, madcap adventure with multiverse, infinite possibilities and monsters (and laundry, and taxes and bagels too). My jaw ached, being open-mouthed for most of the movie, my eyes were on the floor and—as cliché as this sounds—I let out a breath I was holding when it ended.

Amazing Links

Influencers and celebrities hire book stylists to curate their looks (NY Times)
Uniqlo is Sally Rooney core(Dirt/Substack)
Find a weird book
Visualize : The best way to be more mindful of your day
Caffs not cafes (The Face)
Engraved utensils as kitchen heirlooms (Paperplanes)

Audiobooks are the best for long walks. Here you go,
Sign up for TWO months of FREE Scribd using my Invite Link. 

I hope you are well, wherever you are. I hope there are things that are making you happy. My happy moment this week (let’s subtract the time this letter sat in drafts) has been a mango which was the right kind of firm+sweet+gorgeous colour.

Today’s letter is a copy pasted from another longer letter about first impressions of living in the US. I read it again after a week of writing it and it sounded ‘I-I-I’ which made me chuck it into the drafts folder. Also, with my level of procrastination I’d be gone from here before it is edited to a readable format which makes it lose the relevance. Maybe? Would this be something you are interested in? I might send it out one day, I might not—but not deleting it in a haste. (Something I’d not mentioned in that letter is how absolutely terrifying gun violence and the lack of control over gun laws is. Heartbreaking to be in a cycle of endless mourning, keeping your fingers crossed that you or a loved one wouldn’t be next. My heart goes out to the little ones and teachers who lost their lives in the Texas shooting).

Until next time,
Resh x

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