#10// blast from the past, qatar princes & rogan josh

to help you navigate these times...

Dear Reader,
When I sit down to write each newsletter, the first thought that comes to mind is, “how are the months flying by so fast?” How? And why aren’t we having better news yet? Hope your week was a good one save for the unavoidable pandemic news. Mine has been filled with rains and rambutans. There are more rambutans than I can eat in a day. Happy problems.

What are you upto? I imagine you are tangled up in the Indian Matchmaking memes, trolls, hot takes and Twitter threads? If not, phew, lucky you. Early bird news : I am reading Destination Wedding by the brill Diksha Basu and kind of think it is an excellent, fun, witty read with fat Indian weddings and matchmakers—only half way through btw. But having good fun so far. Check it out. You can read and cringe binge the Netflix show—what an idea!
 

Read

Many of us are uninspired to read because of the world burning around us. You too? (Hey! I must admit I am a leeettle bit happier with the news of the Oxford vaccine. And a little bit worried if we all will have access to it, if it is finalized as a proper vaccine). Well, one can’t be too inspired or excited in these times. However, I’ve got 6 practical tips that can help you get some reading done. These worked for me. So I am sure at least one tip will resonate with you.

In case you missed it, here are the best books so far of 2020. You wouldn't go wrong with them.
 

Blast from the Past

Covid times have made many readers crave for books that are not sad or bogging them down. I’ve two fantastic recommendations for you.

 Try The Improbablity of Love by Hannah Rothschild if you love food and art. I highly enjoyed this movie-like book that speeds through unscrupulous art dealers, pretentious rich people, and fancy dinner parties. Oh my god! The parties and the food planning—you might want to pick this book for JUST THAT. You get completely enthralled by this world of art deals, art theft, elaborate themed luncheons, rich people trying to better one another and more. Here is an old post about 5 reasons to read The Improbability of Love that I wrote when I read it. It has excerpts from paragraphs, so that might convince you more to get the book. Highly recommended in these times. Highly recommend for people—like me—who spend a considerable time looking at food pictures and reading food descriptions. Yes, it is a five star read. 

For an art related book, there’s Jessie Burton’s The Muse which I loved more than her gothic themed The Miniaturist. The Muse takes place in two timelines—London in 1960s and Andalusia in 1930s in the brink of a civil war. And a painting joins these two timelines and the people. Odelle, a young, educated girl originally from Trinidad lives in London and dreams to be a published writer. She gets a job as a typist for the Skelton Institute of Art where she meets the mysterious Marjorie Quick. The story is essentially about girl friendships, love and paintings. Also, it is I think this is Burton’s best book so far. Very breezy, very addictive, strong plot (it is predictable, but you wouldn't care, trust me). Also, isn't that cover a beauty? 

Watch

So Sonia! Does anyone remember her?
I love watching creative youtube videos. The ones that entertain me in addition to providing (or not providing—I don’t mind mindless videos with no agenda) some value. Sonia was one of my favourite creators. I realized last week that she has deleted all her videos, which is a big loss because she is one of the few creators whose videos I do not mind watching more than once. She probably deleted long time back because I think it has been a year or two since I checked her work. She had insane creativity, and the fact that her storytelling and creative videos—not to forget that she was 15 years or so when she began creating content that really stands out—really spark joy (Marie Kondo style. I would always keep her videos if I had to do a Youtube unhaul).
 
Here are two videos she created for Soul Pancake—The Happiest Girl in the World (S1) What Winter Feels like (S2). Soul Pancake has two seasons of her work. But I do miss her channel and original content.

Amazing links

- How to extract a mother’s rogan josh recipe over Zoom (Priyanka Mattoo, The New Yorker)

 - This profile on Sushmita Sen is all sorts wonderful. As a child, I was in awe of her boldness and as an adult I am glad I wasn’t wrong. (Piyasree Dasgupta, Huffpost)

- A British cosmetics brand pressured Asian Influencers to Promote its skin whiteners and tried to topple the career of the woman (former editor, Cosmopolitan Sri Lanka) who spoke against whitening products  (Megha Rajagopalan, Buzzfeednews)

 - The true story of the heartthrob prince of Qatar and his time at USC (Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton, LA Times)

 - There are many takes about Rowling and her views vs her books. Helen Lewis writes How J. K. Rowling Became Voldemort about disagreeing but also about moving forward (Helen Lewis, The Atlantic)
“The backlash against the Harry Potter creator is a growing pain of her fandom”
- The hardest part of writing: a comic (The New York Times)
- How cartoons were made (Twitter)
 - I still haven’t read LitHub’s Anticipated book list and Millions list for the latter half of 2020 in their entirety. But they are definitely bookmarked.
- What high school seniors have learned from a year unlike any other (The California Sunday Magazine)
 

Looking for an audiobook while doing chores?
Try Audible or sign up for Scribd (two months free with my Invite Link)

That’s all for today, folks. Have a lovely day.
If you are looking for a specific fiction recommendation and nothing seems to suit you right now, send me an email this week and I'll see if I can match you with a good book. 

Until next time,
Resh x
 

(This newsletter may contain affiliate links which might earn me a very small commission at no extra cost to you)


If you chanced upon this newsletter, you can subscribe here forward to a friend or share via your favourite social media.