Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m 20 years into my fascination of movies and books set in India. (It started when my 12yo daughter and I discovered Netflix Bollywood dvds.). I‘m humbled by the culture, history, and religions so unknown to me. Reading Shalini discover Kashmir was interesting and heartbreaking. Heartbreaking because we are not all built with the intestinal fortitude to become the person we truly want to be.

Apr #DoubleSpin Category: Across an Ocean

After Kalyani's mother dies, she sets out for a Himalayan village in Kashmir. Certain that her mother's death is connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman, Kalyani decides to confront him.
The characters didn't stay with me, but there were some moments, some scenes that did. The writing was good. I also loved the character development and how plot unfolded. Was a little underwhelming though.
3.5/5🌟

Close to a pick and book 2 finished for the #readathon. Set in India, we follow a young woman after the death of her mother as she searches for an old family friend, going from Southern India to the far North on her own. This is both a personal story and one of political change and prejudice. I liked and mostly enjoyed it but wouldn‘t give it a blanket recommendation and can‘t see myself rereading. Book 2/3 pages read 379/500 #deweyapril

After her mother dies, Kalyani is at a bit of a loss. She decides to try to find someone from her childhood and heads across India to his village in Kashmir, landing in the middle of a volatile area where each family has suffered their own losses. I really struggled to get into this initially and actually almost bailed early, but I‘m so glad I didn‘t, as I though it was terrific.

I read Madhuri Vijay's The Far Field as part of two challenges (#20backlistin2020 and #backlistgotbackedup), and it's another book that I wished I had picked up earlier.⠀
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➡️ What books have you had on your shelf for a long time? Do you think you'll try to read them in 2021?⠀
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The main character is Shalini, a woman in her early 20s who is grieving the death of her mother, ⬇️

I adore the tagged book by Indian author Madhuri Vijay. It‘s beautiful. I‘m not positive that she wrote this in another language first, but she was born in Bangalore and the book is set in Bangalore and Kashmir. I‘m starting to become more interested in modern Indian literature in general.

#IntegrateYourShelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn

Starting the book club pick for July. I‘m already a fifth of the way in...

#literaryladies #LiteraryLadiesBookClub

I don't know how to write a review for this book, one in which everything and nothing seem to happen simultaneously. It's a family story, a political story, a story of a woman who is lost and unable to find herself, and a story of conflict and connection. Vijay writes with a steady tension and melancholy, yet never oversteps into melodrama. Really excellent read.

Started this one today. Already completely hooked.

Love the cover and the story! The blurb for this book described the main character as a flaneuse, and I wished there would have been more of that. It was set in Bangalore and Kishtwar, which were so vividly described. Glad I put it on my list for #bookspinbonanza
#nutsinmay 4/6

The story of a young woman‘s real discovery of the region of Kashmir. The Far Field explores how being sheltered your whole life can impair judgement and not see things for what they really are. This book is an interesting look into India and its relationship to the region of Kahmir. Beware the first 100 pages are not very engrossing but beyond that the book is very interesting.

Book 18
I listened to this book, which may have contributed to my inability to connect to it. (I wasn't a fan of the voice acting; her pronunciation of "rifling" was irksome.) To attempt to sum up the story would be to develop the plot further than it was developed and to add intrigue where there was none. The characters were not likable, all were stagnant, and their decisions were absent any redeeming qualities. I cannot understand the hype.

I love books set in South Asia. The things I loved the most about this novel were the descriptions of the Kashmiri landscape and the variety of character personalities. Religion, wealth, love, loss, and injustice are all important themes.

☺️

More of my favorite books of 2019.

I got so frustrated with Shalini‘s vacillations and I felt so much impending doom that I had to set this aside for awhile. I realized I‘m not interested in returning to the story, even though I have already invested 8 hours of my time. It‘s not the audiobook narration; if it weren‘t for Sneha Mathan‘s warm voice, I wouldn‘t have got as far as I have. I‘m calling it quits. 😐

Near the end of this book, I was literally pressing my hand to my heart knowing what was coming but still being devastated by it. What a beautiful, poignant story the author has woven, & what a number it did on me! Shalini may be naive or frustrating at times, as some have griped about, but IMO it made her all the more real & relatable. The prose is stunning, & I personally found the characters to be layered & memorable. Loved this so much. 5/5 🌟

It shouldn‘t have surprised me, but it did. It was a measure of how naïve I was, that I had assumed that all these days when he looked at me, when we stood together on the porch and I heard his breath quicken, it was out of mere physical desire. I had yet to understand just how many shapes a person‘s desire could take, and how few of them, in the end, took the shape of the body.

Loved it. Such lush language and complex characters. I recommend it. #20Booksby2020

I was struck by a sudden, savage resentment at her tone, which was pitying, yet I took a strange pleasure in it too. I sat with my head held high, tasting bitter pride in my own weakness, and hating myself for it at the same time, because, cynical and hardened as I believed myself to be at twenty-four, I had never stopped to consider that pity might, in fact, be just another facet of love.

He had the intelligent man‘s faith in the weight of his own ideas, and the emotional man‘s impatience with anyone who did not share them.

I have a feeling this is gonna be heartbreaking in a thousand ways......but that‘s a good thing when it comes to books! #nowreading

Next up. Looking forward to this one. #20booksby2020

JCB WINNER 2019. In the wake of her mother‘s death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote village in Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to track him down.

.. I still don't understand why I was unable to speak the truth. Perhaps there is no explanation other than that I had been weaned too long on secrecy, taught by my mother from earliest childhood the strange and unquantifiable power of keeping one‘s counsel. But that is probably too generous an assessment. I suspect the truth was that, like so many who cloak themselves in mistrust and call it independence, I was merely a coward.

My last book box for 2019‘s #YearOfReading came today from Shakespeare and Co. #ILoveBookMail
#BestChristmasGiftEver
#shakespeareandcompany

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Loss never leaves us. We must try to see the world as it is anyway.
Content warning for suicide and violence. Specifically institutionalized, militarized, religious violence.

I‘m not very far in to this but I‘m really enjoying the audio so far. 🌼

Restarted this book today after having put it aside. I‘m finally past some of my busiest times at work so I think I‘ll be able to finish it this time. #audiobook

#7days7covers #covercrush

So looking forward to reading this is sounds AMAZING! Thank you so much @CoffeeNBooks for thinking of me - it means the world to me this amazing community #litsylove. Thank you honey 😘

Day 4 #7covers7days. #covercrush. Haven‘t read it yet, but the cover looked like something that I should read.

Such a great, captivating listen. #audiobook

A cover with #flowers doesn‘t always mean a happy book! #SelfImprovementSept

🌟🌟🌟🌟
#botmsummerslam

Set in Bangalore and Kashmir, this was a very timely read given all the happenings there right now. I think this encompasses the helplessness many feel these days. Very good!

Picked this up as I forgot a book for my specialist appointment. I‘m really enjoying it so far.

I‘m on staycation so why not start an audiobook at 11 pm? This was recommended to me by @bookriot TBR service

An excellent book especially if you, like me, love books set in India. There were a few parts of the plot that I thought needed a bit of adjustment, sometimes I felt the author lost her way but all in all beautifully written. This is an author to watch. 👁👁

I really liked this and would recommend it, but man I wanted to punch Shalini in the face.

Decided to play hooky from work today 🤫😎

Great choice, @irre 🙌 #lmpbc It‘s an interesting read about a part of the world I‘m not familiar with. It‘ll be heading home soon!

“I am aware of the likely futility of all that I have told here, and, I am aware, too, of the thousand ways I have tried to excuse myself in the telling of it. All the same, whatever the flaws of this story or confession or whatever has turned out to be, let it stand.”

With this bit of writing and character description I knew I‘d love The Far Field.

Here I go, @irre Starting this one today and I‘ll get it to you ASAP!

Read some good books so far this year.
#Top6Reads

Really unique and fascinating and honest and good.

The author writes beautifully but her main character Shalini was not easy to connect with. She sometimes seems a bit naive for her age and that proves disastrous for the people around her. But I loved reading about Shalini‘s foray into village life in Kashmir, so far and different from bustling Bangalore where she‘s from. And it‘s these little moments that make this book a beautiful and moving one

Update: finally getting out of my slump, only took 2 weeks 🙄