The Moony Girl

Good books I just dive into.  But better books I save for good occasions. Like this one, that I saved for my trip to the mountains. 🌸 'Delhi through the seasons' by Khushwant Singh 🌸 Having aptly been called the modern Barahmaaha, with a theme of nature, DTTS talks about the rotating wheel of seasons in Delhi and North India, in general. Having been written by the maestro Khushwant, based on his diary entries and his observations as a bird watcher (it was a surprise for me too to find another feather in his hat), it addresses one aspect that all other Barahmaaha treatises of the past chose to ignore - nature - flowers and birds and animals. I'm not an outdoorsy person per se, and my meagre knowledge of flowers and trees is something I've given up my hope on. But thanks to the divine illustrations by Suddhasattwa Basu, I felt as if I was sitting in Lodi Gardens while reading this one, surrounded by fragrance and chitterings.  🌸 So read this one to get to k...

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." And this is how this book can be (Spoiler alert ⚠️) Summarised!  👨‍👩‍👧 "The Conscious Parent" by Shefali Tsabary 👪 My toddler (guess I can call him that now) is barely 16mo and God! He's ready to snatch my Drama Queen Crown already. As he gains more awareness each day, more challenging tantrums, tricks and ticks show up. And that was enough to shake me up from my comfort zone of fiction reading and pick up another 'informative' book. So here goes...  👪 TCP is a 17 chapter, medium sized, feel good read whose main focus is ground zero of parenting - before attempting to raise good humans, fix yourself first.  If you come from a good place, believe in the inherent goodness and wisdom of human beings, you'll find it much easier to understand your babies and grow up and grow them well.  It addresses topics like handing out chores...

  'Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there's more growing to be done.' "Becoming" by Michelle Robinson Obama Michelle mentions at the beginning of the book that she started taking Piano lessons from her very strict Aunt Robbie at the tender age of 4. And the first step of learning Piano is to find the key middle C. You find it, and you have the whole perspective lying clearly in front of you. You lose it and you lose the whole plot. Life is like that too. To become your best version, you need to keep your Middle C in view. Becoming is the autobiography of Michelle Obama, and very powerfully captures her journey from a middle class rental home at Southside, Chicago to entering Princeton, her career in law, relationship with Barack Obama, juggling motherhood with her campaigning duties and finally her life as the FLOTUS. Such books are very hard to write as there is a heavy risk of them ending either on the boring or frivolous end of the spectrum. But Mic...

‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy 🌴  I knew about this one since long. It was lurking in my Kindle TBR since long. But when an illuminated English Professor who my husband interacted with at an event could not stop gushing over it, I had to pick it up. 🌴  But the review starts with a trigger warning - it is darker than what you are ready for. Period. With an evil foreboding building up since the start, reading this novel was like beginning to watch a horror movie, where more than the scares, the anticipation of scares keeps you scared. Violence, casteist abuse, (Spoiler Alert) sex, pedophilia and incest - in a degree more raw and thorough than you are ready for. Fun Fact! In the political times that it was released, it was not only accused of being anti-communist but the central love affair was alleged to be obscene for which Ms Roy had to face a long and arduous litigation, which might have gone on for an eternity had her Booker win not convinced the judge otherwis...

 "चौदह फेरे" शिवानी द्वारा  📚  शिवानी की लेखन विधि में उपन्यास को मैं उनका श्रेष्ठतम कौशल कहूँगी। इस विधा की शिवानी कृतियां मुझे सबसे प्रिय हैं। इसलिए अपना वार्षिक किताबी लक्ष्य ख़तम करके "लैज़र रीडिंग" हित मैंने अनायास ही शिवानी जी के दो उपन्यास उठा लिए| इस साल गल्प अधिक पढ़ लेने के कारण मेरी अगली कोशिश होगी कुछ नॉन-फिक्शन पढ़ने की।  📚  बहरहाल, "चौदह फेरे" की बात करते हुए बताना चाहूंगी कि यह कृति पहले-पहल उपन्यास रूप में प्रकाशित न होकर 'धर्मयुग' साप्ताहिक पत्रिका में लड़ीवार रूप में छपी थी। किताब के शुरू में मृणाल पण्डे द्वारा दिए परिचय ज़ाहिर करता है कि यह श्रृंखला उस समय के पाठकगणों में इतनी लोकप्रिय हो गई कि कहानी की नायिका अहल्या के भविष्य को लेकर अक्सर ही कॉलेज छात्राओं और गृहिणियों द्वारा अनुमान और कयास लगाए जाते थे। लेखनी में लोकतंत्र के एक अनूठे प्रदर्शन की मिसाल यह है की मृणाल द्वारा शिवानी जी को पाठकों की इच्छा से मुखातिब करवाते हुए उन्ही ने कहानी को दुखांत के बदले सुखांत से संपन्न करने का विनय किया था, जो (स्पॉइलर अलर्ट!) लेखिका ने माना भ...

  "अतिथि" शिवानी द्वारा ft. शरद की शर्मीली शाम  🍁 अक्टूबर का पतझड़ी मास आधे से ज़्यादा गुज़र चुका है और मेरी एलेक्सा पर एंडी विलियम्स निरंतर बज रहा है। शायद पतझड़ के मौसम की लाल उदासी ही उसे खूबसूरत बनाती है। भारतीय त्योहारों के मौसम का पाश्चात्य हैलोवीन और फॉल से मिलन अटपटा लग सकता है, पर बेमेल कभी नहीं। मैं हर मौसम, हर अनुभूति मनाने का लोभ संवरण नहीं कर पाती। जैसे शिवानी के इस उपन्यास के किरदार - भिन्न पर बेमेल नहीं लगते, जिगसॉ के टुकड़ों जैसे अन्तः साथ आकर कहानी संपूर्ण कर ही जाते हैं। 🍁 अतिथि एक नारी-केंद्रित कहानी है। कहानी की नायिका जया अंडरडॉग थीम की लीक पर एक अत्यंत अमीर और राजनीतिक खानदान के बिगड़े सुदर्शन पुत्र कार्तिक का रिश्ता पा जाती है। महत्वकांक्षी जया के साथ ऐसा क्या घटता है की ऐसी स्थिति के बाद भी उसका संघर्ष जारी रहता है, यही कहानी है। 🍁 कहानी कहीं आपको सास-बहू धारावाहिक की कमी पूरी करती नज़र आएगी और कभी नारी-प्रधान पुट पर चलती। कहानी के कुछ प्रसंग मुझे मेरे प्रिय पाकिस्तानी धारावाहिक जिसे मैंने काफी वर्ष पहले देखा था की याद दिला गए - नाम नहीं लूंगी और अंदाज़ लगा...