Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's Blog, page 35

What I'm Reading

Confused about how I felt about this. On the one hand, I ADORE Elizabeth Gaskell as long term followers of this account will know. On the other hand, there's so much going on, you guys. Like SO MUCH. Shall I talk about the merits and demerits of capitalism? Shall I talk about (SPOILER EVEN THOUGH THIS BOOK IS ANCIENT) losing literally every single parent figure in your life in the second half of the book? Shall I talk about unsuitable romances and how I was NOT CONVINCED by the end? Or actually, let's just say Margaret Hale, our heroine, has one of the finest minds and hearts I have seen in 19th century literature and for that, you're curious about her life story. I mean, it's Mrs Gaskell. We love her. But Cranford might be an easier entry point for you if you're new to all this. Remember it was a serial novel originally, written as a column for the Household Notes (edited by Charles Dickens who was a huge fan) and so some plots meander on and some end abruptly. Still it's a book that makes you think which is always great and also a book that makes you feel like it was written last year which is also always great. #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #121in2021 #elizabethgaskell #northandsouth

Today in Photo

Soooo 2021's going pretty well so far in terms of cuddles. #catmother #catstagram #squishythecat #olgadapolga

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Today in Photo

Happy New Year, gorgeous people. Here's a set of photos from our sofa last night which is also where we were for the majority of 2020. The year ahead isn't going to be easy either, we still have a bit of a wait before the world goes back to "normal" so here's hoping you have a comfy sofa too. I hope we all get what we want this year. 2021! Fuuuck we're in the FUTURE! #happynewyear #2021

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Today in Photo

Since much of language learning is rote (and in 2021 I plan to take my German to new levels) I made a little illustrated poster for my wall where I can stare at the cat and the duck and the weird lamb unicorn hybrid and think "bin, bist, sind!" and one day these little rules of grammar will just be a part of me like English, like Hindi and I won't need to search for them each time I need them they'll just be THERE. Until then, drawing. #mnemonic #germanforbeginners #drawing #illustration

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The Internet Personified: The best of the rest

What ho, companions of my heart!

I felt like our conversation for this year, our fourth year together, wasn’t fully complete, and I wanted to tell you about some more things I enjoyed in 2020, a year that none of us would have volunteered for, but that was foisted upon us nonetheless. Isn’t that the nature of years?

Personally, it has not been too bad. One or two phases of Hitting the Wall, where I felt like I had actively come up against some barrier and could not move further without processing what I already had. It’s been an inward year, a thinking year, and yes, I guess I could say I am always thinking, it’s the nature of what I do, what are novels but taking your thoughts and spelling them out? But you know, I exercised caution on the matter of myself. I let myself explore deep depths within my fictional characters, but when it came to my own brain, I had a little stop sign, a double barred aluminium door that said in big red letters: NO ADMITTANCE TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL and whenever I came to that sign, that door, I decided I wasn’t actually authorised so I left it, I never tried the handle of the door. I didn’t know what was lurking behind it.

But this was the year I tried that door. I pushed it open and wandered into the dark, going, “Hello?” tentatively and when no one answered, I turned on a little lightbulb, just enough to see the first row of dusty shelves of years and years of things I had not addressed, not let myself address, and I took some of those down, and looked at them for the first time in years, under the light of that one dim bulb. It was hard—I think I might need to actually work with a professional about going further into this room—but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Listen, we all have a little (or vast) room full of issues we haven’t addressed, and of course, it is uncomfortable to pick at them, just as it would be uncomfortable to wash your feet if you haven’t washed them in two years and they’re all crusty and full of sores and scabs and you want to get them all soft and clean again.

All these metaphors just to say I started working on myself this year—my mental health (which is a term that makes me feel all fragile and New Age) and other adjacent things. I may not have done as much (any?) physical exercise as I promised myself I would, but GODDAMN I am a TOGETHERER PERSON than I was.

Okay, now the earnest part of this newsletter is over, let’s move on to the fun.

The best movies I watched in 2020: Backstory: post lockdown, my mum continued to stay isolated in her flat so K and I go over once a week for lunch, and this, very quickly, became lunch and a movie. We carry along our projector and we watch a lot of cinema. I used to write down all the movies I watched, but I kinda half-assed it, so amongst the movies I remember I saw this year, here are my favourites:

Little Women: The Greta Gerwig movie was the last movie I watched in the cinema. I had lots of thoughts about it here on this newsletter and you can now watch it on Amazon Prime which I, a Louisa May Alcott fangirl since I was 11, highly endorse.

Contagion: Course I watched Contagion in March! Didn’t we all? It was very true and I learned all about R noughts.

David Copperfield: At first I was a bit skeptical about this adaptation. But the Wes Anderson-esque whimsy, the diverse cast and the way the film used plot beats from the book and yet turned entirely into its own creature won me over. Rich and lush, it made a real difference from other adaptations of victorian novels which tend to be cold and grey. I loved it.

Whiplash: Made me want to watch more things about jazz. Especially loved how the student starts out bright eyed and bushy tailed and then gets more and more fucked up the longer he is with his teacher. Makes you think about whether all great music really comes with people being unkind to you, whether that leads to early suicide (Amy Winehouse etc) and what a fucked up industry it is for all the beauty that emerges.

Eurovision: SO FUN! Lovely wholesome chemistry between two leads, ageing rapidly but young feel happened anyway.

The best TV I watched in 2020: I mean, I am constantly watching TV, but this is the year I watched The Wire and also Love Life was super fun and then? I don’t remember. I watched everything, but I have not yet watched The Queen’s Gambit or Borgen because I got bored in the first ten minutes. I also started but never finished one French show (Call My Agent) and one Korean show (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay) and I’ll probably finish those eventually too. I rewatched Parks and Rec and Community. I watched all the shows, even that one about matchmaking and the other one about real estate agents but not the one about rich wives in Bombay, preferring to watch rich wives in New York who were less scared of confrontation. I was concious of time slipping by as I lay on my sofa, AC on or under a quilt, endlessly being fed entertainment.

The Internet Personified Cat of the Year Award: Since we have spent more time with our cats than we ever have before, I decided to give one of them the cat of the year award. I considered all the pros and cons of each cat, before deciding, and the choice was tough, but ultimately fair, I think.

The cat who has won TIPCOTY award is a cat who has shown marked improvement over the year. She has changed some of her bad habits (she pisses less around the house) and has only added one new annoyance (shouting at the outside cat who sometimes comes up the stairs, but if you look at this at another angle she’s only protecting us.) She has become even more cuddly than she used to be and is a constant companion to this judge, lying on her desk all day or choosing to sit on her lap, which she never used to do. She is also the most attractive, but the judges do not discriminate on looks, since all of the judges’ cats are pretty much the best looking animals on the face of the earth.

Let’s give it up for Cat of the Year, Olga da Polga!

(this photo by Ameya one sunny afternoon) desk cat offering moral support the judge with her cat

It was a good year for this newsletter! Going back to find some favourite letters to link to here, I found I wanted to link to them ALL, but that is not how best round-ups of the year work, SO, here are some of my favourite posts from this year if you’ve just joined us, or if you want to revisit:

My history through songs I used to listen to.

This was popular: people I hold long standing grudges against includes my RWA.

Thinking about my dead friends.

In the midst of a pandemic, thinking about stuff I’d like to do.

My small lexicon of Delhi slang.

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And that’s a wrap, friends! See you all in 2021.

What’s your biggest learning from this year? I’d love to hear.

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I do have two Links I Liked On The Internet this week for you:

This article made me buy my first Harsh Mander book and it is depressing but also makes you THINK and FEEL, which are never bad things.

Who did JK Rowling become is a lovely deep dive into the world of Rowl.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! See you all when nothing’s changed next week/month/year.

xx

m

Where am I? The Internet Personified! A mostly weekly collection of things I did/thought/read/saw that week.

Who are you?Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, writer of internet words (and other things) author of seven books (support me by buying a book!) and general city-potter-er.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. (Plus my book recommendation Instagram!)

Got sent this newsletter? Sign up here to subscribe!

Forward to your friends if you liked this and to your weird anxiety dream that woke you up at 3 am with a dry mouth and a strange feeling if you didn’t.

Also, write back to me! I love to hear from you.

Today in Photo

Have been waaaaaiting for a warm enough day to wear my birthday present from K, this custom Avatar The Last Airbender t-shirt. (He designed it, I thought of the idea ages ago.) Wearing with my samurai style skirt from Goa (which you can't really see properly at this angle but it looks great) and an old blazer that used to belong to one of my aunts in boarding school I think. But really I'm not going to hang out with anyone who's an Avatar fan so please validate me here. #whatiworetoday #avatarthelastairbender

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Today in Photo

Olga's duckface might be better than mine.

The Internet Personified: The Best Books I Read In 2020

My honourable marshmallows,

(A moment for me to reject the squiggly red line under “honourable,” we are not American, we add “u” to words for no reason than that they look better. Colour, flavour, humour, labour.)

Anyway, here we are, the last newsletter in a year where I was quite erratic about newsletters, but you know, weeks go by with no inspiration and then suddenly a lot of things happen at once. In the case of this one, my Annual Best Books list (see previous editions here: 2019, 2016 on the newsletter and 2017 and 2018 at Scroll) I was waiting to finish my entire year’s reading goal to send it to you, not that it matters, not that suddenly one book was going to come in and claw its way into my top list—but it might! Normally, I whiz past my Reading Goal, I set it to 150 and emerge at the other end with 180 books read or whatever. This year though, this weird year where I went nowhere and met no one, I struggled, even though it seemed like I was reading more than ever. Partly I think it’s because I read a lot of classic literature this year, that takes longer to read than a murder mystery that you can just whiz through. Partly, because I re-read a bunch of things: the first two in Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell series so I could review the third book. All seven Tana French novels one blue month. Stephen King’s massive time travel novel 11/22/63. All took me a while to read even though I’d read them before. Then, I wrote a book which took me the better part of six months, and when I’m writing a book, I find it very hard to read anything of substance, so I dipped in and out of things and watched a lot of television.

I made a switch from Goodreads to a beta site called The Storygraph, which I really like for their recommendations and also the way the site is laid out. However, it seems to have missed some of the books I read this year, because I was going through all the books I read in 2020 as one does before one makes a list and I remembered some excellent books I read this year that Storygraph hadn’t charted. So. After all that, I read 122 books this year thus far. My goal was 120. Goals are just a way for me to keep track, so Storygraph or Goodreads will say “you have read 118 books this year so far.” I like that, it helps me stay organised, and all my reading goals since 2016 have had the ultimate end in this list. But reading is not a race, numbers are meaningless to anyone who isn’t you. If you’re not much of a reader (although that is highly unlikely if you’re subscribed to this newsletter, we mostly talk about books), I suggest you have a 12 book goal, one a month, that’s simple enough for anyone, I think.

Anyway, one last word on themes before I break down the ACTUAL LIST. Once I made my list I realised the best books I read this year with only one or two exceptions were memoir and 19th century classics. I could equate it to the pandemic (inward focused old-fashioned lives) but this trend (in memoir at least) started with me in January, way before I was worried about being a shut-in for the rest of the year. So who knows? It was probably just that sort of year already, written in the stars etc.

Finally, all links are Amazon affiliates so I can earn a little money off the hellsite, but also probably available at your local bookstore if you order in advance.

The Best Books I Read In 2020

The funniest book I read in 2020: Priestdaddy by poet Patricia Lockwood. By the premise you don’t think it’s going to be that gasp-out-loud laughing, it’s about Lockwood’s father, a married Catholic priest and also weaves in and out of her childhood and adult life. She has a Very Particular sense of humour though, that personally appeals to me, and I emphasize this because unlike, say, Bill Bryson or David Sedaris or something, funny for everyone, this feels like you’re hanging out with your one best friend who always winds up making you laugh so hard you fart.

The only Western novel I have ever read that was actually riveting and not all boring guns and saloons nonsense: True Grit by Charles Portis. (I also recently watched the Coen brothers movie, which was excellent fun but besides the point.) Look, I’ve never been one for the Wild Wild West, Louis L’Amour style of gritty settlers. My idea of Westerns comes from Laura Ingalls Wilder, which is to say, domestic with a side of vast outdoors. Hilary Mantel (who always recommends books I love, including the Cazalet chronicles which I am about to embark on a re-read of) loves this book so much she wrote the introduction to my edition. It’s about a fourteen-year-old girl who hires a bounty hunter to find the man who killed her father. Because she doesn’t trust that he will do his job, she accompanies him on the trail. Mattie is the most self-composed YA heroine I’ve ever met, and she keeps her dignity through all her adventures.

The one classic novel that I keep thinking about and that I actively miss now that I’ve finished reading it and which will, in all likelihood, inspire my next novel: Middlemarch by George Eliot. I mean, I wrote a whole newsletter about it, but if you want the TL;DR version: it’s about the small village of Middlemarch and really delves into the psychology of its inhabitants in a way you won’t have ever read before. If you like novels about people, actual living thinking people, then you MUST read Middlemarch. Please. Do it for me. 2020 for me will always be the year I read Middlemarch.

The best “oh now I understand all the references” classic novel I read this year: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, which ALSO got its own newsletter. Reading David Copperfield for the first time in my thirties after many years of reading books written immediately after Dickens’ masterpiece was realising that David Copperfield was the Harry Potter of its time. I mean, right now I could throw in a Dumbledore reference and you would understand it immediately, well, back in the 19th century if I described someone as “such a Dora” you’d also know what I meant immediately. It was like discovering a touchstone of a book, I kept going, “Ohhh” and “Ahhh that’s what Mr Micawber is.”

The best historical novel I read this year: Hilary Mantel’s final book in the Cromwell trilogy The Mirror and The Light. Listen, I adore La Mantel, and I think she was robbed out of the Booker shortlist nom, and The Mirror and the Light is a book of such pure genius, the writing is so perfect that you’re immersed before you know what you’re doing. Of course, you must read the other two Cromwell books before you read this one, but make sure you do. I’m invested in that historical period—blame Philippa Gregory, I guess—so I enjoyed reading of Cromwell’s fall as much as I enjoyed his rise. (I reviewed this for Open, so you can read that here.)

The best historical MURDER MYSTERY series I read this year: Cheating, but I couldn’t pick between Mantel and Sansom, author of the Matthew Shardlake series, also set in Tudor times so I put them both in under different subheadings. Look, while the Cromwell books are all Grand History Unfolding etc etc, the Shardlake books (beginning with Dissolution) are about what actually happened on the ground to regular people while all these politics went on. Matthew Shardlake is a lonely, hunchbacked lawyer with an ethical soul, so ethical as to be on the line of anachronistic, but still stays very much within his time who keeps bumping up against large crimes, and has to help solve them for his powerful clients. Seven books recommended to me by Friend Of The Newsletter, Akshata, I took my time reading them all, but delicious.

The best writer’s memoir by an Indian author I read this year: One Foot on the Ground: A Life Told Through the Body by Shanta Gokhale. I was only vaguely familiar with Shanta Gokhale before I read this book, but when I finished I was struck with her sheer good humour. I had just read Listen To Me by Shashi Deshpande the year before, also a memoir by an Indian woman author of a certain age, but while Deshpande’s book was full of rage and grief, Gokhale stayed light-hearted almost all through. She tells her story through different physical memories, a broken foot, her first period and so on, and the result is engaging little snapshots of India during a certain time.

The best writer’s memoir from a Western author I read this year: Dead and gone, but Gore Vidal’s Palimpsest was full of the juiciest gossip about dead authors and a bygone age. My favourite is when he described Truman Capote’s “fat fetus-like face” (the two were great rivals) and the book is full of bitching like that. In a year starved of any kind of gossip, Vidal was like the friend you always want to stay on the right side of, especially so he can whisper in your ear.

The best weird book I read all year: I’m not a huge genre fan, but I made an exception for Susanna Clarke’s latest, Piranesi, which is this delicious tribute to CS Lewis and Narnia and The Magician’s Nephew. It was a book club pick, and we all loved it, so there’s that. It’s very thin, so I can’t tell you much more about it, but I’d recommend it. It’s an odd, sweet, engrossing little book.

The best book I read about sisters: In a year of reading all over the globe, I fell deep into a pothole of Japanese literature, starting with The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanazaki. The story is VERY Indian, two older sisters despair of ever getting their younger sister married, even though she keeps meeting matches, it never goes right for her. Meanwhile, the very youngest sister keeps doing unsuitable things and meeting unsuitable men, all this has a knock-on effect on the whole family. It’s a very slow read, unfolding over a few years, Japan right before WWII, and not much happens, it’s sort of like watching the scenery go by when you’re on a train, flashes of lives presented to you. I was drawn in from the very start.

The best graphic book I read this year: Another memoir, but one I loved so much, I suggested it for book club and gave it to a friend as a birthday present was Good Talk by Mira Jacob. It’s about young Mira, and also Mira as a parent, as she navigates America as a person of colour. I thought it was moving and beautiful, always exactly what I’m looking for from my graphic novels/books.

The best book written by a friend: Samit Basu’s Chosen Spirits would be on this list even if he was NOT a friend, but I feel like I have to add a friendship disclaimer, given that we speak constantly. But a dystopian view of Delhi in the near future felt so real, it was almost like he was saying, “This is GOING TO HAPPEN” instead of “this could.” I always love Samit’s characters too, especially Joey, the “female lead” as they say, whip-smart and with an inner voice that felt exactly like my own head.

And that’s a wrap from my Year In Reading 2020! Let me know what your best book of the year is in the comments and y’know, tell your friends if you liked this post.

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Links I Liked On The Internet

(I normally wouldn’t put a LILOTI on my best books list but it’s been so long since we talked that I have a bunch.)

How the internet broke our parents’ brains.

Nice interactive feature on India’s pollution and inequality.

I’ve been singing Aaj Shanibar all morning since I read this story about a long lost record by a woman in Calcutta that’s become super popular on YouTube.

Lovely essay about following Mormon mommy bloggers on Instagram.

Turns out COVID learning pods are pretty toxic.

The weird world of LinkedIn.

An excellent essay about a subject I’ve always been curious about: racehorses in Mahalakshmi and so on.

Phew! That was a lot to fit into one newsletter! Hope you’re enjoying the last month of this strange as fuck year in the best way you can.

xx

m

Where am I? The Internet Personified! A mostly weekly collection of things I did/thought/read/saw that week.

Who are you?Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, writer of internet words (and other things) author of seven books (support me by buying a book!) and general city-potter-er.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. (Plus my book recommendation Instagram!)

Got sent this newsletter? Sign up here to subscribe!

Forward to your friends if you liked this and to your increased cold weather appetite for salty fatty foods if you didn’t.

Also, write back to me! I love to hear from you.

What I'm Reading

You know sometimes people ask you "so who's your favourite author" and then you scramble to think of someone and you say the first name that comes into your head, someone super obvious but later when you think about it you're like "actually what about the author whose backlist I'm gradually collecting, the one whose every novel is a treasure, whose name I will see on a spine and immediately buy the book regardless of back jacket blurb?" one of those authors for me is Rumer Godden. I love everything I've read. I love her style. And truth be told, I read this book on my Kindle which I love, but some books you want to OWN. Physically. If you know what I mean. Maybe I'm just old fashioned like that. China Court is the story of a house, and the stories within it, the people who've lived there and one old lady dies and one young lady comes forward and through it all, the house endures. I loved it but if you are new to Rumer Godden please start with one of my other favourites: In This House of Brede (set inside a nunnery, fascinating) or The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (family drama) or Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (kids' book about two Japanese dolls and a lonely little girl). Read them all, read widely, discover someone new to love. #chinacourt #rumergodden #120in2020 #bookstagram #mrmbookclub

Today in Photo

And lo, with the placing of the Mat of Yoga in the light of the Glorious Sun, she called forth a Beaste of sleek fur and Grey Demeanour. And lo, Did the Beaste sitte on the matte like other Beasts before him and it did make a low call for The Food Bowle stood empty and it wanted its Breakfast. #catstagram #summoningritual #brunothetabby

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