Reading “Filler” Books
How Reading Mediocre books affects thinking and writing and in turn weakening a solid foundation Malayalam literature always had
Weekly Notes
UK
Notes
More on Reading – Again.
Although I had written this before, there was a time in my reading life when I avoided Rushdie and Naipaul after seeing them dismissed by Krishnan Nair (he was not really a critic but a literary journalist — which, to be fair, suits many so-called “critics” now as well). Later, however, I read two of
Weekly Notes
A Bunch of Prolific Writers
Adrian Tchaikovsky continues his prolific streak— it feels like every six months there’s something new from him. This time, it’s The Hungry Gods, set in yet another post-apocalyptic world filled with talking animals and birds. Was it as good as Shroud? For me, the answer is no. But with Tchaikovsky, there’s always something fresh to latch onto—some concept,
Weekly Notes
Reading Without Nostalgia
The most impactful reading of the week was Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands. The sheer fact that British India once spanned from Lebanon to Burma is staggering. What’s even more mind-blowing is the idea that it was the narrow-mindedness of Indian leaders, who envisioned a future India aligned with their religious ideologies, that ultimately shaped the
Weekly Notes
This Week, the Page Turned
Reading is the most prolific activity in my life right now—outside of work. I keep finding exciting new reads, and I’m deeply invested in this. This year has been fantastic in that sense. Same goes for music. 2025, Week 23 Books Finished The Psychology of Secrets — a real page-turner, by Andrew Gold. The author
Weekly Notes
Classics Rule and a Legend Departs.
Monsoon arrives in south and rain is everywhere, every hour. The big news this week: Ngugi Wa Thiong’o passed away. A Nobel—or even the often silly Booker—would only have diminished him. He was a writer beyond the grasp of awards, in the rare company of a few legends in literary history. Classics ruled my reading