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On the Art of Almost Falling Apart : Notes From My Journal

☁️ There are days when the sky wears its sorrow so delicately, one might mistake the heaviness for softness. It stretches itself across the horizon, a tapestry of reluctant greys, threaded with faint, reluctant light— as if even the sun, today, is uncertain of its place. I have always admired the sky’s quiet endurance. How it carries its grief openly, yet never quite collapses under its own weight. I wonder if that is the art of survival: to be full to the brim and still remain intact. When people ask if I am well, I find myself tracing the shape of the clouds, searching for answers in their unfinished sentences. I reply, "I am managing," which is simply another way of saying: I am holding storms the way the sky does— without spectacle, without relief . There is a particular kind of ache in occupying the middle ground— between breaking and enduring, between what I reveal and what I will carry quietly into the next morning. Some skies never clear. Some stories are never told. ...

The Complexities of Truth, Power, and Redemption in "The Teacher" by Frieda McFadden

"I remember when I was a little kid, I felt like anything that was wrong, my mom could hug me and make it right again. But there is no way for her to make any of this right again. Part of growing up is figuring out that your parents don’t have that ability anymore.." Synopsis  : At Caseham High School, Eve Bennett is a respected math teacher trapped in a passionless marriage with Nate, another teacher. The school is still reeling from a scandal involving a former teacher—Art Tuttle—and a student named Addie Severson, who left the school ostracised. When Addie returns to campus, bullied and vulnerable, she finds unexpected support in Nate’s English class and his after-school writing sessions. But as Nate’s encouraging attention deepens, Eve grows increasingly suspicious—especially when she finds Addie lingering near their home late at night. What unfolds is a dark, psychological storm: secrets surface, rumors spiral, and no one seems safe from manipulation. Addie becomes both ...

The Subtle Art of Finding Oneself In Michiko Aoyama's "What You Are Looking For Is in the Library"

"Life is one revelation after another. Things don’t always go to plan, no matter what your circumstances. But the flip side is all the unexpected, wonderful things that you could never have imagined happening. Ultimately it’s all for the best that many things don’t turn out the way we hoped.." Synopsis :  What are you looking for? This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it. Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine editor. The con...

‘The Glass Palace’ : An Interweaving Tale of History and Fiction

To use the past to justify the present is bad enough—but it's just as bad to use the present to justify the past. Introduction  :   Amitav Ghosh’s ‘The Glass Palace’ is a monumental work of historical fiction that spans over a century, traversing the complex and tumultuous landscapes of Burma, India, and Malaysia. Published in 2000, the novel is not merely a historical chronicle but a profound exploration of the human condition under the pressures of colonialism, war, and displacement. Ghosh, known for his richly textured narratives and deep historical insights, creates in ‘The Glass Palace’ a tapestry where personal lives and historical events are inextricably intertwined. This review critically examines the novel’s exploration of colonialism, identity, and displacement, while also analyzing Ghosh’s narrative techniques and his ability to blend fact with fiction.  ‘The Glass Palace’ is not only a reflection on the past but also a commentary on the present, inviting read...

Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon | ARC Review

"But I also can't tell him I've spent my entire life looking at myself through fog, pretending to be alive and hoping that one day I'd actually start to feel like I was, and now I'm terrified there's no hope left." Synopsis : Infatuation. Reincarnation. Damnation. Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers’ queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn. But even Enzo doesn’t know about Gem’s dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence that have always felt too real. So how does Willa Mae Hardy? The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions, and seems to know things about them they’ve never told anyone else. When Gem is attacked by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves t...

Loving the Dead and Gone by Judith Turner-Yamamoto| ARC Review

"Everywhere I looked I saw people hurting, disappointed, weighed down with longings they couldn’t name.." Synopsis :  A freak car crash in 1960s rural North Carolina puts in motion moments of grace that bring redemption to two generations of women and the lives they touch. For forty years Aurilla Cutter has tended a clutch of secrets that have turned her mean. A fatal accident becomes the catalyst for the release of the passions, needs, and hurts in everyone affected by her hidden past. Darlene, a seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her dead husband while proving herself still alive. Soon loss and death work their magic, drawing Darlene into an unlikely affair that threatens to upend Aurilla’s family, and sets loose Aurilla’s own memories of longing and infidelity. As Aurilla’s forbidden and heartbreaking story of love, death, and repeated loss alternates with Darlene’s, the divide of generations and time narrows and collapses, building to the unlikely col...

Spells For Forgetting by Adrienne Young | ARC Review

"There were some things that were a part of you, no matter how badly they hurt.." Synopsis :  A rural island community steeped in the mystical superstitions of its founders and haunted by an unsolved murder is upended by the return of the suspected killer in this deeply atmospheric novel. Emery Blackwood’s life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily.  Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among the community that fractured her world in two. She’d once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams; now, she maintains her late mother’s tea shop and cares for her ailing father.  But just as the island, rooted in folklore and tradition, begins to show signs of strange happenings, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past t...