Absolute May-hem!
Grab a beverage and settle in.
Hello Hello!
We meet again. How have you been and what have you been upto? Yes, YOU. You can respond to these newsletters (did you know!) and it goes straight to my inbox and from there to my heart. I love (love) these emails and hearing your thoughts and sending you little notes back.
I sometimes also go back and read these emails/notes because it feels so wholesome and old school and all things sweet and mushy! So yes, if you’re tempted, do give it a shot- hit that respond button :)
What absolute May-hem did May bring about, you ask? Well, to start with the month opened with my birthday (YAY! I turned 35). I am fully grey at the temples (almost silver if you catch me in the right light) and full at heart. I had a nice birthday, met all my friends (2 people) and spent time with my hooman (the hubster) and my floofs, watched Aavesham (LOVED IT!) ate some good food (shoutout to Table for Tous, HSR Layout!). All in all, nailed it!
Right after, I got a new tattoo!!! A little froggy who looks zoned out or in food coma or stoned (all a matter of perspective) and a red chrysanthemum. And no, none of it means anything. I got them- just because. Though it’s funny how when I got my first few tattoos, I always thought i’d be that girl who gets teeny tiny smol pieces here and there but looks like we’re aiming for a full sleeve, soon (insert my excited squealing!)
Also, here’s a piece on tattoos and skin. And large bodies -
I am a middle aged woman now and often I come across posts of fellow middle aged folks talking about how “age is just a number” in their birthday post captions. Which always makes me wonder what’s so touchy and offensive about ageing? Why do a lot of us feel the need to defend our numbers. It also upsets people when I call myself old or a relic or an ancient anxiety ridden carcass. But i’ll be honest, i’d rather be called a grumpy ol’ woman than a “bubbly girl” (ugh. ew).
Moving on, there’s a small (at the moment) revolution brewing over on Instagram about Instagram (more so about META’s AI training and it’s sneaky thieving ways) robbing artists off of their hard work without consent and without credit. A lot of the artists I follow are moving out of the platform, boycotting the platform (MondayMetaBoycott) and finding newer spaces, hello! Cara.
And I sincerely hope we (as artists, a collective) find a platform that doesn’t play hot and cold with us and punish us for crimes we don’t even know we’ve committed. I hope this trial will end soon and we can all go back happily clutching our pieces of the internet that we spent years and decades building.
We are forever renting and never buying! I remember a dozen more platforms in the past that came and never really went anywhere. And we happily packed bags with hope and just that and moved our accounts, wrote our bios, put in our work, and waited. Waited for something, anything to happen. Sadly, those accounts stayed there, like ghosts haunting the back alleys and nooks of the internet while Instagram continued to be our only reality.
I’ve only lost followers in the last 4 years, constantly. consistently. And I gotta admit, I didn’t always put on my makeup and my red nose and showed up when asked to. I knew what was expected of me yet I stayed stubborn. I stayed in my static post era. No hashtags, no music, no collabs. And I’ve been paying the tax for that resistance since. It’s been 4 years, lost over 10,000 followers and the reach is abyssal.
(Deep breaths- Inhale. 1 2 3 4 Exhale. 1 2 3 4 5 6)
On to brighter and beautiful things : B O O K S
I read a whole bunch these last few months (since the last newsletter) and here are my top reccos for May :
Playing Games by Huma Qureshi : I am not new to this author’s work, I have previously read and absolutely loved her short stories collection - Things we don’t tell people we love. Playing games is her debut novel and now one of my favourite books! It’s classified under “domestic fiction” and safe to say, I love this genre. If you’ve read A Place For Us (another one of my favourites) you might enjoy this too. It is, at the heart of it, a story of two sisters; one navigating her marriage and desire to build a family, have a child and the other- navigating life, career as playwright, and relationships. This story is told from both their perspectives, switching between their POVs in each chapter. I really enjoyed this book and the ending is quite satisfying too, the writing is easy and accessible, the pacing is perfect, the characters - the sisters and the husband, well fleshed out imo. TW : abortions/miscarriage.
The God of small things by Arundhati Roy : A little back story about this book- one of my closest friends has recommended me this book for years now (a decade actually) and I always thought Arundhati Roy and the likes are for the english lit (hons) kids only and so I never mustered the courage to pick this book up, fearing looking dumb. But boy, I was wrong and how! I listened to this on audio and what an absolute treat this was. I highly highly recommend getting your hands on the audio version of this book because it’s a full production with a full cast, music, and effects. I think this was the BBC play made available as audiobook too. I loved it. It’s a small book in size but larger than life and will sit heavy in your heart! There’s so much love and heart in it but there’s also melancholy and the words are like poetry. It is a love story but it’s also so much more, unrequited love, commentary on class and differences, grief and longing. TWs: Incest and domestic violence
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt : This was like a hot cup of chocolate on a cold wintry night. Quite predictable but oh so cute! Very wholesome, warm, and mushy. I usually lean towards sad/melancholic and dark but every once in a while, I also enjoy cracking a window and letting in some sun and this book was just that. It’s a story of an elderly woman (I enjoy stories with older protagonists), a grieving mother and wife but she’s still all things joy, hope, and bright who befriends an octopus (yes!). And that’s all I’ll tell you. Although my one small gripe with this book was I wish there were more chapters on the Octopus’s perspective. I really (really) enjoyed those chapters a lot more than I enjoyed the story of the humans. But still, a great book. A good holiday read!
Someday, Maybe by Onwi Nwabineli : Going back to sad books, this one talks about suicide and grief. And the ‘leftovers’ - how the people living deal with this loss and confusion when there’s no note left behind. How they chase closure and come to terms with this event. The story is about a grieving widow interspersed with the grief and anger of the mother who lost her son to suicide and how families come together to process sudden death and the aftermath. I really liked the writing, it was gentle and sensitive while holding space for all the emotions. An emotional and reflective read. It would have been nice to hear more of the mother’s perspective, I felt she was written a bit flat- mostly just put in the “evil mother in law” corner. Only pick this up if you have space to accommodate some sadness in your heart. TWs: suicide/death
Currently Reading and so far LOVING :
Will I ever have Sex Again by Sofie Hagen : I am a huge Sofie Hagen fan. I discovered her on The Guilty Feminist podcast and then I read Happy Fat, another favourite book and now finally got my hands on this. Also, if you’re ever worried about reading this book in public and getting unwanted attention, worry not! if you remove the dust jacket, the spine reads- just a cool book, don’t worry about it. Genius eh! Anyway, I’ve only just started on this and am quite excited to see how it goes.
None of this is true by Lisa Jewell : I sort of kind of stopped reading thriller/crime mystery fiction because I read way (way!!!) too manu of them growing up - Nancy Drews, Sydney Sheldon, John Grisham, Robert Cook, and whatever else I could find. I don’t remember exactly when my interest shifted from fictional crime to true crime (just reading and knowing not committing!) but I had two audible credits and wasn’t sure what to get so ended up getting this one and it’s perfect for audio because the book revolves around a podcaster, her podcast, and news coverage - very documentary style and this shines through in the audio book. The story is gripping, very well written, and I thinkkkkkk I might have cracked what’s happening but we will see. I badly want it to surprise me.
Moving to Television :
Sugar: Such a good show, so well written, so well produced. So much panache! BUT- I didn’t enjoy the main plot twist. It came out of nowhere and felt so absurd. I think it’s based on a book and perhaps they’ve done more justice to this in the book and there’s more context and world building done in text. (I hope!). The show is still fun though!
Wicked Little letters : If you know me even a little, you will know that I LOVE Olivia Coleman and will watch anything and everything she’s in. (yes, fine, I can be very biased!) but this film is such a riot! It’s funny and loud yet simple and just lovely! And it’s based on a true story.
And I’ve just started watching Eric (on netflix), this is our dinner time watch. And I’ve also dipped my toes into hacks (again on netflix). Let’s see how I get on with these two.
Let’s talk shop and merch now!
I am kicked and excited and VERY nervous about the new merch that’s about to launch (I say about to but it’s going to take a couple of months). This batch of merch has been (so far) a LOT of fun to make. I really took my time and experimented and played about with mediums, themes, and colours. It’s all your usual knick knacks, pins, magnets, totes, sketchbooks (and maybe a few other nibbles) but everything is so fresh and new! (please insert my beaming face).
Like promised, my newsletter gang gets some exclusive sneak peeks
*cartwheels out*
I look forward to hearing how you May went. Until then,
Remember to eat mangoes, lots of them!
I read God of Small Things a decade back. I don’t remember the story now, but I remember falling in love with the author. She strings words together beautifully.
The ending was a bummer. Was it really necessary? Although I want to reread the book, the horror holds me back.
✨🩷