It’s time for a major life update, or rather, the beginning of a new life.
Some of you guessed it right from my monthly updates posts that I was expecting. ☺️
Well, the moral of the story is that our baby boy arrived in this world on 26th October, 2023. Slightly sooner than the due date and today he is already 1 month old. It is unbelievable for me but it’s true.
I obviously need to go back in time and write about my birthing story, probably some things about my pregnancy journey too. There are a few other things in my mind to write about as well. I’ll get to it when I get to it. Right now, it’s all very overwhelming but if I look back at the last one month, things have got better every single day. Plus, watching some Instagram baby reels made me realise that this time is never going to come again, so I’m definitely taking one day at a time, for my own sanity but also to soak it all in.
Actually, this shouldn’t count for 2023 as I am essentially reading this book on & off since 2021. 😀
I got this as a gift in one of the book exchanges I participated in. Of all the books I had got, I wanted to dive right into this one the first because I am always up for reading WWII stories and who in the world hasn’t heard great things about this one?
What is this book about?
There’s no way you don’t know what this book is about but let me still try – the book is about a young German girl growing up in a German town during the period of WWII, how her life and life of people around her is affected by the Nazi regime. The book’s highlight is considered that it is narrated by death itself. The book starts with the journey of this girl, Liesel, whose twin brother is dead and her poverty stricken mother has to drop her to a foster parents home for better care and then the story is all about people she meets upon reaching this new home with the backdrop of WWII.
What I liked?
Like I have said many times, this is a genre I highly like. In fact, I want to start reading more non-fiction from this genre. Hence, needless to say, I pretty much liked the book. There were a lot of characters I admired but I also need to add that the characters were written pretty much black and white. The author has drawn inspiration from his own family for the characters as Germans living in a WWII scenario and how they don’t relate to/agree with the fascist regime. While I do see his point of a ‘normal’ person not being able to relate to the fascism, not everyone is as saintly as the characters of this book.
Additionally, <Spoiler Alert> I also liked that the ending of the book was not so gore and in a more silver lining kind of way.
What I didn’t like?
I initially gave this book a 5 star on Goodreads because as soon as I finish a book and I am still in trance of the book (which is quite likely for me for this genre), I am very likely to rate it nicely right at that time. 😀
However, I have realized over time that there are reasons why I was reading this book on & off. If I loved it so much to give 5 stars, I would have read it in one sitting start to finish, which wasn’t the case. I, therefore, realized that there are many issues I had with the book apart from the characters thing I mentioned above. Let’s talk about what I didn’t like:
A lot of people actually liked the book because of the narration. On the contrary, I wasn’t a fan of death being the narrator. First of all & most importantly, it wasn’t adding any value to the story for me. It felt very gimmicky. Secondly, I didn’t even enjoy the style of narration. Could have been way better in my view as a regularly narrated book, but maybe it wouldn’t have got as many eyeballs then as it got now.
This book is 500+ pages. I deserve way more for reading so many pages. In my honest opinion, there was absolutely no need for the book to be this long. Many incidents seemed repetitive, kind of hammering the same point and this is not something I would have mind if they generated more interest in the story or if they engrossed the reader more. I mean, who doesn’t want their favorite book to never end? However, this wasn’t the case with The Book Thief. At least not for me.
I also feel a lot of people would have issues with the ending of the book too. I was quite okay with it.
In the end, I want to say, while The Book Thief is not a bad book, it could have been so much better and I am sure there is better literature out there on the WWII topic. I continue to wonder how it garnered so much popularity.
I picked this book also at the World Book Fair in Delhi in Mar’23, just like book 4 here. I wanted to read one Sudha Murty book as I have never read her, hence, this was picked after much deliberation as the covers of her books tend to be very pretty and its difficult to pick one.
What is this book about?
Its an anthology of short stories of women in Indian mythology. I think its aimed at children or young adults.
What I liked?
I liked knowing about new women characters from our mythology, as I was not aware of all the ones mentioned in here, or at least, forgot about most even if they came up in some stories or texts as a child.
What I didn’t like?
I didn’t enjoy this book a lot frankly. Let me put two disclaimers out first before I say anything more. First of all, if you have read this blog for sometime, you know I adore children books. In fact, the last book opinion on here was also meant for children which is probably my favorite book of the year. I am trying to say that its very likely that I may love a book wholeheartedly that was meant for children. Secondly, I usually enjoy reading Indian mythology (there are actually lot of cues for that on the blog too). Despite these two things, this book was just not it for me. I have tried to think hard as to why and I have only come up with one thing that the stories are written very matter-of-factly. Like, putting sentences together. Now, I also feel weird saying this because I like simple narrations as well. But this one was just not it. It felt like its a factual book, there didn’t feel like any emotions or heart of the story for me to enjoy.
As my first Sudha Murty book, I was quite disappointed by the writing style. I might read another of her works, because they are super easy to read anyway, and the themes are mostly what I like but considering its the writing style that we are talking about, I feel I may not enjoy other of her works either.
This is going to be a very haphazard post. The reason is that I did want to do a roundup of the months that went by but I don’t recall details obviously. So, here goes whatever comes to my mind randomly of the last 3 months –
PRAN irritation: I tried registering myself for the National Pension Scheme and it was a nightmare. These government tasks – if they don’t get done by the basic methodology that their online platform provides – then you can’t figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. I was made to go into loops and loops and while now my unique identification number for the pension scheme, i.e. PRAN says “active”, I am still not getting this money yet. 🙂
Eating Vada Pav and popcorn and other things: Remember this and this post? Many of you figured what’s being talked about and, in these last 3 months, two things I really liked eating was popcorn and Vada Pav. I didn’t OTT on them, or I don’t mean to say that I was eating them all the time, barely 3-4 times but I enjoyed eating them, that’s what I wanted to share. I also tried 2 new Pizza places – both of which were great! One was a pizza on wheels service, which delivers hot Pizza to your home while making it in the oven in a truck! More recently, I have been on the verge of GD (funny since I don’t eat sugar in any form apart from fruits), so I am definitely cutting out outside food strongly, but even before I discovered the GD thing, I had been craving Subway. In the last 2 weeks itself, I have had Subway thrice!
Read more: I have been reading more than I expected and that has felt really good! Of course, there are going to be tons of book posts.
Some skincare favorites: The good old coconut oil, a few lip balms here and there (maybe a separate post for them would be good). Recently I asked my husband to get me CeraVe moisturizer from when he was traveling to the US. (Funnily, it launched in India like few days back!). I love the fragrance, feel and texture, but even the normal to dry skin version feels like a lot stickier for Indian weather. I hope I can make more use of it come winters.
Some makeup favorites: So, I got a couple of new lipsticks during the Nykaa sale and both turned out good. One is Maybelline Nude Nuance, which I do think has a good following anyway and second is a Renee Liquid Lipstick sample (shade not mentioned) that I got gifted with my purchases which turned out quite good.
Shows: I didn’t watch a ton of new stuff but I loved this show “Dahaad” on Amazon Prime. Its a crime thriller and one thing I absolutely loved in a long time! I did watch a lot of movies in the theatre but none of them stood out for me to mention. Oppenheimer was alright, of course!
Random favorites: First thing is meeting one of my friends after a long time. I was at my parents, and she was okay to come visit me at a place near there. We ate, talked and shopped, all good things. I ended up buying two absolutely amazing dresses from an export surplus shop there, both for 250 INR each (that’s like 3 dollars!!). Another thing I quite enjoyed were something called the “turtle chips” that my friend got for me, they are not made of turtles :D, in fact, my friend is vegan. However, they were super tasty and I would love to try more flavors.
It is one of the sweetest finds for me this year. Read along & you will know why.
Why I chose this book?
I went to the World Book Fair held in Delhi in March and loved the cover illustration a lot and, therefore, just picked it up.
What is this book about?
8-year old Benazir, lovingly known as Bena, is spending her summers at her paternal grandparents place in Gaya followed by her maternal grandparents in Sultanpur.
The book is about Bena’s experiences and covers a lot of deep aspects ranging from sexual abuse, death, casteism and a backdrop of Hindu-Muslim riots. The blurb seems to say that the story is a bit autobiographical.
What I liked?
This book had a lot of heart. I loved, loved, loved it.
My favorite part of the book is how much Bena loves food, her cousins, family and friends. The descriptions of the various treats, like Jalebis, that Bena enjoys with her loved ones are very vivid.
The other thing that I truly enjoyed was how much of a good read it really is for Indian summer. We keep reading these romantic European summer books but what about Indian summer? True, this is more of a child’s perspective, but so, so well done. Everything comes alive in a nostalgic manner.
Apart from all this, the incidents around child abuse are very well-handled and written with a lot of poignancy. I actually liked reading about all the issues they brought up.
What I didn’t like?
Nothing. This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year.
Remember this post? I mentioned here that I’ll do a separate roundup for just the lipsticks and here it goes!
Why a separate post for lipsticks? It is currently my most favorite makeup product to use, but the problem is it doesn’t get enough use since I only apply it when I am going to office or a special occasion, both are not everyday affairs. Hence, there is no point to buy more as much as I would have loved to.
This post was meant for lipsticks that expired post the pandemic, most of them being 4 years old. However, I would try to include my current ones as well, especially the favorites. 🙂 Starting with the stashed out, soon-to-be stashed out and then the current ones:
Stashed Out:
Among these stashed out things, you see 2 lipsticks, 1 lip tint and 1 lipbalm.
The Earth Rhythm Lip Cheek Tint: I so badly wanted to like this, because its texture felt very nourishing on the skin, but a) it didn’t stay on the skin for even half an hour, b) it went bad in the bottle so quickly. I am not even sure if it expired but there’s definitely no point keeping this one.
Flormar Lipstick: I cannot find this variant on Flormar website, this is more than 4 years old. I got it from Dubai while randomly roaming around and its one of the best formulas I have ever used. It was so f*cking cheap as well! I bought multiple shades in this one and gifted it to a few cousins, who even asked where can they buy this again. You can see I have very little left in the bullet. I would love to repurchase it, if I can find it again.
Wet n Wild MegaLast Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipstick – Rebel Rose: Again, one of the best formulas I have tried for liquid lipsticks. Again, very cheap. I am not a big fan of liquid lipsticks and prefer bullet ones more, but if you are, this is a must try. The shade was also gorgeous but other shades in this range also seem pretty nice.
Organic Harvest Strawberry Lip Balm: A good lip balm but nothing out of the ordinary. I am happy to report this one was tossed out because of getting used completely in a few months. Its anyway easier to finish lip balms.
Soon-to-be Stashed Out:
Well, I did this declutter in Feb’23, so these should ideally have been stashed out by now. 😀 This category is comprised of lipsticks that are recently or soon to be expired or I just didn’t have the heart to let them go yet or lipsticks which are fresh but I just cannot use them for various reasons. Good that I kept them though because a) I now feel more ready to toss them out, b) I did actually use some of them in the past few months (without enjoying though). Let’s see them one by one from left to right:
Sugar Smudge me Not Liquid Lipstick in Red: Its long over, is more than 4 years old and….ok, I recalled why I have it. I was hoping I could read the name of the shade as this red suited me to the T! Sugar Cosmetics still has this range but they have renamed or launched new shades, so I can’t find this one easily. The formula was your basic liquid lipstick formula, nothing amazing but the shade was so meant for me.
Sugar Matte as Hell Crayon in shade Holly Golightly: I think this is one of the best formulas to come out of Sugar Cosmetics. It gives a powder but cream matte sort of finish. Again, I am just about okay with cream matte but I know a lot of people would love it as they prefer powder matte. They should give it a go. The shade was also good.
Smashbox Liquid Lipstick in Driver’s Seat: First of all, the formula is basic liquid lipstick for such a hyped product and it dried too quickly. Definitely in a year! However, I loved it because the shade suited me so well. It featured in my favorites here. I have to let it go because it dried up, can anyone suggest a solution to use it? I tried adding some coconut oil but it didn’t work.
MyGlamm Lit Liquid Matte Lipstick: I got this free with the next two lipsticks in this picture. I loved this one but not the other two so much. 😀 Its a very good formula for a liquid lipstick, similar to Wet n Wild mentioned above but with a slight more sheen to it. Depending on which one you prefer, you can actually love either of these. I might consider buying this in future if I wanted to buy a liquid lipstick, but, like I keep saying, I am not into liquid lipsticks a lot.
MyGlamm K.Play Flavoured Lipstick-Orange Spin: Just now when I was looking for the links, I expected to not find these since I don’t expect gimmicky products to be available after so many years! I am surprised that these are still available. I called them gimmicky because their main claim was the fragrance of the associated fruit, i.e. orange in this case. Frankly, I thought these won’t be great, but the formula and fragrance were pretty decent. The only thing is it transfers a lot. My main problem with these was that the shades didn’t suit me a lot, or you can say, I don’t wear such bright shades easily. Hence, the stick almost expired. However, I did use them in the past few months by mixing with others.
Lakme Enrich Satin Lipstick: I got this one gifted and its not an amazing lipstick but it is just fine for the price. In today’s time, when there are so many similarly priced lipsticks that work well, I’ll not recommend this but Lakme always has the best shades collection relevant for Indians and I hope that’s one thing other brands can learn.
Avon Lipstick: Worst quality ever, the color not only changes post application but also stains the lips badly.
Current Lipsticks:
Saving the best for the last! These are the ones that are fresh and I am currently using. There’s a new one added to the mix now – Rimmel London lipstick which I am absolutely loving due to the shade. Let’s talk about the others from left to right:
Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink in Caramel Collector: This shade is now discontinued and I bought it only for the shade. I didn’t like the formula much, too sticky for my liking but I know some can like the overtly creamy liquid formulations.
Revlon Lipstick: Got this gifted as well, I don’t like anything about this – bleeds too much and too shiny for a creamy matte. I think I have to toss this one.
Dior Addict Lipstick: My current favorite lipstick!! I love the shade on myself and I am more into creamy bullet lipsticks and if they are nude, then a little glossiness won’t hurt. This is exactly that. However, it gets removed and transferred very, very easily, so I won’t recommend it unless you have the exact same liking as me and you are okay to buy an expensive one just for the experience.
Chambor Matte Riot: Love, love, love the formula. Light-weight, creamy matte but the shade doesn’t suit me. So, I am using it by mixing with others.
Mac Ruby Woo: I don’t need to write anything about the formula, enough has been said already. However, I don’t love the shade. This is one lipstick for which I have never heard someone say that they didn’t like the shade, but the thing is, this is a deep blue-based red and I feel tomato reds suit me more. However, there’s a possibility that I am just scared of colors that are out there and judging this lipstick wrongly.
Indulgeo Essentials Pout It Lip Oil: I bought this before I got the Dior Lipstick. The intent was to use it as a lip topper to make any of my lipsticks look a little glossy. It does not help frankly. First of all, it is not that glossy, but rather have golden chunks inside. Absolutely not okay. Secondly, whatever glossy appearance it has, that doesn’t stay for long and it settles into a moisturizing balm sort of appearance soon. Thirdly, it has a very strong herb-y fragrance. I can make do with it but definitely not recommended!
Phew! That’s it for today. Please leave your comments to make me feel better about going on and on! 😀
If you liked this, check out more of my latest posts:
Life of Srish 
