SlishaCrazy

 In 2019, I read 51 books in all. I had been really upset that I could not even read 5 books in 2018 and had set myself a target of 50 books for 2019. While I 'outdid' myself, I also did little else I felt. So in 2020, I only set myself 36 books as a target, or 3 books per month. Well, I fell two short. I think I could have pushed myself to finish 36 but 2020 was no ordinary year. But I also learnt to play the piano, went back to some singing and dancing, stargazed , travelled to the hidden parts of the UK but also discovered my little neighbourhood, and worked from home. 2020 in Books: I read 34 against my target of 36.Three of them are written by friends !!!  For the ones that I recommend, I have put pictures of the books. So even if you don't read the whole blog, you can just browse through the pics. Book1 Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey: I sincerely recommend it. You feel the helplessness of old Maud as your own, when her mind slips away and she tries to hold it to

I remember stargazing as a child on the terrace of our apartment block. We took bedding and made ourselves comfortable for a meteor shower which turned up for a short time, but I still have fond memories of the stars and constellations. It seemed natural to me all those years ago, that you looked up into the sky and saw stars, some that made patterns like the Saptarishi Mandal (the big dipper) and occasionally the Milky Way was visible. Only decades later did I realise that we lost that ability to pollution (light and air) and that it's almost like losing a superpower. People didn't believe me that I had done it or the one could even do it - look up in the sky and see the Milky Way. Made me wonder how many other superpowers were lost to civilisation. May be it's true that once upon a time people could bend spoons with their mind and survive years without food. I digress.  Stargazing came back to me when I looked up at the sky above the Grand Canyon and saw the Milky Way as

I have wanted to see the ancient world of Egypt for as long as I can remember. We decided to not put off the trip anymore and go for a short trip, even if. Turns out, we covered most of what we wanted to, in a very short time - 3.5 days to be precise. Incidentally, we covered the spots in the reverse chronological order, visiting Luxor first, Giza second and Dahshur/ Saqqara third. I will go through them in their correct order instead. But first some info. Here is an itinerary for people who are short on time: Day 1: Luxor. Having landed in the morning, we covered the West Bank sites and spent the afternoon and evening at a leisurely pace. Day 2: Luxor. We covered the East bank, including a sound and light show at Karnak. Day 3: Giza/Cairo. In the morning half we visited the great Pyramids. In the afternoon, we visited a few sites in Cairo. Day 4: Dahshur/Saqqara. We spent the morning at these sites and headed to the airport, stopping briefly at Cairo. Itinerary notes:

I managed to read 51 books in 2019. Here are my recommendations from the 51: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Ferrante captures young female friendship in all its inexplicable beauty, in its interdependent on support and jealousy. I have never read a coming of age story that was so relatable. So honest that I felt the need to reach out to my own school friends. The struggle to rise above your circumstances and the self discovery feels universal. To me, the rest of the books in the series don't match up to it. I watched the National Theatre's adaptation into a play and was deeply disappointed but was delighted with the Italian TV show directed by Saverio Constanzo! Milkman by Anna Burns A wonderful read, it's a serious tale of The Troubles but the barely 16yr old girl's troubles are nonetheless all too contemporary and unsettling. It casually highlights the 'us vs them' peppered with witty sarcasm and all kinds of digressions. Characters remain u