Roy is reading passages from one of her books to John Berger, another author. She talks about how carefully he listens and how meaningful it was to her. I agree with what she has to say about that kind of listening. It‘s a rare and beautiful thing. I hope it‘s not a lost art.
pickStrong start to the reading year 🔥💪💔. God of Small Things is and exceptional novel and my husband bought me this memoir about the author for Christmas. I‘d heard a lot about it and its focus on her complicated relationship with her mother. Wow; complicated doesn‘t begin to describe it. I learnt about India and Kashmir in particular, and now plan to read her only other novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.
pickIn my latest video, I am looking back on my 2025 reading: some of my faves, lots of stats and my top book of 2025 (tagged)
#Booktube #yearendstats
https://youtu.be/6yOgPlV32tI
pickI have not read this author's novels, but something about the memoir appealed to me, probably that I related to her troubled relationship to a strong mother. Roy writes beautifully, in a very easy to read manner and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. As well as being a gifted writer, I admire her social activism, and the book opened my eyes to some of the issues she was involved with. I have added “The God of Small Things“ to my “to read“ list. 4.5/5!
Just a few books I purchased this year that I didn‘t get to read. My 2026 reading list is off to good start. I am looking forward to every single one of these books! #2026
My top books of 2025 a.k.a. my 5⭐ reviews as recorded throughout the year on StoryGraph:
📚 Bread of Angels: A Memoir by Patti Smith
📚 Poyums Annaw by Len Pennie
📚 Diavola: A Novel by Jennifer Marie Thorne
📚 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
📚 Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
📚 My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss
📚 The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
(Last 2 not pictured as they were library books.)
Eli Sharabi spent 491 days as a Hamas hostage in Gaza. His wife and teenage daughters were murdered in the October 7th attack. We all fought for him and other hostages to come home. And not only he did, he kept his light and he shared it. This is my next read #Hanukkahchallenge #imthatjew
pickI love Claire Dederer. She‘s cool but open, and therefore vulnerable: eminently likable and unlikable at the same time, needing to be seen and validated. Even when she‘s not like you (see: her entire edgy adolescence), that need and that combination of liking her and not liking her at the same time is so familiar; it‘s very much how you feel about yourself — or how *I* feel about *myself,* anyway — which makes her likable all over again. 👇🏻
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}