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BaSila Husnain

@bookblabberer

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• Book reviews and blogging | •Bookish Content|
• Literature Student |• Lecturer by Profession

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In contrast to the mournful, melancholic atmosphere encapsulated in Mr. De La Mare’s poem, John Keats’ rousing, romantic ode to the season celebrates autumn in all its enigmatic duality, of ushering a new bloom of nature’s bounty, contrary to simply eroding it to pave the way for a hard, cold winter. In the first stanza itself, we are enchanted with how the vines are loaded and blessed with fruit and how apples, gourds, and hazel nuts are filled with life and ripeness, instead of the decay and destruction traditionally associated with autumn.

In the second stanza, Keats’ imagination soars even further, in letting the season manifest as an almost human, mortal presence, wandering throughout the pastoral landscape in the fashion of a gentle gardener or even a nomadic gleaner, filled with curiosity at the rhythms of nature that are set in motion by the change of seasons.

But it is in the third stanza where Keats gives full throat to his admiration and affection for the season, and for how it alters and beautifies the landscape indelibly with the same mesmeric grace as spring. In fact, it even challenges the resonance of any of the songs of spring, wondering if even they can rival the unconventional glories of autumn.

Thank you @literary_effervescence for the excellent recommendation in your comment. @bohemianbanjaran and @bookblabberer, have you read this poem yet?

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MEET THE GUL-O-BERG ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Connecting generations. Building futures. 🌸

Swipe to know us

THE LEADERSHIP

🌸 President

Prof. Dr. Nighat Naheed Zafar

🌸 Vice President

Prof. Dr. Shagufta Gulraiz

🌸 Director

Dr. Rukhsana Yasmeen

🌸 Secretary

Ms. Naureen Farhan

🌸 Treasurer

Ms. Shagoofa Yasmeen

Present Faculty Members

🌸 Ms. Rubab Kazmi

Present Faculty Members

🌸 Dr. Talaat Jabeen

Retired Members

Ms. Azra Naheed

Retired Members

Ms. Samina Nadeem

Retired Members

Ms. Zarina Khalid

OUR ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVES

Ms. Sufia Humayun

OUR ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVES

Ms. Basila Hasnain

SO, WHAT DO WE DO?

We connect our alumni.
We create opportunities.
We encourage mentorship.
We support our students.
We celebrate the achievements of our graduates.
We bring our GGCW family back together.
Because graduation is not goodbye.

🌸 Welcome to Alumni Association GGCW

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Today, the 9th of August, is celebrated as the Book Lovers’ Day. On this occasion, let me post about some of my friends with whom I have bonded over books and who have inspired me in their unique ways.

First of all, Subhayu’da - a Gabo fan who made me fall in love with Latin American literature and introduced me to the world of rare and collectible books. His bookish gifts are stuff that dreams are made of! 😍

Basila - my book friend from across the border who has probably influenced my reading arc the most. Great respect for you, my friend! 🙏🏼🤝

Tanaya - my first ever Booksta buddy! The discussions with you have always been so exciting! 😜

Souvik - one of the most passionate book lovers I have come across and the only person till date with whom I have exchanged books. His love for Jibanananda is something to behold! 🙌🏼

Prabuddha, Biswadeep, Joydeep, Sandipan - the Boipokas with whom I have scourged for author signed copies, discovered rare or out of print books, followed each other’s book recommendations! Real book buddies! 🫶🏼

Akash and Rekha - my newest book buddies! Great to know so much about Hindi literature from you guys and being infused with that infectious positive energy! 🤝🙌🏼

Oh, how could I miss Sushobhan and Trishit! Their breadth of reading and passion for exquisite editions is so so contagious! 😍

And lastly, Bristi - you have been like a breath of fresh air! May our friendship grow stronger with each passing day! 🥰

Happy reading, folks!! 📚

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The ground remembers. That’s the quiet terror at the heart of Ana Paula Maia’s On Earth As It Is Beneath.

A penal colony built on land soaked in the blood of enslaved people. A warden who hunts inmates at night. Guards who follow orders because what other choice is there? Prisoners who weigh the odds of dying by a bullet they can see versus one they can’t. Maia treats each character judiciously, letting you judge for yourself.

This book asks difficult questions in the quietest voice: What do you become when survival requires turning a blind eye? When does complicity become indistinguishable from participation? And what do we do with the fact that the violence didn’t start with Melquíades, and probably won’t end with him either? The bones in the ground predate everyone in this story...

Maia’s prose is stripped bare, almost biblical in its repetition, and that restraint refuses to let the horror feel like an aberration. This is what systems built on domination produce across centuries and across continents.

I read this novel late in the longlist but it might be the one I’m still thinking about when the prize is announced.

101 scant pages. Merciless. Breathtaking.

Book Review: On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan.
Translated Fiction | Charco Press, 2025

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Women make the world go round.

Happy International Women's Day to friends and book authors alike.

How could we be alive without women? I mean besides the obvious fact that they gave birth to all of us.

The ways in which women impact the world are innumerable.

I'll keep this short, because we all know I could go on for days on this subject. I love my fellow ladies, and although I have struggled most of my life to actually connect with women, Instagram is changing that for me and it's a beautiful thing. I hope you all can appreciate the women in your life who have made an impact, big or small.

First slide: Just a quick handful of some of my favorite books by women that I have read in the last couple of years.

The rest of the slides: 19 women from Bookstagram who have made a significant impact on my life since starting this account 11 months ago. Some of you are in my DMs every day, some of you I'm just starting to connect with, some of you are (mostly) silent admirers - ALL of you are amazing and strong and I am so happy to have met you. If you truly enjoy honest and kind, sincere friends, then check out their accounts. I have tagged them in each slide. (And if you aren't mentioned here, and are a woman friend/follower - I still appreciate you and love you! I can only tag what IG will allow. 🫂 )

Thank you all for being here! (I also appreciate all of my male friends too, but today is not about you! Is there an international men's day?🤔)

[Bookstagram, literature, translated literature, book recs, book recommendations, book friends, fiction, nonfiction]
#bookstagramfriends #bookstagram #bookrec #literature
#translatedliterature

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If you know me well and have read this book, you’ll know this is exactly the type of book I would like.

It was so strange and fun to read. I had a fun time reading and l had a good laugh after a really long time.

The book is set in a neighbourhood, with a narrator who is like the observer. Each chapter centres on a different resident, and every story grows increasingly bizarre. It reminded me of The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson as it had the same absurdity and unease.

In the neighbourhood, an entire school is made of chocolate. A lottery is drawn every few years to decide who gets to keep the foster child. There’s Uncle Red Shoes, who dances randomly in the streets. A doctor who prescribes boiled broccoli as a cure for loneliness. An epidemic called “Pigeonitis” spreads, causing those diagnosed to slowly take on pigeon-like traits. The stories are surreal and ridiculous.

Reading it made me realise how much I dislike the perfection in our world; the rigid systems, the predictable routines, the smoothness of it all. The way everything operates without disruption feels really dull.

Similar to this book, I crave irregularities. I want a world where strange things happen all the time where aliens visit and cause chaos, where a virus turns people into gummy bears, where the impossible interrupts the ordinary.

I don’t just want to escape into a world like that through fiction.

I want to live in it.

#peoplefrommyneighbourhood #japaneseliterature #surrealism #strangeandunusual #weirdbooks

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These are a few of my favorite things.

@ohia tagged me in a post about showing book collections. While I have an abundance of collections, many of my largest ones are in my storage unit. While I'm dedicated to my books, this account, and sharing with you all, I'm not THAT dedicated. 🤣

My favorite book collection is my photography book collection which is in the storage unit. I have hundreds. 📷

So instead of seeing my main collections - I picked 4 collections that I have here in my apartment that are constantly evolving.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟐 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭:
Penguin black spines - You really can't go wrong with classic black (it's my favorite color next to blue). I also always enjoy the introduction or foreword that includes (usually) history on the author and writing of the book.

@nyrbooks - I remember getting my very first NYRB books a few years ago in a lot on eBay and I was immediately hooked. I love anything that goes together in a set. I also have a few books here from the @dorothyproject and the NYRB poets line. I have only just started with Archipelago books, and only have one atm (not shown here) - these can all be purchased through the NYRB site.

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠:
Albert Camus black and whites. Enough said. I love them so much.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲:
Joan Didion & Eve Babitz - I've read Didion over the years but not Babitz. Their rivalry I find interesting and I want to know more.

My collections are constantly growing; I have so many micro-collections as well. I love books. What can I say?

I tagged a few friends - I know some of you have already shown off "the goods". If you haven't, show us what you have! Big, small, messy, incomplete, your favorite—whatever. I just like looking at books. 👀

[Books are great, book living, bookish, bookstagram, book collecting, book hoarder, book hoarding, big books small spaces, 2026 reading, classic literature, literary fiction, philosophy books, California writers, journalism, translated literature]
#bookstagram #bookcollection #penguinclassics #nyrb #philosophybooks

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Calling all the book lovers, come with me to Lahore’s cosiest book shop to read all your favourite books. And the best part, it sits right above @third_culture_coffee - so you can get your instant coffee refills while indulging in your favourite book read!

Tag your book reader friend you’d like to go to @thelastwordbks with!

#hidden #bookstagrammer #viral

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As we continue our journey through the heart of Lahore, @bookblabberer and I decided to step into the historical world of the Lahore Museum.

Wandering through its hushed halls, surrounded by centuries of preserved history and silent artifacts, familiar memories surfaced, gentle and unspoken. The air carried a sense of reverence, as if each gallery held fragments of stories waiting to be remembered.

Lahore isn’t just food streets and textbooks, hidden inside these walls are 2,000+ years of stories most people have never seen. From Gandhara art to relics that survived empires, this place quietly holds the soul of the city.

The Lahore Museum isn’t just history; it’s a time machine. Every room pulls you deeper into civilizations that shaped South Asia long before borders, timelines, or Instagram. Once you enter, you don’t leave the same.

This is proof of who we were and who we still are. We’ve only scratched the surface, from ancient whispers to Mughal mysteries.

If you’ve never visited Lahore Museum, you’ve only seen half of Lahore.

Tag someone who needs to see this 🇵🇰

📍 Lahore Museum
🎥 Reel worth saving
🇵🇰 Pakistan heritage

Lahore Museum history | best museums in Pakistan | Lahore travel places | Pakistan culture

#walledcityoflahore #ExploreLahore #viralpakistan

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NCA Thesis Display 2026

Lahore chronicles continue with another chapter of the Art series

#explore #viral #fyp

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On New Year’s eve, @bookblabberer and I decided to roam Lahore - the way it was meant to be done - carefree and by our feet! We walked the hustling streets of Gulberg, early morning, before the crowd woke up. Certainly before the roads got packed for the fireworks show at Liberty.

During our expedition, we discovered this hidden gem of an Art gallery called @reviversgalleria - what a delight it is for art lovers. It houses works from some of the great artists of Pakistan - including the Picasso of Pakistan.

As for the journey, it continues on.

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I was inspired to do this solar system book challenge by @feisty_reads and @hoarding_wyrm who showed off a beautiful range of reading.

Also, choosing the music for this led me to rediscover a 90s obsession - Fiona Apple! Now going to be listening to her entire catalogue and reminiscing.

No pressure if I've tagged you but I'd love to see what others pick!

#bookstagram #booklover #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #booksofinstagram #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #bookaddict #bibliophile #beautifulbooks #readingtime #bookaesthetic

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