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Sukanya

@theemptycartridge

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living like a novel
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Yesteryear by Cairo Claire Burke is one of those books you keep seeing all over Bookstagram, and the plot is what got me curious. It follows Natalie, who runs a home ranch with her husband and documents their seemingly perfect life on Instagram. She has her admirers, her critics, and an audience that can't seem to get enough of her tradwife lifestyle. At first, I thought the book was romanticising this whole idea of traditional femininity, but the more I read, the more I realised that there was a lot of satire beneath the surface.

What I found particularly interesting was the contradiction at the heart of the tradwife aesthetic. Here you have women using modern technology and social media to promote a return to traditional gender roles, turning homemaking and domesticity into content for thousands of people. Even a supposedly simple, quiet life becomes something to curate, perform, and monetise. It makes you wonder how much of it is really about choosing a lifestyle and how much is about maintaining an image for an audience.

Reading about Natalie’s daughter made me think about what happens when the life one woman chooses becomes the life another is expected to accept. Natalie might see her lifestyle as an ideal, but her daughter has to experience it from an entirely different position. I also found myself thinking about Burke’s own shift towards more feminist and liberal perspectives and how that might inform the novel's critique.

The narrative switches between Natalie’s contemporary life and a strange, almost dreamlike version of a more traditional world, without modern appliances or conveniences. I enjoyed the contrast, especially as the connection between these two realities gradually unfolds. My biggest problem, though, was the characters. I tried, but I genuinely couldn't find a single one I liked. Still, the book gave me plenty to think about, particularly the way social media can turn even the most personal aspects of our lives into a performance.

My Rating - ⭐⭐⭐.75 by @theemptycartridge

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12 hours ago

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗬𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗞𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗮

Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata’s Thousand Cranes is a quiet novel about desire and grief, and the ways the past survives in the present. Set against the world of the Japanese tea ceremony, the novel follows Kikuji as he becomes entangled in the unfinished relationships of his late father and the women connected to him.

Thousand Cranes is not a novel driven by plot. It is a novel that explores how beauty often carries a shadow of grief. The book is also deeply uncomfortable in its portrayal of Kikuji and Mrs Ota, his father’s former mistress, as they become attracted to each other. Fumiko, Mrs Ota’s daughter, becoming entangled in this relationship, which connects her mother’s past with Kikuji’s father to her own relationship with Kikuji, is disturbing rather than romantic.

Kawabata’s attention to ordinary objects, such as tea bowls, handkerchiefs, and even a trace of lipstick on a tea bowl, shows the imprint that memory leaves on objects. The tea bowls, passed from one person to another, seem to inherit the love, guilt, and grief of those who once held them.

The novel can feel slow and elusive, and its characters rarely explain themselves directly. Yet that ambiguity is part of its power. Much of the novel’s meaning lies in what remains unsaid.

My biggest criticism is Kikuji’s passiveness. Things happen around him, while he spends an enormous amount of time thinking rather than acting.

Thousand Cranes is therefore not a simple or easy novel about Japanese beauty or merely about the tea ceremony. Behind its quietness lies a disturbing exploration of grief, desire, guilt, and emotional inheritance.
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Rating - ⭐⭐⭐.5
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#book #bibliophile #bookstagram by @theemptycartridge

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22 days ago

Still obsessed with Bangkok by @theemptycartridge

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a month ago

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐧.
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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𝓜𝔂 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀

This is my first book by Murugan, after hearing many positive reviews of his writing. The Land and the Shadows is a blend of film criticism and memoir in which Murugan reminisces about his childhood and adolescence, growing up with his father, who sold sodas outside a movie theatre. That experience eventually nurtured his love and admiration for cinema and movie culture. Murugan reviews several South Indian films that he watched at different stages of his life and provides insightful social and cultural criticism alongside his personal reflections.

Constructed through a flashback-driven narrative, Murugan simultaneously provides us with a window into the rural setting, where cinema played a significant role in uniting people and served as a means of social gathering rather than merely a source of entertainment. One of the most striking qualities of the book is its treatment of place. Murugan writes not merely about villages but about their gradual transformation under the pressures of industrialization, urbanization, and environmental neglect. His recollections of films, theatres, and actors transcend nostalgia and become a means of documenting the social life of rural Tamil Nadu.

The different chapters read more like interconnected essays, each recounting particular incidents and stories from his life. Especially memorable are the chapters documenting his father's memories and the way his family was bound together through the soda business and the local theatre culture. At the same time, the book refuses to romanticize the past. Alongside memories of warmth and belonging, it openly portrays the harsh realities of village life, including caste hierarchies, honour killings, social exclusion, and environmental degradation. This honesty gives the work its depth and credibility. Murugan writes with affection, but he never loses his critical eye.

Thank you @penguinindia for providing me with this copy. Photo shared by Sukanya on June 12, 2026 tagging @penguinindia, and @perumalmurugan_offl. May be an image of book and text. by @theemptycartridge

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4 months ago

fiction teaches me more than reality sometimes Photo shared by Sukanya on April 29, 2026 tagging @engagementgroups_, @engagement.with.love, and @bookloverslimited. May be an image of book, skirt and text. by @theemptycartridge

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6 months ago

#qotd - Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns??

Got these books for myself 😄 I've already read A Thousand Splendid Suns years ago and I loved it so much that I literally cried reading it. However I never owned my copy, and finally became the owner today.

I wanted to read @divakarunichitra 's Palace of Illusions for so long. I really enjoyed her other book Forest of Enchantments, and this was on my bucket reading list for long..

Also, finally got my hands on my first Sudha Murty 😍😍
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#bookrecommendations #bookmarks #fiction #bookworm #bibliophile #booknerd by @theemptycartridge

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3 years ago

The warmest place, covered with layers of bookish blankets .
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#bookrecommendations #bookmarks #bookcommunity #bibliophile #bookstagram #igreads #booknerd #indiabookstagram #instagram #explorepage #photography #biblio #bookworm by @theemptycartridge

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3 years ago

flowers are words of earth...
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#bookcommunity #bookstagram #books #bookedit #booknerd #indiabookstagram #igreads #book #photography by @theemptycartridge

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4 years ago

Hello everyone, ❤️♥️
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#qotd - What is your dream job?
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Review of SOMEWHERE AMONG THE STARS by Adi Varuni
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Somewhere among the stars was a unique read for me. Just by reading the title, we can estimate the book's plot might be related with divine spirituality and mysticism. Mysticism as a genre is not my favorite and I donot read much from this genre. However this book might turn out to be quite different in terms of fluidity and writing.
The lead character of the novel, Ahana is an 18 year old girl, who at this very age of adolescence is drawn towards spirituality and mysteries of the universe. A believer of Lord Krishna, Ahana seeks out to find out the true meaning and purpose of her life. Thus she visits the hermitage of Anandi to observe different aspects of life.

As writing or narration, I think the author has done a commendable work here. Many a times while reading the book, the readers can get a feeling of being present inside the book and learn a thing or two for themselves. However, I'm not a great fan of the storyline. I felt it was quite a common one. But the different events included are very interesting and might help some of us to find the purposes of our lives. This book might not be enjoyed by a beginner or someone who is not much into this genre. But surely you can go for it to try out something different.
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#bookishlove #booklover #bibliophilelife #books #bibliophile #bookishlife #bookstagramindia #bookstagram #bookishfeature #bookreview #beaglereads #99beagles by @theemptycartridge

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4 years ago

Good evening everyone.
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#qotd - what is your favourite love trope?
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Pride and Prejudice is one of the most read books in the world. Jane Austen's masterpiece, a book about different types of love relationships. The main love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy portrays the haters to lovers trope very well. Two enemies turned into lovers over the time, as they shed off their pride and Prejudice. I think a majority of the readers here have already read this book. Please share me your opinions regarding it.
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Is it a feminist novel? I don't think so. Jane Austen has not portrayed any hard feminist character in this novel. I consider it more as a domestic novel, rather than a novel about women empowerment. The character of Elizabeth can be compared to a feminist to some extent. But the main themes of this novel are the two human sentiments - pride and prejudice, that blind people.
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#bookishlove #books #booklover #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #bookedit #bookstagramindia #bookstagram #bookish #igreads #igreaders #prideandprejudice #classic by @theemptycartridge

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4 years ago

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation" - Kahlil Gibran
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When you are feeling down in life and looking for some motivation, what is better than reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran? A beautiful book indeed, with verses about different topics like love, marriage, life etc is an extraordinary masterpiece from the author. I have read this book some years ago and i absolutely loved it, however i didn't own a physical copy then.
Have you not visited the deep ocean of Kahlil Gibran yet? What are you still waiting for? This is one of my most loved books I've ever read and I'm sure everyone would love it too.
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#bookishlove #bibliophile #booklover #bibliophilelife #bookish #bookishfeature #bookstagramindia #igreaders #igreads #reading #biblia #books by @theemptycartridge

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4 years ago

#qotd - what is your fav Dan Brown novel?
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It is a known fact that I might be the flag bearer of Dan Brown's fandom. 🫣 I've never loved a book as much as I've loved The Da Vinci Code. Till date I've read four of his novels and loved all of them to every bit. Recently I finished reading Digital Fortress by him. This book is quite different from his others as this one doesn't contain the symbology professor Robert Langdon.
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The digital fortress is a technological thriller novel. All the Dan Brown's have so much of information about cryptography, symbols, cracking codes and the like. That's why I'm a sucker of them. In this one, NSA's code breaking supercomputer TRANSLATR is under threat. A man creates a code called DIGITAL FORTRESS that can call upon doom on NSA's future. The man dies and the key to Digital Fortress is lost. The workers of NSA work their best to find out hidden secrets of Digital Fortress and what it actually is.
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Like all his other books, i enjoyed reading this one too. I would never say that I didn't enjoy my time while reading a Dan Brown. This one is a bit leaned towards the technological data and descriptions, which might get a bit too much to grasp at a time. But if you are a lover of technical thrillers, then this one is for you.
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#bookishlove #books #danbrown #bibliophilelife #bookishlife #booklover #biblia #bookedit #bookish #bookstagramindia #bookstagram #igreaders #igreaders #flatlay by @theemptycartridge

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4 years ago