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woolf.hard

@woolf.hard

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Documenting my growth as a reader and writer.
Unreliable narrator.

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Happy World Book Day (what's left of it) and happy dying (?) to the big daddy of English Literature. I will always snort out loud at yo mom jokes and the fact that Shakespeare invented them. #worldbookday #englishliterature #shakespearediedtodaylol #shakespeare #bookstagram by @woolf.hard

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4 years ago

Reading one short story a day, patiently, for the rest of the year.Reading one short story a day sounds perfect on paper. It hardly calls for the kind of attention that you'd devote to a book, or so you think. So you decide to sit down with your collection of stories, something you haven't done since you were in high school.It is a little nostalgic, that. You remember how you borrowed a giant collection of short stories from the school library, big and green and full of ripe words, and riper meanings. It has DH Lawrence, a writer you read only because they mention breasts and the idea of reading that word makes you feel things you shouldn't feel. It has Saki, and you love how unexpected the endings are, and how you can always always rely on Saki.It is a little different now. Ten years have passed and you're no longer twelve, sneaking in books from the library. You can access books now, own them, borrow them. Download an illegal file or two. But there are so many things that need to be done. The laundry and oh, did someone water the plants today?Reading one short story a day, patiently, for the rest of the year. Sometimes (most times) you miss out and feel the need to finish five of them in a day, because you're chasing a goal. Sometimes you remember days because of the story you read. Oh it was on that day I read Araby or the day I reread The Selfish Giant.Skimming through words you've read before - do you remember how your favourite English teacher taught you The Selfish Giant, your first Wilde? It's a beautiful thing, but sometimes your heart gives a little squeeze, and you can't breathe, can't read because you're drowning in memories.🍂🍂🍂Painting from the Lucifer box kindly sent by @fixaflixbox#shortstories #bookstagram #currentlyreading #saki #literature by @woolf.hard

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4 years ago

Have been carrying books with me so I can read on the metro. But it's difficult. There's always so much going on that I find myself people watching instead of reading.I bought Dubliners because I saw Hozier reading Araby. And even though I should have started from the first story, I began with Araby. Slowly making my way through Dubliners, and it almost feels like people watching because Dubliners is also about people. Characters in Dublin now don't seem all that different from the characters I see in Delhi. Photos taken on the campus of Deshbandhu College.🍂🍂🍂#dubliners #jamesjoyce #bookstagram #currentlyreading by @woolf.hard

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4 years ago

Reading Woolf was...not the easiest. I picked this book in 2019, having borrowed it from a friend. Stopped. Picked it again in 2020. And then finally again in December 2021. Unfortunately, I had an exam. So yes, I finished this book in 2022 (my first I think?). It was tough to keep up, and I found myself struggling. But I am glad I didn't stop trying.Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was like sipping on fresh water, after a long gruelling day. It was fresh, because I had never thought to question things before. Growing up, I often wondered why women were never held high ranks, or if they did, why didn't anyone tell me about them. I wondered why Shakespeare was a man, and why there was no woman who could possibly rival him. Now I know better of course, but Woolf taught me the politics of silence, and how silence has always been political for women. Silence on the literary front is a deliberate attempt. It is the wilful erasure of women's experiences.Woolf imagines a woman writing, and she says it is imperative for a woman to have both money and a room of her own to write. Why? Well, the very concept of space or privacy is gendered. A woman usually has no space, no room of her own in a family. She exists only in relation to the men in her life, and hardly gets room to breathe. When we imagine a study, especially from the 18th century, we imagine a man sitting there, twirling his moustache, smoking a cigar and looking all important. When you have access to privacy and security, you are free enough to write what you want to. Like Shakespeare did. Had Shakespeare been a woman, or as Woolf says, if he had a sister, she would have lived in oblivion. Woolf's argument however, takes a more androgynous turn. It recognises the lack of space for women in English Literature. She also mentions some names, like Aphra Behn, who became one of the first English women to earn her living through her writing. How many have heard of Aphra Behn though? How many have studied her works in class, like they studied Shakespeare or Milton or Marlowe?(Continued in the comments) by @woolf.hard

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4 years ago

Penguin Little Black Classics, I've found, are excellent companions during travel. I could sneak in my collection (about 7?) of them in my luggage. They're great as introductions to authors, and give you small nuggets of their writing style, thought processes etc. That is not to say that all of them are worth it though. This one is. The very title - How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing intrigued me. I'm trying to read more nonfiction this year, and Montaigne's essays are on my list (I read them once, in my first semester but I remember nothing)Michel de Montaigne tells you very simple truths in this tiny book. These truths however, may not have been simple during his era. His style I found was a little preachy, but digestible, especially since the text is peppered with references to mythology. Montaigne is obsessed with the inner conflicts of man: how man goes through emotional conflicts, and is often contradictory. How emotions on the other end of the spectrum somehow meld together, producing curious results. Like powerful, ancient kings crying at the death of their mortal foes. You may not agree with everything, but it gives a lot of fodder for thoughts.Tags to ignore: #montaigne #classics #bookstagram by @woolf.hard

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4 years ago

They say it's never too late to learn - but what if it is?I was thinking about this, as I reviewed 2021 as a reading year. The fact that I had read only 47 books bothered me. But there was something that bothered me more, something that was a hard pill to swallow.I think I was probably five when I started reading (for fun). My uncle bought me a book from the stands on Kharagpur station and I was hooked (much against my mother's wishes). Since my parents wouldn't allow me to read, I would devour anything. Seriously, anything. My grandfather had a book on gardening, I read that. A friend had a copy on ecology and I read that. Did I enjoy it? Not really. But I really wanted to read something. Then I discovered the school library and a new world of possibilities opened up for me.As I grew up I became heavily dependent on books. I didn't realise why, not until I discovered this one meme that said I was reading so much to escape the mundane reality and erm, trauma. I took up literature, but I did that because literature was easy for me to understand. I love reading, so I should fare well in a course that recommends reading right?Apparently that's not what it is. Nobody told me that when you study literature, really study literature, you may end up hating it too. You may end up hating the subject, you may end up hating the prescribed books.It happened with me yes. But I also discovered books that I wouldn't read otherwise. I used to read to escape yes, but they never pushed me out of my comfort zone. Now, studying a subject that is entirely out of my comfort zone, that pushes me to think for myself, I feel stuck.I feel as though my whole life I have barely made any efforts towards understanding the world. That I read, but I didn't really pay attention to the subtext. 2021 forced me to understand my limitations as a reader (and as a person). I was reading, and I could understand better, but when I looked at people younger than me, articulating their thoughts better, really getting the gist of the book, I wondered if there was a point to what I was doing?(If you're still reading, it's continued in the comments) by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

The LLP magazine couldn't have come to me at a more opportune moment. Agatha Christie was born on 15th September and her books are part of my childhood. Does that mean I am a little biased towards her? Maybe. I certainly feel she is one of those authors who is not discussed enough, probably because her books are not 'intellectual' enough. That's a lie of course. Women and detective fiction have a long history, you can look it up. Where will all the repressed rage go? In poison and murders, obviously.The first article in the magazine is about Agatha Christie. It talks about how food bears a close relation to Christie's works. I loved it, though the language was a little too metaphorical for my taste. Yes, Christie describes food to a great extent. Her favourite weapon of choice is poison - what she once declared to be women's favourite weapon in a murder. It makes sense as women are often in the vicinity of food/kitchen and a poison is usually ingested. There is a letter from the editor, discussing the baffling disappearance of Christie. For those who don't know, she went missing which led to a nationwide manhunt by incompetent detectives. Of course, the magazine also includes articles on Dan Brown's Origin, Alice in Wonderland and Dattani's Bravely Fought the Queen. As someone who spends her time reading 'unnecessary' articles on JSTOR, I could appreciate the eclectic quality of it. While I haven't read Dattani myself, or Origin for that matter, I could appreciate the research. LLP brings together a diverse set of writers, and I think that is both its advantage and disadvantage. There are poems, book recommendations, and artworks, which give the idea that the magazine is trying to do a lot of things at once. You could argue that it gives a platform to young writers and literary enthusiasts, and yes that is noble, but juxtaposing two writers of very different calibre can often eclipse the contribution of the amateur. That being said, I like that it tries to make literature a little more accessible.PS: BuzzFeed Unsolved and @biblichor_sniffer have posted about Christie's disappearance. by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

An excerpt from Kamala Das's 'An Introduction', first published in her collection 'Summer in Calcutta', in 1965.About the poet:Kamala Das was one of the most prominent feminist voices in postcolonial India. She wrote in her mother tongue Malayalam as well as in English. To her Malayalam readers she was Madhavi Kutty and to her English patrons she was Kamala Das. On account of her extensive contribution to the poetry in our country, she earned the label ‘The Mother of Modern Indian English Poetry’. Kamala spoke and wrote across languages (English and Malayalam) and gave herself various names. She took on the name ‘Das’ after marriage, preferring to be known by her first name before then. She is also Kamala Suraiya, the name she took after converting to Islam in 1999. She is also Madhavikutti, the pseudonym she gave herself when writing in Malayalam, and finally, she is also ‘Ami’, a pet name she reserved for herself in her memoirs.Popular works: Ente Katha, My Story, The Descendants, Summer in Calcutta etc.🍁🍁🍁I thought of sharing this poem today because most of what I know of India and independence is linguistic / literary. English, Indian English, Hindi and Bengali form the person that I am. I remember people asking and then condemning me for writing in English, because English is not Indian. Kamala Das is quite articulate in expressing the answer to that scorn.Happy Independence Day. Psst: please read the entire poem, it is beautiful. by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

// On the kindness of strangers //There is enough hate on the internet for people. The hatred curls around your heart and holds it in tight fists. Your tongue is poison but you savour the taste of bitterness, holding it close because your life is a bottomless pit of sunk dreams. I know what it is like to hate people. I know it so well that the idea of loving people is as alien to me as the idea of loving myself. But often you are surprised, pleasantly so, by what looks like random acts of kindness. I think the internet is that place, especially in the midst of the pandemic. Did we ever think we would come to detest the human touch and yet it would be the human touch that saved our lives? Kindness is a very underrated emotion. Finding a safe space on the internet is a lie - there are no such things as safe spaces. But I find myself in awe of some people who make Bookstagram a better place. I've been here for a year today (yes yes, it's the bookstaversary) and I am so grateful for those who take the time to be kind.🍂🍂🍂Thank you. My language is too flowery but ehhhhh. @mephisto_the_reader@covfeefireads@brokenandfixed_bybooks@utkirtana@candid_copywriter@booksqueaks@suhana_reads@pratisthapatel_@epigrammatic_bibliophile@biblichor_sniffer @readers_and_creators @thebiblioraptor@rishu.reads @clumsybooktales_@anna_does.stuff@deepans.bookshelf @_.carpe.librum._ by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

The term Adivasi itself means original inhabitants. The etymology sounds innocuous enough until you realize that colonial scholarship infused it with certain connotations. Unfortunately, India's Independence furthered the cause of development, thus creating a homogenous mass of the Adivasis of India. The Adivasi Will Not Dance written by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is one of my top reads of 2021. The book was originally published in 2015, but the Jharkhand goverment banned it for undignified portrayal of Santhal women. The book is a collection of short stories written about the Santhal community in Jharkhand. That being said, it presents diverse themes such as the relationship between Dikus (non-Adivasis) and the Santhal people, the development agenda, female sexuality, migration, poverty and more. However, it would be a mistake to reduce the book to its political stance. It is literature, one that is unapologetic in its depiction of Santhal stories. The Adivasi Will Not Dance is driven by the characters. Shekhar portrays female desire and sexuality which is juxtaposed with the patriarchal ideals of the Santhal community. Here, you see the internal conflicts between tribes, and how migration is often the only recourse for unemployment. Here, women are friends and also enemies, as they have internalized the misogyny fed to them for centuries. Here, you realize the privilege of being a Diku, and how the Western ideal of progress is as hollow as the American dream. I would recommend this book over and over again. The censorship of this book made it even more valuable because you know that they would only ban a book that reflects some aspects of the truth. by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

Too late for a May TBR?Tags to ignore ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ#reelitfeelit #reelkarofeelkaro #books #reelsvideo #reelsinstagram #tbr #bookstagram #booklover #bookishlove #oldbooks by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago

At first, I didn't quite know what to think about this book. It is as random as the author suggests, a mosaic of prose and poems. The prose is interspersed with quotes from the likes of Susan Sontag and for me, it was sometimes a rambling narrative, and sometimes I knew what he felt. He talks for instance of how he craves readership and yet he does not want to network. Some of the stories are really beautiful, such as the one with Mritunjay kaka - I love the setting and the feels. Recommended for readers who need a short book as this is only 93 'episodes.' (PS: is it just me or our attention spans are getting shorter everyday?)The narrative can be dry, and often comes across as a rambling structure, especially since it moves from topic to topic. I think I liked the stories the best, because the musings felt a little forced and a tad bit too philosophical for me. A mix of prose and poems, with a deeply autobiographical, or perhaps semi-autobiographical tone. I haven't read many anthologies with both prose and poems but oh well. I would suggest going in without reading the blurb - not that the blurb is particularly descriptive. The author uses several quotes so it does feel like you're a fly on a wall but the wall is the author's brain as his thoughts meander through desultory themes. At one time he talks of betrayal and later about networking and then about disease before he starts with his poems. That can be disconcerting to some but I didn't have a problem. by @woolf.hard

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5 years ago