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Latest Reviews

Review: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Review and Blog Tour: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
Review: Animal by Lisa Taddeo
Review and Blog Tour: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Not perfect but definitely one of a kind 💜
I read books if it isn't obvious already & love all things wild 🌼
In a love-hate relationship with water 😒

Today I'm sharing a very happy picture of myself,

Today I'm sharing a very happy picture of myself, courtesy @virginia_reads 🥰

Thank you Virginia ❤️🤗

Do you all see how well these go with the lilac walls in my room? 😍

#theurbanreader #bipocbookstagram #classics #virginiawoolf #delhibookstagrammer #delhibookstafam #pinkpenguinclassics #penguinclassics #happyreader #happyreading #pink #happy #pinkbooks #bookworm #bookblogger #bookstagramindia #readersofinstagram #readersofig #happypeoplearetheprettiest

//to err is human// today i'm thinking about exce

//to err is human//

today i'm thinking about excellence, mistakes, kindness.

in the pursuit of excellence have we as a society forgotten that it's mostly achieved after many failures? or is it that we've all grown up that way - in a place with no room for errors? have we as a society forgotten the virtue of kindness? or have we all forgotten that ideally the next step after pointing out an error which has been corrected is to either forgive or move on?

oh but wait we don't live in an ideal world which means whatever comes after "ideally" doesn't apply. so like Lew Wasserman said, "to err is human, but to forgive is against company policy", i suppose?

i probably sound naive as i say this but not stepping on someone while they're down seems to be all talk. even my brain at point is like, "come on girl ofc it's all talk" followed by a VERY elaborate eye-roll.

so tell me really, what is the point of reading books or consuming media or learning anything at all when at the end of the day it always comes down to using them to belittle someone instead of raising them up in conversations?!?!

when i started writing this, the intention was for it to be an opinion piece or something of the sort but what does another opinion on all of this add to the conversation? maybe. maybe it's time that the work is done silently & conscious efforts to genuinely be better people within the community are put in.

yes, instagram/bookstagram whatever you want to call it at this point is all about the numbers. yes, the entire world runs on numbers; marketing, businesses, everything. yes. but if you too are on a quest to rise by putting others down without taking out the time to understand why the mistake was made, you're no better.

in no way am i encouraging unethical behaviour. neither do i imply that excellence is something one shouldn't strive for. but there is a need to allow others the space to grow by making mistakes and learning from them, to encourage people to ask questions instead of making assumptions & to learn to let go.

"...it's always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being human is."

The other day, I received a confidential file from

The other day, I received a confidential file from James Benjamin Lancaster. He's compiled a set of documents as evidence, exposing the inhumane treatment of a group called the Undying in the Avalonia Zone (AZ).

The file contains The AZ Constitution (modern day UK), an awareness poster guiding citizens on how to identify & report an Undying (U), a medical report of an U subject at their State Medical Facility # 732: The Tower and finally a polaroid of an Ouroboros graffiti found near the site of a terrorist attack. Here's a copy of my report:

Report of The Undying Tower by Melissa Welliver

Name: The Urban Reader
Role: Book Reviewer

Report: ☑️Log ◻️Study ◻️ Incident

It is the first book of a dystopian trilogy. It's set in a future dystopian world which followed after a religious war & countries nuking major cities. Our subject Sadie Abbott is a 16 yo who finds herself in the middle of an attack pulled by a rebel group called The Alchemist. She's hurt in the attack which is when the medical staff comes to know that Sadie is not a Natural, she's an Undying - someone whose cells replicate faster than normal humans and hence doesn't die (until killed ofc). How will she explain that she's not guilty to the authorities now?

Findings: The story has a basic dystopian premise but is very well told, the pacing is perfect from the start & one will not find themselves to be bored at any point. It takes from classics such as 1984 & Animal Farm & creates an entirely new world with an interesting concept to follow. The author accomplishes to accomodate political views from both sides, we all can learn so much from it while trying to have a conversation amongst ourselves in today's world. Never being preachy, she also clearly shows what it means to stand up for what you believe in & protecting those who are most affected by an unequal social construct.

Actions: MUST read the next book in the trilogy to quench my thirst from that well placed cliffhanger.

Escalate: ☑️ Yes, recommend that everyone reads this book. ◻️ No

I hereby confirm that the information contained herein is true & to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Thank you @agorabooksldn for the review copy!

//mega meltdown// last night i had a mega meltdow

//mega meltdown//

last night i had a mega meltdown. now you're probably thinking we've heard of meltdowns but what's a mage meltdown? but i find it apt to express it as mega because man was i angry and all that anger has to go somewhere... usually comes out in the form of tears.

what i realised yesterday was that anger is an emotion that while most often expressed isn't talked about. while talking to my constants about this rage, i found them at a loss for words on how to deal with mine because they had never seen me THIS angry before. "what do you say to a person who is mostly cheery and forgiving?"

this made me further realise how i as an individual had underrated my own anger. it made me realise how often i push my anger to the back burner & busy myself with other activities than feel the intensity of its entirety.

what was i angry about? EVERYTHING.

yea, ik ik that's so vague. But mega meltdowns are always about everything and nothing in particular.

i was, am... angry about how monotonous life has become since the pandemic started, angry that this isn't ending, angry that men are STILL making laws for women, angry about patriarchy and it's impacts even today, angry about being told i'm running out of time, angry about people using huge microphones at 11 in the night to go about their religious proceedings, angry about climate change, angry about people not giving a damn about each other, angry that my packages aren't arriving, angry that i have no control over any of this.

*sigh*

trust me this sounds like frustration but it was anger last night. and my people felt helpless, well most baffled, at the other end of the screen.

but i screamed, clenched my jaws, threw a fit, threw my arms up in the air out of despair, stomped my feet, punched my pillow, put my face in and screamed, cried at the end of all this and finally fell asleep exhausted.

again, like all the other days i simply am vulnerable and talk to you about a feeling, idk why i'm sharing this moment either. but i think what i have been meaning to say is that, it's ok to be angry sometimes, it's ok to go through the entire cycle of feelings and it's ok to call someone you trust to listen.

Recipe for the Book - A Cuban's Guide to Tea and T

Recipe for the Book - A Cuban's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
From the Kitchen of The Urban Reader

Ingredients: A Cuban girl, a grieving trifecta (loss of grandmother, boyfriend and best friend), one ticket to England, a cute English bloke, many flavours of tea. Flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and all things required to bake.

Preparation: The grieving trifecta will form the base for this story. Our Cuban girl, Lila is the one grieving. To ensure that the solid base is layered with love and a gentle push of self care from family, Lila is sent to England to live with her aunt Cate for the summer. This is a cool off period, which allows Lila the space and time to heal from her disaster of a life in Miami. The baking will be done in Winchester, where she makes new friends, starts baking in her aunt's Inn and exploring the small city with a super cute English lad - Orion, possibly falling for him too. Don't get too annoyed by the baking time or the fact that Lila has a hard time moving on from her trifecta of grief because as the story progresses so will her healing. Be prepared for constantly having a watery mouth after the very elaborate descriptions of cakes, breads and Cuban delicacies. Now that this story has completely baked, serve hot and fresh. Top it with a generous amount of singing, laughter, hugs and temple kisses for best results.

Cooking temperature: 280 degrees Celsius, because this book most certainly DID NOT need to be 300 pages long. The build-up was slow but the finale to this YA romance novel completely surprised me, it was super heartwarming and I loved that it ended in the most perfect way!

Thankyou @simonandschusterin for sending me a review copy of this book.

#QoTD What's your favourite flavour of tea? If you don't drink tea, what's your favourite flavour of cake?

#theurbanreader #bipocbookstagram #laurataylornamey #acubangirlsguidetoteaandtomorrow #thebigbookbox #tbbbox #delhibookstagrammer #delhibookstafam #unitedbookstagram #readownvoices #LetsReadOwnVoices 2-Sept #diversityfeatures #diversitymatters #diversifybookstagram #yaromance #cubanfood #cubanlife #tea

Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket aka Daniel

Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket aka Daniel Handler

Poison for Breakfast is such a delightful book! Well it's odd to call it delightful if you consider that our author probably had poison for breakfast. But it's delightful, well technically it's bewildering.

This is book about a mystery, it's also about death, it's even about philosophy, but mainly it's about bewilderment.

Poison for Breakfast starts like a classic Lemony Snicket book. A letter to his readers, telling us... no warning us about the book, giving us a choice to put it back down before proceeding further. But if you've read a Snicket before, of course you would not NOT read the book.

Snicket starts his day with making himself breakfast:
Tea
with honey,
a piece of toast
with cheese,
one slice pear,
and an egg perfectly prepared.

But this beautiful, wonderful morning turns into a horrid one after he discovers a piece of paper which says "you had poison for breakfast."

This is a mystery book because you go on an adventure to discover who poisoned him & how?!

This is a book about death because most things philosophical are ultimately about death.

This book is about philosophy because you not only go on a mission to find the perpetrator of the poisoning but you also get an opportunity to read Snicket's ramblings on various life experiences.

The book can be said to be a collection of short stories threaded together by the investigation of the author's pre-assumed death and I had the best time reading it! While the book starts by creating a gloomy atmosphere, it is anything like it. It in fact makes you laugh & wonder, it feels like an understanding hug instead.

Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket is a literary treat for all bibliophiles, of all ages! While a child may get the opportunity to be discover new words and phrases, adults have the opportunity to dig deeper into their understanding of them, they even get the opportunity to discover more books, songs, poems, etc!

As a bookworm, I loved every instance where he shared his love for books, libraries, librarians but especially his experiences as a reader, his experiences with books which are all too relatable as a literarian. 😊

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint Ariadne is the story ab

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

Ariadne is the story about a righteous man. No. It's about many righteous men. It's about how in the wake of these righteous men and heroes it is the women who suffer the consequences silently. It is also a story which brings to light the many women who have either been sidelined or have been displayed as souvenirs of their victories.

Scylla. Medusa. Pasiphae. Semele. Phaedra. Ariadne. All of them, the victims who paid the price for another's crime - Minos, Poseidon, Theseus, Zeus, Dionysus.

The story's about Ariadne and her sister Phaedra, the princesses of Crete, why the title is solely named Ariadne is unclear to me because the narrative switches back and forth between both sisters. Saint writes about both sisters who go through almost similar experiences but have different reactions to them.

Both sisters help a hero, one is left on an desolate island while the other gets to marry him. Both were momentarily freed from a prison to only end up in another one.

Both sisters have husbands who travel and are mostly away. While one dreads those days, the other is joyous and grateful.

Both sisters go through pregnancy and while one cannot help but adore her children, the other is most detached from the feelings of motherhood.

Ariadne was written to give a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths but I feel that is exactly where it fell flat. In the retelling I had hoped to read something powerful. I had hoped to read a story where the women emerge victorious but it seems that the only theme captured through this story was of hopelessness.

Ariadne delivers, it delivers the truth which universally exists but unfortunately what it doesn't deliver is hope. After having read Circe I felt strong, Circe reminded me to be the heroine of my own life whereas on the other hand Ariadne makes me feel powerless and pitiful.

Please don't let my opinion of how I wanted this story to turnout dissuade you from reading it for yourself but I hope in another world Ariadne and Phaedra would find the strength to let go of God's and heroes who live in an echo chamber of their own names.

#theurbanreader #bipocbookstagram #Ariadne

✨August TBR✨ 🌼 Things Are Against Us by Lu

✨August TBR✨

🌼 Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann
🌼 Second Place by Rachel Cusk
🌼 Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
🌼 Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
🌼 Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Let's begin by talking about the two Booker Prize nominated books. Second Place and Klara and the Sun are the two most hyped books in the longlist this year, with reason ofc. Ishiguro being a Nobel Prize Laureate and Cusk being an applauded author as well. Obviously the expectations are high from my end for both the books. Hoping to tackle most of the books in the longlist through #BuddyReadingTheBooker 😄

Coming to another previously Booker nominated author, Lucy Ellmann for her book Ducks, Newburyport. I received a review copy of her latest book of essay collections - Things Are Against Us by @panmacmillanindia and I hope to find a few favourites in it.

I am currently reading Ariadne which was sent to me by the lovely folks at @hachette_india and I'm done with Part 1. I wanna toss Theseus into the sea if I could! How these men have been worshipped as heroes and how disappointing they have been. I hope the rest of the parts in the book are at par with the first part.

The last book I intend to read this month is Girl One whose splendid @bloomsburyindia proof copy is a gorgeous addition to the TBR. I'll be reading this with some great bookstagrammer friends later this month and I hope it's as good as it sounds!

Now this is me hoping I can conquer this TBR because it's been months since I've had this kind of clarity on the books I want to read. 🤭🤞🏻

#qotd What are some books you intend to read this month?

#theurbanreader #bipocbookstagram #thingsareagainstus #secondplacerachelcusk #SecondPlace #bookstagramreadsthebooker #klaraandthesun #kazuoishiguro #thebookerprize #thebookerprize2021 #rachelcusk #lucyellmann #ariadne #jennifersaint #GirlOne #saraflannerymurphy #delhibookstagrammer #delhibookstafam #augusttbr #tbrpile #conquerthetbr #unitedbookstagram #booksstack #bookblogger #indianbookstagrammer #bookstagramindia #tbbbox #thebigbookbox

Second Place by Rachel Cusk "... my individuality

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

"... my individuality had tormented me my whole life with its demand to be recognised."

Second Place is a rewriting of Mabel Dodge Luhan's memoir "Lorenzo in Taos", which talks about the time D. H. Lawrence came to stay with her in Taos, New Mexico.

The story is about our protagonist M who invites L (notice the resemblance yet?) to her remote marshy property where she lives with her husband Tony, her daughter Justine and her partner Kurt.

L is an awfully terrible and disturbing man. A man I have come to abhor through and through. Cusk portrays him as the narcissistic artist who has a cold heart and is willingly vile. He achieved fame at a very young age but didn't create anything substantial afterwards. He's a nomad who was hopping around the globe in search of inspiration which makes me see him as nothing more than a man frustrated by his own failures.

Cusk's writing is atmospheric and philosophical. It is thought provoking and intense. In fact if you've read Animal by Lisa Taddeo, you'll find the narration style to be similar to that. But Cusk tip-toes on the very thin line of brilliance and pretentiousness.

Her brilliance lies in her ability to write about motherhood, parenthood, pleasure, art, existence, male privilege, female fate and freedom all in a single breath. I also appreciate how she allows the readers to make their own interpretations without being too superimposing.

But then her pretentiousness comes pouring out in sentences like, "I was more familiar with what I looked at than with where I actually was, and so I knew exactly what it would have been like to be over there, looking across at here. What I wasn't so sure of was what here looked like." Which I still cannot make sense of and this is just one particular instance.

Second Place gives you SO much to think about! I know I will be sitting on a lot of thoughts myself for days to come. If philosophy, art and nuance writings are some of the things that interest you I recommend this book to you.

Undoubtedly Cusk is a fabulous writer but I don't think Second Place has enough of her brilliance to win her The Booker this year.

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Sulagna 🏳️‍🌈@bookgirlsulagna·

Okay, so twitter moots you are the first ones to hear this. I have been giving telecounselling sessions since a year, but this is the first time I've made a professional poster.

Plz rt in case anyone needs it or forward it to anyone you know who needs a helping hand. 💜

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The Urban Reader @theurban_reader·

Need an Indian version of the #MetGala just to see Indian designers go supremely extra with the already extra lehengas and sarees!

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The Urban Reader @theurban_reader·

A few months ago, I made breakfast for fam and they loved it.

Now I make breakfast almost everyday. This is what happens when you try to show-off.

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Retweet on Twitter The Urban Reader Retweeted

allie 🌿@alliewithbooks·

🎉🎉 6K FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY 🎉🎉

Here are the rules:
✨ Follow + RT to be entered
✨ Any book $20 or less
✨ Open International (wherever Book Depository ships)
✨ Ends September 18th

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The Urban Reader @theurban_reader·

Hi folks! I definitely this new dystopian book!

Go read my review on my blog, if you liked The Hunger Games, have read and loved 1984 and Animal Farm then The Undying Tower is definitely worth your time!

@AgoraBooksLDN #TheUndyingTower

Agora Books@AgoraBooksLDN

'Actions: MUST read the next book in the trilogy to quench my thirst from that well placed cliffhanger.'

Don't miss @theurban_reader's official report on #TheUndyingTower from the blog tour over the weekend! 👇

https://urban-reader.com/?p=386

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