Life Update- Current reads & TBR

It has been a while since I last posted on this blog. If you have read my last couple of blog or Bookstagram posts, then you may know that I was expecting and was having a tough time dealing with Morning Sickness. It is exactly 5 months since we were blessed with our adorable baby boy Zayaan. For those of you who are interested- Zayaan means “ beautifier” - one who makes everything beautiful. But these days all he does is make a mess of everything.😆

Life as a new mama is lovely but hectic. I rarely find the time or energy  to do the things that I used to love. However, lately I have managed to find a little bit of time to read. It feels good to be back. Last year despite  Pregnancy, Postpartum recovery and  taking care of a Newborn , I still managed to read 30 books.

 I won’t necessarily call this new beautiful phase of my life hard , it is just a bit taxing. My husband and I are raising him alone without any help. By the end of a day, I get physically and mentally exhausted and  all I want to do is sleep- even my bones want to sleep at times. To make matters worse, the essential 6-8 hours of sleep also feels like a luxury I can't seem to afford because he wakes up every 2 to 3 hours for feeding. Hopefully he will sleep through the night  once we start solid food when he reaches the 6^th month mark. I still believe we are blessed with an easy going baby because I have heard horror stories of some mothers staying awake all night as their babies refuse to sleep at all. Recently When I posted a photo ( Follow me on Instagram) of me reading a book ,a friend ( who is also a new mama) called me and said she is surprised I even get the time to read.😊

Below are the books I am currently reading- 

Current Reads

1.       Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi- This is a sequel to Children of Blood and Bone which I read back in 2018 (see review here) . This series is an African inspired Fantasy based on a land called Orisha where magic has been eradicated by the current monarchy.  The people with magical powers( called maji) are treated like second class citizens.

I am almost halfway through and enjoying it so far. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this book as I have seen people rate it quite low on goodreads. May be that's why I lowered my expectations going into this book. But I am pleasantly surprised because it is turning out to be quite enjoyable.

2.       Glimpses of World History by Jawarharlal Nehru- I have been reading this book on and off for almost a year now. It is a huge book of around 1000+ pages . It is basically a collection of letters that Nehru ji sent her daughter Indira to enlighten her on the rich histories of India as well as the World. It is extremely informative and never  feels like a boring history textbook. I am planning to read at least 2 letters everyday . I am in no hurry to finish this book because I want to soak in all the information.

TBR (To Be Read)

I rarely find the time or energy to read  but that has certainly not stopped me from my book buying spree. One of my top Bookish Resolution every year  is to first finish the books on my shelves before buying new ones. And just like always, this year too I failed miserably. Last couple of months , I have bought unhealthy amount of books online. But I have decided to keep my TBR pile short as I don't want to be overambitious with my reading. I have not been able to finish books at the rate I used to before- Motherhood has certainly taken a toll on my reading habits. So below is a short list of books that I plan on reading in the upcoming months.

1.       The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni- I absolutely adore this author’s beautiful writing style. I have read two of her books- The Palace of illusions and The Forest of Enchantments which turned out to be my favorites. Her writing is simply enchanting. This story is about a young woman Tilo who runs a spice shop in Oakland,California. She  is well known for her unique magical ability by which she not only supplies ingredients but also helps her customers in achieving whatever they desire- CONFUSED by the synopsis ,Are you? Me too.. I guess I will have to read and find out.

2.       Vicious by VE Schwab- I have been meaning to read this book for so long . VE Schwab is yet another author whose books I will buy even without checking out the synopsis because I absolutely love the way she tells her story. Her stories are engaging and addictive.

      A side note on why this author is special to me ? - The Shades of Magic series by her helped me go through the tumultuous times during my pregnancy last year. It gave me the necessary escape I needed while I was going through an extreme case of morning sickness and mood swings.

      Vicious is about two highly ambitious friends who engage in some supernatural events that leads to their fall out.

3.       Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – This is going to be my first Murakami book. There is no reason why of all the books, I picked this one. Honestly I am quite intimidated by it not just by its magnanimous size but also by its bizarre content. I couldn’t even understand its synopsis – it is that bizarre. (Read the goodreads synopsis here)

       

Apart from these three, I also want to listen to some Audiobooks . I have some pending credits on audible which I want to use as soon as possible. The Diviner series by Libba Bray which is superbly narrated by January LaVoy is on top of my list. I listened to the first book in the series and adored it  (see my review here).

Apart from reading, the other thing I miss is Blogging. I am not sure  if I can post regularly or as frequently as I used to , but I am definitely going to try. I already have a lot on my plate- don't want to burden myself with yet another commitment. 

So, that's more or less how my life's been lately - How is your life treating you?

And if you are a mother to a baby or a toddler, how do you find the time to read? Let me know in the comments.

Happy reading...!!! 

😆