14. “The solution to an age of disenchantment? Be enchanted."
What I'm reading and writing, April reading wrap up, and recent favourite links
Dear reader,
I might be in a bit of denial that we’re already into this year’s fifth month, though with the sheer amount of stuff that has happened so far in 2025, I can in fact believe it if I allow myself to (the jury’s still out on that one).
Do you agree with the title of this issue, taken from one of my April reads? How do you combat disenchantment and cynicism, if you do so at all? The rest of the quote, from Annie B. Jones’ Ordinary Time, goes,
“Share about it (your enchantment). I used to think my face betrayed me, like it told secrets I wasn't ready to share. But now I don't want my awe to be tucked inside, away from the very people who might need it most. Awe begets awe, enchantment begets enchantment. In a world of cynicism, earnestness is crucial.”
Last week ended up being extra hectic because some deadlines got moved back, so I had to skip writing this and focus on those instead. If you haven’t yet caught up on the issue before that, you can do so below. It had a new book review (the wholly original India Holton who is as you know a favourite), a list of three things bringing me joy, and an essay to commemorate a century of The Great Gatsby.
For today’s issue, there will be a wrap up of what I read in April, as well as a chat about current reads; I’m sharing two new pieces of mine that went out into the world last month, and I have a short list of things by others that I enjoyed and hope you will too.
Currently reading
I’m rereading Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle novellas, so that I’m ready to (finally) read the latest (to me) that’s been patiently waiting for me. The series follows non-binary cleric Chih who traverses the lengths and breadths of the kingdom of Anh, with the trusty Almost Brilliant, a talking bird with an indelible memory, to record as many stories as they can. The stories are wonderfully atmospheric and well-written, and each novella can be read as a standalone.
Recent writing
Two pieces out in April. One an Alternative Match Report for Football Paradise and a requested book review for Usawa Literary Review.
Make it Happen: Arsenal 5-1 Real Madrid
An excerpt:
To lay even a whisper of a claim to the top echelons of professional football, you have to face and beat the best, and not just beat them, but do so in a manner that proves beyond doubt that you deserved the victory. April 9 and 16 may not have completely healed the (considerable) wounds of Arsenal’s Champions League knockouts past for the fans or the club, but ghosts were exorcised, progress was made, ambitions were announced, and expectations were set. Most importantly, a plethora of feelings were felt: the good, the bad, the stressful, the euphoric, the plain delirious. Over two legs, Arsenal were the clear better side, kept a dangerous front three mostly shackled, and proved their merit to fight for the top prizes. A victory that is already history-making and potentially narrative-changing.
Read in full here (FP now requires a free sign-up to read entire articles): https://www.footballparadise.com/make-it-happen-arsenal-5-1-real-madrid
Getting Lost in the Urban Wilderness: Reviewing Anisha Lalvani's Debut Novel
An excerpt:
If you were to ask me what this novel was about, I would say that it was first about ideas. Ideas draped against the structure offered by the crime plot, and aided by Delhi-NCR itself being its own character as a city defined by its fragmented, fractured, layered history. Using an unnamed protagonist within this framework not only helps in making this a story about the condition of modern, urban women as a whole (though the keen interiority of the narration means that we’re intimately aware of A’s emotional and mental landscape), but it also allows the author to use her as the conduit for exploring various themes of concern—gender inequality; social inequality; the complicated nature of desire, free will, and independence; the illusion of choice and agency, especially as an Indian woman in a patriarchal society; a rapidly changing social and economic landscape; the resultant feelings of alienation and loneliness; the murky underbelly of a developing nation, and more.
Read in full here: https://usawa.in/matchbox/getting-lost-in-the-urban-wilderness
What I Read: April edition
Hot Water by Bhavika Govil
Nine-year-old Mira and fourteen-year-old Ashu live with their Ma in a close-knit family unit. It has always been the three of them, singing Simon & Garfunkel songs in Ma’s sun-yellow car and describing their days as food, but all of them also harbour secrets that the other two don’t know. Everything will break apart over the course of a long, simmering summer. I’m reviewing this for the New Sunday Express Magazine, so until that’s live, here’s a snippet: At turns deeply nostalgic, insightful, playful, and heart wrenching, Hot Water is an assured debut as much about childhood as about motherhood—the major defining experiences and the more intimate, quieter revelations—as much about coming of age as about coming apart and beginning, not afresh, but anew, and trying again.
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
The Geographer’s Map to Romance by India Holton
To read my full thoughts from the previous issue, click here. For the 55 word review, here you go: Temperamental, yet dreamy, geographical earth magic abounds in the second book of India Holton’s new historical fantasy romcom series. This is a—pun both intended and not—stormier edition and that's reflected not just in its magic, but also in the intense longing between Gabriel and Elodie that makes their coming together all the sweeter 💚
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
Clam Down by Anelise Chen (out June 3, 2025)
Best described as Creative Nonfiction, this unlike any other book was put on my radar by The Rumpus editor who thought I might be interested in interviewing the author for their website. She was right. I’ll share the interview once it goes live, but for now, some brief thoughts about the book itself. The author, going through a bad breakup, is sent a typo-containing text by her mother to “clam down”. She wonders what would happen if she took it literally and became a clam. Pretty soon she realises that she’s a clam who comes from a family of clams. Believe me, it makes all the sense when you read it, and I’m so glad I did! From the publisher blurb—Using a genre-defying structure and written in novelistic prose that draws from art, literature, and natural history, she unfolds a complex story of interspecies connectedness, in which humans learn lessons of adaptation and survival from their mollusk kin. While it makes sense in certain situations to retreat behind fortified walls, the choice to do so also exacts a price. What is the price of building up walls? How can one take them back down when they are no longer necessary?
*Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones
I’ve never listened to her From the Front Porch podcast, but I’ve been following Annie, who owns an independent bookstore in small-town Georgia, on Instagram for the past few years (her “things I learned this month” series is a particular favourite), and when she announced she had a book coming out, I knew I wanted to read it. I got a chance to read it in advance of its recent publication and it was exactly what I needed. Through a collection of essays that are themselves organised into sections, Annie interrogates a life lived staying put, a quiet life lived in a small town, and finds beauty, blessings, and lessons. Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Annie always imagined herself chasing dreams in the big city, like her beloved Nora Ephron protagonists. The universe had other ideas. From going to college in a small Southern town, to returning to Tallahassee, to moving down the road to run an independent bookstore in Thomasville with her husband Jordan whom she met at college. And yet, this book isn’t all about staying. It’s also about leaving what you’ve outgrown, what no longer fits, what is holding you back, including something as major as faith—“sometimes, to stay, you have to leave. It might be the best, hardest thing you ever do.” As with any collection, some chapters resonated more deeply than others, and I feel like either you’ll enjoy this or you won’t. I was in the former camp. “Good stories are anywhere you are. Your ordinary life matters, and the place you're living it matters too.”
What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon (out May 6, 2025)
Danika and Wouter have known each other since he was a high school exchange student with her family in LA. They were also in a forbidden-by-the-exchange-program relationship, navigating young, heady love and their first everythings. And then, just like that, Wouter broke up with Dani through a text message once he was back in Amsterdam. Now, in her thirties, Dani needs to escape a bad break-up and getting fired and finds herself impulsively applying to jobs in Europe and accepting one at an Amsterdam start-up. After a hellish first week when her rental basement apartment floods beyond repair and the job itself is in danger because the company has no money anymore, she crashes into who else but Wouter (literally, with her bicycle). And he might have (unorthodox) solutions to her problems, and she’d also be helping him out. I’ve not read too many marriage of convenience stories, and second chance romance can be tricky, but I was willing to give it a try. I have to admit that this wasn’t my favourite book by her, despite the parts I enjoyed, and I especially struggled in the final third.
*Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
The Bookstore Family by Alice Hoffman
This is part of Hoffman’s Once Upon a Bookstores short story series. You can check out my thoughts about the previous one here. This continues the story of the family through the point of view of Violet, the daughter and niece, who moves to Paris to discover what it is that she wants from her life, only to have to return home to Maine, and to unexpected passions and discoveries despite a season of loss. This fourth story is apparently the final one, but I’ll read another if the author writes it. Her writing style and choices don’t always work for me, and yet, there is something about this series that prevents me from looking away.
*You can buy the first three digital-only stories here (or read them for free via Amazon Prime): 1 | 2 | 3
Aaalll the links (fine, just the three)
My aunt is one of a handful of professional women sarangi players worldwide, a direct disciple of the late sarangi maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Ram Narayan for over two decades. She recently posted some new music after a hiatus. Here's a short rendition of Raag Gaud Sarang. Headphones recommended! And please do subscribe to her YouTube channel if you enjoy Indian classical music 😊
A dear friend of mine recently published a tender, gorgeous mini-memoir on love and hope under a pen-name. I couldn’t recommend it more.
Buy links: India | Spain (where he is currently based) | US | UK
I had the pleasure of editing
’s fabulous piece on Arminia Bielefeld, a football club he has supported since the early 90s, and how their deserved journey to the DFB-Pokal final proves that Germany’s much maligned 50+1 club ownership model still has room for magic. Read in full here: https://www.footballparadise.com/bielefelds-dfb-cup-upset-proves-germanys-much-maligned-club-ownership-model-still-has-room-for-magic
From the archives
The wisdom and wonder of being unsure, a chat with author Maggie Jackson about a still very prescient topic. This is a book to return to, again and again.
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Take care and I’ll see you next on May 18!
Anu
*the book buying links I share on here are affiliate links (barring the links for my own published work for which I will earn royalties instead), which means that if you make any purchases through those links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no additional cost to you.
Enjoyed reading the latest newsletter. Was intrigued by the words ' described days as food'. Would like to know more about them. Good to see writeups on football and sarangi. Best wishes.