When social distancing first began, and there were indications of a lockdown happening, I could not read. I had a few book samples on my Kindle, but I simply could not focus on any of them, or decide what would be my next purchase. For me, that was not only an indication of how stressed I was, but also another stressor. I then came across an article saying that peace of mind was essential to reading, and that calmed me a little (why do we always need someone else to tell us what we already know? And why does that make us feel more validated?!). Deciding that light, feel good books were the way to go in these crazy times, I started reading Ayesha At Last, by Uzma Jalaluddin. It was nice to read about a Muslim protagonist, who wears hijab and yet is not ultra conservative or a pushover, or any other stereotype. It was a short, cute, read, 3 stars. I then read The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Reading Indian authors/authors of Indian descent is always nice, although I do not read so many of them. The Shergill Sisters was a good read, and it brought back fond memories of my high school Sikh friend. The plot was good, the characters were interesting and the prose was good -all in all, 3.5 stars.
I am now reading Yes No Maybe So, which is a cute YA read. Is it strange to be nearing 40, and still enjoying YA fiction? I hope not. The whole age thing confuses me, I have to say. I forever feel that I am stuck at 23. Even though my boys are now 7, I hardly consider myself a practiced mom. In fact, I largely feel that the roles of wife, daughter, mother are ones that I am still learning.
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Another good thing to come out of this lockdown was the zoom calls with my high school friends. I hadn’t seen most of them in over 10 years. It was nice to reconnect with these girls, who had once been such an important part of my life. I do hope we manage to stay in touch better now, inshallah.
Similarly, z and I have been meaning to call each other for ever, but the timings never worked. Coronavirus lets us chat more often, with our schedules more home bound now, so for that, alhumdolillah.
I am now reading Yes No Maybe So, which is a cute YA read. Is it strange to be nearing 40, and still enjoying YA fiction? I hope not. The whole age thing confuses me, I have to say. I forever feel that I am stuck at 23. Even though my boys are now 7, I hardly consider myself a practiced mom. In fact, I largely feel that the roles of wife, daughter, mother are ones that I am still learning.
**
Another good thing to come out of this lockdown was the zoom calls with my high school friends. I hadn’t seen most of them in over 10 years. It was nice to reconnect with these girls, who had once been such an important part of my life. I do hope we manage to stay in touch better now, inshallah.
Similarly, z and I have been meaning to call each other for ever, but the timings never worked. Coronavirus lets us chat more often, with our schedules more home bound now, so for that, alhumdolillah.