“We are just specks of dust in this world, glimmering for a moment in the sunlight, and then disappearing into nothing. You have to learn to make your peace with that.”

-Deepa Anappara, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Review: Letters to a Writer of Color Anthology

Authors: Madeleine Thien, Tiphanie Yanique, Xiaolu GuoEditors: Deepa Anappara, Taymour SoomroPublisher: Random House TradeReleased: March 7, 2023Received: NetGalley Goodreads | More Non-Fiction Reviews Book Summary: Letters to a Writer of Color is a collection of essays exploring literature, and its impact on sharing experiences. As such, it delves into the lives and stories of real people,…

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Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line: A Novel

By Deepa Anappara.

Design by Rachel Ake Kuech.

Reading Prize Winning Books--Part 3

Reading Prize Winning Books–Part 3

I’ll start by saying the next three books I read for my prize winning challenge were all on the heavy side. All well-written and I learned a great deal about different places and times, but not exactly uplifting. The first, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2021. The Edgar Awards are given by the Mystery Writers of America and named for their…

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The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

First Five Five-star Reads of 2024

Bonus points, all of them are queer!

How to Read Now: Essays

Elaine Castillo

Letters to a Writer of Color

Taymour Soomro (Editor) Deepa Anappara (Editor)

Nature Poem

Tommy Pico

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

Natalie Goldberg

Park Cruising: What Happens When We Wander Off the Path

Marcus McCann

reading Letters to a Writer of Color edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro, a collection of essays from writers of color about their experiences writing and how they've navigated spaces dominated by people unlike them to improve their craft and tell their stories their way, and it's fucking great so far, a little too relatable, especially the sections and anecdotes in this first essay, of being queer in one place, and desi in another because of The Family, but this section on page 14 just fucking killed me. like, yeah, that's honestly kind of what i think my experience with Being Gendered for the first time (consciously) was.

gendering is largely a process external to me, that's honestly why i've started describing myself as "genderfree". idrc about gender the way Some People do, and i particularly hate when they project those expectations onto me but like. this just really hit hard.

hi babe!! So random but was just doing a lil google search for some good audiobooks to listen to but then remembered that my bestie tumblr mutual molly posted about her love of audiobooks just this week !!! Do you have any recs for me ill take any genre any length whatever your faves are <3 xoxoxo

BABE I love you and this so much !!! thank you for thinking of me my little heart is So warm

(this got a little long so I put it under the cut!!)

okay WELL I would be remiss not to recommend The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth etc) audiobooks right off the bat, they are INCREDIBLE, Moira Quirk does the BEST voices (esp. for Gideon and Harrow) and the ENERGY and HUMOR are unmatched imo. (usual caveats re: TLT which are that the series is initially quite confusing and you may have to read/listen twice. but they are the perfect books. i want gideon to smush me with her powerful thighs and harrow is my poor little meow meow who also cooks soup out of her own bone marrow)

I loved both of Madeline Miller's books on audiobook! something about her prose really worked for me read aloud. Song of Achilles is of COURSE amazing, Circe is also fab

do you like sally rooney? the audiobooks are great (i'm a sucker for a calm irish accent). Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan is a good follow up, Roony-esque but sexier (imo)

Oldie but goodie : His Dark Materials on audiobook has a FULL CAST and it's amazing. I love all the readers, I will never not love the Lord Asriel actor and Lyra will always sound Like That for me (no offense to the HBO adaptation ppl)

Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid — another full cast and TJR really benefits from being read aloud. (I tried to read several of her books and didn't like them until I listened!)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is SO good and I really enjoyed the audio book. it's kind of about video games but it's actually about friendship & love & asking for help & play!

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is read by him !! Ahhhhhhh it was so good I cried TT_TT

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara — I LOVED this book & thought the audiobook was fantastic

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang — SO MANY GOOD CHARACTERS, great book, anti-colonialist themes and a magic system based on translation. V SAD. The audiobook is very well done - they really incorporated the footnotes (lol) in a way that was so lovely

you should also all read the leavers by lisa ko but sadly i read that in 2022 so it wouldn't make it onto this list. you should also read djinn patrol on the purple line by deepa anappara, another 2022 read. just some friendly suggestions

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (714): Thu 29th Feb 2024

Tuned into last night's AEW Dynamite which featured Sting's final television appearance as an active wrestler before he retires on Sunday at Double or Nothing. TO be honest it could have been done much better. Last week Ric Flair teased siding with the Young Bucks out of frustration over not being more involved with Sting's retirement tour. Tonight after the Bucks beat up Darby Allin in the ring who came out to get revenge for Sting who they'd been calling out all night, The Nature Boy came down to the ring for the assist. It looked like he was going to hit Darby with a baseball bat but at the last second he poked Nicholas in the eye and started punching Matthew. It was a nice, if VERY predictable moment but seconds later the Bucks got their wind back and started pounding on Flair. So was this actually how Flair saw this whole fake dissention scheme playing out? Did he think that even though there were two of them and one of him they would probably flee and not gang up on him after an eye poke and some light jabs? Anywho the actual ending was Sting descending from the rafters one last time and brawling with the EVP's to send them off. It was a cool visual but doesn't make sense that he sat and watched his friends get beat down and only showed up as the show was about to go off the air. Like I say it could have been done much better but hopefully the actual match will end up being a fitting send off for The icon. The show also featured a pretty good fake-out moment where Hangman Page claimed he was going to have to pull out of the upcoming three way dance between him, Swerve and Samoa Joe due to an injury. However after Swerve came out to talk down to him, Hanger revealed it was all bullshit and attacked Swerve from behind. Again, this was a good IDEA for a segment and he did pull the wool over mine and I'm sure a lot of other people's eyes but the payoff was kind of lame. All hangman did after revealing he was actually fine was whack Swerve twice with his crutch. He didn't slam him through a broadcast table or cave his head in with cement blocks or something like that but it seems Hanger felt that two whacks with a crutch was more than enough payback for Swerve breaking into his house a few months ago. Also Hanger is the de facto heel now because the fans have decided they like Swerve and want to see him get a push so Hanger doing the gotcha spot doesn't make a lot of sense. The worst thing of the whole show was Chris Jericho taking on Atlantis Jr the son of one of Jericho's old rivals from CMLL: Atlantis. Jericho absolutely stank up the joint by trying to keep up with this twenty something year old high flyer but he looked so slow and out of step, plus there was a lot of miscommunication throughout. I love Jericho as a performer and just a few years ago it looked like he was in no danger of ever slowing down but it appears that he has finally gone over the hill because this match was just dreadful.

To my surprise I managed to read the remainder of the penultimate book in my Edgar Award winners challenge: Five Decembers by James Kestrel (almost 300 pages) in one day. After the last book Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara didn't float my boat I was worried that perhaps there would be no truly great books left to read in this challenge but Five Septembers put my fears to rest (and now my only remaining fear is that I may one day have to sit through another Chris Jericho vs Atlantis Jr). The book is about a cop who travels all the way to China to track down a murderer but almost immediately after he arrives World War Two breaks out and he is arrested by Japanese soldiers. After several months in an internment camp he is rescued by two people who knew the person who was murdered and they take him in, allowing him to sit out the entire war. I won't give away the ending but it's fucking tremendous and I will definitely be checking out more of Kestrel's work. After finishing the book and breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at my coffee table which over the past few years has played host to a stack of books that I have challenged myself to read and now upon this table sits only ONE BOOK. Four years and sixty nine books after starting this ridiculous challenge I have finally arrived at the last one. Tomorrow I will start reading Notes On An Execution but Danya Kukafka and hopefully I will finish it sometime next week and I can lay this damn challenge to rest like I did to that kid on the bus who wouldn't stop playing his shitty music.

Ten Interesting, Indian Novels

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

Jai drools outside sweet shops, watches too many reality police shows, and considers himself to be smarter than his friends Pari (though she gets the best grades) and Faiz (though Faiz has an actual job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants, and together they draw up lists of people to interview and places to visit. (Amazon.com)

But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumors of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again. (Amazon.com)

The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi

Returning to India is an overwhelming experience for Priya. When she was growing up, summer was all about mangoes—ripe, sweet mangoes, bursting with juices that dripped down your chin, hands, and neck. But after years away, she sweats as if she’s never been through an Indian summer before. Everything looks dirtier than she remembered. And things that used to seem natural (a buffalo strolling down a newly laid asphalt road, for example) now feel totally chaotic. (Goodreads.com)

The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

She rose from commoner to become the last reigning queen of India's Sikh Empire. In this dazzling novel, based on true-life events, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni presents the unforgettable story of Jindan, who transformed herself from daughter of the royal kennel keeper to powerful monarch. (Goodreads.com)

The Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find—through love or through exacting maternal appraisal—a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence. (Goodreads.com)

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community. (Barnesandnoble.com)

Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind. (Barnesandnoble.com)

The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar

Madurai, 1992. A young mother in a poor family, Janani is told she is useless if she can’t produce a son—or worse, if she bears daughters. They let her keep her first baby girl, but the rest are taken away as soon as they are born and murdered. But Janani can’t forget the daughters she was never allowed to love. (Goodreads.com)

Sydney, 2019. Nila has a secret; one she’s been keeping from her parents for too long. Before she can say anything, her grandfather in India falls ill and she agrees to join her parents on a trip to Madurai. Nila knows very little about where her family came from or who they left behind. What she’s about to learn will change her forever. While The Daughters of Madurai explores the harrowing issue of female infanticide, it’s also a universal story about the bond between mothers and daughters, the strength of women, and the power of love in overcoming all obstacles. (Goodreads.com)

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

In a small town in northern India, a house still smolders from a devastating fire. Inside a young girl is found severely beaten and barely alive, along with the lifeless bodies of thirteen people. Inexplicably, the local police accuse the girl of the murders. But Simran Singh, an independent-minded, unconventional social worker, is convinced of the girl's innocence. As Simran goes against the authorities to seek out the truth, she discovers a terrifying web of deceit that will change her forever. Seamlessly weaving themes of sexism, police corruption, and infanticide, this captivating mystery plunges readers into the thrilling heart of modern India. (Barnesandnoble.com)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

he Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. (Goodreads.com)

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters—Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina—were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking "good" sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life. (Goodreads.com)

Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives—and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago—a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again. (Goodreads.com)

Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya

Married as a child bride to a tenant farmer she had never met, Rukmani works side by side in the field with her husband to wrest a living from a land ravaged by droughts, monsoons, and insects. With remarkable fortitude and courage, she meets changing times and fights poverty and disaster. (Amazon.com)

"Die Detektive vom Bhoot-Basar" von Deepa Anappara

“Die Detektive vom Bhoot-Basar” von Deepa Anappara

Zur Lesung im rbb Kulturradio sprach ich darüber, dass ich alles an diesem Roman liebe.

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Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara.

This is such a evocatively written book, one that manages to capture class, religious and gender tensions through the POV of a handful of children. Our main narrator is a nine year old with aspirations of being the next Byomkesh Bakshi. It goes about as well as you imagine.

Anappara has a background in journalism, and it shows in the way she writes her character’s relationships, and her descriptions of the settings. There is a humanity in the text, a sympathetic portrayal of each character, their fears and fixations, dreams and desires.

There is a running motif of magic throughout the novel, with a succession of ghost stories and fictive folklore interspersing the main narrative. I loved reading them, the insight they provide into the solace stories can give people who have little else.

Really, the whole story is about the power of stories, including the ones we tell ourselves about other people.

Rating: 8/10

Side note: it falls into the same trap some media by North Indians do where the only South Indian character in the text is vilified. It is not hard to maybe throw a few other South Indian names into the mix, y’know? So that maybe the only one you got isn’t a kidnapper or potentially something worse?

(This is not a spoiler, I assure you. All my reviews are spoiler free)