5 Things I Consumed Last Week (my mind is an oyster 🦪)
on almond, convenience store woman, how I write, food culture, desi crime and some more recommendations
Hello Nello!
Apologies for not showing up in your inbox last week, I was genuinely in no mood to write and I was too engrossed in a book I was reading so, I spent the whole weekend doing just that and watching Only Murders in the Building (can’t wait for the last episode).
This issue is a mix of books I read during the past few days, some refreshing podcasts to try and a few things here and there. I will keep it short to keep the platter small and petite.
Note: If my emails end up in the ‘promotions’ tab, please move them to inbox so you don’t miss out. Don’t forget to subscribe and join 1500+ readers!
Almond | Won-Pyung Sohn
Almond is a complex coming-of-age story featuring a 15 year old alexithymic (inability to express or recognize emotions) protagonist - Yunjae who finds himself in the unlikeliest of friendships, exploring the nature of love, fear, hate and the language people use, and misuse, to describe their messy emotions.
Yunjae explains that the amygdalae are two small, almond-shaped structures in the human brain which allow us to experience emotions, but his almonds are dysfunctional.
The writing places the reader literally inside Yunjae’s mind and how he traverses through adolescence. It is an immersive book that will warm your heart and will provide solace on dismal days.
Convenience Store Woman | Sayaka Murata
This book tells the story of a 36 year old woman- Keiko Furukawa, a Tokyo resident who has worked at the same neighborhood convenience store for the past eighteen years. She finds purpose in the store; it is a source of comfort for her.
Keiko is very happy, but people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressurize her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action.
A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche, it is an ironic, humorous, eerie and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform.
It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. At times, I found the concepts to be repetitive, but all in all the prose was decent. I’m not mad at it, that’s for sure.
How I Write | David Perell
After fan-girling on Ava for the longest time, I was so happy when I saw David’s mail about this podcast. If you aren’t familiar with Ava’s work, do check this out.
I remember scrolling Substack in the middle of a night last year when I stumbled on Ava’s newsletter and since then I have made sure I read each one of them. I have just started listening to the podcast so I can’t tell you much about it but I am excited to know how Ava does what she does - explain human psyche in the most relatable and yet most creative format.
America does not have a good food culture | Chris Arnade
Heaven is where the cooks are French, the police are British, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss.
Hell is where the cooks are British, the police are German, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians.
In this issue, Chris takes a de-tour from his usual travelogues to take a jab at food cultures across the world - stemming from a tweet and meandering through his experience of eating out in different countries.
Food in the US isn’t central to our identities, it is still largely a utilitarian and transactional thing— something necessary to get enough calories, hopefully tasty ones, to stop being hungry and keep working. That’s very different from most of the world which views meals as a social occasion that’s far more than about getting fed.
I personally cherish eating with my loved ones and this infographic is a reminder to perhaps do that more often.
Rape Scandals, Twisted Murders | Desi Crime Podcast
Watching Only Murders in the Building got me into true crime podcasts and a quick google search later, I found myself listening to this in a loop.
Impeccable narration, crisp, no BS, some really dark, twisted crime stories from South Asia. Friendly warning to not binge-listen to it, it can get really dark real quick. I listened to these two and I am not going back to the podcast for the rest of the week for sure.
In other news..
Check out this dispatch from The Kodai Chronicle on thinking like moss
Listen to this Tiny Desk Concert
It's not just you. LinkedIn has gotten really weird.
peak decisiveness to make sense of conviction
Henry Sugar is on my watch list
I was on a long road-trip so I watched OG Indian content - this, this and this. What is your go-to funny Indian content? (except Hera Pheri of course)
Wondering how you can support me?
If you are a friend of this newsletter, show some love here.🐼
If you enjoy reading this, maybe share it with your colleagues, friends and family; it would mean the world to me :) or else Order a handrwitten postcard for them.
You can always reach out to me on dearhummingbird1@gmail.com. or connect with me on IG at _i__cook or use the comment section!
Always grateful for the love,
The Hummingbird🌺