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wherestoriescomefrom · 1 year

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if you had to introduce yourself through four books, what books would be they be? tagged by @metamatar thank u so much and i am v sorry for taking so long with responding to this <3

i am paralized by choices fr, but i think what rhu said in their post was also true that books you read when you're a teenager stick the longest. unfortunately for me one of the major ones was harry potter from which i have relentlessly disassociated over time so now that feels like no way to introduce myself. anyway

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. look i know it's not even my favourite (yeah, shockingly, my favourite is Mansfield Park) one amongst all of the books she wrote, but this was the first one i read, the first one i thought of when i thought ✨romance✨. i shudder to call it enemies to lovers also because the dynamic is so unique and the subject of every author's envy since miss austen dropped this beat in 1813. also you guys have no idea how much of my personality is inspired by this one, i have simply invented myself through the yearning and love that austen put in me. i wrote my master's thesis on emma.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik. this book saved my life during my master's. i had just gone through three years of undergraduate, and anyone who has studied literature will tell you that studying literature kind of sucks the life out of it. to discover it again takes something, and naomi novik entered my life, looked me in the eye, and said, "you're gonna fuckin love this. enemies to lovers, beauty and the beast, language based magic system, everything you love." and i fuckin fell for it, i was changed dramatically, i read all of the new age fantasy fiction of the fantasy renaissance. as u can see im just a romance gal.

Milk Teeth by Amrita Mahale. i hesitate to put this because i only read it this year, but since it's been living rent free in my mind since, i suppose we will just have say it's one of Those Ones. im not even sure if this one is as well written as it could have been but there were so many moments that made me feel like the author was crawling into my own skin, so, you know. the protagonist of the story was so interesting, the premise was so interesting, the dilemma and the political decision was so well framed,,,,, it is simply living in my mind since then.

The House that BJ Built by Anuja Chauhan. its basic and i know everyone's favourite is Those Pricey Thakur Girls but this one also happened to me and it just ushered in new kinds of reading for me. i know this is an unpopular opinion but loving delhi is such a central part of me that it just feels good to read about someone who falls in love in this city. also the protagonist is my absolute favourite, Bonu has my whole heart. i know she has like problems, i remember @whatdoesthefuturebehold and i had like a chat about it, but i can't help it, it's just my jam,,,,

The Truth by Terry Pratchett. sorry for cheating a little but i love this one so much. it's just got the best of pratchett in it, everything i love. meditations on the social contract, a printing press, fun romps with newspapers and the state of our reading public. plus that standard terry pratchett flair of just. militant decency. i know it makes sense as a standalone, but, holy shit, i'd have loved a sequel. i also struggled so much between putting this or tiffany aching, but i think i covered loving witches in Uprooted so you know, figured i'd throw in my love for print cultures.

shoutout to the Book of Indian Folk Tales of which i cannot remember the author. it's lying in my home in lucknow somewhere, i may post about it later. anyway thats me <3. let me tag @readingthenight @half-past-late @infantisimo and @khlur

#hello void this is ridiculosity #south asian writing #i talk about books for the hundredth time like its a new thing #i love u metamatar for tagging me in all this. during coursework i forget i actually like reading #you know cause i suffer when i have to read more hamlet than should be legally allowed

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