April 2025 Recap!

Posted On May 1, 2025

Hi Readers! Another month gone by swiftly. It was a gruelling one, with too many unknowns. There wasn’t a lot happening on the surface, but deep down, it was a Tsunami. But, I feel like you always need months like that to shake your entire belief system, make you question things, and constantly ask you how long will you keep running away. It was a month where I have felt rage, anxiety and just been at a loss of words. This was why ‘Pause’ was my April theme. Relax, rethink, restrategize, if you want to sound dramatic. This was unfortunately or maybe even fortunately for important aspects of life – work, physical health and mental health. Everything I have done since has helped me get back to myself and form a new goal. So, fingers crossed that it will be more ups and fewer downs for a while.

Whew! Didn’t mean to be so serious starting off, but here we are now! Let’s talk about the books I read in April!

~~BOOKS~~

~~COUNTERATTACKS AT THIRTY by WON-PYUNG SOHN~~

When you feel like you are drowning, there is always something you find which mirrors your life and gives you clarity on what you should do. Some times it’s subtle. Other times it’s a book which may as well be about your life. Such was in my case when I read Counterattacks at Thirty! This book pretends to be about the silent protests that employees do as a revenge for not being treated well at their workplace. I say ‘pretends to be’ because this book lured me in because of that, but I stayed because of something else! The book is a mirror. It was to me. It will make you question, “What do you really want to be?” so many times that the escapism route you usually opt for (reading) in itself will banish you from the escape with this question. It will make you question your purpose. It will either make you realize something you already knew or throw light on something you had always ignored. It will be relatable. It will be an eye opener. It will be uncomfortable in the best way possible. I have rated read Counterattacks at Thirty by Sohn won-pyung, translated from Korean by Sean Lin Halbert at 4/5 stars!

You can read the full review below!

Book Recommendation: Counterattacks at Thirty!

~~WHAT SOUND IS MORNING? by GRANT SNIDER~~

Grant Snider is one of my favorite illustrators. I have read all his graphic novels and loved them. They make me feel light and make me not take everything so seriously. They are like a balm to an otherwise noisy mind. What Sound is Morning? was a very short read. As the name suggests, it basically had pictures of all the sounds that make up a morning. How simple yet peaceful. Watching the illustrations in this book made me happy! I have rated What Sound is Morning? by Grant Snider at 4/5 stars!

~~WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MCCRAYS by TRACEY LANGE~~

Picking books to read based on whims is not going to work out for me anymore. It worked really well when I read 8 books a month, so I didn’t much think into the quality of the books. But, now that I’m barely reading 2 to 3 books a month, I cannot waste my time reading something I’m not enjoying. What happened to the McCrays is a story about grief. I read about one third of the book after DNFing. It felt very predictable where the story was going. The characters were all unlikable and robotic. I read reviews where people mentioned they cried their eyes out. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel a thing. The writing just wasn’t devastating enough. I rated What Happened to the McCrays by Tracey Lange at 1/5 stars!

~~STATS & MORE~~

~~LIFE LATELY~~

Slide 1: Like a lot of other things, I paused my fitness journey for 2 weeks. But I have started it again with no intention of quitting!

Slide 2 & 3: Went on a brunch date with my cousin sis and then we went shopping all while planning a family get-together. Typical sister behaviour! 😀

Slide 4: Met Aishwarya after the longest time, and of course we ate South Indian food.

Slide 5: Still crying.

Slide 6 & 7: Met Suruchi and went to a fancy restaurant. She drove and I was the passenger princess. 😀

Slide 8: Day out with Aai & Pappa at IKEA! Finally after 5 years since its opening, we got the time to visit. It was a lot of fun. Who knew how many things you don’t remotely need ? LOL. Good food too!

Slide 9: meh

Slide 10: Met Omkar after 8 long years! We studied together and stayed in touch all these years. When I say ‘stayed in touch’, I mean mostly discussed movies & TV Shows all these years, right from Game of Thrones to Adolescence!

Slide 11 & 12: Suruchi came over and we were supposed to plan a trip, but that plan is postponed, so we ended up in a painting session!

Slide 13: Look how cute!

Slide 14: Okay, I always make amazing food items, but Corn & Spinach Rice Bowl is easily in my top 3, and the fam agrees!!

That is all of April, folks!

Until next time,