May 2025 Recap!

Posted On May 31, 2025

Hi Readers!

5 months down, 7 more to go! Unbelievable how fast yet slow the time is going. May has been unpredictable in its entirety, which I equal parts loved and hated. Picnic with a friend, concert with parents, leadership meet in the office, a play with parents, fangirling over Pedro Pascal with a friend, paintings & reading & writing solo!

We had a new record for rains in May in Mumbai for the first time in 107 years. There was a loss of faith and subsequent surprise of acceptance for certain things & people. There was a sense of routine but also a sense of adventure by reclaiming weekends to just do something.. anything!

And, of course, there was so much uncertainty in the country and even though it was for a short time, it was scary as hell. With so much ambiguity, emotions were all over the place. Can’t say I didn’t let my imagination run amok, but there’s always time for self-regulation, growth and improvement, isn’t there? So, here we are at the end of a tumultuous May!

~~BOOKS READ IN MAY~~

I read 2 BOOKS across 727 PAGES in MAY. I have accepted the reading of 1 or 2 books a month as the new normal now. It’s always fun to read latest books than backdated. I don’t really care if it’s the FOMO or just the thought of something new that makes me want to read.. as long as I’m reading, I’ll take any reason as acceptable! Both the books I read this month were latest releases and I enjoyed reading them.

PS: There are 3 publications next month from my favorite authors, so really looking forward to them! (My Friends by Fredrik Backman, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Strange Houses by Uketsu. Also looking forward to read Thinking About Thinking by Grand Snider.)

~~GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE by EMILY HENRY~~

We have two authors in a month-long audition to write Margaret Ives’ biography. So, the novel is her story right from her great grandfather, and it’s also the story of writes; Alice and Hayden. I enjoyed reading Margaret’s story, because how couldn’t I? It has a rags to riches story, drama, tragedies, disappearances, too many characters who have too many secrets. That part of the book was fun to read. But, of course, because it was similar to TJR’s writing, I immediately had high expectations which were tough to meet. As for Alice & Hayden’s story, it’s nothing we haven’t read before. An empath woman falling for a surly man who is only considerate for her. I didn’t find any typical EH romance elements with these two. Sure, there was a lot of build-up, but it never felt ‘meant-to-be’. The major problem in my reading experience was the big disconnect between the two story lines, and the very obvious and sole connection which I saw coming early on. I have rated Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry at 3/5 stars.

~~VERA WONG’S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) by JESSE Q. SUTANTO~~

Jesse Q. Sutanto is an amazing storyteller. I have read a few books of hers, and Vera Wong series has my heart. I think I always love elderly people solving mysteries as a genre because I love reading The Thursday Murder Club series, and An Elderly Lady is up to No Good duology & love watching Only Murders in the Building. Vera is only 60 years old, but the amount of times she calls herself a frail oldy lady will have you fooled, just like she intends.

In this second novel in the Vera Wong universe, we see the mystery reaching a more tense and serious situation with higher stakes. I loved that about this one. I’ll share a review soon as well. I have rated Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto at 4/5 stars!

~~READING STATS & MORE~~

For the last few months I thought it would be impossible for me to get back into digital reading, because all my recent reads were from my physical TBR. So, I was pleasantly surprised how easily I could slip back into it and read two books!

~~LIFE LATELY~~

Slide 1: This month I re-re-started my commitment to health! Daily workouts are back just like before. And, this time no cheat workouts and nothing less than 40 minutes allowed!

Slide 2: I went to watch a Marathi play called ‘Filter Coffee’ with my parents. I had only seen plays twice before, so it was a different experience!

Slide 3 & 4: My friend Suruchi and I went to a park earlier in the month, and what fun! I think it was near-perfect weather which we had for maybe 2 days because otherwise it was too hot or too humid or too rainy! Lucky us. 😀

Slide 5: I feel like I have replaced the time I gave to reading with painting. Every weekend I can’t wait to the time I paint. I’m loving this!

Slide 6: There was a leadership meet, so obviously I couldn’t go to the office like I always do. 😀

Slide 7: 😊😊😊

Slide 8: The picture says it all!

Slide 9: Annual meetup with school friends!

Slide 10 to 12: Went to All Heart Tour – Mumbai Concert to listen to Shreya Ghoshal live! Parents really enjoyed it, and I realized I need to listen to more Bollywood songs!

So, that is all, folks! With monsoons coming in, it’s always tough to work in gloomy-lazy weather. Let’s see how well I do this time around.

Until next time,