Books:
The Screwtape letters - CS Lewis (So so so damn good!!! Stumbled on this book in a Christian blog on spiritual attacks. Such a timely, helpful read. So insightful and also funny ❤️π I found some views a little dated/conservative, but the book is just genius overall. A godsend)
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
Pride and prejudice - Jane Austen
Amoralman - Derek Delgaudio (Suchhh a treat! π₯π₯π₯π₯)
Demian - Hermann Hesse (Magiccccc ✨✨✨)
Emma - Jane Austen (Setting such high bars for romance π It's craaaazy how this book found me at a time when I was going through experiences exactly like that of Emma and was changing in the exact ways that she was!!! π§
Too many quotable bits but this was particularly striking - [...] 'the only source whence any thing like consolation or composure could be drawn, was in the resolution of her own better conduct, and the hope that, however inferior in spirit and gaiety might be the following and every future winter of her life to the past, it would yet find her more rational, more acquainted with herself, and leave her less to regret when it were gone' ❤️❤️❤️❤️)
The four agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
Narcissus and Goldmund - Hermann Hesse (This book (as with all of Hesse's books) found me when I was in distress and brought just what I needed. It came by when I was deeply lamenting my unlived life. Goldmund is one of the most triggering fictional characters I've read π₯΅ It's unbelievable how spot on Hermann Hesse is about so many things and yet manages to leave a certain love-hate aftertaste)
Dreams from my father - Barack Obama
The alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The scarlet pimpernel - Emmuska Orczy
The gene - Siddhartha Mukherjee
Godan - Premchand
The da Vinci code - Dan Brown
Steppenwolf (SOOO GOOD ✨)
A prisoner of birth - Jeffrey Archer
Geethaari - Su. Tamilselvi
Life of Pi - Yann Martel ('And so it goes with God' ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)
The kite runner - Khaled Hosseini
The orchid and the dandelion - Thomas Boyce
Sivagamiyin sabadham - Kalki Krishnamurthy
Parthiban kanavu - Kalki Krishnamurthy
Ponniyin selvan - Kalki Krishnamurthy
The Harry Potter series
The Rozabal line - Ashwin Sanghi
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse (Made me feel so seen! ✨✨✨ although some parts of things Hesse writes always manage to rub me wrong)
Angels and demons - Dan Brown
Becoming - Michelle Obama
License to live - Priya Kumar (16 y/o me loved this)
The wisdom of the Enneagram - Don Riso and Russ Hudson (Very illuminating read. But first, embarrassing π Also, just how predictable are we? π€―)
Short stories:
The gift of the Magi - O. Henry
The necklace - Guy de Maupassant
The last question - Isaac Asimov
The helping hand - EM Forster
The absent-minded man - Jerome K Jerome
The last leaf - O. Henry
What goes around comes around - Bryan Anderson (?)
Spell my name with an S - Isaac Asimov | Incredible story ❤️
The model millionaire - Oscar Wilde
The ant and the grasshopper - Somerset Maugham
The lottery ticket - Anton Chekov
Cat person - Kristen Roupenian
The Mouse - Saki | http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Mou.shtml
Profession - Isaac Asimov
Mr. Know-all - Somerset Maugham
Plays:
The bishop's candlesticks - Norman McKinnel (Tugs at my heart every time I read it π) | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Bishop%27s_Candlesticks
Poetry:
Bharathiyar
Hidden - Naomi Shihab Nye | https://poetry.auburn.edu/featured-poems/hidden.html
Experience - Carl Sandburg | Such an incredible poem! π | https://poets.org/poem/experience
Sometimes - Sheenah Pugh | https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/s/sheenagh-pugh-sometimes.php
Throwing away the alarm clock - Charles Bukowski | https://genius.com/Charles-bukowski-throwing-away-the-alarm-clock-annotated
Nothing twice - WisΕawa Szymborska | https://poets.org/poem/nothing-twice
So you want to be a writer - Charles Bukowski | https://poets.org/poem/so-you-want-be-writer
The summer day - Mary Oliver | https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-133/the-summer-day/
At the Theatre: To the Lady Behind Me - AP Herbert | https://allpoetry.com/At-the-Theatre:-To-the-Lady-Behind-Me
For women who are difficult to love - Warsan Shire | https://genius.com/Warsan-shire-for-women-who-are-difficult-to-love-annotated
The mountain and the squirrel - Ralph Waldo Emerson | https://100.best-poems.net/mountain-and-squirrel.html
Keeping quiet - Pablo Neruda | http://quantum.bu.edu/zen/readings/keepingQuietNeruda.html
The man he killed - Thomas Hardy | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44329/the-man-he-killed
The vacation - Wendell Berry | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56192/the-vacation-56d238779b2aa
I go down to the shore - Mary Oliver | https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/09/18/i-go-down-to-the-shore-mary-oliver/
That reminds me - Ogden Nash | https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2013%252F07%252F18.html
Life-while-you-wait - WisΕawa Szymborska | https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/02/amanda-palmer-reads-wislawa-szymborska/
On crime and punishment - Kahlil Gibran | Incredibly powerful poem ❤️❤️ Let him who is without sin cast the first stone (This article's a nice supplement: https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/our-tragic-condition/) | https://poets.org/poem/crime-and-punishment
The people upstairs - Ogden Nash | https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-people-upstairs/
The peace of wild things - Wendell Berry | https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/peace-wild-things-0/
The pulley - George Herbert | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44370/the-pulley
Leisure - W.H.Davies | http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=100
The fourth sign of the zodiac - Mary Oliver | https://apoemaday.tumblr.com/post/182710938565/the-fourth-sign-of-the-zodiac [I particularly love the third one π]
As if to demonstrate an eclipse - Billy Collins | https://www.google.com/amp/s/wordsfortheyear.com/2017/08/21/as-if-to-demonstrate-an-eclipse-by-billy-collins/amp/
Reason - Robin Coste Lewis | https://poets.org/poem/reason
Music:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI6vxyqT1KHGQS_GygulIXaWTDEczIcZ5 | Arunagiri Perumale | Such an incredible documentary/album. I love that all the songs in the album share a common soundscape. Too lovely ❤️✨
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nvunoEZApnrePbAlnK8N78HxiVF-LMZeA | Entropy - Sid Sriram | Insanely beautiful ❤️ This one did something to me ✨ Still figuring out what
https://youtu.be/KZZLqoRuuHw | 96
https://youtu.be/_mSVAgPtWjI | Ek je chhilo raja
https://youtu.be/-5YPmYIJi4w | Uththama villan
https://youtu.be/gnNKg6xTKew | Vaanam kottattum
https://youtu.be/NjXZ2vs3qtY | Vinnaithaandi varuvaayaa
https://youtu.be/h0Gvav8SFFU | Humnasheen - Shreya Ghoshal
https://youtu.be/l1TalbMWEOU | Mariyaan
https://youtu.be/EiK8OQzTSTk | Madharasapattinam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9byV34ifF8 | Achcham enbadhu madamaiyada
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV5DFDU51J3842CxaXrKpa6lHcOuCs4Kk
Movies:
The Green Mile (Among the best things I’ve EVER watched π₯Ή❤️π)
Meiyazhagan
Schindler’s list
The boy in the striped pajamas
Source code
Me before you
Dumb money
Dear Zindagi
Migration (2023) - Wholesome watch π₯°
Boiling point (Suchhh a great movie!)
The Truman show (Gushed about it here: https://braymatter.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-truman-show.html)
Dead poets society
My Dinner with Andre
In and of itself
Soul
PK
Marriage story
Before trilogy
Good Will Hunting (So fucking good! ❤️)
Uththama villan
Meetings with remarkable men
Helen (Malayalam)
The sound of music
Life of Pi
8 minutes (short film)
The trial of the Chicago 7
The case for Christ
The pianist
Neram
Inherit the wind (Sooo much wit π₯π₯ An insight from the movie that struck me VERYYYY much and has stuck with me - a person's (arguably) reprehensible ideologies/acts don't erase their entire lifetime)
Andhadhun
JoJo Rabbit
The Sunset Limited (I am somehow both the men in this movie)
Emma
Dark waters
Vaayai moodi pesavum
Arrival
Madharasapattinam
127 hours
A beautiful day in the neighbourhood
Taare zameen par
Rear window
Hey Ram
Zootopia
Dasavatharam
The lunchbox
Fakir
Deivathirumagal
1917
Pride and prejudice
Baby's day out
Spotlight
Anbe sivam
Murder mystery
Super Deluxe
The post
The platform
Inside out
To sir, with love ('Lead with influence, not authority' πͺπ½❤️)
Payanam
Pink
Virumandi
Neerja
The Harry Potter series
Locke (It stood out to me how Locke didn't apologize at all, not once, yikes)
TV series:
House MD
Sherlock
This is us (❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)
Genius (NatGeo)
Mahabharat (Star Plus) (Binge-watching the show a second time in 2023, desperately reaching for solace - everything hits so different!!! ππ)
The queen's gambit (I'm such a sucker for coming-of-age stories)
Suits
Pride and prejudice (BBC)
Fleabag Season 2 (Another favourite priest, ha!)
Documentaries:
Evolution | Brilliant stuff π₯π₯π₯ | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCOc7Xqj-kQ (Ep 1)
The social dilemma
Our planet
Thamizhi | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayWLeakDbZk (Ep 1)
Night on earth
Arunagiri perumale | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdvP4C0rSdQ
The voyager | https://ihavenotv.com/the-farthest-voyagers-interstellar-journey-storyville
Lectures:
1. The Enneagram - Richard Rohr
I tend to like the psychospiritual approach to self-knowledge better than the solely psychological (think MBTI*) or solely spiritual (say, theosophy). These lectures are so enlightening and SOOO fun ❤️❤️❤️ Richard Rohr is amazing!! (It's interesting how a lot of growth lies in the direction opposite our compulsions)
*But MBTI type development has as its ultimate step/level, becoming free from egocentric agendas, and in this, it isn't all that different from spirituality
2. Isai Payanam by Charulatha Mani where she takes a raga (musical mode in Indian classical music) and catalogues a few compositions in the raga both in classical and film music.
Comics:
xkcd - https://xkcd.com/
smbc comics - https://www.smbc-comics.com/
Pearls before swine - https://www.instagram.com/stephanpastis/?hl=en
Calvin and Hobbes - https://www.calvinandhobbes.com/about-calvin-and-hobbes/
Off the mark - https://www.offthemark.com/
Bizarro - https://www.comicskingdom.com/bizarro
Foxtrot - https://foxtrot.com/
Wondermark - http://wondermark.com/
Dilbert - https://dilbert.com/
Goattoself - https://www.instagram.com/goattoself/?hl=en
Blogs/websites:
http://rprabhu.blogspot.com/?m=1 | Some amazing Tamil literature ❤️❤️
https://www.brainpickings.org/
https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/
(The last two websites have saved my sanity more times than I can count)
Articles etc.:
26Jan24 | https://www.theschooloflife.com/article/the-demand-for-perfection-in-love/ | So so timely!
24Aug22 | https://www.dtnext.in/madras-week-2022/2022/08/21/those-were-the-days-memoirs-on-madras-its-glorious-past-legacy | So interesting
15Jul22 | Falling upward - Richard Rohr | https://youtu.be/J1kXeklcmMI | Do you have a favourite priest? π
6Apr22 | This brought so much awareness in the middle of a breakdown. Our minds are incredible and scary af. Carl Jung is ππΎ| https://youtu.be/IW4GzhdVr-w
22Dec21 | Ahhhhh π | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/on-rupture-and-repair/
4Nov21 | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/why-we-play-games-in-love/
2Oct21 | The School of Life reads my mind yet again π€― | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-first-day-of-feeling-well-again/
30Sep21 | Brilliant ❤️❤️❤️ | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/melancholy-the-best-kind-of-despair/
8Sep21 | Notes to myself - Bombay Jayashri| https://youtu.be/WnumwRdrwPg | Justtt ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ And gosh, how is even her speaking voice so gorgeous?!!
7Aug21 | Fucking hell π | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/coping-with-ones-parents/
7Jul21 | π€£π€£π€£π€£π€£ | https://jezebel.com/cosmos-44-most-ridiculous-sex-tips-5919206
19Jun21 | Saul Bellow's Nobel prize acceptance speech | https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1976/bellow/lecture/
22May21 | Commencement speech by Bill Waterson | http://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html
7May21 | Love this so much ❤️❤️ | http://www.critical-theory.com/kants-advice-on-heartbreak-letters-to-a-student/
6Apr21 | http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/tolstoy/chrisanar.htm
21Mar21 | Whaaaaaaaaaaat a great story ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ | https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/how-david-hume-helped-me-solve-my-midlife-crisis/403195/
20Feb21 | Such a profound, essential read. Goals πͺπΎ | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/what-love-really-is-and-why-it-matters/
12Feb21 | On knowledge and understanding, by Aldous Huxley | Loved this very much ❤️ Shade-throwing Huxley is funny π€£ | https://vedanta.org/2002/monthly-readings/knowledge-and-understanding-part-1/
https://vedanta.org/2002/monthly-readings/knowledge-and-understanding-part-2/
https://vedanta.org/2002/monthly-readings/knowledge-and-understanding-part-3/
8Feb21 | https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/09/but-what-about-greenland.html | 'Most number of weird things I've read in a single article' article
8-Sep-20 | https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/25/art-as-therapy-alain-de-botton-john-armstrong/
8-Sep-20 | https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/02/kandinsky-concerning-the-spiritual-in-art/
6-Sep-20 | Such a well-written article | https://lithub.com/learning-to-appreciate-the-small-things-from-a-500-year-old-japanese-writer/
2-Sep-20 | Another article that resonated very much with me, forget the 'gifted' label | http://www.stephanietolan.com/gifted_ex-child.htm
2-Sep-20 | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-dangers-of-having-too-little-to-do/
1-Sep-20 | https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/28/conversations-of-goethe-eckermann-creativity/
31-Aug-20 | https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/03/goethe-schiller-criticism/
30-Aug-20 | This hit close to home | https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/longread/porter-robinson-ego-death-interview
27-Aug-20 | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/on-perfectionism/
25-Aug-20 | This was particularly timely since I was grappling with a piece of abstract art and was trying hard to grasp it | https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/27/jeanette-winterson-art-objects
21-Aug-20 | This was toooooo damn good | https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/why-i-write/
18-Aug-20 | Very, very interesting. And mirrors my experience of two breakdowns and the aftermaths | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration
18-Aug-20 | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/what-is-that-sunday-evening-feeling/
14-Aug-20 | How to deal with a crisis of meaning | https://youtu.be/nu8d3iW2yxM
11-Aug-20 | The 'gifted' tag aside, this article resonated SO MUCH with me | https://www.sengifted.org/post/existential-depression-in-gifted-individuals
10-Aug-20 | This blew my mind π€―| https://mikeblaber.org/dimensions/dimensions.htm
6-Aug-20 | School of life article (Existential) | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/how-science-could-at-last-properly-replace-religion/
XXX
31-Jul-20 | Trying not to try | https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/21/trying-not-to-try-slingerland/
XX
3-Jul-20 | Fred Rogers profile | https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a27134/can-you-say-hero-esq1198/
9Jan20 | A very stimulating read, though I disagreed with some parts | http://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2018/08/tradition-is-smarter-than-you-are.html?m=1
Lenoardo da Vinci's to-do list | https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/11/18/142467882/leonardos-to-do-list
Alan Watts on living with presence | https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/06/alan-watts-wisdom-of-insecurity-1/
All-time favourite, this one | https://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/long-email-delay.html
The map is not the territory | https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/22/aldous-huxley-who-are-we-divine-within/
Sid Sriraaaaaaam π | https://www.ted.com/talks/sid_sriram_grounding_new_age_music_in_tradition
23-Jul-20 | An antidote to impostor syndrome | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/aphorisms-on-confidence/
19-Jul-20 | πππ | http://wineandbowties.com/sid-sriram-has-a-thought/
9-Jul20 | Secular hymns | https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ps_liii_47_011218_m_r_sharan.pdf
9-Jul-20 | What makes a good parent? | https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/how-should-a-parent-love-their-child/
18-Jun-20 | WH Auden on Virginia Woolf | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1954/03/06/a-consciousness-of-reality
4-Jun-20 | Emergence, Tribalism | https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/giants.html
19-May-20 | Mortality awareness refresher | https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html
11Feb18 | https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/putting-time-in-perspective.html
27Jan18 | Brilliant | https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html
25Jan18 | https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/06/taming-mammoth-let-peoples-opinions-run-life.html
22Jan18 | Loved this to bits. Blew my mind | https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html
19Jan18 | This made me cry | https://waitbutwhy.com/2016/05/clueyness-a-weird-kind-of-sad.html
30Dec17 | A tour of Saturn's rings | http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2017/09/cassini-saturn-nasa-3d-grand-tour/
30Dec17 | https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/06/harvard-and-the-making-of-the-unabomber/378239/
28Dec17 | https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/health/liver-bodily-function.html?_r=0
27Dec17 | Annie Dillard's romantic account of a total eclipse - https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/annie-dillards-total-eclipse/536148/
27Dec17 | Polymaths | http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40865986
27Dec17 | http://mentalfloss.com/article/503507/polish-doctors-who-used-science-outwit-nazis
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/plant-memory-hidden-vernalization
11Nov17 | The chaos game, the sierpinski triangle and fractals| This BLEW my mind π€―π€―π€― |https://youtu.be/kbKtFN71Lfs (Stumbled on this here: https://qr.ae/pNVi4V)
XXX | https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/11/generalized-specialist/
