Favourite books of 2021,
not necessarily published in 2021 but ones that kept me going.

The Promise by Damon Galgut - Deals with big themes of race, culture, religion, loyalty but without any effort, also the most mellifluous prose I've read in a novel this year. The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro - The most compelling true crime book in years, excellently researched and ultimately heartbreaking.

Paranthesis by Élodie Durand - A deeply affecting memoir about the bottomless abyss of a chronic illness, but also a hopeful parable on survival.

Favourite films of 2021

The Worst Person in the World - Romantic drama done right with an incredible central performance from Renate Reinsve.

Meel Patthar - Stark, bare-bones, austere beauty of a film about finding escape routes from grief. The Power of the Dog - Jane Campion explores toxic masculinity in a gothic western, what's not to love.

Shiva Baby - Chaotic, hilarious little gem.

Titane - Extreme, merciless, dizzying body-horror but not without moments of real tenderness.

Every year, on this day, I remember two people who were responsible for introducing me to Bob Dylan. The first time I heard Dylan was by chance. My mother's journalist friend came over to our house and left behind an audio cassette by mistake, one young lover's gift to another. This was possibly the year 2000, I was thirteen and in the middle of mending my forever sullen teenage heart. So I decided to play the tape. 'Don't think twice, it's all right' was the first song which I heard. And I instantly knew this can't possibly be a very nice man to know.

If and when this ends, all I want to do is go to some of the bookstores around the world which I've always wanted to visit but didn't manage to yet. So naturally thinking about the one dream bookshop that I actually got to visit in 2019 — the iconic Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice. Where you're welcomed by its valorous guard who inspects every visitor with her deep liquid eyes before letting them in. It's a haven for used book lovers in which an old gondola filled with books sits at the centre of the store.

How are we to make sense of our hearts when we can’t make any sense of the world outside our window which has altered and, that too, all so suddenly? We are a generation raised on targets and goals, but the empty office spaces and football stadiums and cinema theatres... ...that we once so freely inhabited have thrown many of us into a state of limbo that has spiralled beyond our control. But it’s okay. It’s okay if you’re not being productive, it’s okay if you’re not creating, it’s okay if you’re not using this time ‘wisely’...