10 Dec 2025 by nsd
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. The pacing in the first half of the book was too low for my taste. The fact that the last book that I read, The Secret of Secrets by Dan brown, an extremely fast paced page turner, is not helping my Elantris experience.
I downloaded the audiobook. Now I listen to the audiobook in parallel to reading. This setup allows me to concentrate better. The last time I did this was while reading The Lord of the rings (~2020)
Chapter 40 had a twist that rekindled my interest in the book. Stopped using audiobook to aid my concentration. After chapter 40, the chapters are very short, the pace is likeable now.
Finishing Elantris felt like watching the movie Empuraan. It had a lot of good things, but overall it didn’t feel quite right.
The hope of Elantris, was a meh story, but the backstory of how Brandon got the idea for the story was nice.
The premise in shadows of silence is good. I am getting some name of the wind vibes
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It has a very similar vibe to that of The Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, but since it’s a novel I like reading A Thousand Splendid Suns better. I try to stay hopeful, compared to heart lamp, where each story feels like a black mirror episode.
The book describes life during war times. Around chapter 23, 24 Kabul becomes less peaceful. The descriptions makes me feel grateful for being in Kerala. We have a more peaceful time here, in comparison to the books setting.
I bought a Malayalam copy of the same book and gifted it to my mother.
I re-read the first interaction between Mariam and Aziza multiple times. For a few days, I would read chapter 33, finish it and keep the book mark at the start of chapter 33, so that I can re-read the section again in my next reading session.
I am on the fence to give A Thousand Splendid Suns 5 vs 4.5 stars. The gave me really nice characters, to whom I was emotionally attached; but the ending didn’t have any twist that caught me off guard. 5 star books for me are usually books that do that.
My marathon 10k run went well. It was the hardest between the 3 km and the 5 km marks. After 5km the run became more enjoyable. The last km between 9 and 10 was also a bit tiring. I kept continuously moving with small jogs, no heavy sprints in between. Throughout the run I kept thinking about the Casey Neistat video, in which he completes a sub 3 hour full maraton.
Stats of the run: 79 min for 10 km. Overall rank : 622 / 2279
Popularly known as Navaratri festival in India. But for people who grew up in Kerala it is pooja holidays. This is the only holiday for which students are asked not to study. All our books and textbooks will be send to the temple for Saraswati Pooja. It’s a guilt free pass for every student to enjoy a day without the responsibility to study. It’s more popular among school children. I still remember, my school days, waiting for this day to get a guilt free relaxation day.
This year I was not going through any formal education. So I was a bit confused on which book to keep for Saraswati Pooja. I had a copy of The Annotated Turing, I had not yet finished reading it. The best progress I made was around two chapters. But this time around I hope I finish reading it. For motivating me I have made a todoist project with 30 minute reading chunk tracker.
Monday blues are quite regular now. Reading Mark Manson’s book comforts me. Whenever I feel stressed I try reading some chapters from the book. Usually the first chapter gives me enough motivation to move on.
