The Season of Thanks
Reflecting on the year and quick picks with good vibes
Readers,
Thank you so much for being here. This month marks almost a year since we started The Novel Tea newsletter, and in a few months, we will mark the two year anniversary of The Novel Tea podcast. We have loved every step of this journey and we can’t wait to see where it goes!
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Thank you, again. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving — and in the spirit of thanks and gratitude, here are some quick picks to keep you company as the days get shorter.
Quick Picks from Shruti
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal: do not be fooled by the title. This sweet story of community follows Nikki, the daughter of Punjabi immigrants, who takes a job teaching a creative writing course at the community center. She begins to teach them how to tell their own stories, and in the process, secrets and troubling things in the community start to surface, sparking a scandal that threatens their world.
I have recently been rewatching Downton Abbey and I continue to marvel at how good it is: the cinematography, the acting, the writing. It walks that perfect line between wholesome and comforting but not too sweet and cloying (stiff upper lip, and all that).
Last week I read Toward Zero by Agatha Christie — any Christie is a comfort read for me, but I found that the tone of this book was slightly different from her other mysteries. It went deeper into psychology and the relationships between characters than some of her other books I’ve read, which I liked and found refreshing.
Quick Picks from Neha
Season 2, Episode 6: Fishes of The Bear on Disney+ is a work of art that may not be cozy and comforting for the holidays, but this Thanksgiving themed episode will have you feeling all kinds of things for a good night of entertainment.
Cold weather always gets me in the mood to read something magical. One of my favorite books of all time, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, is the perfect late fall/early winter book to immerse yourself in another world for a weekend.
There’s something about turning on the fireplace and reading a book set in the cold. Some winter atmosphere books to read are Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis.