□ Placeholder: 03 — Lincoln in the Bardo

Hello from a coffeeshop. It's almost end of July here in Amsterdam and I am wearing a tee and carrying a light jacket in my bag and I can't remember July to be this chilly in the history of many Julys in my entire life. Which I definitely love. What's not to love about a 21° day with a tad of sunshine?! (I am told to soak this in because this doesn't last for long here.)

Last week I shared some learnings from the book: How to Read a Book. And couple of you replied mentioning why or why not reading a book the way it's suggested in that book makes sense. Definitely the suggested way is meant to applied when reading for information (knowledge?). Another way to read (fast) for information is the Tim Ferris's method but I am skeptical of it.

Reading for pleasure — fiction, poetry, drama — is subjective to person. Whatever suits. Speaking of which, I managed to get through this book called: Lincoln in the Bardo.

Bardo: (in Tibetan Buddhism) a state of existence between death and rebirth, varying in length according to a person's conduct in life and manner of, or age at, death.

The format of the book is unlike I have read anything before and that was a good enough reason to give it a shot. (Another reason was the Man Booker Prize Winner - 2017.(Another was the fascinating cover)). It took a while to get used to the format of storytelling but once acclimatised , it was a rollercoaster ride.

The plot of the book... I won't spoil it for you but I will say this: it combines facts with fantasy without slipping into pietism. It touches death (and grief) as on of the primary tangents so here's a quote:

> I will go on, I will. With God's help. Though it seems killing must go hard against the will of God. Where might God stand on this. He has shown us. He could stop it (death). But has not. We must see God not as Him but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something from us, and we must give it, and all we may control is the spirit in which we give it and the ultimate end which the giving serves.

For my next read, I am recommended Sex at Dawn (very intriguing).

I would love to hear more about what you are currently reading or have plans to read.

Thanks for following along.