India, June 28 -- Dear Reader,

So, this week, I've read approximately nothing. Okay, maybe a few pages here and there, but nothing that counts. Instead, I've been building bookshelves, actually sitting with the carpenters and measuring depth, breadth and height. There will be more on that exercise in a few weeks, probably involving me rueing that I sacrificed bookshelf space for seating and agonising that the shelves are too aligned or that they are not aligned enough. Stay tuned.

But the lack of reading gave me brain space to think about what I have read this year, and since we're at the halfway mark - end of June, six months down, six to go - it felt like a good moment to take stock. To rate and review.

And honestly? It's been a bit ...