Week 32, 2026: A week of stories

This was a work-heavy week.

I also fell sick in the latter half of the week (a cold, blaming the weather). I’ve almost recovered now.

This Friday, I finished reading Crime and Punishment, by Dostoevsky. I really enjoyed it (having read it in roughly a week!), and I’m regretting not annotating or highlighting portions of the book for later reference.

Yesterday, I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day in 4DX. It was my first time watching a movie in 4DX, and I found it a bit disorienting. I know it’s meant to be immersive and all, but all of the jerkiness took me out of the movie, ironically. I’m willing to give 4DX another chance at a different theatre. Maybe the place where I went wasn’t well maintained. Anyway...

I really liked this movie compared to the previous films. It felt a bit raw and fresh (the best way I can put it. I feel like the title “Brand New Day” is very apt). I liked that they added some depth to Peter’s character this time by showing the Peter Parker / Spider-Man identity struggles. I don’t know. I could definitely empathise with Peter’s pain at some points.

Today has been very slow and a bit rainy. I’ve been staying indoors, watching videos about books. I bought a lot of books this week. More specifically, I bought Bibek Debroy’s translations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. I’m keen on reading more Indian literature, but I don’t know where to begin. 😅

In terms of classics, I bought East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, and The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux (the David Coward translation. Going to be my next read, most likely.) I’ve been looking to buy other classics, but I decided to give that idea a rest for now, seeing how I’ve read two classics this year already. One definitely needs time to soak in all that information.