Parkinson has the gift of making you look with new eyes at everyday things. The perfect daily diversion.’ So I encourage you to go out, take a phone, a camera, or just use your eyes. But look up, look down, stop, go slowly, watch the light play on the water, see how the sun haloes around a tree. Take your time and savour this: think of it as a way to calm and soothe your soul. Biophilia is the term for the innate human tendency to interact and connect with nature. It is known to induce calm and good feelings, and we all need more of those right now. The Joy of Small Things is not a book of great, world-shattering ideas, but it is a book of one good idea, the idea of finding joy in small things, and in a near two year period of the world being severely off-kilter, this book is a gem.

The family home descends into dilapidation. Baby Kochamma, once an skilled gardener, lets her plants wither or go wild, while she devotes her life to vicariously living the lives of ghosts she sees on satellite TV. And, in general, the plot was one giant grey mess. Did something happen? Was it significant? Or was it just humans being garbage people to each other?The wordplay, although it did get admittedly a bit repetitive, was also interesting, and I loved so much of the imagery, especially that of the moth: The simplest things are overlooked. And yet, it is the simplest things that are the most essential.”

I’ve learnt to gather simplicity from grasshoppers. I like their naive indecisive minds never knowing exactly when to stop chirping, and I envy their ability to be able to mingle with the green…Connecting with those you know love, like and appreciate you restores the spirit and gives you energy to keep moving forward in this life. I’m sure reader opinion will vary on this one since appreciation of style is such a subjective matter, but Roy’s prose both works for and against her. It makes for some pretty mind pictures, no doubt. It also had me putting down the book to take a break more often than I do with novels. The book is layered with metaphor, endlessly self-referential, and sometimes obscure enough that I’ll admit, unembarrassed, that I had no idea what it was supposed to mean. Not everyone will appreciate the beauty of their surroundings like you do. Spend time with those that do.

Our main characters are Rahel (a girl) and Esthappen (a boy), who are seven-year-old fraternal twins in 1969. They live in the village of Ayemenem in southwestern India, cared for by their single mother, Ammu, who has found herself cornered by life since she divorced her husband. Follow our craft video on facebook to find out how to make a teeny outfit for your teddy at home. You’ll just need old clothes or fabric that can be cut up, and some string. You could make them a cape, a skirt or even a little bowtie! Explore Leeds City Museum this October half term and discover the joy of small things across our galleries and at home!

I see You as an iconoclast, persistent in your demand for liberties we are too submissive to dream of acquiring. You ask for things so heedlessly, so powerfully. The right to love whom we want and how much we want. The right to be equal. The right not to be discriminated against. The right not to be left languishing in solitude, battling painful memories. The right not to lose, at any cost, one's faith in the goodness in human beings. And, most of all, I remember You. You, the painter of this portrait of a family's downward spiral into oblivion. You, the creator of this life-sized painting of a city and a nation, and all of human civilization in turn.