Some books about refugees focus on the drama of escape. The moment of fleeing. The danger. The loss. Without a Country by Ayşe Kulin does something different. It shows you what comes after. After you’ve escaped the immediate danger. After you’ve arrived somewhere safe. After the relief wears off and you realize: now what? How…
Paulo Coelho writes books where ordinary dissatisfaction becomes spiritual crisis. Where everyday problems get reframed as cosmic questions. Where someone’s personal mess somehow reveals universal truths. Adultery tries to do this. It follows Linda—a woman with a stable marriage, two kids, a comfortable life—who’s bored. Restless. Feeling like something’s missing even though she has everything…
Some books take you somewhere else. This one keeps you exactly where things are—in the narrow lanes of rural poverty, in homes without doors, in lives shaped by caste and survival. The Elephant Chaser’s Daughter by Shilpa Raj is a memoir, not a story. That difference matters. Shilpa doesn’t dress up her childhood or make…
Some books comfort you. Some challenge you. Some make you angry. One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan does something different. It sits heavy in your chest. It makes you uncomfortable in a way you can’t quite shake off. This is a novel about a couple—Kali and Ponna—who love each other deeply. They have a good…
Some novels announce themselves loudly. They grab you by the shoulders and demand your attention with dramatic events and shocking revelations. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is not that kind of novel. This is a book that works quietly. That builds slowly. That stays with you not because of what happens, but because of what…
Kazuo Ishiguro writes novels where what’s not said matters more than what is. Where memory bends and reshapes itself. Where characters tell you their stories but leave out the parts they can’t face. An Artist of the Floating World is that kind of novel. Set in post-war Japan, it follows Masuji Ono, a retired artist,…
So you’re thinking about picking up a four-book historical series set in 7th-century South India. That’s a big commitment. We’re talking hundreds of pages about kings and wars and temples you might have never heard of. Is it worth it? If you’ve read Kalki Krishnamurthy’s Ponniyin Selvan (or watched the movies), you already know what…
You know those days when everything feels too loud? When your brain won’t shut up, when the news is terrible, when work is exhausting, when you’re just… tired? Days at the Torunka Café is for those days. This isn’t a book that’s going to blow your mind. It’s not going to make you gasp or…
We all know the Ramayana. It’s one of those stories that’s been told so many times, in so many ways, that it feels like it’s always been there. The story of Rama, the perfect prince who gave up his throne. Sita, his faithful wife who followed him into exile. Hanuman, the devoted monkey god who’d…
Most books give you a story with a beginning, middle, and end. They wrap things up nicely. They explain what everything means. They tell you how to feel. The Vegetarian by Han Kang doesn’t do any of that. Instead, it gives you something that sits in your chest like a weight. Something that makes you…
There are some books you read and think, “That was beautiful.” You admire the writing. You appreciate the craft. You move on. And then there are books that grab you by the shoulders and shake you. Books that don’t care about being elegant or subtle. Books that have something urgent to say and won’t shut…
