Special Edition : best books you asked for

it is raining books..

Dear Reader,
Last month I asked you on Twitter and Instagram if you need book recommendations. Well, here comes the Special Edition newsletter with all the good books. This week's letter is long (no Amazing Links section today), worth your time and hopefully it'll bump many of the recs to your reading list. There were 80 something questions. I have tried to answer as many as I can and club a few together. Thank you for sending in your requests x

PS: This is my first time writing such a long letter, so I have no idea if it will be clipped in Gmail. View via browser if that happens.

Recommend a book

featuring food :
Supper Club by Lara Williams is debauchery in the pages. A group of hungry women meet and eat. There’s sex, drugs, lots of food and dark turns.

Something dark academic :
I guess the usual suspects of Dark Academia are already out in the open. So let me push you towards Bunny by Mona Awad which is trippy and unputdownable. It isn’t atmospheric and moody like many of the DA books but psychedelic with memory lapses. I found myself transforming into one of those Bugs Bunn-ies on TV with spiralling circles in eyes. Absolutely hypnotic read — A group of MFA students, cliques, decapitated rabbit heads.

A nice whodunnit :
The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a locked island mystery. There is a grand wedding but there are cormorants — bad omen — flying around and someone gets murdered. It is cozy and there are a lot of suspects. I finished it in half a day.
 
with an unreliable narrator :
Unreliable narrators are my favourite beings. For a pacy, thriller, Louise O’Neill’s After the Silence messed with my head. A documentary crew arrives to an island to uncover a murder that happened ten years ago, at a wild party at the rich folks’ house. There is so much to unpack in the novel. For a literary unreliable girl, read Gwendoline Riley’s First Love. The narrator is intelligent, in an unhappy marriage, has financial anxiety and is lonely. You sympathize with her but then start questioning the reliability of her narration.
 
about ordinary people :
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, translated by Jamie Chang about the everywoman in Korea eroded by misogyny and patriarchy.
 
about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstance:
Inspired by Zero Shadow Day, The Book of M by Peng Shepherd is fantastic!! About a dystopian world where people lose their memories. You’ll see America, and India (Mumbai, Pune, Trivandrum, Guruvayoor). Ufff that climax!

about blogging :
Instead, I give you a book about influencers. Nail biting twists in the pacy thriller People like her written by a husband-wife team, under the name Ellery Lloyd. A favourite release of 2021. Influencers, kidnappings, social media stalking — very good.

with an outdoor setting :
I cannot recommend Life of Pi by Yann Martel enough. I read it long ago, when my aunt got me a copy from her college library, so my memory is hazy — I bought myself a copy from Mumbai many years ago to read it asap but I still haven’t gotten around to it. I remember it was one of the plots that made me go WOW. The story follows a boy from Pondicherry stranded on a boat (227 days) with a tiger (and some other animals). It is delicious, dizzying, and I love how there are two strands to the story.
 
to rekindle romance at old age
Diksha Basu’s Destination Wedding please. It is funny, grand with posh weddings, the perfect book if you loved or hated Seema aunty in Indian Matchmaking on Netflix. As a side plot, it features the older generation in love. There are divorces, second chances and dating. Basu handles older romances very well. In her debut novel, The Windfall (crackling fun) too, there is a nice romance between an older couple.

Romance the speaks to heart :
The quiet Half a lifelong romance by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen S. Kingsbury, best had with warm tea on evenings. I have forgotten the main story — set in 1930s Shanghai — but I remember loving every minute of reading this slow novel. (PS: It isn’t just a romance read. There’s family duty, love, etc)
  
A fun, light read :
The Assistants by Camille Perri where a secretary with a big debts notices an error by her boss, and puts together a team of ladies to embezzle some monies. I wish this was a film.
 
Will-change-your-life classics :
Well, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell changed my life. It made me think why we don’t recommend Gaskell as a starter kit for someone new to classics instead Austens and Brontës. Gaskell is fantastic and ably plots the changes that affect men and land with the onset of industrialization. It is realistic, shows the class struggle and also features a beautiful love story. It made me want to finish all the Gaskell novels one day. For a more indulgent read, I would recommend Wives and Daughters. It might not change your life, but it will certainly add satisfaction to it.
 
that I cannot put down all night :
Go for the good old Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer. Ego battles, corporations, revenge. This is an all nighter.
 
that’ll get me out of a slump :
The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir lost the glam after the hype around its release, but deserves all praise and many more readers. Think Kardarshians, reality TV, teen pregnancy, contracts, toxic families. I couldn’t put this down. Also this reading slump saver list I wrote for Huffpost India back in the day is good!
 
that's underrated :
Here are three. Happiness, As Such by Natalia Ginzburg translated by Minna Proctor made me feel as happy (and sad) as eating bread and honey on a sunny day. The slim novella is epistolary in nature; letters from friends, family and a former lover to a man who has fled from Italy to England due to his political ties. Never before did I feel the impact and genuine emotion that a bunch of letters could evoke in a reader. You'll feel the tightness in your chest.
 
Another book that needs more attention is Night Theatre by Vikram Paralkar about a doctor in a rural clinic who has to treat ghosts — social commentary + magical realism. I’ve been going on about Name, Place, Animal, Thing by Daribha Lyndem for a long time. Sorry not sorry. Nostalgic, coming of age story set in Shillong.
 
Crime comedy :
The Plotters by by Un-su Kim, translated by Sora Kim-Russell about Korean assassins who pet cats, underworld deals being made at a library, femme fatales and more. Rollicking fun.

A book to read by the sea :
How about Beach Read by Emily Henry? It is a meet-cute of two rival authors who dare to swap genres (the guy has to write a romance and the lady has to write literary fic) and in the process, they fall in love.

Something that’ll help me forget how exhausted I am in general while reading it :
The Answers by Catherine Lacey certainly made me feel that way. An eccentric actor hires a group of employees for the Girlfriend Project. Each girl is assigned a task — Emotional, Motherly etc — but love, lust and work mix. Very engaging.
 
Cute stuff :
Tweet Cute by Emily Lord about Twitter shenanigans, marketing wars, high school love story and baking.

that give a very nostalgic cozy home-y vibe :
Not home exactly, but home is where the heart is? Both Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s boarding school books. Terms and Conditions and Mr. Tibbit’s Catholic school that made me miss my school hostel days — the bad food, the horrors, the wardens — even though I have nothing in common with the place and time the books are set in.

with something related to families :
I guess you are looking for a family saga but instead I give you The Greenglass House by Kate Milford. Here Milo, a boy adopted from China by white parents, lives in an inn where pirates and conmen frequent. Milo and his friend play a make-believe game to uncover a mystery and he imagines a biological badass family. Milford wrote this novel for her adopted child — it is heart-warming, fun filled, has storytelling sessions and many clues. (Edit : More about the series in this edition of the newsletter). Also check out toxic families and possessive mothers in the brilliant, chilling Hellfire by Leesa Gazi, translated by Shabnam Nadiya, which begins with a forty year old woman going out, alone, for the first time.

with a combo of intimidating patriarchs, large house, revenge, magic, blood :
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is pure indulgence! A world where dragons and humans co-exist because of a treaty; rebellion is brewing, dragons guard books instead of shiny trinkets. I couldn’t tear myself away from this one. There’s also lots of music and architecture to leave you stumped. Word of caution : Skip the sequel. 
I’ve been keeping Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk on my TBR. It is a regency romance fantasy where women should find suitable husbands but there’s a woman (isn’t there always?) who would rather learn magic than give her hand in marriage. It sounds fantastic!

centred around sisterhood :
Sisters by Daisy Johnson gave me the chills for many days. This is a toxic relationship between two sisters enveloped by a house that seems alive. I have a whole Word doc saved with my notes. Read between the lines, read again, and underline — Daisy Johnson’s prose is liquid gold.

with a female detective tackling crime with romance on the side :
Redhead smoker Bridie with her sidekicks, a seven foot tall housemaid and a tattooed ghost, stole my heart on the first page. Things in Jars by Jesse Kidd is set in late 1800s and slithers through circuses,  freak shows, middlemen, proprietors, and peculiars to solve a kidnapping case. I read it two years ago and there is hardly a romance in this (a very small diversion I think. I can’t remember). But the detective is arresting. And Kidd’s words are reason enough. Review here.

best psychological novel :
Still waiting for a book that kept me in its hold like The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. PS: He has got a new dark academia novel out this year The Maidens.

intricately plotted thriller/twists you don't see coming :
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is SO GOOD. There are twists, secrets, and it keeps you guessing. A parent is murdered at a school fundraiser. I wish I could forget it and read it again.
 
Surrealist works from Indian writers :
These Circuses that Sweep through the Landscape by Tejaswini Apte-Ram is a collection of  short stories, mostly whimsical and a few realistic stories. I loved this collection and I still remember the joy I felt on reading it when it was released. There’s a girl made of cotton (sawdust?), beetle collector, adultery and more. More here.
Also Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan about Middle East immigrants in surreal situations.

A book by a POC (pref Indian) with a strong female protagonist, without the poverty and woe :
Stunning sentences in These, our Bodies Possessed by Light by Dharini Bhaskar that explores three generations of women in a family. Catch my interview with Dharini Bhaskar here.

Indian English. Light but not fluffy :
Lallan Sweets by Srishti Chaudhary about a road trip to find a secret laddu recipe. There’s love and bolo tararara.
 
exploring male friendships :
The reader who asked for this rec is a fan of books like The Little Life. So while I want to point them towards the heavier Kite Runner by Khaled Husseini, I would also suggest the light comedy that’ll leave you in splits — Three Men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome. Set in late Victorian changing society, three men and a dog go on an adventure. You’ll have to pause the read to laugh out loud as the story goes around friendships, packing, novels, bicycling and more. If you love it, follow it up with Three Men on a Bummel, both of which I devoured in my school days.

Fiction that talks to your inners fears :
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin consumed me. Four siblings are told their date of death and the fear makes them choose widely different paths in life and career.
 
based in Japan :
I have so many recs. These six and these three among the new-ish releases.
 
with language/ linguistic politics :
The 1984 book, republished in 2000, Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin. A dystopian world where women are considered property, denied rights and forced to make kids. Humanity’s survival depends on talks with aliens and the elite linguists are the influential lot. But a revolution is brewing in the Barren Houses — A trusted source adored the book, and I have kept it on my TBR ever since.

Fiction with strong philosophical heartbeat / Books with philosophy but not obscure ramblings:
There were so many questions on philosophical books but I don't read much that category. How about At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell which has been on my TBR since 2016 (cover + blurb love). I have read that the book will appeal to those who aren’t experts on philosophy too. It is a book that I often pick at a store and keep back because I am weak like that and give into less heavy entertainers easily. But I keep hoping I'll read it one day.

to help me transition from being a student to a working adult :
Haven’t read this yet but it has been on my TBR from my early Instagram days — Maybe Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris about gossip, coffee breaks and office.

Books like these / What to read after?

\ Midnight Library : Sum by David Eagleman has the most fantastic forty short stories that talk about possibilities of after lives. A five-star entertainer.
\ Pursuit of love or Guernsey literary society : Someone at a distance by Dorothy Whipple for a heartbreaking marriage/love story. Also 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff for books, letters and heartbreaks
\ Pachinko : this list of family sagas
\ Flea palace : For the others, Bombay Brides by Esther David is a lovely 'apartment novel'. For the person who asked this rec, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles—a perfect pandemic novel.
\ Like Water for Chocolate — Eva Luna by Isabel Allende for the vibes and Chocolat by Joanne Harris for the food
\ The Dutch House – Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller which basks in domestic space and earthly hints and follows two poverty ridden fifty something twins (kind of unemployed) whose mother dies.
\ Tokyo Ueno Station : Diverting from historical fic to recommend Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Giorgio Amitrano and Michael Emmerich, which will linger in your hearts for long.
\ Pride and Prejudice – I have been absolutely enjoying The Other Bennett Sister on Scribd. Hadlow is very good (it reads like another Austen). My only disappointment is that I don’t own a physical copy so that I can read faster. Please read it.
\ Book Thief / Literary fic that I can annotate and cry – One of my eternal favourites, All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr about war and love.
\ Normal People – Rosie Price’s What Red Was about a rich boy, poor girl friendship and the aftermath of an incident. TW: rape 

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That was nice and long and soothing to write. I hope it was exciting to read too. If I have toppled your book budget for the month, my plans have succeeded. Borrow or buy these at your bookstores.

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If you are shopping on Amazon India, using this link might earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. (Just search for the book you wish you buy. The link takes you to The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Yumiko Yamazaki even though none of you asked for it. It is a cozy, thrilling murder mystery. And I had to squeeze it in). Here’s my Bookshop link for US-based readers


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Much bookish love,
Resh x

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