As kids, we dreamt of a magical land away from home filled with candies and games and sweets and all things wonderful. We wished for a portal in our midst so as to escape and never come back. But as we grew old, we realized that the possibilities of physical teleportation are very slim; in fact, non-existent. But who says we can’t teleport at all. Art of all kinds is an escape for us to leave the normalcy of our lives and dive into the sublimity of life beyond.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies”
-George R.R Martin
There is a great sense of exhilaration in reading. Reading a good book makes you fall in love with the people in it, it makes you bawl your eyes out, it makes you laugh, it makes you want to fight the bad guys, it makes you resent the unfairness of the system and it makes you wish you were in the book rather than being stuck at home. But most importantly, it digs up a tiny place for itself in your heart and stays there forever.
In a time like this, with the unceasing lockdown looming in front of us, it is essential that we keep ourselves optimistic and occupied. Reading a good book might not only take your mind off the tribulations happening out there in the world but may also fill the void of a physical presence in your lives. There are an overwhelming number of books out there and finding the right one can sometimes become a laborious task. Here is a list of suggestions for you to explore different genres.
Fiction:
Literary Fiction:
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
Young Adult:
Parachutes – Kelly Yang
Horror:
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
Thriller:
Confessions – Kanae Minato
Be Not Far From Me – Mindy McGinnis (Survival Thriller)
One of Us Is Lying – Karen M. McManus
My Girl – S Cole (Psychological Thriller)
Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas (Psychological Thriller)
Mystery:
The Broken Girls – Simone St. James (Murder Mystery)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson
No Filter (A Barks and Beans Café Cozy Mystery) – Heather Day Gilbert
A Study in Charlotte – Brittany Cavallaro
Fantasy:
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo
Heartless – Marissa Meyer
Gods of Jade and Shadow – Silvia Moreno Garcia
Science fiction:
Recursion – Blake Crouch
Goldilocks – Laura Lam
I, Robot – Issac Asimov
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C Clark
The Grace Year – Kim Liggett
Graphic Novel:
V for Vendetta – Alan Moore
Women’s fiction:
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Historical fiction:
Chanakya’s Chant – Ashwin Sanghi
The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
The Glass Palace – Amitav Ghosh
Non-fiction:
Autobiography:
The Ride of a Lifetime – Robert Iger, Joel Lowell
History:
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
Politics:
So You Want to Talk about Race – Ijeoma Olou
Philosophy:
Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Alboom
How to win friends and influence people – Dale Carnegie
The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
Mythology:
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold – Stephen Fry
History:
The Age of Kali – William Dalrymple
The Book Project is a long-standing tradition of kMITRA, wherein each member is assigned a book to read over the summer. All the articles in this edition have been inspired by the books mentioned above. Reading these books took us on an overwhelmingly beautiful ride and we hope you like them too.
Happy reading 🙂
Leave a Reply