Why We Read

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 :)