Some books arrive like an invitation you didn’t know you were waiting for. You open the first page expecting light chatter, a pleasant distraction, maybe a few smiles between sips of coffee—and then, somewhere between one chapter and the next, you realise you’ve been quietly pulled into a room full of lives that feel oddly familiar. The Secrets of Floor Five did that to me. It didn’t knock. It simply slid into the seat across from me and began talking, softly, honestly, until

The first thing Brahma-Patra made me do was slow down. Not metaphorically. Physically. I remember reading the opening pages late at night, phone dimmed, the room quiet except for a ceiling fan slicing the air, when I realised my thumb had stopped its impatient scroll. This wasn’t a book that wanted to be consumed. It wanted to be sat with. Like a letter you don’t open in one go, because you know once you do, something inside you will shift.   Shiv Shankar Jha is not a loud wr

Some books announce themselves loudly. They clear their throat, adjust their spectacles, and declare, “I have something important to say.” The Daughters of Shantiniketan doesn’t do that. It sits beside you quietly, like someone at a café who doesn’t interrupt your thoughts—until, suddenly, you realise they know exactly what you’ve been thinking all along.   I began this novel expecting a family saga steeped in Bengali tradition and Tagore’s legacy. I did not expect it to feel

There are books that arrive quietly, like soft rain tapping on a window. And then there are books like Wellness—that kick the door open, sit across from you in the dim light of a late-night café, and ask the kind of questions you’ve been trying very hard not to look at directly. The kind of questions that feel like staring into a mirror for too long.   What if love isn’t something we fall into once, but something we must choose again and again, even when the magic dissolves a

I didn’t ease into When I Hit You — it felt more like stumbling into a scene already in motion. The kind where the camera is trembling, the soundtrack has gone silent, and you realise you’ve entered a story that isn’t waiting for you to settle in. Friends had mentioned how intense it was, but nothing prepares you for the way this book grips your collar and says, “Stay. Watch.” A few pages in, I knew I wasn’t reading for leisure; I was witnessing a life being peeled open.   Me

There are some books that don’t just tell a story — they unspool a silence you’ve been carrying within yourself. The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay is one of them. I remember reading it late one evening, the rain tapping against my window like a nervous confession. By the time I closed the book, I wasn’t sure whether it was the rain outside or the one that had started within me.   Madhuri Vijay, in her debut, doesn’t announce herself with fireworks. She arrives like mist — quietl

There are books that entertain you, and then there are books that quietly sit beside you — like an old friend, gently reminding you who you really are. Bonds by Tirtho Banerjee belongs to the latter. It doesn’t shout for attention. It lingers. It breathes. It listens. And somewhere between its ten short stories, it holds up a mirror — not to the extraordinary, but to the heartbreakingly ordinary moments that make us human.   I first picked up Bonds expecting to read about peo

It began with the smell of old paper. That faint, woody fragrance that seeps into your skin when you hold a well-loved book — the kind of...

The first time I picked up Tales from the Absurd, I half-expected a neat little box of stories where everything had its place, logic...

Imagine this: you’re on a train, the hum of wheels against tracks lulling you into that half-dreamy state where thoughts wander. You pull...

You know that moment when you close a book and just…sit there, staring into nothing, because your mind hasn’t caught up with your heart?...

There are some books that don’t just whisper stories—they wrap you in their silence until you feel it pressing against your skin. Aparna...

You know those books that feel less like you’re reading and more like you’ve been dropped into another century, salt wind in your hair,...

Some books whisper their lessons; others shout them. To Kill a Mockingbird does something even rarer—it sits you down, looks you in the...

Some stories shout for attention. Others, like The Ballads of Niam by Amit Verma, quietly draw you in, and before you realize it, you’re...

Imagine sitting at your favourite café, a refreshing mocktail in hand—fizzy, sweet, and tangy. Now, imagine life mirroring that drink,...

Some books entertain, some educate, and then there are those rare ones that hold up a mirror to society, making you pause and reflect....

Plentiful Springs, published on March 13, 2024, by Anjaly Thomas, offers a poignant exploration of memory and reality through the eyes of...

Imagine uncovering a hidden fortune in your own home—would you chase the money, even if it meant risking everything you love? "Colours of...