A Recipe for Daphne was a really enjoyable book I finished recently. Set in Istanbul, among the Rum community (Greek Orthodox Christians who trace their heritage to the Byzantines), it follows the American-born Daphne, who is half-Rum and half-Turkish. On a visit to Istanbul, she finds herself drawn to Kosmas, an award-winning pastry chef. We … More A Recipe for Daphne by Nektaria Anastasiadou

I recently finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary, translated from the French by Alison Anderson. It follows Renee, a concierge at a posh apartment inhabited by wealthy residents. Separated from the residents of the apartment by class, Renee is someone who tries to be inconspicuous, even though she is a lot … More The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a book you should pick up if you’d like a fun fantasy read. This book does not purport to do anything original, and I suppose that is part of the charm of it. It is an ode to fantasy and fairy tales and frequently references other works. This book … More Fairy Tale by Stephen King

I just finished reading A Little Life and I HATE it and I LOVE it at the same time! If you somehow still don’t know what this book is about, it is about four friends in New York through the years, with the focus on Jude St Francis, a man whose life has been incredibly, … More A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Crudo by Olivia Laing was a book I picked up recently, and finished in one sitting. It follows the stream of thoughts of a forty-year-old writer, who is about to get married. as she thinks about the state of the world-rising fascism, global warming, and many other things. The main character ‘Kathy’ is supposed to … More Crudo by Olivia Laing

I recently read The Idiot as well as its sequel Either/Or by Elif Batuman, and I found myself relating to those books on another level. The Idiot follows Selin, a Turkish-American student at Harvard as she tries to figure out life, language and her own interests and ideas. She befriends Svetlana, a Serbian student in … More The Idiot and Either/Or by Elif Batuman

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the story of Changez, a Pakistani man in the US who had once embraced a Westernized lifestyle only to see the illusion of the American dream fall apart. I thought the story made some interesting commentary, but overall, i found it rather underwhelming. The writing style was somehow rather bland and … More The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Last year, I had read Bhaunri by Anukrti Upadhyay and loved it. So, I went into this one with high expectations. And by the time I finished reading it, I had mixed feelings. Kintsugi is set in two countries-India and Japan. It follows Haruko, a young Japanese woman who travels to Rajasthan to learn the … More Kintsugi by Anukriti Upadhyay

Nightfall is an expansion of the short story by the same name written by Asimov. Asimov has been quite a hit-or-miss author for me, and I hadn’t read anything by Silverberg before, so I was keen to know whether I’d like this one. And I did, mostly. Nightfall is set on a planet with six … More Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg

I just finished this YA SFF book that has been described as ‘Pacific Rim’ meets The Handmaid’s Tale’ and that is a combination you wouldn’t expect to work, but somehow it does. So, set in a futuristic world inspired by Chinese history, this book follows Wu Zetian (a character inspired by the Chinese Empress). In … More Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao