A cup of hot cocoa and a novel we have been waiting eagerly to read, and here comes the right time.
Amidst the chaos that goes on throughout the year, maybe we could try to make the start to a new year in a peaceful way by reading and letting our thoughts twirl in with the author.
So, we bring to you a list of the Year’s personal favourites.
EXIT WEST
Author – Mohsin Ahmed
A novel about migration and mutation, it rips reality and finds wormholes into it. It is one of the most perfectly depicted stories on war and we can say, even after a gap of 20 years that this is the novel that depicted the reality ideally.
Exit West is animated as well as confused as some may think – by this constant motion between genre, between psychological and political space, and between a recent past, an intensified present and a near future. It’s a motion that mirrors that of a planet where millions are trying to slip away “from once fertile plains cracking with dryness, from seaside villages gasping beneath tidal surges, from overcrowded cities and murderous battlefields”.
Do give it a read this New Year’s eve.
ALSO READ: Emoji – the most popular ones in 2017 and the new ones expected in 2018
RUNNING
Author – Cara Hoffman
In the 1980s, a teenager Cara Hoffman ditched college and took off to Europe, occasionally sleeping in train stations and stowing away in Venetian water taxis. Just as her funds were running dangerously low, she heard about a place she could crash and earn a small commission working as a “runner” in Greece—that is, walking the length of trains and luring in unsuspecting tourists to the seedy hotels in the red-light district of Athens.
Running, the novel inspired by these experiences, explores the dark, alluring intersections between love and survival. It becomes relatable to the ones that are experiencing how survival becomes tougher as and when you grow and become Independent, give yourself a sneak peek into how Cara has depicted this story so well.
PACHINKO
Author – Min Jin Lee
Thirty years in the making, Lee’s sweeping, multi-generational novel is set in 1900s Asia and is informed by stories she heard about legal and social discrimination against Koreans in Japan, a history largely denied and erased. This story kicks off with an unplanned pregnancy and the promise of a less shameful life in Japan and evolves into addictive family saga packed with forbidden love, the search for belonging, and triumph against the odds.
This novel is definitely a must read for everyone that wishes to get a sneak peak into how Japan is and how it has transformed over the years.
CELINE
Author – Peter Heller
In Peter’s new detective novel Celine, he returns (momentarily) to the place of his childhood, with a story inspired by the life of his own remarkable mother, a stylish and rule-breaking private eye. Celine wrestles with themes of family, loss and privilege—and when a photographer’s mauled body shows up in Yellowstone National Park, a cold trail gets warmer and a daughter’s need for the truth ratchets up the suspense.
The Rules Do Not Apply
Author – Ariel Levy
A self-described professional explorer, Levy likens the exhilaration of orienting herself among new people surroundings to the early weeks with a new lover—think heightened senses and heady in-the-moment intensity. She’s crisscrossed the globe in search of these unique experiences as a staff writer for The New Yorker since 2008, and now turns her interrogative eye on herself. What results is profound, and lasting.
Growing out of an essay called “Thanksgiving in Mongolia,” Rules Do Not Apply reveals what happens when nature decides to smash the plans you’ve made, and derail what you thought was your life.
Go ahead and spend your New Year’s eve reading!
