My love affair with books started at a rather tender age. Since then, I haven’t been able to step into a bookstore without walking out with at least one book! Given that I’m always immersed in a book, I figured it would be a good idea to list out the books I read each month, loosely sorted by genre. All the books are starred on a scale of 1-4, and I’ve provided links to the books that I’ve reviewed here. If you’re wondering what to read next, why not take a look at the book list below and see if something piques your interest? Happy reading!
NOTE: As of 2022, I have moved my reading list to Goodreads. You can connect with me there .
Scale: * Thrash it! ** Bearable *** Interesting **** Engrossing
Literary Fiction The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood ****
The Testaments – Margaret Atwood ****
Against the Loveless World – Susan Abhulhalwa ****
Memories of my Melancholy Whores – Gabriel Garcia Marquez ***
All The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr ****
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell – Nadia Hashimi ****
The Cellist of Sarajevo – Steven Galloway ****
The Beekeeper of Aleppo – Christy Lefteri ****
Norse Gods – Neil Gaiman ****
Bluebeard’s Egg – Margaret Atwood ***
Americanah – Chimananda Ngozi Adichie ****
The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George ****
The Sorrows of an American – Siri Hustvedt ****
Serena – Ron Rash ***
The Bastard of Istanbul – Elif Shafak ****
A Strangeness in my Mind – Orhan Pamuk ****
God Help The Child – Toni Morrison ***
The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons – Heather A. Slomski
Vinyl Cafe Unplugged – Stuart McLean***
J – Howard Jacobson ***
The First Rule of Swimming – Courtney Angela Brkic ****
And The Mountains Echoed – Khaled Hosseini ****
The Angel’s Game – Carlos Ruiz Zafon ****
Alice Munro – Dear Life
A Tale For The Time Being – Ruth Ozeki
We Need New Names – NoViolet Bulawayo *****
Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure – Joanne Harris ****
Life of Pi – Yann Martel ***
The Prague Cemetery – Umberto Eco ****
The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes ***
Brooklyn – Colm Toibin ***
The Elegance of a Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery***
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon ****
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro ****
Brida – Paulo Coelho ***
The Lollipop Shoes – Joanne Harris ****
The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood ****
Blueeyedboy – Joanne Harris ****
Mornings in Jenin – Susan Abulhawa ****
Blackberry Wine – Joanne Harris ****
Dance, Dance, Dance – Haruki Murakami ***
The Time Travelers’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger ****
Late for Tea at the Deer Palace – Tamara Chalabi ****
The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemmingway ***
The History of Love – Nicole Kraus ****
The Evil Seed – Joanne Harris **
Immortality – Milan Kundera ****
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini ****
Breakfast at Tiffany’s and other stories – Truman Capote ****
Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichei ****
show less
Historical fiction The Empress – Laura Martínez-Belli ****
The Silence of the Girls – Pat Barker ****
The Painter from Shanghai – Jennifer Cody Epstein ****
Nefertiti – Michelle Moran ****
The Dragon Queen trilogy – William Andrews **** (Daughters of the Dragon, Spirit of the Dragon, The Dragon Queen)
Madame Tussaud – Michelle Moran ****
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows ****
The King’s Last Song – Geoff Ryman ***
Conqueror series – Conn Iggulden ***** (Conquerer, Bones of the Hills, Empire of Silver, Birth of an Empire, Lords of the Bow)
Pearl Of China – Anchee Min ****
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie – Ayana Mathis ****
Letters From Skye – Jessica Brockmole ****
Two Brothers – Ben Elton ****
The Alexander trilogy – Mary Renault *** (Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games)
The Second Empress – Michelle Moran ****
Wise Woman – Philippa Gregory ***
Colossus: Stone and Steel – David Blixt ****
Garden of Stones – Sophie Littlefield ****
Ruins of Lace – Iris Anthony ****
John Saturnall’s Feast – Lawrence Norfolk ****
Wilderness – Lance Weller ****
All on a Summer’s Day – Judy Gardiner ****
Sacred Hearts – Sarah Dunant ****
Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay ****
Spring Moon – Bette Bao Lord ****
The Heretic Queen – Michelle Moran ****
The God of Spring – Arabella Edge ***
Pure – Andrew Miller ****
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem – Sarit Yishai-Levi ****
Harem: The World Behind The Veil – Alev Lytle Croutier ****
Memoirs of a Bitch – Francesca Petrizzo ****
The Devil’s Prayer – Luke Gracias ****
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding – Jackie Copleton ****
Allegra – Anna Lisle ****
show less
General Fiction The Kabul Beauty School – Deborah Rodriguez ***
Still Alice – Lisa Genova ****
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman ****
Ape House – Sara Gruen ****
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid ****
Sugarland – Martha Conway ****
Three Souls – Janie Chang ****
The Spy – Paulo Coelho ***
The Scent Keeper – Erica Bauermeister ****
Perdita – Hilary Scharper ****
The Map – T.S. Learner ****
Dancing Backwards – Sally Vickers ***
The Midnight Library – Matthew Haig ****
A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman ****
Dear Edward – Ann Napolitano ****
The Night of the Mirage – Zoe Ferraris ****
Five Roses – Alice Zorn ****
Sweet Breath of Memory – Ariella Cohen ****
Badawi – Mohed Altrad ***
After You – Jojo Moyes ***
The Blue Bath – Mary Waters-Sayer ****
Desert God – Wilbur Smith ***
Pharaoh – Wilbur Smith ****
The Seventh Scroll – Wilbur Smith ****
Warlock – Wilbur Smith ****
The Quest – Wilbur Smith ***
River God – Wilbur Smith ****
The Witch Of Napoli – Michael Schmick ****
Echo – Francesca Lia Block ***
The Woman Behind the Waterfall – Leonora Meriel ***
When We Were Sisters – Emilie Richards ***
The Tusk That Did The Damage – Tania James ***
Adultery – Paulo Coelho ***
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance – Jonathan Evison ****
The Whipping Club – Deborah Henry ***
Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears – Ken Wheaton ***
The Oleander Sisters – Elaine Hussey ****
Wake – Anna Hope
The Almond Tree – Michelle Cohen Corasanti ****
Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger ***
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry – Gabrielle Zevin ****
Golden State – Michelle Richmond ***
O’Hara’s Choice – Leon Uris **
Heartbreak Hotel – Deborah Moggach ****
Bitter Like Orange Peel – Jessica Bell ***
Secret Sisters – Emelle Gamble ***
The Cheesemaker’s House – Jane Cable ****
Exposure – Sayed Kashua ****
The Art of Falling – Kathryn Craft ****
The Secret Keeper – Kate Morton ***
Almost Heaven – Marianne Wiggins ****
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith ***
The Kashmir Shawl – Rosie Thomas****
The Reading Group – Elisabeth Noble ***
The Swan Thieves – Elizabeth Kostova ***
The Missing Rose – Serdar Ozkan***
show less
Thrillers Night Film – Marisha Pessl ****
The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair – Joel Dicker ****
The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman ****
Time for Tanechka – N.A. Milliongton ****
Those in Peril – Wilbur Smith ***
Watch Over Me – Jane Renshaw ****
A Cure For Madness – Jodi McIsaac ****
The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins ***
In a Deep Dark Wood – Tina Pritchard **
The Passenger – Daniel Hurst ****
Exposure – Helen Dunmore ****
Seized – Elizabeth Heiter ****
Vanished – Elizabeth Heiter ****
The Hidden – Heather Graham ***
The Silenced – Heather Graham ****
The Collector – Anne-Laure Thieblemont ***
The Never-Open Desert Diner – James Andersons ****
Private – James Patterson & Maxine Paetro **
The Shiro Project – David Khara ****
The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Gailbraith **
The Murder Bag – Tony Parsons ****
Falling – Emma Kavanagh ****
The Good Girl – Mary Kubica ****
The Son – Jo Nesbo ***
The Bat – Jo Nesbo ****
The Answer To Your Question – Paulette Alden ***
The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken – Tarquin Hall **
Inferno – Dan Brown ****
The Bleiberg Project – David Khara ****
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn ****
The Confession – John Grisham ***
One Breath Away – Heather Gudenkauf ****
Accidents Happen – Louise Millar ***
West Palm series (The Undertaker’s Apprentice, The Courteous Killer, Bloody Valentine, Helping the Dead) – Joss Cordero ***
Life Among Giants – Bill Roorbach **
The Never List – Koethi Zan ****
A Fatal Likeness – Lynn Shepherd ***
One Step Too Far – Tina Seskis
The Family Corelone – Ed Falco ****
The Devotion of Suspect X – Keigo Higashino ****
Angelogy – Danielle Trussoni**
The Cartel – A.K. Alexander ****
The Dead of Summer – Mari Jungtedt *** The Human Factor – Graham Greene ***
The Art of Murder – Jose Carlos Somoza ****
The Innocent – Harlan Cohen ****
You Believers – Jane Bradley ***
These Things Hidden – Heather Gudenkauf ***
Murder in Mesopotamia – Agatha Christie ***
The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson ****
The Broker – John Grisham ***
The Sign of the Cross – Chris Kuzneski *
The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown ***
The Winner Stands Alone – Paulo Coelho **
show less
Fantasy, dystopia and YA The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern ****
The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden ****
Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters – Nikita Gill ****
Game of Thrones series – George R. R. Martin **** (Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow, A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Saenz Benjamin Alire ****
Beltane – Alys West ****
The Storm Witch – Alyst West ****
The Vine Witch – Luanne G. Smith ****
The Glamourist – Luanne G. Smith ****
The Conjurer – Luanne G. Smith ****
The Golem and the Djinni – Helene Wecker ****
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer ****
The Gospel of Loki & The Testament of Loki by Joanne Harris ****
13 Reasons Why – Jay Asher ***
The Woman and the Witch – Amanda Larkman ****
Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling **** (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I & II)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor ***
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane – Neil Gaiman ****
The Paper Magician series – Charlie Holmberg **** (The Paper Magician, The Glass Magician, The Master Magician )
White Horses – Alice Hoffman ****
Silo trilogy – Hugh Howey **** (Wool , Shift, Dust)
The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen ****
Lips Touch Three Times – Laini Taylor ****
Beautiful Creatures series – Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl *** (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Dream Dark, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption)
Aru – David Meredith ****
Raven Song – I.A. Ashcroft ****
Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet – H.P. Wood ****
Dreams of Gods and Monsters – Laini Taylor ***
Tell The Wind and Fire – Sarah Rees Brennan ****
Chameleon – Zoe Kalo ****
The Witch’s Market – Mingmei Yip **
The Silent Children – Anna K. Boheim ****
Two Graves – Zoe Kahlo ***
The Reflections Of Queen Snow White – David Meredith ***
Kricket series – Amy A. Bartol **** (Under Different Stars, Sea of Stars, Darken the Stars – Amy A. Bartol)
A Sudden Light – Garth Stein ****
The Rithmatist – Brandon Sanderson ****
The Fianna Trilogy (The Shadows, The Web, The Veil) – Megan Chance ****
The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath – Ishbelle Bee ***
The Bloody Shoe Affair – Joy York **
The Fragile Fall – Kristy Love ***
The Fault In Our Stars – John Green ****
When Mystical Creatures Attack – Kathleen Founds ****
A Song For Ella Grey – David Almond ***
A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness ****
Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness ****
The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness ****
The Thief Lord – Cornelia Funke ****
Lost Lake – Sarah Addison Allen ****
The Goddess Chronicle – Natsuo Kirino ****
Dream Girl – S.J. Lomas ***
The Midnight Side – Natasha Mostert ****
The Passage trilogy – Justin Cronin *** (The Passage, The Twelve, City of Mirrors)
The Fairest Of Them All – Carolyn Turgeon ****
The Lightning Charmer – Kathryn Magendie
Bellman & Black – Diane Setterfield **
The Gateway Chronicles – K.B. Hoyle **** (The Six, The Oracle, The White Thread, The Enchanted, The Scroll , The Bone Whistle)
Forgive Me, Leonard Peackock – Matthew Quick ****
In The House Upon The Dirt Between The Lake And The Woods – Matt Bell ****
Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon – Jonathan Stroud ***
Runemarks – Joanne Harris ****
Ruinlight – Joanne Harris ****
Slammed series – Coleen Hoover **** (Slammed, Point of Retreat, This Girl)
Firefly Beach – Meira Pentarmann ***
The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde ****
Celtic Run – Sean Vogel ****
The Lost Book of Salem – Katherine Howe ***
Lucretia and the Kroons (Novella) – Victor LaValle ***
The Talisman of El – Alecia Stone***
The Enchanted Truth – Kym Petrie ****
Rape Girl – Alina Klein ***
Saving June – Hannah Harrington ***
Caught in Crystal – Patricia C. Wrede ***
His Dark Materials trilogy – Philip Pullman*** (Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)
Bridge in the Rain – Bianca Lakoseljac ***
The Mermaid’s Mirror – L.K. Madigan ***
Twilight series – Stephenie Meyer *** (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn)
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner – Stephanie Myer **
The Raising – Laura Kasischke ***
Starbook – Ben Okri **
Gods Behaving Badly – Marie Phillips ***
show less
Indian/Sri Lankan/Pakistani authors Mistress – Anita Nayar ****
Wind Horse – Kaushik Barua ****
Seahorse – Janice Pariat ****
Magical Women – Sukanya Venkatraghavan ****
Dark Things – Sukanya Venkatraghvan ****
The Palace of Illusions – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni ****
Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District – Mayank Austin Soofi ****
Along Came a Spyder – Apeksha Rao ****
Blowfish – Siddharth Tripathi ***
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie ****
The Wildings – Nilanjana Roy ****
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders – Daniyal Mueenuddin ****
Taj Trilogy – Indu Sundaresan **** (Feast of Roses, The Twentieth Wife, Shadow Princess)
The Storyteller of Marrakesh – Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya ****
A Mirrored Life: The Rumi Novel – Rabisankar Bal ***
The Mountain of Light – Indu Suderasan ****
Songs of Stone – Sujata Sabnis ****
The Calling – Priya Kumar ***
Jihadi Jane – Tabish Khair **
Love Stories – Annie Zaidi ****
Flame Tree Road – Shona Patel ****
The Aryavarta Chronicles – Krishna Udayasankar **** (Govinda, Kaurava, Kurukshetra)
Vanessa and Her Sister – Priya Parmar
An Isolated Incident – Soniah Kamal ***
The Winds of Hastinapur – Sharath Komarraju **
Virgin Gingelly – V. Sanjay Kumar ****
Bucket List of a Traveloholic – Sarika Pandit ****
No Man’s Land – Nilesh Shrivastava **
Sita’s Curse – Sreemoyee Pia Kundo *
The Hunt For Kohinoor – Manreet Sodhi Someshwar ***
Delhi Mostly Harmless – Elizabeth Chaterjee *
Grand Delusions: A Short Biography of Kolkata – Indrajit Hazra ***
The Steradian Trail – M N Krish ****
Marriage Material – Santham Sangeera ****
It Takes A Murder – Anu Kumar ***
Chokerbali – Rabindranath Tagore, Radha Chakraborty **
Cosmic Clues – Manjari Prabhu ***
Chakra – Ritu Lalit ****
Love is Like Vodka – Amit Shankar *
Final Cut – Uday Gupt
Boomtown – Aditya ****
The Music Room – Namita Devidayal ***
The Sea of Innocence – Kishwar Desai ****
The Good Little Ceylonese Girl – Ashok Ferry ***
Romi & Gang – Tushar Raheja **
Sophie Says: Memoirs of a Breakup Coach – Judy Balan ***
The Virgins – Siddharth Tripathi ***
Ramayana series – Ashok Banker *** (Prince of Ayodhya, Seige of Mithila, Demons of Chitrakut, Armies of Hanuman, Bridge of Rama, King of Ayodhya, Vengeance of Ravana, Sons of Sita)
Oath of the Vayuputras – Amish ***
Our Moon Has Blood Clots – Rahul Pandita *
The Other Side of the Table – Madhumita Mukherjee ****
Asura: Tale of the Vanquished – The Story of Ravana and his People – Anand **
How About A Sin Tonight – Novoneel Chakraborty *
The Taj Conspiracy – Manreet Sodhi Someshwar ***
I Rama: Age of Seers – Ravi Venu *
The Swimmer – Roma Tearne ***
Secret of the Nagas (Book 2 of the Shiva Trilogy) – Amish ****
Bone China – Roma Terane ****
Brixton Beach – Roma Tearne ****
All and Nothing – Raksha Bharadia ****
Mosquito – Roma Tearne ****
Chanakya’s Chant – Ashwin Sanghi *
The Immortals of Meluha – Amish****
The Japanese Wife – Kunal Basu **
2 States – Chetan Bhagat **
The White Tiger – Arvind Adiga ****
Lajja – Taslima Nasreen *
Unaccustomed Earth – Jhumpa Lahiri ****
The Impressionist – Hari Kunzru ***
show less
Romance & Women’s Fiction Water for Elephants – Sarah Gruen ****
South of the Buttonwood Tree – Heather Webber ****
Roseheart – Catherine Dehdashti ***
Recipes for a Perfect Marriage – Kate Kerrigan ****
Kalopsia – Lucinda Lamont **
The Rain Sparrow – Linda Goodnight ***
Self-development & Spirituality Blessed Are The Weird – Jacob Nordby ***
The Book of Ichigo Ichie – Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles ****
The Dalai Lama’s Cat – David Michie ****
Deep Work – Cal Newport ****
The Bullet Journal Method – Ryder Carrol ****
The Dance – Oriah ****
Creative Tarot – Jessa Crispin ****
The Desire Map- Danielle la Porte **
Body Kindness – Rebecca Scritchfield ****
Unbinding The Heart – Agapi Stassinopoulos ****
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert ****
Meditation for Busy People – Osho ****
Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls – Jes Baker ***
Infinite Purpose – Liv Lane & Lori Portka
Kindling The Native Spirit – Denise Linn ****
Don’t Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle – Doreen Virtue **
Life Loves You – Louise Hay & Robert Holden **
Better Than Before – Gretchen Rubin **
It Starts With Food – Dallas & Melissa Hartwig ***
The Undiscovered Goddess – Michelle Colston ****
Painting The Future – Louise Hay, Lynn Lauber ***
The Power – Rhonda Byrne **
Why We Get Fat and What to do About It – Gary Taubes ****
The Butterfly Effect – Andy Andrews ***
Rise Sister Rise – Rebecca Campbell *
show less
Biographies & Memoirs Wild – Cheryl Strayed ***
Tawaifnama – Saba Dewan ****
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert ****
Buck – MK Asante ****
84 Charring Cross Road – Helene Hanff ****
Becoming – Michelle Obama ****
Empire of the Indus – Alice Albinia ****
The Diary of Anais Nin Vol 1 & 2 ***
The Far End of Happy – Kathryn Craft ****
Graphic novels/comics Relish: My Life in the Kitchen – Lucy Kinsley ****
Manga Classics: Les Miserables – Victor Hugo ****
Tintin and Herge ****
