25 July,2026 12:24 PM IST | Mumbai | Nandini Varma
Himani Srivastava Rikhye
Himani Srivastava Rikhye, instructional designer
Toni Morrison's novel is such a layered, emotionally rich story about the realities of Black life in a tightly knit community in a country that barely accepts them. Against that backdrop, Sula and Nel are growing into young women, and their friendship feels central to everything. There's childhood innocence but there's also shocking violence and dark secrets. I'm completely engrossed and can't wait to see where Morrison takes them.
Urja Panchal, student and bookseller
Mikhail Bulgakov's modern classic based in the Soviet era is a fantasy-dystopian novel. It is relevant today because of its focus on censorship in a supposedly progressive age. It shows what it's like to live in a fascist regime, the nature of which is beginning to feel oddly familiar to me.
Pradumn Rakesh Chourey, curator and community lead
A Jnanpith Award winner and one of the pioneers of the Nayi Kahani movement in Hindi literature, Nirmal Verma has been my favourite, not just for his deeply human writing, but also because his books lead one to other authors like Kafka, Camus, Rilke, Coetzee, Agyeya, Dostoevsky, Isak Dinesen, Pushkin, Virginia Woolf. He opens up the vast canvas of world literature for you. I recently finished reading his collection of essays and lectures, which answers so many questions that young aspiring writers often face.
Hiba Shaikh, bookseller
Olga Tokarczuk's novel feels significantly relevant in today's political climate, where questions of power, justice and dissent are constantly debated upon. It exposes how institutions fail the common man while giving people of influence privilege. This work is a reminder to question authority, challenge accepted narratives and listen to the voices often ignored.
Turiya Uma Kalyan, economics student
As a rising sophomore at Stanford, it is a strange experience reading an unflinching account of the world I'm living in. Theo Baker, who broke the story that led to the university president's resignation as a freshman reporter, uses that investigation as a way into something bigger; he writes about the culture of ambition, money, and Silicon Valley's pipeline that runs straight through campus. It's a memoir, exposé, and campus ethnography in one. Funny and unsettling, it makes me homesick for my school. I'm only half-way through, but it's already making me look at my own university differently.
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