I wish I had the talent Manjit Thapp has to create art that captures complex emotions with such simple yet beautiful illustrations.
You’ve probably seen this book everywhere but my favorite part is the mention of Harvest Moon. I spent many hours (probably thousands) as a kid playing Harvest Moon on my gameboy.
Some good paragraphs here and there.
Conversations on love… and friendship and loss and being alone.
Gripping novel with complex characters but Pachinko is better.
This book is told through museum wall labels which, as an artist, I found interesting and the execution clever.
Not gonna lie, this was a difficult read but I persevered and found out that Dickens was the genius behind: “Is it better to have had a good thing and lost it, or never have had it?”
I never pick up dystopian stories but I picked up this 1995 novel by French author, Jacqueline Harpman, after reading the introduction by Sophie Mackintosh, I was invested and couldn’t wait to read this book.
I came across a post stating Love, Rosie + Normal People = Talking at Night. As a teenager, Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahren was a favorite, so this was enough to get me to pick this up.
This novel gives words to many of my experiences and thoughts as an international student during freshman year.
Tiktok influenced me to read this book. I am only human.
Read it on Osama’s recommendation and it features an evil chachi.
I went into this book without knowing what it was about and wasn’t ready for the emotions.
Hello Stranger is a story of a portrait artist getting face blindness and the plot had me captivated all throughout 320 pages!
Didn’t think I’d like a time travel book but this was well done. Based on a father-daughter relationship and questions what we consider a successful life.
This book made me happy, sad, and laugh out loud which is why it is my favorite of 2023!
Read all three books of this trilogy this year. The first had a lot of world building, the last was a little disappointing but the middle one was my favorite.
The plot twist in this book was such that I had a lump in my throat with emotions.
I didn’t read this book for the longest time because I didn’t like the US or UK cover, but eventually did pick it up after Osama recommended it. Great book about female struggles and ambitions, and powerful characters and dialogue. Lesson: don’t judge a book by its cover.
Great writing around topics of home and parents.
Safia Elhillo poetry + Hassan Hajjaj cover = 🔥
This book takes place alongside Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, imagining the belowstairs. I thought it was an interesting take on the lives of the servants as they move about the Bennet family.
A powerful and brave memoir.
Story about four friends graduating college, moving into adult life and navigating through their twenties and thirties. Each year is told from one of the character’s pov over fifteen years.
Do I pick up books because the protagonist has the same name as me? Yes.
This is my third Uzma Jalaluddin book, however this one is co-authored by Marissa Stapley. Both authors bring their unique perspective on female friendship in the alternating chapters for the two protagonists.
Designed by Maryam
When Maryam read the first draft of my novel in December 2022, she told me that the novel felt disjointed. She liked the Karachi sections of my novel but found the New York ones lacking. She told me she had felt similarly when reading Shamsie’s Best of Friends, like this review, and asked me to read it. I also loved the Karachi half of Shamsie’s novel, and felt disappointed by the London half, and started revising my draft.
In my past trips to Karachi, I have come home with many books, aspiring to catch up on my reading list, and have gone back with all of them unread. This time I wanted to keep just one book. I ended up picking one in which the author is also visiting his hometown and journals daily— a practice that I’ve always aspired to keep but have never had the discipline to do so.
Designed by Maryam