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The monsoon is here and with it we have the perfect reason to curl up on the couch with a hot beverage and a fun snack and binge watch a series that will blow our minds. At least, that is what I’m doing. I find it immensely satisfying to watch something at the end of the day. It just gives you something to look forward to and you also have a story in your head for times when you need a distraction.

Available on Amazon Prime, the series I’m recommending today are all worth your time. I guarantee you will not be able to watch just a single episode and turn off the TV and go to bed. Mostly thrillers with one comedy thrown in the mix, the five series that I have listed here will have you glued to your seat.

Dupahiya

Featuring the fabulous actor Gajraj Rao widely known for his role in the Neena Gupta starrer ‘Badhai Ho’, Dupahiya is a comedy and satire on the dowry system that is still prevalent in many places across India and Nepal. When the groom’s family asks for a fancy motorbike as dowry, the girl’s family scrambles to get one. But the bike gets stolen and this puts the villagers in a mad frenzy to find it, especially since the village has been crime free for 25 years and all set to be rewarded for it. The characters are well fleshed out and the plot is gripping and fun. It has both light moments as well as emotional scenes. It’s a great mix. You will enjoy this light-hearted series that raises an important issue.

Reacher

Based on Lee Child’s thriller novels, Reacher follows retired military officer Jack Reacher as he gets arrested for a murder he did not commit. He finds himself in the midst of a deadly conspiracy and also on a quest for revenge. The series has an eight out of ten rating on IMDb and is filled with suspense right from the start. Starring Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher, the series has three seasons with eight episodes each. The third season came out in 2025. The first season is based on the book ‘Killing Floor’ and premiered in 2022. Reacher is an intriguing character. He is smart and courageous and his dialogues and body language make him even more compelling. You will enjoy getting to know him but you will never be able to predict what he does next and that is where all the fun lies.

The Continental

This limited series has just three episodes but each episode is over an hour long so it’s almost like watching a movie. Spoiler alert: the stage is already set for a second season as the ending shows the possibility of the story becoming even more intense. The Continental is a chain of hotels around the world that is a neutral ground for members of the underworld. Starring Mel Gibson, this action-crime series follows Winston Scott, played by Colin Woodell, as he puts together a team to take over the infamous hotel after his brother is killed in a conspiracy. There’s a lot of drama, action, witty dialogues, and stunning cinematography in this series that can get a bit too violent at times. There is an old world charm to The Continental that makes it different from the rest of the series on this list. 

Suzhal: The Vortex

This is a Tamil series that has two seasons. My issue with series that are dubbed in Hindi or English from another language is that the dialogues feel a little out of sync. I recently watched a Tamil series dubbed in Hindi that had a really good plot but the dialogues of the main character infuriated me, so much so that I couldn’t stand watching the actor on screen. I was skeptical about Suzhal: The Vortex as well since it’s also a Tamil series dubbed in Hindi but it had an 8.1 rating on IMDb and as my friends like to say I’m an IMDb snob. If there’s something that is highly rated on it, I have to watch it. I’m glad I decided to watch the series as it’s engaging and tense. Set against the backdrop of a unique festival, the viewers are drawn into the eye of the storm where myths and faith rule over logic and humanity. The second season starts where the first left off but you don’t have to watch the first to watch the second. I watched both back to back and can’t decide which one I loved more. 

Alex Cross

Alex Cross is a crime, mystery, thriller series written by bestselling author James Patterson. The protagonist is Alex Cross, an African-American police officer who is also a single father. In the Amazon Prime series, Cross, along with his partner, comes across a sadistic serial killer who is targeting people who look like serial killers. Cross is also dealing with his own demons and trying to find his wife’s killer while rushing against time to save the serial killer’s latest victim who he believes is still alive. If you have read Patterson’s books or read thrillers regularly, the plot might be a little predictable but it’s still gripping and fun while it lasts. The characters are relatable, each battling their personal problems and biases. There’s a lot of family dynamics at play too and that makes for a nice little side story. All in all, Alex Cross is a series you might want to binge watch this weekend when you don’t want to do much else.

It must be the weather because I don’t really understand what else could be the reason behind my inability to read these days. I just can’t seem to concentrate. This generally does not happen to me and I’ve noticed that when it does, it’s usually when my body can’t adjust to the changing climate. I’m uncomfortable and unable to focus.

But I also can’t not be reading. It’s something that grounds me and without a book to keep me company, I feel lost and I’m more likely to be irritated. So when I occasionally hit a reading slump, I find myself gravitating towards certain kinds of books. These are usually light visual reads, or books that I have loved in the past. Picking these up fills me with a sense of nostalgia and takes my mind off things. Here are three of my favorite things to pick up when I’m unable to read long works of fiction.

Archie comics

I was a voracious reader of the Archie comics series when I was in school. Ekta Bookstore used to stock them, and I found myself picking up a new one every time I went there with my parents to buy school books and stationeries. I still have all of them (easily over a hundred volumes), though they are battered and bruised with age. It’s a goofy series about a bunch of American teenagers and their high school antics. The characters are varied and you are bound to have a favorite. I pick up a random comic whenever I find myself unable to read and I’m transported to a delightful world of easy friendships and heartwarming connections.

Spy X Family 

This manga series about a fake family that includes a spy, an assassin, and a telepath is outrageous and fun. There are 15 volumes in the series and I guarantee you will be binge reading them once you start. The storytelling and illustrations by Tatsuya Endo follows Loid Forger who has to build a fake family for a mission he has been given. But the daughter he adopts turns out to be a telepath and he has no idea that the meek woman he has chosen for his wife is actually an assassin. There’s an anime television adaptation of the series as well. I recommend reading the books and watching the series simultaneously as it makes for a really wholesome experience.

Aesop’s fables

These are a collection of short stories that teach moral lessons. The children’s stories come in slim illustrated volumes and feature animals as narrators. Most of us have heard the stories of the hare and the tortoise and the fox and the grapes. The Greek storyteller Aesop tells many other such stories that impart wisdom and teach you the value of kindness, patience, love, and faith among others. You can find most of these stories online and they make great short reads. I would highly recommend these stories when you are in need of some guidance in life.

‘Norwegian Wood’ is the book that made Haruki Murakami a household name in Japan (as well as the rest of the world after it was translated into English in 2000). It’s a book everyone in Japan has read according to Jay Ruben, the book’s translator.  And that says a lot about the book’s popularity considering Murakami has written several novels, short story collections, as well as memoirs.

Murakami’s readers shot to millions after the publication of Norwegian Wood but it apparently depressed the author. He could deal with fame but the sudden stardom was too much for him so he moved to the United States in 1991. It was only in 1995 that he returned to Japan but he had his terms and conditions: He would not appear on television to talk about his work.

One would wonder what a masterpiece Murakami must have written to have a whole nation going crazy over him. Norwegian Wood was different from everything he had written till then. He had never written a straight, simple story. It was a challenge for him. But he enjoyed writing it and it was perhaps that joy of telling a story that lent his writing a whole other dimension. It was also perhaps what made readers connect with his work.

Norwegian Wood is essentially a story about love, loss, and longing. And we all can relate to these emotions pretty well. It’s written in first person narrative style. The main character is Toru Watanabe and he reminisces about his college days in Tokyo when he was in love with a girl. The book explores his relationship with two women, Naoko and Midori Kobayashi. Each of the three characters experience loss and grief and have his/her own ways of dealing with it. You could also call it a coming of age story of a sensitive young man who doesn’t fit into the conventional norms of society.

I had read Norwegian Wood when I was in college. I remember enjoying it but it didn’t get me hooked on Murakami as it did for some of my other reader friends. I had a few friends who read Murakami back to back because they were so bowled over by Norwegian Wood. I didn’t pick up Murakami’s other works until much later. But reading his other works made me want to reread Norwegian Wood. Most of his stories are bizarre and you need time to wrap your head about them. So I can understand the appeal of a simple story like Norwegian Wood, where things feel relatable but there’s still the Murakami style intrigue that you have come to expect and love.

Rereading Norwegian Wood as an adult felt surreal. I got the feeling of ‘been there done that’ that brought lost memories to mind and forced me to ponder over some of the things I had done. I feel it’s a good book to pick up in your late teens or early 20s, when you are trying to make sense of the world and where you fit in it. But if you haven’t read Murakami and you aren’t in your teens or early 20s, don’t let that stop you from reading the book. It’s not a fun story. It’s intense, complicated, and sad too. But it’s a good story that is well worth your time. 

Fiction

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

Translated in English by Jay Ruben

Published: 1987

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

Pages: 389, Paper

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, ‘Brotherless Night’ by V.V. Ganeshananthan is a beautiful and heartbreaking account of a family torn apart by the civil war in Sri Lanka, fought between the Sinhalese-dominated state and Tamil separatist groups. As someone who grew up during the civil war in Nepal, I could relate to the story and it helped me sort out the many emotions of the time that I still find myself struggling with. I must confess that the subject got a tad bit heavy at times and I had to put the book down. But I loved it and I have been recommending it to all my friends and colleagues. 

The story is narrated from the perspective of 16-year-old Sashi Kulenthiren who wants to become a doctor. Over the course of the decade as civil war rages through her hometown of Jaffna, she finds herself struggling to survive and her dreams take on a different course. Her brothers and her best friend get caught up in various political ideologies and their lives too turn out differently than anyone had imagined. 

After Sashi’s eldest sibling is killed in anti-Tamil riots, Sashi begins to question everything she has learnt and believed in over the years. Soon, as more of her siblings join the movement, she too finds herself in the heart of it. Her friendship with K, a high-ranking militant, offers her a chance to become a medic at a field hospital and this leads her to keep secrets from her family. However, her motivation behind taking up the position is simply that she wants to do good and help people, despite their political inclinations. But when the militants turn on civilians and other helpless members of the society, she starts wondering about her role in the war. Years later, she tries to document all the human rights violations committed by various parties during the war. 

Sashi is a passionate and intelligent narrator. She always finds a way to protect the ones she loves but she is also torn between her love for her brothers and best friend and her sense of what is right. The book shines light on a woman’s perspective on war and how they often have to sift through complicated emotions in order to make sense of and survive in a difficult world. The other characters are also well crafted and feel like people you know or have met. The brilliant characterization and plot make the story come alive. I felt it could be adapted into a really good movie. 

Brotherless Night is a historical fiction based on real events. But it feels raw and real, especially if you have seen war up close or seen people suffer its consequences. It’s brilliantly researched and written and thus compelling. It has been a while since I read the book but it has left a lasting impression on me. It has also definitely made me want to read more of the authors’ works. Brotherless Night is Ganenhananthan’s second book. Her first book ‘Love Marriage’ is also set in Sri Lanka and was longlisted for the Orange Prize.

Fiction

Brotherless Night

VV Ganeshananthan

Published: 2023

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

Pages: 348, Paperback

I have a problem picking up big books. It’s not that they feel intimidating but I can’t carry them around and I like having books I’m reading with me wherever I go. That way, I can read a few pages at work, during breaks, or when I’m commuting. But there have been many novels that are over 500 pages or so that I’ve really wanted to read. At times like those, what I’ve done is picked up a slim volume along with the heavier one. I’ll carry the lighter book to work and read the bigger one at home. This is how I have managed to finish books ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien and ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell’ by Susanna Clark, both of which are over a 1000 pages long. 

The beauty of long novels is that you get to stay in a particular world for longer and there is often great character development in the story as well. You get to know the characters properly and really start to care about them. Over the years, there are many long stories that I’ve enjoyed, including the two I’ve already mentioned. I look at their spines on my bookshelf and often find myself picking them up to read the passages I’ve marked, with highlighters, post-its, and even little scraps of papers. This week, I’m recommending three books that I find myself thinking about every now and then because of their sheer brilliance, hoping they bring you joy, comfort, and perspective. 

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

I read ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Geetanjali Shree a few years ago after it had won the International Booker Prize in 2022. This book was originally written in Hindi in 2018 and translated into English. I started the book a few days before I was supposed to go on a vacation and instantly regretted it because I knew I couldn’t take it along. I usually prefer short stories or poems when traveling. I must have read about a 100 pages before I left and was completely captivated by the writing and the story. About an 80-year-old woman’s search for herself, after the death of her husband, Tomb of Sand pieces together her story through the eyes of her two children. It’s a story about family dynamics and aging that will make you think about life and how you can make the most of it. 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 

I’m generally hesitant to read books that make it to Oprah’s Book Club as I think they mostly deal with rural American life and they are usually stories I don’t find to be very relatable. But I picked up ‘The Covenant of Water’ as a friend who is a voracious reader wrote a wonderful review about it on her blog and I was intrigued. I must confess that reading her review made me want to read the book and I bought the 700 odd pages paperback immediately. Set in Kerala, South India, The Covenant of water follows a 12-year-old girl at the turn of the 20th century from the time she weds a 40-year-old to becoming a matriarch of the family known as Big Ammachi. It’s full of tender moments, heartbreak, love, and loss. Oprah calls it one of the best books she’s read in her entire life.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Published in 1993 and over 1300 pages long, ‘A Suitable Boy’ is one of the longest books in English published in one volume. A mother-like figure who I loved and lost to cancer in 2009 recommended this book to me in the early 2000s. It was her favorite novel. She couldn’t stop gushing about it. She told me to read 50 pages every day and I’d be done in a month, she said. She even bought me a copy of the book. I never read it then. But when I lost her, I found myself trying different things to feel close to her and reading her favorite book seemed like a good idea. It took me almost six months to get through A Suitable Boy as I could only read a few pages every day but I loved everything about it. The plot is undoubtedly slow-paced as it follows four families in post-partition India as Mrs Rupa Mehra tries to find ‘a suitable boy’ for her 19-year-old daughter, Lata. Reading the book is like watching a drama unfold before your eyes. 

You can never have too many cookbooks but you also only need one or two to become a pro in the kitchen with an arsenal of recipes up your sleeves. Over the past few years, I’ve amassed quite a few cookbooks as I’ve developed a sort of fascination with learning different cooking tricks and tips. I find cookbooks extremely helpful on that front. Every cookbook author has his/her own unique ways in the kitchen and it’s fun to pick up unconventional ways of doing things.

I recently got my hands on a copy of ‘The Great Indian Thali’ by Nandita Iyer who is a doctor, nutritional expert, wellbeing advocate, and columnist. In the past 15 years, she has written three books on health, nutrition, and food. She is also the founder of the popular blog ‘Saffron Trail’ that has many healthy, vegetarian recipes. I had wanted to buy this book when I was in Delhi, India, some time ago but I had already bought way too many books so I had simply put it back on the shelf. Despite being enthralled by the pictures in the book, I thought the thali was something Nepalis didn’t need help with and I wouldn’t be missing out. But now I know how wrong I was.

Though the book, at the beginning, teaches you to make steamed rice, dal, khichdi, green chutney and the likes (recipes you’d roll your eyes at), it also has recipes of many other dishes that you’ve only enjoyed at restaurants or when traveling and never thought of making yourself. You’ll learn to make a variety of dosas, pickles, sweets, and snacks. The recipes are also categorized according to the season so you know which dish is most suited for which weather. I’d never come across a cookbook that has done this before. It shows how Iyer views food: as something that can work as medicine when taken in the right form and time.

One thing I like about cookbooks is their ability to double as decor or a coffee table book. The Great Indian Thali is no different. This beautifully illustrated and bound hardcover book is a visual delight. With colorful pages separating each section and full page photographs of food, the book is a fun one to just flip through when you are in need of some kitchen inspiration. There are great, heartwarming recipes of snacks, soups, and desserts that you can quickly whip up in minutes. The ingredients are clearly listed out and the instructions are easy to follow. There are many handy tips as well that will make you a pro in the kitchen. All in all, The Great Indian Thali, which feels like a culinary tour of India, is a must have if you are looking to eat healthy and want to learn how to make some delicious vegetarian food at home. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123509645-the-great-indian-thali 

The Great Indian Thali

Nandita Iyer

Illustrations: Abhilasha Dewan, Anita Verma

Published: 2022

Publisher: Roli Books

Pages: 191, Hardcover

I must confess that I’m generally not a fan of dystopian novels. They make me uncomfortable and jittery. Readers generally live in the worlds they are reading about and a dystopian world is not usually one I want to inhabit. But I have also not shied away from the genre completely since people keep recommending their favorites to me. Over time, I must have read over a dozen of these books including the popular Animal Farm by George Orwell and Brave New World By Aldous Huxley. While I’ve not enjoyed most of them, there have been some that I couldn’t get out of my head. I have even reread several of those and this week I thought I’d recommend three of my favorites. 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors and so there was no chance I wouldn’t read anything she wrote, though I was initially skeptical about The Handmaid’s Tale. But I read it and was completely captivated by the unusual story. Published in 1985, the story is about a heavily structured totalitarian society of Gilead which is based on extreme ideas of Christianity. The society is however plagued with infertility and the founders of the Gilead come up with a solution: A few privileged men are made commanders and their wives run the household. Each couple is given a handmaid—a fertile woman forced to become the surrogate mother. After the handmaid delivers a child, she is passed on to a new commander. It’s a horrifying idea but Atwood executes it with perfection and manages to evoke empathy and make us really care about the characters, even the flawed ones. There is a 2017 television series by the same name starring Elizabeth Moss that you could watch after reading the book. 

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Revenge, a collection of short stories, by Yoko Ogawa is one book that I’m always recommending to people, especially those who love horror and gore. The Memory Police was shortlisted by the 2020 Booker Prize. It tells a daunting dystopian tale about an island that is controlled by the memory police. They are in charge of what people remember and what they forget. They are also responsible for the things—including plants and beings—that keep disappearing on the island. But there are some people who don’t forget. The Memory Police paints a picture of a frightening society where people’s minds are controlled by external forces. It’s kind of reminiscent of 1984 by George Orwell. The story is more plot than character driven despite there being parts where things move quite slowly. But all in all, there’s a dark atmosphere to the setting that doesn’t let you put the book down. 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road is perhaps my favorite dystopian novel of all time. I have reread it countless times and every time I shudder and feel really scared. The first time I read it, I drew the curtains tight at night and actually slept with a small light on. I will never forget that feeling. It’s brilliantly written and evokes such strong emotions. In this stunning post-apocalyptic novel published in 2006, a father and son make a difficult journey to cross a landscape that has been destroyed by an unidentified cataclysmic event. Their destination is the coast but they don’t know if there is anything there. They only have a single pistol to defend themselves and a cart of food that they have to ration along the way. The Road has many edge-of-the-seat moments. The setting is dark and dreary. It’s a terrifying book with many tender father-son moments that will make you want to hide under the covers as well as shed a tear or two. 

Binge reading is fun as it allows you to live in a particular world for much longer than regular fiction. Quite often, I’ve read books that I have loved and wanted to go on perhaps forever but they have, as all good books, come to an end and the stories have stayed on my mind long after. I have, at times, wished I could wipe my memory clean just so I could read a particular book again. This is why I love it when a book I enjoy has a second part or is a part of a longer series. I’m thrilled and usually can’t contain my excitement. This week, I’m recommending five series that I have loved over the years hoping they will bring you joy and thrill just when you need them the most. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is just the book you should settle down with on a rainy day. It takes you to another world that is mesmerizing and surreal. In a place called Panem is a rich city known as The Capitol. It’s surrounded by 12 districts and every year The Capitol hosts a live event that is aired on TV called The Hunger Games. One boy and one girl from each district compete in the deadly games and only can be the winner. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take the place of her 12-year-old sister Prim in the 74th Hunger Games. She fights for her life though she never believes she can come out of it alive. This young adult dystopian series started out as a trilogy and went on to include a prequel and a fifth installment. 

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is the story of the eldest Brown sister. There are two more books in the Brown sister series each of which is hilarious, unique, and heartwarming. The sisters are totally different from one another, as most sisters are, and their lives thus take different, interesting paths. The first book which is tour-de-force romance tackling issues such as insecurity, body-image, and chronic pain is such a delight that you will want to quickly devour the second and the third—Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. The books are well written and the steamy scenes aren’t cringe as in most romance books. You don’t have to read the book in order and all three sisters make frequent appearances in one another’s stories so you will really get to know them in depth.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe is intriguing. It’s part creepy, part fascinating. I don’t usually read sci-fi but I made an exception for Scythe as all the BookTubers I follow were raving about it back when it was published in 2016. It was even compared to The Hunger Games. Though there are parallels between them, they are distinctly unique with Scythe feeling more like a distant possibility than The Hunger Games. The human race has conquered death but the population is controlled by a group of elites known as the Scythes who glean people based on different factors. Since nobody dies of old age or accidents, only Scythes have control over who dies. All of it, however, is AI controlled. We only know of it as the Thunderhead in the first book but we definitely get to the interesting details later on. Scythe is a dystopian novel that plays with an ethical question: Does anyone have the right to decide who lives and who does not? 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

There are elements of history, fantasy, and magic in this series that was first published in 2012 and since then has gone on to be adapted for television as well. Leigh Bardugo is known for the Six of Crows series and Shadow and Bone is relatively not as popular but I hugely enjoyed the book because of the simple story and writing. You don’t have to invest a lot of time or mental energy in the series. It’s a good book to pick up when you want to take your mind off things but don’t want to be all wrapped up in a fictional world either. The story takes place in a war-torn Ravka that is split in half by the Shadow Fold, a gaping, dark space that is impossible to cross without risking death, aka being ripped apart by the terrifying volcra. But two orphaned childhood friends make their way across and are thrust into a world they don’t recognize where nothing is as it seems. 

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

There are books that you hear so much about that it puts you off reading them. An Ember in the Ashes was one of those books for me. Everyone I knew was talking about the series. I had read other works by Sabaa Tahir and had really enjoyed them but I put off reading An Ember in the Ashes because everyone kept telling me I’d love it. Then one day, many years later, when people around me were no longer talking about it, I picked it up and was instantly mesmerized. The world in the book is inspired by Ancient Rome. Here, those who aren’t loyal to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones. Laia lives with her grandmother and an older brother. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia makes a bargain—to work for the Empire as a spy. She meets Elias, one of the Empire’s finest soldiers but also an unwilling one. He wants to free himself and everyone else of the tyranny he is being trained to enforce. It’s an interesting plot, made even more fascinating by Tahir’s taut writing.