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2024 is a year of rereads. Four months into the year and I’ve reread more books than I have read new releases. There’s something comforting about escaping into a familiar world, one which you know will not disappoint you. ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman is a book that never lets you down. There are various versions of the book and the one I picked up this time is a recently published edition that has an extra short story on one of the characters in the book. I just love it when an author decides to give you more background on a story you love.

Neverwhere tells the story of Richard Mayhew who lives in London. He doesn’t have the most fascinating life but he’s doing okay. Then, one day, on his way to meet his high-flying, overly ambitious girlfriend’s boss, he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on the street. This act of kindness turns his world upside down—and quite literally so.

He lands up in London Below where there are angels and murderers. It looks and seems like London but there’s something dark and sinister about it. There are beasts and Earls who hold court in a tube train. And Richard finds himself thrust in the heart of danger. There are two thugs who want to kill him. He must find a way to escape this place and make it back home before it’s too late. But how does he do that when he doesn’t have anyone to help him? And the only girl who might be able to fix his life seems to be on a mission to avenge her family’s murder, that too without a clue about who murdered her family in the first place.

The setup is flawless. The execution is great. You will not be bored for a second. The world of London Below that Gaiman creates in Neverwhere is magical. It transforms a real city into an entirely new world. You meet rats that can talk, and people-lookalike who eat frogs and bite off human heads. It’s a dangerous world but one that is full of possibilities. Anything can happen in London Below and your life would forever be altered in London Above. Reading Neverwhere feels a little like sitting on a rollercoaster without any safety guard.

Neverwhere was actually written for television but the book is much better. In the introduction to the text, Gaiman says the Neverwhere on screen wasn’t the one he had in his head. Every scene or line that was cut eventually found its way into the book so there’s a lot more here than on the tv adaptation. It’s the full experience. And trust me on this one, the book gets better with each reread as there’s just so much to unpack in the story.

2024, until now, has been a strange year, especially where my reading life is concerned. To say I haven’t had much luck with books would be an understatement. I have been giving up on books far more than completing them. Every book seems to hold a lot of promise but my attention falters midway and I find myself unable to keep up with the story. That is perhaps the reason why I’m gravitating towards books I’ve read and loved in the past.

There is a shelf in my study that is dedicated to books that I hold dear, titles that I’m unwilling to lend because I know I’ll be devastated if I don’t get them back or if they are returned in a bad condition. These books are guaranteed to make me happy, even when there’s a lot going on at home and work. I’ll forget my worries, albeit temporarily, and be transported into a world filled with fun, cheer, and hope. Though there are over two dozen books in that particular shelf, here I’m recommending eight favorites, hoping they will bring you comfort and joy when you need it the most.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

I read this one as a child and have reread it several times over the years. It’s a lovely book about hope and the power of books. Matilda is a special child, with special powers. But her parents and brother aren’t nice to her. So, she finds solace in books. Sadly, school, with a horrendous headteacher, isn’t very different from home. She is treated badly at both places. But Miss Jenny, her homeroom teacher, comes to her rescue and together they try to change each other’s fate.

‘Matilda’ is laugh-out-loud funny. It has me giggling every time I read it. The protagonist is a fearless character who will make you believe that anything is possible if you put your heart and soul in it. The movie adaptation, available on Netflix, is equally great and does justice to a great story. There’s also a wonderful musical that was released recently that is quite good.

The House on the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

Linus Baker is a case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. He’s given a curious and highly classified assignment—to travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside. There’s a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must put aside his fears and determine whether they’re likely to bring about the end of days. It’s here that he meets the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus. He’s the caretaker of the orphanage and will do anything to keep it safe.

‘The House on the Cerulean Sea’ is an enchanting story about a found family and the power of love. It’s also a celebration of queer relationships that has you cheering for the main characters. I loved every word Klune has written. It’s absolutely mesmerizing.

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed is the author of the bestselling book ‘Wild’ that was an Oprah Winfrey book club pick and adapted into a movie by Reese Witherspoon. Before the furor, Strayed was an agony aunt, answering random questions in her column ‘Dear Sugar’ on a website. The column is now discontinued but all published segments have been compiled into a book. ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ is a collection of questions by readers and answers by Strayed that is filled with wit and wisdom. To a woman whose husband cheated on her, Strayed says, “A terrible thing happened to you but you mustn’t let your life be defined by it.” The book is filled with nuggets like these that will force you to dust yourself off and begin anew. Every page has something to offer. It’s a lovely book. Strayed’s words will fill you with hope and leave you inspired.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

I love reading books about books and ‘The Little Paris Bookshop’ by Nina George is one of my all-time favorites. The story follows Monsieur Jean Perdu who owns the ‘Literary Apothecary’, a book barge on the Seine in Paris. He prescribes books to his customers depending on their needs. It’s almost as if he’s looking into their souls and choosing books that will make them feel better. But he is unable to mend his own broken heart after his true love left him. At the start of the book, we see Perdu living a mundane half-life, not daring to open himself up to the world. However, hope arrives in the form of Catherine who forces him to confront his past, and more importantly love again. The novel takes you into a world of books and love that’s hard to escape. Better yet, it’s a great story that takes your mind off things.  

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Here’s another great book on the power of books. I’d recommend ‘The Reading List’ to anyone who wants to read a heartwarming tale of how books can change your life. The story is partly inspired by the author’s grandfather, who found a connection with his granddaughter through books. Set in Wembley in London, The Reading List is the story of two individuals—80-year-old Mukesh Patel, a widower, and 17-year-old Aleisha, who works part-time at the local library. The book is peppered with references to other books. I’ve read some of them and the rest are on my reading list. Mukesh and Aleisha remind us of the fact that as humans we crave connection and that it can provide some much-need comfort in the worst of times.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

‘The Night Circus’ is such a vibe. Morgenstern’s writing makes the story unravel before your eyes. I read The Night Circus a few years after it came out and was bummed that I hadn’t read it sooner. All the hype surrounding it had initially put me off but after having read it, I realized the hype was justified. The story, about a traveling circus, follows Celia and Marco, both powerful magicians, who are in competition with each other. But they fall in love and things take a different turn.

The story is told in alternating timelines and there’s a non-linear structure to it. With any other writer, this could have made things messy but Morgenstern wields her magic and makes a fairytale come alive. The setting is beautiful and changes throughout the book, keeping you hooked. You will enjoy getting to know the characters. The book will take up so much mental space that you won’t have any for anything else, which is a great thing when you are feeling bogged down.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is Gail Honeyman’s debut novel. It was published in 2017 and won the Costa Debut Novel Award that year. The story is about Eleanor Oliphant, a social misfit with a traumatic past. She becomes enamored with a singer and lives her life believing she is destined to be with him. Everything she does is guided by that strong belief. The premise might sound bleak but it isn’t so at all. It’s a heart-wrenching tragedy with some funny moments that will have you contemplating on the fragility of life.

It’s a book about emotional recovery that fills you with hope. Eleanor is an oddball but you start to care about her. Honeyman reveals things about Eleanor little by little, a trick that lends the story an element of mystery and keeps readers hooked as well.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’, Casey McQuiston’s debut novel, follows a rivalry-turned-romance trope between the Prince of Wales and the First Son of the United States. As far as queer stories go, this is a really honest and fun story. It’s an exploration of sexuality like no other. The writing is honest and optimistic. There’s a lot of humor and some really wonderful moments as well. The characters are endearing. There is a lot of discussion about the characters’ aspirations, their concerns for their countries as well as all that they want to do to help the LGBTIQA+ community.

Red, White & Royal Blue is essentially a love story but it’s also a celebration of identity. If you haven’t read a queer love story, this could be a good place to start. The make-believe world is as real as it can be. I must admit that the story has a slow start but you won’t want to put it down once it picks up.

More than a decade ago, it would be news when coffins arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport on the cargo hold of airliners, bearing migrant workers who had died in the Gulf or Malaysia. The plywood boxes would be carried by grieving relatives to Aryaghat, the bodies in plastic sheeting unwrapped for cremation.

The numbers escalated from the occasional coffin to two, three, then several a day. As the far-flung regions also started sending out migrants, the returning bodies had to be taken for cremation or burial to the home villages. Even as the returning dead stopped making news, a transport industry sprang to provide delivery service from TIA.

The Red Suitcase is a film of short dialogues and long silences, tracing the journey of one driver (Saugat Malla) on his Bolero pick-up as he picks up a body and carries it along the Sindhuli Highway and scenic backroads to deliver it to the village of Beyul.

Among the many fascinating elements in the film is the choice of name for the hamlet. In the Himalayan Buddhist belief system, ‘beyul’ is a valley of refuge for those escaping sectarian strife, political subjugation or failed crops. Here Beyul is an idyll of a bhitri madhes village, and the Bolero breaks the peace as it arrives, spewing diesel and churning up the gravel, arriving at the house kept by a young mother (Shristi Shrestha) and her newborn infant.

Along the way, Saugat’s character meets a disabled veteran of the Indian Gorkha battalion (Bipin Karki), who served and was wounded in Kashmir. A bitter man, he lives alone in a roadside hut in whose driveway the pick-up parks for the night. We learn that the driver fled his village after his beloved school-teacher was murdered by insurgents. Seeking survival in the metropolis, he ends up as the chauffeur of last journeys.

Between sips of raksi, the conversation between the demobilized soldier and the driver encapsulates the concerns of the times: a polity that forces its youth outward, a nation-state which sends its citizens to fight for another country, and a rural society devastated by internal conflict. But nothing is overplayed in writer-director Fidel Devkota’s expert script and cinematography.

Two spectral episodes bracket the story of the traveling coffin, one involving the wife and another the Bolero sarathi. These are best left for the reader to observe and reach an understanding at the cinema hall.

Whether you are carried away by the story of The Red Suitcase or not depends on your mental conditioning as regards the emptying villages of Nepal, including Beyul where only the women are left to tend the homesteads. The extended silences in darkness and half-shadows allow for reflection on the fate of the characters, and what happened to their resource-rich country.

In the screening this writer attended, a few in the audience were clearly uncomfortable with Devkota’s technique. At the half-time break, some giggled self-consciously and a man asked someone in the next row, ‘Ae bhatija, nidaeko ho?!’ But by the time the end credits came up, he had gone pensive as had others in the hall.

As an aside, perhaps The Red Suitcase can sensitize the Department of Civil  Aviation to provide a more dignified arrival for the migrant dead at TIA. While the earlier practice of the coffins emerging into the regular baggage collection area has ended, the Department must customize special pushcarts for transport to where the grieving families await. Till today, relatives have to lay the coffins sideways across two regular airport trolleys and awkwardly push them in tandem.

The Red Suitcase, meanwhile, does its bit to provide respect to the dead and living. At the village Beyul, the newborn’s name, Asha, holds out the possibility of a better tomorrow.

Let me start with a short disclaimer. I love short stories. I’m a sucker for stories that are a few pages long, especially when there’s a lot of work and I can’t seem to concentrate on longer works of fiction. Short stories also help me get out of the inevitable reading slump. Here, I must admit that I’m not very happy with how much I’ve read this year. Apart from a few rereads and some odd slim novels here and there, I haven’t enjoyed many of the books I’ve picked up.

A short story collection is always a safe bet. I don’t have to invest much time and mental energy into getting to know a character. And since a story takes an hour or two at the most to finish, I feel like I’ve at least accomplished my reading goal for the day. I’ve mostly gravitated toward horror stories like Bora Chung’s ‘Cursed Bunny’ and Carmen Marie Machado’s ‘Her Body and Other Parties’ which is why Cho Nam Joo’s ‘Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories’ was such a refreshing read.

Cho is the author of the best-selling novel ‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982’ which sparked a debate on feminism in South Korea while catapulting the writer to global fame when the book was longlisted for the United States National Book Award. Cho is known for highlighting gender inequality and misogyny in South Korea. Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories is a collection of eight stories about women from all walks of life. They are stories of life in South Korea from a female perspective. But the themes—loneliness, domestic violence, dysfunctional families, aging etc.—are universal.

What I liked about the book is that the stories aren’t dramatic but they leave you with some important messages—they might be things you already know and experience but you might have seldom paid attention to them. Women often make room for misogyny by not speaking up and letting things slide, and Cho draws our attention to that. She writes about the invisible labor women put in at home, work, and society at large, celebrating all the ‘little things’ they do to keep the ball rolling. In one of the stories, a neglected worker quits and the entire office starts to malfunction. In most of the stories, women are often repressed and maybe even unaware of what they want.

Some stories were a let-down. They felt a bit too cliché, like ‘Dear Hyunnam Oppa’ where a woman writes a letter to her boyfriend of 10 years, who has just proposed to her, listing out all the reasons why she doesn’t want to marry him. It felt too generic and forced. In ‘Puppy Love’, which explores love during Covid-19, the narrative ends abruptly, leaving you feeling unsettled. But that could have easily just been me and not a problem with the stories. Perhaps, I couldn’t relate to them. Maybe you will. With Cho, you never know, as her writing has the potential to tap into long-dormant emotions.

Short stories

Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories

Cho Nam-Joo

Translated by Jamie Chang

Published: 2023

Publisher: Scribner

Pages: 218, Paperback