In this episode, Shruti and Neha travel to Mumbai in Rohinton Mistry's Booker shortlisted novel Such a Long Journey, through themes of forgiveness, miracles, and misfortunes. We discuss the novel's loveable and sometimes frustrating characters, the symbolism of animals, and the looming specter of death in daily life.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

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Neha and Shruti discuss the speculative novel The City We Became, a story about New York City's five avatars who must band together to defend the city from a looming enemy. We discuss our thoughts on the book's premise and structure, get into H.P Lovecraft's legacy of horror and racism, and more!

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery:

The Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

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This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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In this episode, Neha and Shruti discuss Zadie Smith's debut novel, White Teeth. We talk about themes of religion, inheritance, class, history, and the need for control; we explore what those 'white teeth' in the title might mean; and finally we get into our issues with the book, and discuss the genre of Hysterical Realism.

Links:

Human, All Too Inhuman by James Wood

How White Teeth transcends its many flaws

Shelf Discovery:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

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Virginia Woolf's incredible novel Mrs. Dalloway turns 100 this year! Shruti and Neha talk about this book and its themes of perception, inadequacy, memory, illness, and death. They discuss the effect of the past on the characters, the book's imperialist and pro-colonialism project, and the disappearance of the narrator.

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery:

On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf

Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said

The Annotated Mrs. Dalloway edited by Merve Emre

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

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This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Neha and Shruti discuss Brooklyn, a historical novel about a young woman who immigrates from Ireland to America in the 1950s, through the themes of family and duty. We discuss the character of Eilis Lacey and her passivity, Tóibín's spare writing style, and the various forces pulling at the characters in this book. We also draw comparisons to Henry James, and share a few thoughts on the movie adaption.

Links:

The Coldest Place on Earth [London Review of Books]

Books Mentioned & Shelf Discovery

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Washington Square by Henry James

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Another Country by James Baldwin

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

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In this episode we discuss Bangkok Wakes to Rain, a novel of interconnected stories set in Krung Thep (Bangkok) over several decades. We discuss how the idea of time is explored through the story, and how each character encounters displacement in their own way. We then get into a conversation about aging, beauty trends, and the afterlife, before our final Filter the Chai and Shelf Discovery segments.

Sea of Tranquility: wilderness and loneliness - Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Shelf Discovery:

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Human Acts by Han Kang

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

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Welcome to a new season! Today we’re talking all about cities in literature – what cities represent, what ‘setting as character’ really means, and books we’ve read that really capture the magic of cities. We then share the seven books we’ll be reading this season, along with context and background, and the themes and elements we’ll be paying attention to as we read.

Books Mentioned:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

The City We Became by NK Jemison

Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

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In this episode we zoom out and talk about all the books we covered over the past few months, discussing favorites and least favorites, as well as highlighting some themes that emerged, including strong settings and ‘the madwoman’ in literature. We then get into adaptation theory – some background on adaptations, and what we think makes a good adaptation (with a few tangents into the upcoming Harry Potter series and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia).

Links:

On the Art of Adaptation by Linda Hutcheon [Jstor]

Context in Film Adaptations [Jstor]

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This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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