The Chaptr

What’s better than a book subscription box? A book-themed subscription box. A book-themed subscription box is like a regular book box that periodically delivers a book to you, but it comes with other curated lifestyle products that will enhance your reading experience of the book. Some book-themed subscription boxes send you items based on the theme of the book and in some cases, they even correspond to some pages in the book.

This sounds interesting, doesn’t it? I remember the time when there was a lockdown imposed in many countries around the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Like most people, I wasn’t in the best of my spirits. Being confined in the walls of your home for months can take a toll on you mentally. It was then when I learned about this book-themed subscription box from a friend of mine. I signed up for it and subsequently, a book box arrived at my doorstep. Inside the box was the book Underland by Robert Macfarlane. It’s a great read where the author takes the reader on an exploration journey of the Earth’s underworlds and their existence in myth, memory, and literature. Along with the book, the box contained three more things. First was a rainwater scented candle, which recreates the smell of the first rain – petrichor. It was a perfect companion to the book as it enthralled my senses to be traveling through vast stretches of Earth in the book while my room smelled like rain and nature. The box also had a hand-painted mug with a sketch of a beautiful sea which I used to have coffee in while reading the book. The third thing was a gorgeous hand-sewn book sleeve, which is a very useful accessory for avid readers like myself.

This was the perfect book for me during the lockdown as it took me across the planet at a time when leaving your apartment wasn’t possible. Besides, the goodies that came with the book made it a truly special experience. It lifted my mood and filled me with such excitement that I can’t depict in words.

Book-themed subscription boxes come in various genres and categories. You can choose from a plethora of book boxes to suit your likes and interests. It is the perfect gift you can give yourself as a bibliophile. You can also give a book box subscription to your loved ones as a present. The element of surprise attached to a book box is what makes it a thrilling experience.

The old adage goes something like “Never judge a book by its cover.”  It’s sound advice for navigating social circles, but not so much for judging an actual book.  Think about it.  You are browsing your favorite bookstore or library, filled with hundreds (or thousands, or more) stories, each wrapped in their respective covers.  There has to be some way to narrow down the options to those that interest you. The cover is the author’s chance to separate their book from its brethren on the shelves.  A chance for the book to literally jump off the bookshelf and scream “Pick me. Choose me. Love me.”

The Old Adage Goes Something Like “Never Judge A Book By Its Cover.”  It’s Sound Advice For Navigating Social Circles, But Not So Much For Judging An Actual Book.

If the cover was of no consequence, books would largely be released without any cover art or design.  But, they’re not.  And that’s because we know that the cover is an opportunity to pique your curiosity.  If the cover is successful in this respect, then the author has a chance to further draw you in with the synopsis on the inside cover.  Still holding your interest? Great, now perhaps you do a quick online search to see what others have to say about the book. If the book has made it this far in the journey from the shelf to your hands, and the reviews are good, there is probably a good chance this one is coming home with you.  So, I stand solid in my assertion that a book most certainly can be judged (at least initially) by its cover.

But, I’m all for a lively exchange and open to seeing things from other perspectives, so I’ve endeavored to provide you with just some of the pros and cons of judging a book by its cover.

Pros

Book covers are like movie previews. They give you a visual taste of what you can expect once you open the pages. The cover image of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies gives you a vivid depiction of what is to be explored in the pages.  Some covers are a bit more nuanced.  Take a look at the cover of Tara Westover’s Educated; at first glance, it looks like a pencil, but a deeper look reveals a woman standing among mountains.  The image is a profound visual depiction that compliments the story.  

Book covers save time.  There are so many books and it constantly feels like there is just not enough time to read all the great books you want to try.  Each time you read one book on your wish list, it seems as if three others take its place.  Book covers allow you to quickly determine if the cover sparks any interest. If not, you can move on.

Book covers help mood readers.  There are some tropes that you are likely to see played out on book covers.  I know I’m painting a pretty broad stroke, but hear me out.  If you’re browsing for horror books, you’re probably more likely to gravitate towards the cover depicting a blood-stained knife than you are to the cover with the happy couple standing in front of a white picket fence.  (But, there are some sinister horror stories out there, so maybe not…) Similarly, if you’re in the mood for a light-hearted read, there is a good chance you are not going to pick up that 700-page book with a war battle depicted on the cover.  Paying homage to these tropes on book covers is useful in sorting through the sea of books to find just the ones you are in the mood for reading.

Cons

Quick judgments might just be wrong.  Trying to quickly judge whether a book is your cup of tea by glancing at the cover has its drawbacks.  There’s the potential that you miss out on some amazing stories because you judged a book too prematurely.  The cover art of N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season doesn’t say much about the story.  However, the book received rave reviews, even winning a Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Book covers can be deceiving.  A book cover may draw you in with compelling cover graphics, only to disappoint when it comes to delivering the story. I’m too polite to call out any specific books, but you can probably think of at least one book cover that intrigued you, but the actual story just fell flat.  Book covers can get a reader to open a book, but the story must keep them between the pages.

The author’s imagination may supplant yours.  If a book cover contains a picture of one or more of the characters, you miss out on the opportunity to use your imagination to conjure up your own image of the characters.  Think Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer; while it is a visually appealing cover, do you wonder how your vision may have been different had you been left to your imagination?

Iwas just starting to like that character, when the author killed him off. Now the protagonist will have to look for a new mentor for reading community , but who will he turn to—someone good or evil?

The best stories follow timeless formulas, yet are pleasingly unpredictable. Authors of fiction have unlimited creative liberty when drafting their hero’s journey. While non-fiction authors don’t share the same unchecked liberty, they have significant opportunities to determine the tone, depth of information, level of mystery, and retelling of the order of events in their story.

Unpredictability permeates all fascinating reads: main characters hurdle challenges, side characters distract, befriend, encourage, seduce, enable, poison, or deceive them, and the setting or circumstances morph as the characters navigate their obstacles with courage or fear, difficulty or ease, sincerity or humor. Unpredictability is what makes fiction and non-fiction such fun to read…and discuss.

Real Time Book Discussions Reading is typically a solitary activity. When the three female scientists at NASA face discrimination for being African-American in Hidden Figures, the reader experiences deep frustration. When the allusive main character living in a mansion withholds details about his upbringing in The Great Gatsby, we become curious. Or when the devoted mother disappears in Where’d You Go Bernadette, it’s quite the shock. Yet readers almost always look up from their paper world to find their surroundings unchanged and have no outlet for their questions, take-aways, conspiracies, and revelations.

Put formulaically: Deep Thoughts + No Conversations = Sad Combination for Book Nerd.

And this problem has only increased since the social gathering restrictions ushered in by  COVID-19 have toppled in-person book clubs. But in online reading communities, you can geek out as much as you’d like, making your journey through a book significantly more immersive.

At The Chaptr, we read books separately yet simultaneously. This means whenever readers encounter a confusing concept, interesting twist, or emotive anecdote, they can open our book app and hash it out with fellow readers. Real time book discussions also allow for readers to share hypotheses and predictions about what may happen next in the story.

Deeper Reading, Wider Thinking John Coleman writes in Harvard Business Review, that being part of a reading community can help you focus your reading and widen your understanding.  The Chaptr intentionally chooses books from varying genres for this very reason. As Coleman reasons in his article, “Engaging with diverse content—fiction, history, biography, social science—can pull you out of your day-to-day routine and help you make connections between ideas from other fields that might be relevant to your work or life.”

Discussing the book takes you even further. Not only does a looming discussion encourage insightful reading, it also creates a platform for each reader to hear everyone else’s thoughts, interpretations, and connections. Imagine the thought you put into your reading automatically multiplying by however many other minds are in the discussion. Neat, right?

“But In Online Reading Communities, You Can Geek Out As Much As You’d Like, Making Your Journey Through A Book Significantly More Immersive.”

You’re Held Accountable Maybe, as you read this, your eyes veer over to a large stack of unread books sitting on your bedside table. They look back at you oh-so judgmentally (beneath a thin layer of dust). Or at least that’s the picture that the Pew Research’s statistics from recent years paint.

And let’s be honest, there’s little motivation to use our limited free time slowly slogging through a book we don’t particularly enjoy. However, reading communities spur commitment. And a lot can be learned from books that aren’t necessarily our cup of tea; empathy is one of those things, suggests Psychology Today. So, if you’re looking for that extra umph of motivation in your literary life, be sure to sign up for a reading community.

Conclusion The three main benefits of joining a reading community are real-time book discussions, exposure to new ideas, and extra motivation to finish books. If you’re looking for a fun and engaging online reading community, be sure to check us out at The Chaptr!

1 –

Black Buck

By Mateo Askaripour

I’m not sure if anticipated is the right word because this one came out on January 5 of this year, but the reviews of Black Buck are coming back strong.

This book tells the story of Darren, a Starbucks manager content with his simple, if uninspired, life. That is, of course, until he meets the CEO of a tech startup. One thing leads to another and the CEO offers Darren a job, where he becomes the only black person at the company.

Darren creates for himself an alter ego, Buck, an aggressive salesman type. As Buck finds success at work, it begins to elude him at home. To find a more livable balance, Buck hatches a plan to guide other people of color into America’s sales force.  If you enjoyed the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You, you will definitely want to check out Black Buck.  

2 –

Outlawed

By Anna North

Outlawed is another book that came out January 5th, just waiting for you to pick it up. And jeez louise, you really should.

Outlawed is an alternative dystopian history novel set in the year 1894. In this world, women who don’t have children are captured by members of their community and hanged as witches. When, after a year of marriage, Ada still hasn’t conceived, she goes on the lam, joining the outlaw Hole in the Wall gang.

What follows is a swashbuckling adventure across a reimagined Old West, with a message rooted deeply in modern feminism and the consequences of narrow-minded thinking.

3 –

Detransition, Baby

By Torrey Peters

Torrey Peters’ stunning novel about trans lives, cis lives, and all the lives in between came out January 12th of this year, and it’s earning well-deserved buzz.

Reese and Amy seem to have it all, the apartment, the job, the dream relationship. Unfortunately, that’s more than most trans women can say. But when Amy makes the decision to detransition and becomes Ames, everything falls apart.

Reese, lonely and hurt turns to sleeping with married men, while Ames accidentally impregnates his boss. And while his boss isn’t sure if she wants to keep the baby, Ames begins to wonder whether the baby is what he needs to get Reese, the only family he’s got, back into his life.

4 –

Fake Accounts

By Lauren Oyler

Lauren Oyler’s novel tells the story of a young woman who, upon looking through her boyfriend’s phone, discovers he is a popular right-wing conspiracy theorist. Surprising? Maybe, but it’s not exactly a shocking revelation.

She makes a plan to break up with her beau just after she gets back from the Women’s March in Washington DC, but things take a bizarre turn as the lies unfolding in cyberspace begin to have an effect on the reality of her world.  Fake Accounts was released this month, so you can dig into this one now.  

5 –

While Justice Sleeps

By Stacey Abrams

How? How in the world did Stacey Abrams have time to write a political thriller while at the same time organizing for what would become one of the biggest political upsets in modern history – the clean blue sweep of Georgia?

Yeah, I don’t know either, but on May 11, 2021, Abrams’ novel is set to be released.

This novel follows Avery Keene, a law clerk for a Supreme Court Justice. It’s all going well, despite the challenge of the job and the long hours, but things are upended when Avery’s legendary boss slips into a coma and his instructions call for Avery to be made power of attorney.

That’s when things heat up for Avery, as in the midst of the political angst she discovers her boss was on course to unravel a conspiracy involving two companies in a high-profile merger that was already before the court.

6 –

The Removed

By Brandon Hobson

Released on February 2nd, The Removed follows the Cherokee Echota family. The family is no stranger to struggles. Son Ray-Ray was killed during a police incident. Daughter Sonja has become something of a recluse, prone to wild romantic flings, and son Edgar hasn’t been seen by the family in years because of his problems with drug addiction. Add to this the fact that the Echota father is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and it becomes clear the family is facing a number of challenges.

As a Cherokee National Holiday approaches, and with it the anniversary of Ray-Ray’s death, Maria, the Echota family mother, attempts to gather everyone together to talk about Ray-Ray’s memory. As the day approaches, each family member feels their grip on reality blurring ever more into the spiritual, and each attempts to understand and rationalize this in their own way.

7 –

W-3

By Bette Howland

Bette Howland’s memoir about her time in Chicago’s psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt in 1968 is a visceral, moving portrait of lives on the brink.

This memoir was first released in 1974, and it was reissued this year on January 12th. After reading it, I can honestly say it feels more poignant and relevant than ever.

8 –

The Prophets

By Robert Jones Jr.

Released on January 5th, The Prophets became an instant bestseller.

A piece of historical fiction, The Prophets is a story about Isaiah and Samuel, slaves who are in love. At first, the other slaves acknowledge their love and respect it as a thing of simple beauty. But when another slave adopts the religion of the plantation owners and begins to preach, Isaiah and Samuel’s love is called into question.

This beautiful, touching, shattering story wrestles with the problems inherited by slaves and their owners. And the way past, and future generations have battled with that same sense of inheritance.

9 –

Filthy Animals

By Brandon Taylor

Brandon Taylor used to be a scientist. It’s true. He turned to fiction with 2020’s Real Life, an astonishing coming-of-age tale.

He’s back in 2021 (June 22nd to be exact) with Filthy Animals, a collection of connected short stories about creatives in the midwest.

Book clubs have been a great way to discuss, explore and enjoy literature. A group of bibliophiles gathering to talk about their favorite books sounds amazing for socializing. As Canadian author Yann Martel once said, “Books are something social – a writer speaking to a reader – so I think making the reading of a book the center of a social event, the meeting of a book club, is a brilliant idea.”

But that’s not the only good thing about book clubs. There has been a far deeper significance of book clubs in society than one can imagine. Since time immemorial, book clubs have given various sections of society a chance to get together and share their experiences. People who had been oppressed got a chance to gather around and discuss their shared experiences through the medium of books.

Take, for instance, the text written by Mary Wollstonecraft at the end of the 18th century. Being one of the pioneers of feminist writings, she advocated for equal rights for women. During the French Revolution, when people in France were fighting for men’s rights, Wollstonecraft argued for the same rights for women. When large sections of women read Wollstonecraft’s writings, they held meetings and talked about the text and the unspoken problems they’d been facing as a gender. This gave rise to feminist movements, starting in Great Britain and eventually spreading throughout Europe. These movements brought about a change in women’s conditions around the world.

Coming back to the present, online book clubs have opened up the possibility of readers around the world to connect with each other and talk about books. This is significant for a number of reasons. Since the advent of online book clubs has surpassed the limitation of geographical boundaries, it has allowed people from different cultures to come together and discuss works of art by various authors. This is an amazing way to gain the unique perspectives of people from different places with different mindsets and cultural backgrounds.

With online book clubs, readers are also able to discover authors from many other countries, whom they otherwise wouldn’t know about. One can find some hidden gems of literature through these clubs.

While an online club wouldn’t give you the experience of physically meeting people, it offers many advantages to make up for that limitation. Moreover, if there’s one thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that a lot of things can happen online.

The last year has been tough for the whole world. Only once in decades does such a large-scale catastrophe strike the world the way the Covid-19 pandemic has. If that wasn’t enough, the world is also struggling with many other issues simultaneously. From large numbers of people dying to economies struggling, wildfires burning, political turmoils, and human rights atrocities happening, we’ve seen a lot.

These times have affected the mental health of a lot of people, including the young ones. Other than doing what we can for others in these times, we should also focus on what we can do for ourselves. We need to do whatever we can to rekindle our joy and feel happy. This is the time when we need an escape, an escape from all the things going down on our planet. We need something that can transport us to another world; a world of mystic, magic, mystery, love, and a billion stories. Books give us exactly that. A book subscription box for young adults might be exactly what we need.

The concept of a book subscription box revolves around the element of surprise. A book lover who’s never experienced the thrill of a book subscription box should try it once. You will thank us later. Moreover, the young adult category has a number of feel-good gems that are sure to uplift the reader’s mood.

Young Adult (Y.A.) is simply literature for and about teens and can be categorized into the same genres that adult literature has— mystery, science fiction, romance, fantasy, drama, horror, etc. While Y.A. books are generally authored for the readers of ages 12 – 18, there is something about many young adult novels that they resonate so well with the older adults as well. Take, Harry Potter, Catcher In The Rye, and The Book Thief for example.

Even though most YA fiction is written by adults, stories in great YA books are told by a genuine voice that strikes a chord with the young adult experience. One manifestation of this in YA fiction is the fact that teenagers have different problems, concerns, and thoughts than an adult. This can be seen in prevalent themes in YA that pertain to the lives of young adults such as self-discovery, coming-of-age, and friendship.

Another way YA fiction is notably different and fresh is the presence of a sense of immediacy in the storytelling. The style of narration is in the present, usually conveyed through a close third-person/first-person point of view. Why this is interesting is the feelings it evokes in adult readers. Reading from the perspective of a teenager makes you relive your teenage years and it’s nostalgic in a refreshing way, as you’re feeling this from someone else’s perspective; someone from a different generation. Thus, what makes Y.A. so good is its ability to present to readers a chance to see itself reflected in its pages.

Native American Literature Books typically arises from the traditional written and oral-literary pieces of the indigenous peoples from the Americas, in the now-United States. It is different from the First Nation writers from Canada and is also known as Indian literature or American Indian literature. Native American literature can be found dating back from pre-Columbian times to the modern authors of today.

Traditional Native American literature consists of ancient pictographic and hieroglyphic writings with a diverse set of myths, folktales, and oral traditions consisting of story-telling, poetry, chants, and songs. This was brought to the public light when Native Americans started publishing their people’s cultural, traditional and historical accounts in the nineteenth century.

As more Native American writers penned down new literary texts during the 1960s, a new era of awakening was born. This gave the Native American writers a redeemed voice and created a new place for them in the American culture. Literary critics have touted this era as the Native American Renaissance.

Native American literature gives the world a peek into the Native American culture, which is not known by many even in the US. The literary texts by these authors highlight the various rich and vibrant cultures of Native American tribes. Moreover, this literature became a great way to represent the complex, entangled and beautiful sect of modern-day Native peoples. Some of these works of art that have shown the struggles and perspectives of the Native peoples resound a coherent socio-political perspective.

Below, we list 5 books that we believe are must-reads from Native American literature:

Heart Berries: A Memoir By Terese Marie Mailhot

This memoir publicized the trials and tribulations faced by modern Native American women. In her New York Times Best Seller, Mailhot has published her journals from the time she was institutionalized due to a mental breakdown on losing her firstborn son’s custody. Mailhot has brought a lost bold voice of a Native American mother with a heartfelt account of her oppression.

Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko

Considered to be a Native American classic, Ceremony takes you through different timelines from the lenses of a World War 2 veteran who deals with family, spirituality, war, witchery, mental health, and healing.

An Indigenous Peoples’ History Of The United States

By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Dunbar-Ortiz, a historian and activist presents a period of the history of the USA from the eyes of the Native people. The book gives you an account of how the indigenous people resisted the expansion of the US empire.

Pushing The Bear By Diane Glancy

This historical novel tells the tale of hardships the Cherokees had to endure on the Trail of Tears when they got evicted from their own land. With different voices of the narrator’s family, this novel is a good read with accounts of a sad period of American history.

Winter In The Blood

By James Welch

This is an essential Native American read that follows a young man’s journey in a world he doesn’t understand while dealing with the concept of death. This dark and gritty novel was also adapted into a movie.

For Literature book lovers, the excitement of waiting for new books about to be launched is second to none. Getting your hands on the newest book that everyone’s been talking about gives you the dopamine fix you need. In this article, we have rounded up a list of good reads you must try in 2021.

Klara And The Sun By Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Ishiguro after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature book, is one of the most acclaimed and popular books of 2021. The novel shows the world from the eyes of the narrator Klara, an Artificial Friend, who observes people and their behavior in her unique way. The book explores themes like love by beautifully blending human nature with a naive quest to uncover our connection with the world.

The Lost Apothecary By Sarah Penner

An apothecary tucked away in the streets of eighteenth-century London has its dark secrets. The store sells a potion to women that liberate them when used against the men who’ve oppressed them in their lives. The story takes a messy turn when a mistake intertwines several lives on a path full of revenge. The Lost Apothecary makes for an interesting read with suspense and a spirit of sisterhood.

Detransition, Baby By Torrey Peters

A National Bestseller nominated for the Women’s Prize, Detransition, Baby has a refreshingly unique plot. When a detransitioned man impregnates his boss, he asks his ex-girlfriend to help raise the baby. His ex is a trans-woman who longs to be a mother. The evolving dynamics between the trio get complex as the novel brings forward ideas highlighting human ironies.

Aftershocks By Nadia Owusu

Nadia Owusu’s memoir has a striking impact on the reader as she details her upbringing that happened in various countries as she moved from one place to another with her diplomat father. She deals with several shattering experiences in life, drawing parallels to an earthquake and its residual tremors. It is a great read that shows the reader a fresh perspective of dealing with a troubling world.

The Wife Upstairs By Rachel Hawkins

The Wife Upstairs is a feminist twist on the classic gothic romance novel, Jane Eyre. It subverts the patriarchal sensibility present in Bronte’s classic novel. The story takes place in a modern setting as opposed to the Victorian setting of the original novel, lending it fresh possibilities altogether. However, this time, the novel promises that the wife just won’t stay buried.

The Four Winds By Kristin Hannah

Online literature book apps, or ebook apps, have become increasingly popular owing to the convenience they offer. With the ease of carrying literally thousands of books on your phone coupled with a lower cost of ebooks, these apps are being eagerly embraced by more and more book lovers. The question that arises is – are ebooks changing our reading habits? Let’s find out.

The manner in which people read has been changing radically. While some people make the switch to ebooks completely, many prefer to read both ebooks and print books. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, stirred things up. It has accelerated the growth of ebooks due to stay-at-home orders and decreased social contact. An ebook store Kobo reported that eBook consumption on their platform is up by 60% year-on-year for March. Additionally, the use of their eReaders has also surged, as the number of times that people who use their device increased by a whopping 61%. This trend has been reflected by several other ebook platforms.

The advent of ebooks has definitely changed our reading habits, for better or worse. They’ve also changed things for publishers, as the growth of the digital reading culture is enabling authors and publishers to try new and creative opportunities to develop their books further and delight the readers. It has also allowed authors to directly publish their works, to connect closely with their readers and, importantly, to conceive newer ways of telling their stories. Some online book platforms also allow their readers to connect with the authors through their apps, which is a great way of enriching the reading community.

Our way of accessing new information has significantly changed since digital books became mainstream. Long gone are the days of combing through library shelves for books to find specific pieces of information. The internet and search engines have given us the ability to search through thousands of resources on just about any subject with a click of a button while sitting in the comfort of our homes. Finding specific information using a search engine is far more efficient and convenient, as compared to physically doing so.

Thinking about how I read paper books, I realize that I skim ahead a lot, often reading fragments of the text in advance. At times I even read the book’s ending early on. However, when I’m reading an eBook, I don’t do that. I barely ever read the ending before I actually get there. One can say that my reading has become quite disciplined.

Another thing that I like about e-books is that they’re searchable, so it’s really useful for fact-checking. Besides, I can also store my notes and highlights on the device, which allows me to quickly find pieces of text when I’m writing.

Other features such as the option to reserve a book I want online are also quite useful. This saves a lot of time as compared to searching for a book in a library. For people like me who fear being on a plane or the subway or in a line with nothing to read, ebooks have come to the rescue. I can now carry an entire library with me at all times and read with one hand in a crowded train.

Postmodern literature largely emerged in the wake of World War II, when the world was reeling from the after-effects of large-scale war. This was an era when the war rendered millions of people dead and many others homeless. People around the world we’re living in a dark reality wherein they had to face hunger, poverty, death, and gloom. They were having a hard time dealing with that harsh reality.

Postmodern literature was in stark contrast to this reality. There was a sense of absurdity in postmodern literature, bending reality as we know it. With themes ranging from metafictional tales, blurring the lines between the past and the present, questioning the linearity of time, to texts exploring surrealism and subjectivism, postmodern literature gave people a respite from their reality. It was an escape from the world they dreaded. However, postmodern literature also signified people’s feelings. This is because it incorporated fragmentation within literary works which was a clear representation of the fragmented world of the mid-20th century. It also employed unreliable narration, which could be related to the unreliability of the circumstances. Thus, it became highly prevalent as it resonated with the masses. It helped many cope with the dire circumstances created by the war.

Coming to our present times, when the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc in our world. With millions of people getting infected by the virus and many succumbing to it, it’s not a good time for humans. The restrictions put for safety from the virus add to the mental strain that we’re facing. Moreover, the lockdowns imposed around the world have taken our sense of reality, with most of us unable to grasp what is going on.

Thus, postmodern literature could prove to be a good way for us to deal with the current situation, as it did back in the post-World War II era. It could arm us with stories about worlds that exist only within the pages of the books, worlds that depict realities so unbelievable that it diverts our attention from the unbelievable of our lives. There are many postmodern works that can transport us to colorful realities, helping us to better deal with what we’re facing.

For Literature book lovers, the excitement of waiting for new books about to be launched is second to none. Getting your hands on the newest book that everyone’s been talking about gives you the dopamine fix you need. In this article, we have rounded up a list of good reads you must try in 2021.

Klara And The Sun By Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Ishiguro after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature book, is one of the most acclaimed and popular books of 2021. The novel shows the world from the eyes of the narrator Klara, an Artificial Friend, who observes people and their behavior in her unique way. The book explores themes like love by beautifully blending human nature with a naive quest to uncover our connection with the world.

The Lost Apothecary By Sarah Penner

An apothecary tucked away in the streets of eighteenth-century London has its dark secrets. The store sells a potion to women that liberate them when used against the men who’ve oppressed them in their lives. The story takes a messy turn when a mistake intertwines several lives on a path full of revenge. The Lost Apothecary makes for an interesting read with suspense and a spirit of sisterhood.

Detransition, Baby By Torrey Peters

A National Bestseller nominated for the Women’s Prize, Detransition, Baby has a refreshingly unique plot. When a detransitioned man impregnates his boss, he asks his ex-girlfriend to help raise the baby. His ex is a trans-woman who longs to be a mother. The evolving dynamics between the trio get complex as the novel brings forward ideas highlighting human ironies.

Aftershocks By Nadia Owusu

Nadia Owusu’s memoir has a striking impact on the reader as she details her upbringing that happened in various countries as she moved from one place to another with her diplomat father. She deals with several shattering experiences in life, drawing parallels to an earthquake and its residual tremors. It is a great read that shows the reader a fresh perspective of dealing with a troubling world.

The Wife Upstairs By Rachel Hawkins

The Wife Upstairs is a feminist twist on the classic gothic romance novel, Jane Eyre. It subverts the patriarchal sensibility present in Bronte’s classic novel. The story takes place in a modern setting as opposed to the Victorian setting of the original novel, lending it fresh possibilities altogether. However, this time, the novel promises that the wife just won’t stay buried.

The Four Winds By Kristin Hannah

Our mission is to bring together book lovers and facilitate a village where thought-provoking discussions can flourish and friendships blossom.  To help accomplish this, we integrate social media into our reading experience in a way that promotes meaningful engagement between readers and enriches, not detracts from, the reading experience.