Recommendations based on Ghachar Ghocharby Vivek Shanbhag

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Hungry Tide

    by Amitav Ghosh
    A story of love, loss, and discovery set in the Sundarbans region of India.

    Off the easternmost corner of India, in the Bay of Bengal, lies the immense labyrinth of tiny islands known as the Sundarbans, where settlers live in fear of drowning tides and man-eating tigers. ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Widows of Malabar Hill

    by Sujata Massey
    In 1920s Bombay, Perveen Mistry, India's first female lawyer, investigates a suspicious will and uncovers a web of secrets and murder.

    Bombay, 1921: Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father's law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with a legal education ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Vegetarian

    by Han Kang
    A woman's radical decision to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle, leading to unexpected and far-reaching consequences.

    The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a home-maker who, one day, suddenly decides to stop eating meat after a series of dreams involving images of animal slaughter. This abstention leads her ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Palace of Illusions

    by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
    A narrative of a brave woman's journey through Indian mythology, coming to terms with her fate.

    A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman. Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

    by Arundhati Roy
    Exploration of the lives of a diverse group of characters in India, searching for identity and purpose.

    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on a journey of many years – the story spooling outwards from the cramped neighbourhoods of Old Delhi into the burgeoning new metropolis and beyond, to the ... (Goodreads)

  6. Midnight's Children

    by Salman Rushdie
    A magical tale of India's history told through the story of a boy born at the stroke of midnight.

    Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem ... (Goodreads)

  7. A Suitable Boy

    by Vikram Seth
    Epic story of a young woman's search for love and her family's struggle for acceptance in 1950s India.

    In 1951, 19-year-old Lata Mehra attends the wedding of her older sister, Savita, to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Lata’s mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, says that it is time for Lata to be married as ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Kafka on the Shore

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.

    Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)

  9. The God of Small Things

    by Arundhati Roy
    A moving story of two siblings growing up in India, exploring love, politics, and class.

    The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers' demonstration. Inside the car ... (Goodreads)

  10. Exit West

    by Mohsin Hamid
    Reflection on displacement and immigration as two refugees traverse the world in search of a new life.

    Nadia and Saeed meet when they are working students in an unnamed city. Saeed is more conservative and still lives at home, as custom generally requires, but the more independent Nadia has chosen to ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Sputnik Sweetheart

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal exploration of love and longing, as two people struggle to come to terms with their feelings.

    Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'. K is an elementary ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Another Brooklyn

    by Jacqueline Woodson
    A poetic story of four teenage girls growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s.

    The story starts with August, an adult anthropologist, returning to New York to bury her father. On the subway, she encounters an old friend, and begins to reminisce. She remembers being an 8 year ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

    by Devdutt Pattanaik
    A beautifully illustrated retelling of the epic Indian mythological tale, the Mahabharata, exploring its many complex characters and themes.

    High above the sky stands Swarga, paradise, abode of the gods. Still above is Vaikuntha, heaven, abode of God. The doorkeepers of Vaikuntha are the twins, Jaya and Vijaya, both whose names mean ... (Goodreads)

  14. Malgudi Days

    by R.K. Narayan
    A captivating collection of stories set in a fictional South Indian town, exploring the lives of its eccentric inhabitants.

    Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennial Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look ... (Goodreads)

  15. The White Tiger

    by Aravind Adiga
    An exploration of the Indian class system, told from the perspective of a lower-caste man.

    The entire novel is narrated through letters by Balram Halwai to the Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India. Balram is an Indian man from an impoverished background, born in the village of ... (Wikipedia)

  16. An Unnecessary Woman

    by Rabih Alameddine
    An aging woman's reflections on life, love, and literature.

    One of Beirut’s most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine follows his international bestseller, The Hakawati , with a heartrending novel that celebrates the singular life of an obsessive introvert, ... (Goodreads)

  17. Half of a Yellow Sun

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Story of two sisters navigating a civil war in Nigeria, and the effects of colonialism.

    The novel takes place in Nigeria prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The effect of the war is shown through the relationships of five people's lives including the twin daughters of ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Case Histories

    by Kate Atkinson
    A series of intertwining stories of people whose lives are changed by an unexpected event.

    'Case Histories' tells the story of Jackson Brodie, a private investigator who tries to find out the truth of some cases. Brodie meets some people who reclaims his help to solve their cases Kirkus ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Norwegian Wood

    by Haruki Murakami
    A young man's journey of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1960s.

    Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of ... (Goodreads)

  20. Sourdough

    by Robin Sloan
    A software engineer discovers the joy of baking sourdough bread and the mysterious origins of the starter.

    Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two ... (Goodreads)

  21. Capital

    by John Lanchester
    An exploration of the lives of a group of characters in London, revealing the dark side of modern capitalism.

    Celebrated novelist John Lanchester (author of The Debt to Pleasure ) returns with an epic novel that captures the obsessions of our time. It’s 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Sense of an Ending

    by Julian Barnes
    An exploration of memory and its impact on the present, looking at the choices we make in life.

    By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary books that began with the best-selling Arthur & George and continued with Nothing to Be ... (Goodreads)

  23. Embers

    by Sándor Márai
    A story of a lifelong friendship between two men that is tested by secrets and betrayal.

    Originally published in 1942 and now rediscovered to international acclaim, this taut and exquisitely structured novel by the Hungarian master Sandor Marai conjures the melancholy glamour of a ... (Goodreads)

  24. A Little Life

    by Hanya Yanagihara
    A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.

    The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Swami and Friends

    by R.K. Narayan
    A group of friends living in a small Indian town experience adventures and growth.

    The story revolves around a ten year old school boy named Swaminathan and his friends. Throughout the novel he is called as Swami . All the events take place in Malgudi , A fictional town. Swami ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Open City

    by Teju Cole
    A Nigerian-German psychiatrist wanders the streets of New York City, reflecting on his past and present, and the city's history and culture.

    Julius, a man completing the last year of a psychiatry fellowship, wanders the streets of New York City and meets a variety of people over the course of a year. The novel has no substantial plot, and ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Leaving the Atocha Station

    by Ben Lerner
    A young poet's journey of self-discovery, struggling to find a sense of purpose in life.

    Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. What is actual when ... (Goodreads)

  28. Homegoing

    by Yaa Gyasi
    Spanning centuries, the intertwining stories of two African sisters, their descendants, and the legacy of slavery.

    Effia is raised by her mother, Baaba, who is cruel to her. Nevertheless she works hard to please her mother. Known as a beauty, Effia is intended to be married to the future chief of her village, but ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Swing Time

    by Zadie Smith
    Two brown girls dream of becoming dancers, but only one has talent. Their friendship is tested by ambition and the world's inequalities.

    Beginning in 2008, the novel tells the story of two mixed-race, black and white, girls who meet in 1982 in a tap class in London . The unnamed narrator, who has a white, working-class father, and a ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Moll Flanders

    by Daniel Defoe
    A woman's story of survival and redemption, confronting the harsh realities of life in 18th century England.

    Moll's mother is a convict in Newgate Prison in London who is given a reprieve by " pleading her belly ," a reference to the custom of staying the executions of pregnant criminals. Her mother is ... (Wikipedia)