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Books I Read in May 2025—Banu Mushtaq, Arundhati Roy and More

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May was a month of mixed moods and powerful stories. Some books were as comforting as a bedtime drink, while others cracked open bigger conversations about history, identity, and mortality. Here's a look at everything I read this month:

📘 The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A tender philosophical tale wrapped in a children's story about a young prince's journey through planets and people.
This may be a global favorite, but you don’t always have to love what others love. Still, it was nice—gentle, wistful, and okay in the best way.

🧹 Kiki’s Delivery Service, Eiko Kadono

A young witch starts her own delivery business and finds independence and friendship in a seaside town.
Reading this felt like drinking a warm cup of milk. Pure comfort.

🌿 The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

A haunting, nonlinear novel about forbidden love, caste, and childhood trauma in Kerala.
I get why this is famous—and I totally agree. Roy’s language is lush, her story devastating.

🌀 Life of Chuck, Stephen King (from If It Bleeds)

A surreal and touching meditation on life, death, and memory told in reverse.
I listened to the audiobook for this one and only this one—from If It Bleeds. And of course, in my head, Tom Hiddleston was Chuck. That made it even better.

✈️ Flights, Olga Tokarczuk

A genre-defying blend of travel writing, philosophy, and fragmented narratives about motion and stillness.
I vibe with Olga Tokarczuk. Deeply. Her voice, her pace, her thoughts—yes.

⚖️ The Doctor and the Saint, Arundhati Roy

A nonfiction essay interrogating Gandhi’s legacy and contrasting it with B.R. Ambedkar’s radical politics.
The doctor is B.R. Ambedkar, and the saint is Gandhi. This is bold, necessary nonfiction—and I’ll be sharing more thoughts on this in another post.

🕯️ Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, Banu Mushtaq

A luminous collection exploring grief, faith, and resistance through the voices of Indian Muslim women.
Winner of the International Booker Prize 2025, and I see why. These stories burn.


Happy reading!
(^人^)

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