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Isha Rao

@isharaeds

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Raw thoughts on what I read, questionable book photos, and an attempt to read a book a week.

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Completed ‘The Stationery Shop’ (also known as ‘The Stationery Shop of Tehran) by Marjan Kamali.

✒️It is the story of Roya and Bahman, teenagers in Tehran in the 1950s, and how a stationery shop in the city is instrumental in them falling in love. Bahman is passionately involved in political activism, and together they are charged with optimism and hope for their future together in a democratic country.

✒️The book is filled with references to Rumi’s poetry and foreign literature, and they even exchange notes to each other by placing them in books.

✒️On the day they plan to get married, political turmoil in the city ensures that they never meet again, and a heartbroken Roya eventually starts her life from scratch in the United States.

✒️Unrequited love because of a larger backdrop of political shifts is one of my favorite genres, especially those that span over the lifetimes of the protagonists. In this book, it is the 1950s democratic movement in Iran that ended with the democratic government being overthrown.
However, other forces also work against them getting together, providing an interesting snapshot to family dynamics, mental health and gender in Iran in the 1950s.

✒️A large chunk of the book also focuses on Roya’s life in the United States after this, including getting married to a kind man named Walter. The book is as much their story— Walter even supports Roya when she has the chance to meet Bahman to get answers to what exactly happened 60 years ago.

[A book I read and loved years ago called ‘The Book of Everlasting Things’ by Aanchal Malhotra had many similar themes to this book (it had perfumery and calligraphy in place of the stationery shop in this book, and is based around the India-Pakistan partition), solidifying how much I enjoy reading books around this theme. If you have already read either of them, you can check the other one out.] by @isharaeds

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7 months ago

Spotlighting a memoir written by a woman I admire on Women’s Day

Mother Mary Comes to Me is a raw and honest memoir by Arundhati Roy where she delves into her complicated relationship with her mother Mary Roy (who is just as much a boss lady). This dynamic runs as a constant theme through the book, while she narrates various phases of her life, from childhood to her life now. She also focuses on how her dynamic with her mother influenced her life choices throughout.

The most striking aspect about this memoir, hands down, was her life experiences as a young person. She has had some unconventional and adventurous experiences for a young woman in the 80s, which I drew a lot of inspiration from.
The second most striking aspect was how she chose to tell her story, honouring the aspects of her life that others would have chosen to rant about. And written in the most beautiful prose at that.
Third is the person she is today, and how she refuses to comply to the world on any terms, no matter what.
So enough said and you should definitely read her memoir regardless of whether you have read her fiction books or not.

#womenauthors #reading #readingwomen by @isharaeds

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7 months ago

The only way to describe this book is that it is a morbid treat. I have read many Agatha Christie books but I haven’t come across anything like ‘And then there were none’.

It completely overturns the tropes that are commonly used in murder mysteries. There is no detective in this one, it’s just the people, and you get to be as clueless as them as they try to find who the killer is.

What made the experience of reading this cooler is that I read this special mystery edition which has an envelope at the end with details about who the killer is (as in the 2nd picture). This made it seem like a puzzle that I needed to solve.

2026 is turning out to be a year when I rediscover murder mysteries as a genre. I have read two of Seishi Yokomizo’s mysteries so far followed by this book. by @isharaeds

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7 months ago

January 2026 was a very productive month for me reading wise. Every year I attempt to read 52 books, (and I have failed till now), but this year so far I have managed to stick to my one book a week goal (and even went beyond that). So looks good for now. I’ll probably post my thoughts on these in subsequent posts.

Have you read any of these? by @isharaeds

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8 months ago

What I’m currently reading 📚

I may take weeks to finish these or even not continue if I don’t like them but just wanted to share what I’m currently reading.

This is what I call a healthy, balanced diet 🥗🍴 by @isharaeds

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a year ago

I picked up Lajja by Taslima Nasrin because it fit two genres I want to read more of-

1. Books banned in their country of origin

2. Translated literature from around the world. (Incidentally, today also happens to be International Translation Day.)

Reading this book has caused me a great deal of anxiety over the past week. There’s a reason I turn to escapist reads so often. But when I don’t, I want to be confronted with the very realities that I otherwise try to run away from.

Statistics, headlines and social media posts can only tell you things to an extent. To really get it, you need to live alongside someone through a story and see the world through their eyes.

Lajja narrates the story of the Datta family in 1990s Bangladesh, whose lives change following the Babri Masjid demolition in India. Through the lens of the patriarch of the family, we revisit earlier phases of the country’s history, including the Liberation War of 1971. And through the youth in the family, we see how skepticism and resentment take over, no matter what values you strongly hold on to.

While the book focuses on the plight of Hindus as a minority in Bangladesh, it spoke to me about a lot beyond that. In the current scenario as extremism takes over in so many countries, this book feels like a mirror.

Despite the heaviness of reading this book (and some flaws that I couldn’t ignore), I would highly recommend it. Feeling broken, feeling empathetic even for people far removed from us are deeply human experiences, though increasingly rare in a world consumed by ignorance.

And so, my quest of reading books that help me immerse in realities completely different from my own continues. by @isharaeds

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a year ago

Halfway through Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi, and I’m hooked.

The book takes you through a day in the narrator’s life where he encounters people and events that blur the boundaries between reality and the unconscious. This ethereal quality is what makes this a fascinating read.
Of special note are the food descriptions in this book, as there is even a special index cataloging the variety of dishes mentioned in this 98 pages long book.

I never considered myself a classics reader before, but I’m starting to find them fascinating. The Penguin Archives collection seems especially good and has many lesser known titles by renowned authors.

What are you reading this weekend? by @isharaeds

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a year ago

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Read this if you-
👉 Are at that stage in life where you are questioning your purpose and existence
👉 Love reading short and thoughtful reads (this one’s only 147 pages long)
👉 Would enjoy stories at the intersection of philosophy, sci fi and cozy reads.
👉 Are curious about humanity through the eyes of a robot.
👉 Want to experience an utterly adorable friendship between an unlikely pair- a robot and a tea monk.

And there’s so much more. This is the kind of book that will make you think about life without really sermonizing anything. That you will want to visit again when you want to feel seen.

#books #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammer by @isharaeds

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a year ago

Recently, I re-read books from the Mallory Towers and the Famous Five series, both of which were my favorite books as a kid. While it was a fun nostalgia trip, my feelings this time around were a little more complicated.

I realize now how in many tiny ways, these books shaped my worldview which I’ve have had to unlearn as an adult.

Mallory Towers is a series about Darrell Rivers and her classmates at a girls boarding school (called Mallory Towers). Their friendships and adventures at the school are what the books are about.

Looking back, I see how the books divide girls into good or bad based on traits that are honestly pretty normal.
Gwendoline, the so called villain in the book is just a regular girl who is painted as “spoilt”, “liar”, “lazy”, “bad at studies”. From the beginning when she is homesick, she gets reprimanded or bullied for every little instance which only fuels her resentment. I don’t think she was at fault at all, and deserved better.

Moving to Famous Five now- This is the story of George and her 3 cousins and dog who invariably find themselves in the midst of solving interesting mystery cases.
I find George’s character interesting in newer ways than I did back then. As a kid, I saw her as someone rejecting traditional feminine traits and I looked up to that. Now I see that rejection as trying to have a “not like other girls” attitude which made my experience sour. I would also like to believe now that she was coming to terms with her gender identity (even though Enid Blyton herself probably didn’t put as much thought into it!)

How am I supposed to leave my brains aside and have the same experience reading these books as I did all those years ago?
Or maybe re-reading these are like tests to see how much we have evolved over the years.

#books #bookstagram #childrensbook #readabook #reader #bibliophile by @isharaeds

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a year ago

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

After a long reading slump where nothing was clicking, this book slowly but gently pulled me in and left me spellbound.
My breezy, romcom phase has dwindled for a bit (although I am sensing a comeback), and I was craving something more raw and real. Fates and Furies was exactly that.

Fates and Furies is the story of a marriage, but more than that, it is the story of the two people in the marriage. It is an unraveling of their backgrounds, truths, secrets and silences.
The first half unfolds from the perspective of Lotto, the husband, and the second half from the perspective of Mathilde, the wife. You’re essentially going over the same story across 23 years twice but from completely different perspectives, with added contexts, histories, and perspectives. I was blown away. There is a lot to unpack in this one.

#books #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammer by @isharaeds

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a year ago

Books I read on a Himalayan trek. 📚🏔️

Have you read any of these? Which one would you pick up? I’d love to know! Comment down below.

#mountainreads #trekreads #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #bookishtravel #slowtravel @maryoliverofficial @sallyrooneyofficial #readmoretravelmore by @isharaeds

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a year ago

My Thoughts on Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

It’s hard not to draw parallels between Great Big Beautiful Life and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Both feature a famous aging public figure recounting her life to someone writing their memoir. (A treat for celebrity gossip connoisseurs like me haha 🤭)
The books slowly reveal key details of their lives until an unexpected turn at the end.
The difference is that the memoir writers here share a romantic arc that takes center stage.
Having read a few Emily Henry books so far, I would say that this one was NOT my favourite.

The pacing between the romance and the memoir felt imbalanced. The memoir part added some spice and intrigue, without which the book wouldn’t have been as fun. But I found it difficult to stay interested in the romance between the main characters. It felt a little too plain and boring.

If the romance aspect had the same energy, I think it would have been a banger.

Here’s my ranking of the Emily Henry books I’ve read so far:

1. Funny story >
2. Great Big Beautiful Life >
3. Happy Place >
4. Book Lovers

#bookstagram #book #romancebooks #bookreview #emilyhenry #greatbigbeautifullife #bookaesthetic

Photo credit @parimal55 ✨ by @isharaeds

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a year ago