A reading list by mood: what to pick up when you feel like this
Sometimes you do not want the best book, you want the right one for today. A few suggestions sorted by how you feel.
The QuillBees team
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·3 min read
The same book can be perfect on one day and unreadable on another. So here is a list that starts with the mood, not the genre.
When you are tired and want comfort
Light, warm stories where nothing terrible happens.
- Ruskin Bond's stories of hill life.
- Short, funny essays from any writer you like.
- A children's classic you loved at ten. They hold up better than you think.
When you are grieving
Books that sit with sadness without rushing to fix it.
- Poetry. Even a few pages of a poet who feels true can help. Gulzar, Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Mirza Ghalib are good places to look.
- Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharati, if you want a story that understands heartbreak.
- Memoirs that deal honestly with loss.
When you are restless and cannot concentrate
Something fast, with short chapters.
- A mystery or thriller with a strong hook.
- Short story collections, one at a time.
- Manto's stories, which pull you in within a paragraph.
When you want to laugh
- Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla, for sharp satire in Hindi.
- Humorous essays and columns.
- Light comic novels in any language.
When you feel stuck in life
- Biographies and memoirs of people who changed direction.
- Essays on work, habit and curiosity.
- Novels about someone starting over.
When you are curious about the past
- Historical fiction set in a time you know little about.
- Tamas by Bhisham Sahni, for the Partition.
- Travel writing from an earlier century, to see how the world looked.
When you want to think about big questions
- Philosophical novels and essays.
- Mythology retold, which often asks questions about duty and choice.
- Short non-fiction books on a subject you have wondered about.
When you cannot decide
Go to your shelf. Choose a book you started and stopped, and read the first page again. Or ask a friend what they are reading and borrow it.
Keep a mood shelf
A simple idea: set aside a shelf or a list of five or six books that you know will work in different moods. When the day arrives, you do not have to search.
And permission to switch
If a book does not fit your mood, put it down. You can return to it in another season. Reading is meant to be something you want to do, not something you have to get through.
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