Sophia's Site

Overview

My TBR list is focused on range and follow-through. I want to read across different countries and to build a broader perspective, rather than staying within what’s familiar. At the same time, I’m trying to be more intentional about actually reading the books I already own instead of constantly buying new ones. Each book on my shelf was chosen for a reason, and working through them feels more purposeful than letting them pile up unread. The goal isn’t to have more books, but to engage more deeply with the ones I’ve already committed to.

Current number of books on my TBR: 169

Three Books I Want to Read

Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin

I want to read Giovanni’s Room because it places questions of identity and belonging in an international context rather than a purely American one. Set largely in Paris and centered on expatriate life, the novel examines how distance from home can intensify questions of race, sexuality, and self-definition. I’m interested in how Baldwin uses a European setting to strip away familiar social frameworks and expose the internal pressures that come with living between cultures and expectations.

When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro

This book appeals to me for its expansive portrayal of modern India across regions, religions, and social classes. I want to read it as a way of understanding how individual lives intersect with political conflict, caste, gender, and national identity. Rather than offering a single narrative perspective, the novel moves across communities and margins, which makes it feel less like a traditional story and more like a cultural map shaped by displacement, resistance, and survival..

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness - Arundhati Roy

I’m drawn to When We Were Orphans for how it navigates cultural dislocation between England and early-20th-century Shanghai. The novel treats memory and identity as unstable, especially for characters shaped by colonial environments and divided loyalties. I want to read it for its examination of how imperial history and personal narrative collide, and how growing up between cultures can distort one’s understanding of home, responsibility, and truth.