New York City doesn’t care if you’re having the worst day of your life. It will continue to deliver unexpected subway delays, mysterious water droplets from scaffoldings and a long line at your favorite restaurant. Usually, the city’s more positive quirks are more than enough to make living here worth it — but sometimes you can’t help but miss specific feelings from home, because there are some things even a city as diverse as New York can never recreate. When that happens, we step into these books to reconnect with bits and pieces of our families and the places we grew up. 

‘The Summer of Broken Rules’ by K.L. Walther

K.L. Walther could make anyone feel at home with her cozy young adult romance novels. But “The Summer of Broken Rules” feels especially resonant for me with its summery New England setting and not-so-subtle Taylor Swift references. The story follows Meredith on her first summer back in Martha’s Vineyard after her sister’s death, visiting her family for a cousin’s wedding. As if that wasn’t enough baggage, she was also dumped by her longtime boyfriend two weeks prior. To take her mind off her grief, Meredith joins the annual family game of assassin, for which her target is one of the groomsmen. Over the course of the week, the two strike up a romance sure to leave any reader kicking their feet and giggling. Although I’ve personally never hooked up with a groomsman at my cousin’s wedding, reading “The Summer of Broken Rules” brings me back to breezy New England summers, blasting “Lover” in my best friend’s car on our way to find the nearest sweet treat.

— Skylar Boilard, Arts Editor

‘Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America’ by Firoozeh Dumas

While I’m neither Iranian nor a child of the ’70s, Firoozeh Dumas’ “Funny in Farsi” captures my upbringing with uncanny precision. The memoir follows Durmas as she immigrates from Iran to California, chronicling her family’s colorful and chaotic attempts to assimilate into American life. While my Indian parents are fluent in English, the book spotlights a relatable cultural gap that creates a certain brand of immigrant kid mortification. I see my family in Durmas’ anecdotes, like her father’s eccentric attempts to navigate American shopping customs or her mother’s well-intentioned but slightly offensive remarks to her friends. These moments mirror my own experiences of translating social cues, for which the ability to grasp them doesn’t come from textbooks. In this sense, Durmas’ authenticity makes me feel all warm and gooey about my own childhood and heritage. 

— Rhea Kohli, Fine Arts Editor

‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy

A South Asian household is rarely sentimental — it’s a bowl of cut fruit placed in front of you instead of the words “I love you,” and Arundhati Roy’s 1997 debut novel “The God of Small Things” understands that sentiment completely. Set in a small Kerala town, the book follows twins Estha and Rahel across two timelines — one in 1969 when they are 7 years old, and another in 1993 when they reunite as adults — tracing how one forbidden love quietly destroys everything around them. Roy captures the weight of home in a way that feels less like fiction and more like memory, with vivid, evocative prose that details a monsoon, rivers and the smell of the house’s kitchen. For someone who grew up in a world similar to hers, reading the book feels like being seen.  

— Srishti Mangla, Staff Writer

‘Malgudi Days’ by R.K. Narayan

While looking for literature from the South Asian side of my heritage, I stumbled across this collection of short stories that now reminds me of the quiet upstate New York community I grew up in — a far cry from life in Manhattan. These 32 works by R.K. Narayan, first published in 1942, are filled with vividly drawn characters, ranging from deeply honorable to completely unbearable. There’s something about the rhythm of the stories — the gossip, the small conflicts, the way everyone seems loosely connected — that feels familiar, like conversations at family gatherings. Some stories are quietly heartbreaking in their portrayal of everyday life, while others lean into humor. Together, they create a rich portrait of the fictional Indian town of Malgudi. I find it difficult to read this collection without picturing myself as a background character. But more than the setting itself, “Malgudi Days” reminds me of my own family — siblings and uncles who disapprove of my career choices, and aunties who won’t let me forget that I haven’t found a wife yet.

— Matthew Singh, Staff Writer

‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ by Shelby Van Pelt

Between the weight of midterms and a heavy dose of homesickness, I recently called a high school friend for comfort. She mentioned she was reading Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 novel “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” and wanting to bridge the miles between us, I picked up a copy too. The story follows Tova, a widow working night shifts at an aquarium, and Marcellus — a giant Pacific octopus with a sharp, cynical perspective on the humans orbiting his tank. Struggling with the loss of her husband and the decades-old disappearance of her son, Tova clings to rigid routines, quick to push away the people trying to support her. But through her unlikely bond with Marcellus, she eventually learns to let down her guard and invite new community into her life. As a first-year, reading her journey helped me realize that while I miss what I left behind, my life here at college is exactly what I once dreamed of. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” taught me that home can still be built wherever you are, even as you carry the memories of your past.  

— Namya Kasturi, Contributing Writer

Contact the Arts desk at [email protected].