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Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The story follows the relationships and entanglement between five principle characters, among themselves, and with others in the course of the story. Set before and during the Nigerian civil war, it shows how people change in the face of impending doom and struggle, how love comes together with all its ugly counterparts like jealousy, possessiveness, revenge and desire, but also triumph as compassion and forgiveness.

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Normal People by Sally Rooney

This novel chronicles the coming-of-age story of two young people in love, who are similar yet different, polarized yet one. Like its title, it's a story instantly recognizable by anyone who has ever been young and in love, its highs and lows and happiness and sadness almost tangible in its telling. Ultimately it's also about two people sometimes failing to communicate their true feelings, sometimes assuming things they should not. Never take love for granted, it seems to say. And yet never chain its legs.

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The novel tells the story of a friendship between a Dari and Hazraa boy, who got muddled with social class, political unrest and the Taliban. It's a tale of human fragility and guilt, forgiveness and redemption. If it makes it interesting to know, the author is an Afghan and was a medical doctor working in the US.

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Memoirs from the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Bleak, depressing and honest, the book follows the narrator's experience in the Siberian prison camp as a nobleman who has to underwent horrifying and cruel treatment and conditions of living in prison, among commoners. It's also considered as Dostoevsky's semi-autobiographical writing since he based the novel on his own experience in the same prison. The detailed recounting of punishments and murders committed by the prison officers and inmates are often shocking and led to the protagonist's spiritual and moral awakening.

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My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

This murder mystery thriller is interestingly set in 16th century Istanbul, during the rule of the Ottoman empire. It utilizes symbolism and colours, religious and cultural subjects to add mystery to its plot, barely using names, and assigning narrative to inanimate/non-human objects like drawings, dog, dead corpse and even Satan. At its core is also a love story, and a man in pursuit of both the identity of the murderer, and the woman he loves.

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The Ancient Garden by Hwang Sok-Yong

This novel tells the love story between Oh Hyun Woo and Han Yoon Hee in the form of recollection through letters and journal entries, as Oh Hyun Woo was in prison for 20 years for being a political rebel during the Gwangju Uprising, while Yoon Hee died of cancer shortly before Hyun Woo was released after the completion of his prison term. The novel provided rich and interesting insight into student activism and political turmoil which shaped South and North Korea into what they are today, and the external political influence which plays a hand in the Korean War.