The Must List: What is Tillotama Shome Reading Currently?

For the longest time, actor Tillotama Shome preferred the company of books over people. “They were ways to travel without moving,” she says. But as the years passed and her journey took her across the world, human connections gradually took centre stage.

Known for her nuanced performances in Lust Stories 2 (2023) and Sir (2018), Shome recently added the title of producer to her repertoire with Baksho Bondi (Shadowbox), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. “I love when friends recommend books that they have loved deeply,” she reveals. “Books can be such memorable milestones in friendship.” Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter India, Shome offers a glimpse into her current reads — all of which are recommendations from those closest to her.

The Folded Leaf

William Maxwell’s The Folded Leaf is a poignant coming-of-age novel exploring the complexities of friendship, unspoken emotions and the heartaches of adolescence. Recommended to Shome by Saumyananda Sahi, co-director of Shadowbox, it is a story set in 1920s Chicago, following Lymie Peters, a quiet nerdy boy, and Spud Latham, a charismatic athlete, an unlikely friendship tested by time. When Sally Forbes enters their lives, the balance is disturbed, and their friendship begins to unravel. Maxwell expertly captures the unspoken longing and loneliness of youth and the silent shift into adulthood. It’s a haunting, delicately told novel that offers insight into intimacy, coded desire, and the melancholic beauty of a bond shaped by silence and social expectations.

Cat’s Eye

Actor Konkona Sen Sharma is the one who suggested Shome read Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood. A story about memory, trauma and the elusive nature of identity, it follows the life of an acclaimed painter Elaine Risley. Returning to Toronto for a retrospective of her work triggers memories of the past in her. As a child, she struggled with the codes of girlhood, enduring psychological torment at the hands of her supposed friends, particularly one named Cordelia. Their relationship shapes Risley’s artistic vision and through the years, she navigates toxic relationships, fleeting triumphs and profound losses. Of course, no Atwood novel is complete without her sharp dissections of power and gender. She uses the suburban setting to expose the artificial codes of femininity and the tyranny of social surveillance — often enforced by women themselves. Cat’s Eye is not only a story about growing up, but also about the ghosts of girlhood that linger long into adulthood.

Dream Count

A fan of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Shome is currently reading her latest book, Dream Count, with her sister-in-law. A decade in the making, it marks Adichie’s return to fiction, a novel of breathtaking depth and emotional perceptivity. Through the lives of four women — Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer in self-imposed solitude; Zikora, a high-flying lawyer confronting unexpected heartbreak; Omelogor, a powerhouse re-evaluating her sense of self; and Kadiatou, a devoted mother facing an unthinkable crisis — Adichie crafts a narrative that is intimate, yet expansive. Another story about love and longing, it includes Adichie’s signature lyricism as she dissects the intricacies of desire and the weight of choices. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic-era uncertainty, Dream Count also probes the gendered dynamics of professional ambition, bodily autonomy and societal expectations. With her sharp wit and emotional precision, Adichie reaffirms the political urgency of telling women’s stories — not just of survival, but of joy, rage, desire and the full range of human emotion and contradiction.