Conquered kingdom. Outlawed magic. An heir who refuses the script. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, I am joined by Kevin Maina (@mainamind) to dive into Sara Hashem’s duology: The Jasad Heir and The Jasad Crown.

We talk survival that becomes leadership, romance that respects politics, and why magic feels like memory more than fireworks. Expect deadly trials, sharp negotiations, and a heroine who chooses precision over prophecy.

In this episode:

• Sylvia and Arin as a study in power and consent

• How the Alcalah trials reveal character under pressure

• Empire myths, resistance costs, and the lie at the centre of history

• A quick listener practice: write one boundary your future self will keep

Follow the show, rate and review if it moved you. I am @globemich and Kevin is @mainamind.

Kevin Maina and I step into Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, a dark-academia descent story set in 1980s Cambridge, where ambition feels like a religion and brilliance comes with a price tag.

Two rival PhD candidates make an impossible choice and head somewhere they were never meant to survive, all for the kind of academic validation that can decide a life. What follows is part underworld journey, part satire of institutional power, and part psychological reckoning. We talk about what the book suggests about mentorship, ego, co-dependence, and the quiet violence of systems that reward devotion while pretending it is merit.

If you have ever wanted something so badly it started to rearrange your morals, this one will hit.

In this episode:

• What “katabasis” means, and why descent stories endure

• Dark academia as a machine that feeds on ambition

• Rivalry, intimacy, and the thin line between collaboration and cannibalism

• Power, mentorship, and who gets to be called “brilliant”

• What you bring back from the underworld, even when you “win”

New season, new voice at the table. I’m joined by Kevin Maina (@mainamind) as we dive into a gothic, time-spanning feast about appetite, autonomy, and women who refuse to be consumed. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil moves from a 16th-century colony to Victorian England to modern Boston, braiding three lives into one reckoning.

In this episode:

• Why the three timelines sing together

• The most haunting images and why they linger

• How the book turns “monster” into a choice rather than a curse

• A simple listener practice: write three lines that begin with “I will not starve”

Follow the show, rate and review if it moved you. I’m @globemich and Kevin is @mainamind.

A carriage humming towards midnight. A bar stool shared by chance. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, we spend New Year’s Eve with two Tokyo favourites about small choices and soft courage:

• Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa

• Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

We talk about city intimacy, micro-gestures that change a day, and why some romances sound like quiet laughter under a shared umbrella. Expect bento boxes, mushroom talk, and the moment a stranger’s kindness resets your year.

In this episode:

• How routine becomes a refuge

• The ethics of attention on public transport

• A simple New Year’s practice: three sentences for the stranger across from you

Follow the show, leave a review if it soothed you. I am @globemich everywhere.

Fairy lights in the window, a kettle on the boil, and a counter stacked with wrapped surprises. In this festive episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, we return to Rebecca Thorne’s cosy bookshop, where love reads like good stock-taking and community is built one recommendation at a time.

We talk about how the series turns ordinary work into romance, why December rituals matter, and the side characters who make a shop feel like home. Expect wreaths, late-night restocks, and a storm that becomes a tea party.

In this episode:

• What “cosy” really means when the stakes are human and kind

• Love as labour, and why tidy lists can be a love language

• A simple practice: brew something warm, choose one person, hand-sell them a book

Follow the show, leave a review if it warmed you, and I am @globemich everywhere.

Some doors need a key. Some need a question. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, we visit three quiet-magic favourites about curation as care:

• What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

• The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi

• When the Museum Is Closed by Emi Yagi

We talk about how a librarian’s odd reading lists change lives, a photographer’s studio helps people speak, and a closed museum becomes a companion for a woman learning how to see herself.

In this episode:

• Why recommendations are love letters in disguise

• How small assignments and rituals create real change

• A simple listener exercise to build your own “museum of the self”

Follow the show, leave a review if it met you where you are, I am @globemich everywhere.

A summer house beneath a live volcano. Drafting tables, cicadas, and the quiet discipline of work. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, we step into Masashi Matsuie’s Summer at Mount Asama (trans. Margaret Mitsutani), where a young architect, Tōru Sakanishi, joins the Murai Office and learns how craft, mentorship, and ordinary days can change a life.

We talk about the studio’s move to Kita-Asama, the national library competition, and the encounters that teach Tōru who he might become. This is a novel about restraint, observation, and the kind of kindness that looks like precision.

In this episode:

• Why apprenticeship stories work when nothing explodes

• The Murai Office as a character in its own right

• A simple practice: give one task the “Mount Asama treatment”

Follow the show, leave a review if it steadied you, and find the reading list plus transcript on my Substack. I am @globemich everywhere.

What makes a family when the world keeps testing the seams. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, we read two TJ Klune stories about protection, choice, and the soft power of routines.

• In the Lives of Puppets: Victor Lawson, an android father, a chaotic vacuum called Rambo, and a nurse bot with sharp opinions set out on a rescue that asks what a person is.

• The Bones Beneath My Skin: a weary bodyguard, a secretive father, and a child on the run learn how safety is built one ordinary day at a time.

We talk tenderness under pressure, dialogue that feels like touch, and why small rituals matter when everything tilts.

In this episode:

• Two paths to chosen family

• Routines as a safety toolkit

• A quick listener practice to map your own three rituals for home

Follow the show, leave a review if it held you. I am @globemich everywhere.