37. Hear from our Readers of 42
on how being a member has impacted their lives :)
Dear Reader,
Putting it out there upfront - This summer, Project Bibliotherapy is looking for its first 4200 Readers of 42. We would love for you & your friends and family to benefit from our global reading program (if you aren't already).
For this week's issue, we are passing the baton to our OG Readers of 42. Here are their testimonials :)
“Nan and Nitin didn’t start a book club. That would’ve been far too reasonable.
Instead, they accidentally opened a literary wormhole, filled it with emotions, zines, and collective existential spirals, and then invited everyone in.
Thus was born The Readers of 42—and its delightfully dangerous elder cousin, Project Bibliotherapy.
Nan is part oracle, part Vogue cover, and part magical aunt who always knows which book will emotionally obliterate you in a good way. She can dismantle your emotional walls with a well-timed poem and remind you to moisturise. If you’ve ever cried while looking at an outfit and a metaphor, you’ve felt her influence.
Nitin is the most Hitchhiker’s Guide-obsessed person I know, and I say that as someone who once considered naming a pet after Zaphod Beeblebrox.
He’s like if Douglas Adams had a librarian son who was also really good at Google Docs. Gentle, brilliant, quietly hilarious—and capable of quoting Vogon poetry with alarming accuracy.
Together, they’ve made something that’s not just a reading space—it’s a gentle cult of feeling too much, annotated margins, and books that ruin your entire week (but in a way that makes you better).
I’ve been here since the start, watching the chaos become craft, the zines multiply like gremlins, and the WhatsApp group evolve sentience.
This isn’t just reading. This is structured emotional sabotage—with snacks. It’s where your heartbreak meets a reading list and your joy gets its own worksheet. It’s a warm, weird, wonderful place.
And it’s run by two of the kindest, smartest, funniest humans I know.
(*Also: if you’re not emotionally destroyed by something they recommend at least once a month, you’re probably doing it wrong.)” - Gayathri RN
“From someone who took pride in saying 'I am a reader', to barely reading the newspaper due to 'lack of time', I was really looking for a way to re-ignite my spark and serendipitously I found Project Bibliotherapy.
The membership covers a wide variety of reads in terms of genres as well as links to related content. It was a very interesting way for me to find my way back to reading and also a nice nudge into exploring different types of content. Well done Nandini and Nitin!” - Parvati Ramachandran
“When I first met Project Bibliotherapy at a zine festival, everything else blurred into the background.
In one manuscript of ‘42’ lay the answer to life.
For a person who carries books everywhere to evade the eventual doomscrolling, a copy of 42 brought so much joy and convenience.
The membership is curated craftily for the curious!” - Alistar Bennis
“I can’t quite recall where or how I first stumbled upon ‘42 Goodreads of the Internet’ (now called 42: The Curious Reader’s Companion). But I do remember meeting Nandini and Nitin for the first time at the Bangalore Lit Fest in December 2022. Once you get past their striking good looks, you quickly discover how warm, thoughtful, and deeply engaged they both are.
Over the past two years, I’ve run into them again at the Jaipur Lit Fest and a subsequent Bangalore Lit Fest — and each time, our conversations have been as candid as they’ve been enlightening.
As an early subscriber to the Readers of 42, I feel genuinely proud to write this testimonial.
When the very first edition came out, I was so thrilled that I immediately shared a copy with my students (I teach classes 11 and 12). Many of them were grateful for the discovery.
I remember my own amazement at finding Aldous Huxley’s letter to his former student George Orwell — arguing that *his* vision of a hellish future was more probable than Orwell’s “boot in the face” kind of dystopia. V1R17 has to be the most important single page I’ve read in recent memory! It sent me tumbling down the rabbit hole of dystopian sci-fi reading, and I haven’t looked back.
I’m constantly impressed by Nitin and Nandini’s curation of 42: The Curious Reader’s Companion — I recommend it to anyone who’ll listen. I follow them on social media, and I’m always heartened by their events with authors and fellow readers. Living in Bangalore while most of their events happen in Delhi, I feel more than a little FOMO. Especially when they hosted Manjula Padmanabhan at Kunzum. That particular bout of FOMO sent me straight to Blossoms on Church Street that very weekend — I picked up most of her titles and gifted several to my students in our school book club.
So thank you, Nitin and Nandini. Your work has inspired more readers than just those on your mailing list — and it’s kept my reading fire burning bright.” - Priya Rao
“As someone who went from being a voracious reader to an overwhelmed Gen Z adult on today's Internet, Readers of 42 has been a saviour in helping me curate my cultural consumption - from personal essays, reviews, to books - it's a one-stop cop for all my literary and cultural fixes. The best part is that it lands straight in my inbox, saving me the hassle of surfing hundreds of platforms or websites to find great quality of work.
So excited for the next chapter of this mission and what it holds for my favourite dynamic duo - Nandini and Nitin! <3” - Molina Singh
“Project Bibliotherapy has pioneered one of the smartest ways of reading for me — if you have picked up an edition of 42: The Curious Reader's Companion, you would know how well curated and informative it is, allowing you to explore genres and authors more intimately, without prescribing any internet checklist to their work, as it is so common today.
One of the high points of my writing career was to be featured by them, for an article I wrote. I would always highly recommend getting a membership, and diving right in!” - Paridhi Puri
“Over the years, my love of books got buried little by little, somewhere in the sands of time. Along came Project Bibliotherapy, and I was given a stairway to reading heaven to get back into the midst of the words of wisdom where I belonged.
It's great to have curated reading material these days because we have so many - too many, I should say - digital distractions. Here's a mighty cheers to N&N, and all my support for the future - it's coming on! :)” - Aradhye Ackshatt
“I am glad to be a Reader of 42 from the initial days. I was wondering before getting to know about Project Bibliotherapy, if such an initiative helps or is even available. and I am glad I got to know.
I enjoy reading the updates and the information that is provided about books, authors and literature in general. The team with its energy and passion have been seen conducting amazing events.
I had an opportunity to meet them in Jaipur during Lit Fest. I wish the team the best to continue the same!” - Arun G
“Joining the Readers of 42 has been a very interesting experience for me. There's so much of new reading material I have come across thanks to the Reader Companions.
It is very engaging and the community is vibrant and strong to share good book recommendations.” - Nikhil Kamath
“It’s been a pleasure to witness the evolution of Project Bibliotherapy as an early Reader of 42. Each issue is an eclectic mix of old and new writers, helping me discover new perspectives on a range of topics!
For anyone interested in expanding the scope of content they read, Project Bibliotherapy is a great one-stop destination, and I always look forward to their features.” - Ila Reddy
“Meeting Nandini and Nitin at the Jaipur Literature Festival inspired me to join the Project Bibliotherapy community pretty much instantly.
Their passion for getting us off of our phones and into books really resonated with me, as an avid childhood reader-turned avid adult scroller.
And, as it turns out, joining the community is one of the best decisions I’ve made, because it completely transformed my life — I finally started reading again!
Whether it was by thumbing through their beautifully curated zines or opening up their lovingly-crafted newsletters, joining this bookish gang reminded me that reading doesn’t have to be a big deal, a big event, but rather a gentle, calming, everyday activity that deserves a place in our lives.
Thank you, Nandini and Nitin, for making the effort to build this. Forever grateful! <3” - Saloni Miglani
“Being the youngest member of Project Bibliotherapy at 14 is something I’m really proud of, because it made me wiser, smarter, and sharper with their incredible selection of articles.
Every day after school, I look forward to reading them —it’s honestly one of the highlights of my day.
There’s something really calming about diving into topics I wouldn’t normally get to explore or read, and I love how I get to learn something new every single time. I even share whatever I learnt with my dad afterward, and it makes me feel really good that I teach him something new and unexplored by him.
Project Bibliotherapy, for me, is more than just reading—it’s a small ritual that keeps me grounded and curious. I’m so grateful to be part of a community that values curiosity. It’s a space that makes me feel really inspired, and I genuinely look forward to every email in my inbox.
I've met both the founders multiple times and every time we start a conversation, it covers everything between the ground and the sky. I was first introduced to them at Kunzum and been a fan ever since :) - Kaashvi
Our hearts are full. Massive gratitude to everyone who wrote in :) It's been a long strange trip getting here. But one totally worth it.
We would love to welcome you to read more, read better with us.
Thanks and love - Nitin & Nandini
PS. Regular programming resumes next week.