Sign up for The Reading Year
A free book every month, for a year, for college students. We begin with 100 students in Hyderabad. You pick the book from a curated list, collect it from Luna Books, read it (or try) and tell us what you thought. That's all it is.
Applications are open until 31 October 2026. If you're chosen, your first book is ready on 2 January 2027.
What we're trying to do
The Reading Year exists to help people read deeply, and for pleasure, in a time when both are getting harder. Can a gently guided program, with a thoughtfully chosen book each month and no pressure attached, help someone who has never really read, or who stopped years ago, become a reader again? We want to find out.
We're starting small, with 100 college students in Hyderabad. If it works, the same idea could serve other ages, other cities, and other kinds of readers. Everything below describes this first cohort.
Reading for pleasure. No obligation.
The idea
A light-touch program that attempts to remove at least a few of the obstacles that lie between wanting to read and going on to make a steady habit of it. The Reading Year is initially aimed at young and emerging adults. The program will introduce participant readers to a broad range of books that we think are worthy of engagement. We hope that participants find the experience interesting and enjoyable, gain useful insight into themselves as readers, and that once the program has ended, at least a reasonable number of them will choose to carry on with the habit.
Eligibility
Students aged 18 to 24 with a valid student ID from a college in Hyderabad. We have 100 spots in the first cohort. We will read every application. If more than 100 meet our criteria, we'll choose by lottery and let everyone know by 21 November.
Enrolment
Fill in a simple form that tells us about your reading journey so far and your reading preferences. If you're not a reader yet, tell us about the movies, TV shows, or podcasts you've enjoyed instead, and we'll use that to pick books we think you might enjoy.
The slate
There are two TRY slates in a year, effective January and July, each with about 50 books. They're grouped into Stories (classic and contemporary fiction, including global and Indian regional language translations), Page-turners (genre fiction including crime, thrillers, fantasy and science fiction) and Ideas (nonfiction including memoirs, essays, travel writing, nature writing, history, popular science, and other narrative nonfiction). All the books will be in English and are written for adult readers. A draft slate for the first six months is available to view here. We encourage applicants to review this list to determine if the program might be a good fit for them. A final slate for January to June will be confirmed on 1 December.
Choose a book every month
Every month you get a choice: either you ask us to go ahead and pick a book for you from the slate, or you browse and choose for yourself. Your first book, along with some free and fun TRY merch, must be collected in person from Luna. In subsequent months, you can choose to collect in person, or we can ship to you. We'd urge you to come in person as often as you're able to, as this will allow you to explore the shelves in the bookshop, which might help guide your choices during the rest of the program.
Tell us what you thought
At the end of each month, we'll ask for a brief reaction to that month's book. Loved it, it was fine, didn't like it, or didn't finish: this simple feedback is all we ask. This tells us what's working and what's not, and helps us choose better books for you. Not finishing a book that isn't working for you is completely fine. Every book, whether you liked it or not, finished it or not, tells you something useful about your reading preferences.
Your reading card
Month 1Read
Month 2Read
Month 3Read
Month 4Reading now
Month 5
Month 6
Month 7
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11
Month 12
For every kind of reader.
The Reading Year is for anyone who would like books to be a bigger part of their life.
Aspiring reader
If you're not a reader yet, but keen to build the habit, let us help you find books you'll enjoy.
Lapsed reader
You used to read, but with academic pressures and more time on your devices, the reading habit fell away. Now you want to rekindle it. Sign up!
Active reader
While the program is focused on aspiring and lapsed readers, it is not closed to you. Perhaps you will find something new that you'd like to explore and choose to read a little outside your comfort zone.
Sign up
Tell us a little about yourself and your reading. It takes about ten minutes. Applications close on 31 October 2026.
Who's behind it.
Luna Books
An independent, curated bookshop in Hyderabad since 2022. Luna chooses the books in the program, and the bookshop is where you'll pick them up. Over the past four years, the booksellers at Luna have engaged with readers of every age and stage, and they are excited about recommending books for TRY.
The Caspian Foundation
The philanthropic arm of Caspian Impact. Caspian Impact is an impact investment firm of more than twenty years' standing, investing in enterprises with innovative business models that address a social or environmental problem.