Thursday, December 16, 2010

Some of the books that I have really loved...

The list could keep changing ahead. I will try to restrict myself to say 15 of my favourite books?
  • Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (This is sheer poetry)
  • Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud (There cannot be another Bartimaeus)
  • Radheya (In Marathi) - Ranjit Desai (Karna as a protagonist changed my outlook forever)
  • Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts (A very in depth portrayal of Mumbai)
  • The Zahir - Paulo Coelho (Struck me by its simplicity yet the reach, personal)
  • The Outsider - Albert Camus (Words shot from an AK47 about existentialism)
  • Animal Farm - George Orwell (Less said the better!)
  • Fools Die - Mario Puzo (I remember the gambling scene at the beginning, still feel the journey)
  • The Chancellor Manuscript - Robert Ludlum (Espionage and political crime thriller)
  • Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome (Humour writing at its best)
  • Life at Blanding's (Omnibus) - P. G. Wodehouse (This is the series that got me hooked!)
  • Curtain: Poirot's Last Case - Agatha Christie (Ironically, the first Christie I read)
  • Icon - Frederick Forsyth (Espionage, CIA, KGB, classic Foryth story telling)
  • The 11th Commandment - Jeffrey Archer (Just for the ending!)
  • Wyatt's Hurricane - Desmond Bagley (The first full length novel i read, and re-read a lot of times, still remember the elation!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With respect, Shantaram is a work of fiction, a novel. It shouldn't really be considered a "true" portrayal of what Bombay is.

You write a post on Hitchhiker and miss mentioning it on the list. Much much better than David Roberts' book I think.

k said...

Hi Phantom, yes i indeed agree that Shantaram cannot be considered a true portrayal of Mumbai. But living there for a while, i feel that it has captured some of the elements that make up Mumbai. (How so ever we deny!)

As for H2G2, i have extensively heard the BBC radio series (the old 12 episode program) and just read the first of the trilogy. So as an honest fan, i will put it up in this list when i read the entire trilogy in four parts. :)

And i wouldn't compare H2G2 with Shantaram. Each stands in its own niche.