Every now and then, I come across questions from people which are of the nature similar to – “I want to start reading. Which books should I start with?”. This question really fascinates me and as I go about looking for books that a particular person may like depending upon her/his interests which are known to me, I almost always go blank. So this post is an attempt to help myself more than anybody else to conjure up a list of books that I would recommend to anyone who wants to start reading or is in the nascent stages and wants to move forward.
Let me also admit that ‘To each, his own’ is quite true in the world of books too – I may like a book which can equally be hated by my dear friend. Keeping this in mind, I have tried to include books which I believe would be liked by as many as possible (Please do not curse me for wasting your time if you end up not liking one). This list is also constrained by the fact that I am more of a fiction lover and therefore is a bit heavy towards it. The order of the books is purely alphabetical. And why 8.. well yeah.
1. ‘English, August’ by Upamanyu Chatterjee
(Tags: comedy, literary | Pages – 326) This is the most funny book I have read till date. It tells the story of an elite Agastya Sen (pronounced by his friends as August) who lands up in a godforsaken small town (the hottest place in India) as a part of his prestigious IAS training while his friends attend Yale and Harvard. There he encounters a host of people – crazy cooks, incompetent bureaucrat colleagues, cranky town people, and extreme boredom. So he decides to get stoned, scroll through dusty files, masturbate, read Marcus Aurelius, and stare at the ceiling, all the while growing into a responsible government official. Written with much personal influence by Upamanyu Chatterjee (an IAS officer himself), this book is one of the most critically acclaimed works of fiction coming from the Indian sub-continent and is widely regarded as a must-read. You can buy it from here.
2. ‘Hatching Twitter’ by Nick Bilton
(Tags: start-up, corporate power-games, thriller | Pages – 320) Wow! This is a true blockbuster book. It tells the true story of how Twitter was formed and more importantly of its troubled set of founders and friends-turned-foes. The book is a gripping tale of what genius and hunger for power can materialise to. Nick Bilton (of New York Times) writes this behind the scene story in the form of a true blue thriller, making you feel as if you are reading a perfect work of fiction (but sadly and interestingly, everything there is true). You can buy it from here.
3. ‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel
(Tags: emotional, moving, holocaust | Pages – 115) It brought tears to my eyes – such was the power of this restrained and harrowing autobiographical account of survival through the German concentration camps. Elie Wiesel (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) narrates his journey from belonging to a happy family with strong religious beliefs to one eating snow for food and sleeping over and under corpses, losing one by one, his faith, his mother, his sisters and, extremely excruciatingly and gut wrenchingly, his father. If there is one book that you read about how worse one’s life can get, and yet how it clings to one single thin and bleak ray of hope, read this one. Here is an excerpt to give you the flavour – “How was it that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent? […] Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” You can buy it from here.
4. ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell
(Tags: inspirational, scientific | Pages – 309) Malcolm Gladwell (one of the most eminent authors of our time) puts forward a very strong theory that the successful and the outliers are not so purely because of some inherent talent but because of an amalgamation of differential opportunities, immense hard work, and socio-ethnic background amongst others. Through some well researched examples, ranging from The Beatles’s success and Bill Gates’s riches to Korean Airways’ multiple accidents and Chinese’s command over mathematics, he convincingly shows how none of them were or are because of some individual’s sub-par or more-than-par IQs but because of 10,000 hours of effort, getting early access to a computer through a Mothers’ Association, having ethnic high power distance and the legacy of cultivating rice. The narrative is gripping and feels like a very high quality Netflix docu-series. You can buy it from here.
5. ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon
(Tags: illness, child, adventure, funny | Pages – 226) I have a special liking for books where the narrator is a child. Or, a child at heart. Simple-minded, away from the constructed tribulations of human life, and confused at the societal norms of adults and their lives. And if he is one like Christopher, the narrator of this deeply moving book, voila! It doesn’t take much time for Christopher to suck you in his world of simplicity and confusion. He is special. That’s what he calls himself. Gifted with Asperger Syndrome, which is more of a boon than a defect, or that’s what he makes you believe quite effectively, he writes a book about himself and his many adventures beginning from finding the murderer of a neighbourhood dog and embarking on a remarkable journey to see his mother, to clearing A level Mathematics. As you read each of his thoughts, you will cringe at how sad the world is, how difficult it has been made and how simple it could have been. For me, the novel reaches a crescendo when he describes a dream that he sees quite often, towards the end and says “…because in a dream you are allowed to do anything.” You can buy it from here.
6. ‘The Lowland’ by Jhumpa Lahiri
(Tags: emotional, disturbing, love-story, naxalite | Pages – 340) This book made me cringe. Cringe with hatred, with love, with admiration, fear and helplessness. Jhumpa Lahiri tells a powerful story of two brothers bound by tragedy (one driven by the naxalite movement and the other a dutiful son), a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past, and a country torn by revolution. With an overtly simple language and highly effective narration that wanders through time and across geographical and mental boundaries, it’s a book that is beyond criticism. As for me, I am extremely sure that I am going to remember many portions of it for the whole of my life. And it’s not an exaggeration. You can buy it from here.
7. ‘To Sir, With Love’ by E.R. Braithwaite
(Tags: education, classroom, emotional | Pages – 185) Rarely do you come across a book which when you finish reading, you strongly consider the case of it being a mandatory school-read – To Sir, With Love is one of them. It would serve the purpose which is two-fold – educating students on the most important aspect of life – Living, and sensitising teachers on the most important aspects of their job – Teaching and Treating students, which to my firm belief, many lack. This book, although being an Autobiographical work, never falls into the inevitable trap of egotism, self-justification and self-glorification that most of them eventually end up being. On the contrary, it is so-well written that you forget it’s a true story – it is entertaining & unputdownable, brimming with emotional conflicts and situations. It would not be an overstatement when I say that my eyes were moistened with tears at more than two different points in the narrative. You can buy it from here.
8. ‘Wonder’ by R.J. Palacio
(Tags: coming-of-age, moving, child, funny | Pages – 315) I am so glad I read this book. It is a terrific story of a wonderful kid – August Pullman – who is born with multiple defects on his face due to a rare genetic mutation. It is equally the story of his family, his friends, his school, his teachers and his pets. But more than everything else, it is the story of growing up and all that comes attached with it.
This book also establishes the fact that you don’t have to have a sad end to a story to make your readers choke. Even a heart-warming, happy, and bright ending can do wonders. You can buy it from here.
Shishir Chaudhary 
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