I recently replied to one of my friends (that’s you, Shilpa) who asked…”where are your emails? “ , that very few things come to my mind..so I really have nothing much to write about…
The ones that I can remember off-hand even with my sieve like mind, in no particular order are:-
2. Robert Pirsig - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
3. Mark Twain - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
4. Mark Twain - Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5. Charles Dickens - Pickwick Papers
6. Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie
7. Antoine De Saint Exupery - The little prince
8. JRR Tolkein - The lord of the rings
9. Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn - Yes, Minister
10. Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn - Yes, Prime Minister
11. Charles Dickens - A tale of 2 cities
12. Henry Cecil – Brothers in law, Sisters in law, Alibi for a judge, The Painswick line and a host of others that I cannot recollect, but I have rarely read a Henry Cecil that I didn't love (and I have read about 15-20)
13. PGW - Everything (and I mean it)
14. Bill Bryson – A short history of nearly everything
15. Paramhansa Yogananda – Autobiography of a yogi
16. Ernest Hemingway – The old man and the sea
17. Arthur Conan Doyle – Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
18. A.C. Grayling - What is good?
19. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
20. R.K.Narayan – Life of Malguldi, Magic of Malgudi and others
21. Ayn Rand – Fountainhead
22. C. Jung – The Undiscovered Self
23. Richard Feynman - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
24. Douglas Adams – The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (All the 5 parts of the trilogy )
25. Bill Waterson – Calvin and Hobbes – ALL
Zen is one of my favourite books…I have read it twice over and the first time was a few years ago..when I didn’t exactly get it..but it interested me enough to read it again last year..and I just found myself more and more fascinated by the book..
What is good? Is one book I really liked…I found it very interesting..i read it a few years ago actually…I think I even sent across 1-2 quotes from it in my then regular emails
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy or H2G2 as it is commonly known as ….i just find to be brilliantly imaginative and funny
Of all these books though, the one I fell in love with…years and years ago is catch-22..i remember reading catch from my dads collection when I was in school and finding it too obtruse..but I read it years later..and have never tired of it since..Its a book that can be read as a novel or short stories..and its sad and its funny….i just find it brilliant..
If you like a book on science and to read of an highly individual character along with….i highly recommend Feynman’s Surely you must be joking….Recommended to me by a friend(Kaus, where art thou?), i really enjoyed reading it…
Cecil was part of my dad’s collections of books….and till recently, out of publication in India When, a few years ago, I saw them in re-print..believe me, i rejoiced. His knowledge of the law along with the inimitable characters that he portrays are something that unerringly fails to tickle me pink..
I love Shantaram..but there is a double reason for it…its not just for the book but also for the setting..it is set in the city that I love in the time when I was growing up in it..and a lot of the situations and characters are something that I actually can relate to..so it made it a very unputdownable book for me..i think I read the last few hundred pages just sitting through one night…
Argumentative Indian…is very lucid and insightful…..i think it’s one of the best non-fiction books I have read.. a collection of related essays by Sen in which I find his insights very interesting and thought provoking as well.
I have read 2 of Rushdie’s…the one I listed and Shalimar the clown and honestly…Shalimar was a disappointment..i have yet to read his supposed greatest work yet “Midnights Children” and I will reserve my judgment till I read that but so far….1 for and 1 against..
P.P.S “Complete and Unabridged” is my motto J
But one of my friends (that’s you, Lord J) sent me a list of his favourite books and asked me for mine and that eventually prompted me to get off my lazy arse and made me write this out…
This is the list that I could come up with unaided, just relying on memory. I am sure that there are books that I love that are missed out in this list..
The ones that I can remember off-hand even with my sieve like mind, in no particular order are:-
1. Joseph Heller - Catch 22
2. Robert Pirsig - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
3. Mark Twain - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
4. Mark Twain - Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5. Charles Dickens - Pickwick Papers
6. Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie
7. Antoine De Saint Exupery - The little prince
8. JRR Tolkein - The lord of the rings
9. Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn - Yes, Minister
10. Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn - Yes, Prime Minister
11. Charles Dickens - A tale of 2 cities
12. Henry Cecil – Brothers in law, Sisters in law, Alibi for a judge, The Painswick line and a host of others that I cannot recollect, but I have rarely read a Henry Cecil that I didn't love (and I have read about 15-20)
13. PGW - Everything (and I mean it)
14. Bill Bryson – A short history of nearly everything
15. Paramhansa Yogananda – Autobiography of a yogi
16. Ernest Hemingway – The old man and the sea
17. Arthur Conan Doyle – Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
18. A.C. Grayling - What is good?
19. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
20. R.K.Narayan – Life of Malguldi, Magic of Malgudi and others
21. Ayn Rand – Fountainhead
22. C. Jung – The Undiscovered Self
23. Richard Feynman - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
24. Douglas Adams – The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (All the 5 parts of the trilogy )
25. Bill Waterson – Calvin and Hobbes – ALL
Zen is one of my favourite books…I have read it twice over and the first time was a few years ago..when I didn’t exactly get it..but it interested me enough to read it again last year..and I just found myself more and more fascinated by the book..
What is good? Is one book I really liked…I found it very interesting..i read it a few years ago actually…I think I even sent across 1-2 quotes from it in my then regular emails
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy or H2G2 as it is commonly known as ….i just find to be brilliantly imaginative and funny
Of all these books though, the one I fell in love with…years and years ago is catch-22..i remember reading catch from my dads collection when I was in school and finding it too obtruse..but I read it years later..and have never tired of it since..Its a book that can be read as a novel or short stories..and its sad and its funny….i just find it brilliant..
If you like a book on science and to read of an highly individual character along with….i highly recommend Feynman’s Surely you must be joking….Recommended to me by a friend(Kaus, where art thou?), i really enjoyed reading it…
Cecil was part of my dad’s collections of books….and till recently, out of publication in India When, a few years ago, I saw them in re-print..believe me, i rejoiced. His knowledge of the law along with the inimitable characters that he portrays are something that unerringly fails to tickle me pink..
I love Shantaram..but there is a double reason for it…its not just for the book but also for the setting..it is set in the city that I love in the time when I was growing up in it..and a lot of the situations and characters are something that I actually can relate to..so it made it a very unputdownable book for me..i think I read the last few hundred pages just sitting through one night…
Argumentative Indian…is very lucid and insightful…..i think it’s one of the best non-fiction books I have read.. a collection of related essays by Sen in which I find his insights very interesting and thought provoking as well.
I have read 2 of Rushdie’s…the one I listed and Shalimar the clown and honestly…Shalimar was a disappointment..i have yet to read his supposed greatest work yet “Midnights Children” and I will reserve my judgment till I read that but so far….1 for and 1 against..
Cheers,
P.S. I stay away from the abridged versions..i made up my mind years ago that if I wanted to read something, I should read it whole or not read it at all. It can be classified as a silly obstinacy of mine but it’s nice to have a few idiosyncracies to call my own..
P.P.S “Complete and Unabridged” is my motto J
