Indian Readers discussion

Which are the best 5 books that you read this year?

The Sign of Jonas

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East

In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart--The Journal of a Priest at Prayer

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

Cassandra a Mogadiscio (no English translation)

Except the last one, the others are non fiction.

Here's mine in no particular order
1. Prisoners of geography by Tim Marshall;
2. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder;
3. The Satanic Verses by Rushdie;
3. Valli by Sheela Tomy;
4. Blindness by Jose Saramago
5. Phantoms in the Brain by V Ramachandran

1) The truths and lies of the nationalism - Partha Chatterjee
2) Papyrus - Irene Vallejo
3)Smoke and ashes - Amitav Ghosh
4) Gita press and making of Hindu India -Akshay Mukul
5) Snow Crash - Neal Stevenson

1. The Magic Mountain
2. A Farewell to Arms
3. If We Were Villains
4. The Ink Black Heart
5. The Bride of Lammermoor

My books be though it is hard but in no particular order

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

In no particular order,

1. Desperately Seeking Shahrukh
2. Anxious People
3. The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo

1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez Gabriel
4. Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara
5. Berserk by Kentaro Miura

1. The Art of Racing in the Rain
2. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
3. Rebecca
4. Patang
5. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

1. All About Love: New Visions
2. Daisy Jones & The Six
3. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
4. She Who Became the Sun
5. Lady Tan's Circle of Women

My best five of 2023-
1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. 12 Rules for life by JBP
3. Indian Ideas of Freedom
4. The final farewell
5. How China sees India and the world.

My top 5 so far (in no particular order):

My top 5 in no particular order:

1. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano - A book that feels like a warm hug. The story of 4 inseparable sisters and their lives which completely changes when the younger sister falls in love with her brother in law.
2. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - Twisted book which highlights the dark realities of the publishing industry and the dangerous side of social media in one's life.
3. Not Quite a Disaster After All by Buku Sarkar - Relaxing and refreshing novel.
4. As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh - Painful, mind numbing and heartbreaking book on the plight of Syrian lives which are stuck amidst a civil conflict going on for more than 10 years now.
5. Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors - Heart aching love story between two people who marry for love, convenience and passion.

I thoroughly enjoyed all these books and absolutely loved each one of them. They are truly unique and sweep you right into their worlds. Do give it a shot for a wonderful read!

Top 5 books is going to be so hard to choose as I read some pretty incredible books this year. But with a heavy heart I will try. (in no particular order):

1. Masters of Death by Olivie Blake: incredible storytelling and the heartfelt subplots
2. A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino: good police work and Detective Kaga as the protagonist
3. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes: incredible storytelling and good choice of protagonists
4. Normal People by Sally Rooney: for the very flawed human protagonists
5. Tomie by Junji Ito: 742 pages of insane horror

The didn't have a great reading year. I read some and liked only few.
Here are 4:
1. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
2. The uninhabitable earth
3. to kill a Democracy
4. The Revenant

I didn't have a great reading year either. But I read a few anthropology books which were epiphanic. A few of the best books I read this year:

Work: A History of How we spend our Time by James Suzman
Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve by Ian Morris
A Life of Her Own: The Story of Margaret Dashwood by Wendy Zomparelli
A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir

Kiran wrote: "1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez Gabriel
4. Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara
5. Berserk by Kentaro Miura"


I took a break from Kingdom. As a new manga reader. the wait was killing me!

Best Books I have read in 2023 are:
1. The Hidden Hindu Trilogy - Akshat Gupta
2. Raamrajya - Ashutosh Rana
3. Lies - T M Logan
4. War of Lanka - Amish Tripathi

Not read too many books in 2023- did buy a lot though

Read:

1. Liberation of Sita by Volga
2. Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmund Tutu
3. Love, hope, faith by Monika Jain
4. The Mighty Mustang by Ronit Ranjan
5. Aladdin (read for son but counting it to make it to 5 ;))

1. The Collector
2 The Bricklayer
3. The Last[kids story but it's very nice, gave a good feeling]
4. Gone, Baby, Gone
5. The Killer Inside Me