Last year, I signed up for the South Asian Challenge 2012. Knowing my schedule, I allotted myself a conservative estimate of 10 books to read.
It turned out that I was busier than I thought. The figure of 10 books was way too puffed up, and finally I fell two short as 2012 hurtled to an end.
Out of 33 books I read during the year, the following qualified for the challenge:
- Diary of a Social Butterfly by Moni Mohsin
- She’s a Jolly Good Fellow by Sajita Nair
- Beast with Nine Billion Feet by Anil Menon
- Who let the Dork Out by Sidin Vadukut
- Broken News by Amrita Tripathi
- Love Over Coffee by Amrit Shetty
- The Red Carpet by Lavanya Sankaran
- Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka
I had been waiting to read Chinaman for such a long time, and absolutely loved it when I finally got around to reading it. Two of my favourite things – literature and cricket – all wrapped into one! What more could I ask from life? It is a little-known fact about me that I was a huge fan of Sri Lankan cricket even before they won the World Cup in 1996. So reading a book set in that era was quite thrilling for me.
Another amazing book I would highly recommend is The Beast with Nine Billion Feet. I can’t remember the last time I absorbed so many different ideas from one source. After reading this book, I truly felt enlightened.
Lavanya Sankaran’s exquisite writing in The Red Carpet bowled me over. A couple of her stories set in the corporate world have inspired me to try my hand at something similar, though I doubt I can achieve her level of finesse and subtlety.
I also enjoyed Broken News by Amrita Tripathi, which, for some reason, I wasn’t really expecting to like because I know nothing of the world of news and television journalists and their hectic life.
Though I haven’t signed up for the similar challenge in 2013, I have already read 3 books by Indian authors and have lined up 2 more.
What good books have you read lately?
Feb 25, 2013 @ 21:40:38
I read a lot of books, but none of them have convinced me to remember what they were called or who they were written by. A lot of them were supernatural novels and I feel like I read the same story over and over again. I’ll have to write down your choices, they sound different
Feb 26, 2013 @ 11:04:10
I know what you mean…I don’t usually note the authors and book names either but this time I made a conscious effort to do so!