"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"-- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Although Lenin did not say it in the context we are interested in, but it aptly captures the predicament of book lovers. When they are not reading, there is a feeling of nothingness. When they are, they travel many journeys through time and space thereby, living a lot of stories.
I intend to create this thread to pull some unique and great recommendations across different genres. Let's grow this thread together with some great recommendations, reviews and intellectually stimulating discussions.
Friends,
Just collating all the suggestion of this thread in this single post. This was my go to place for recommendations in last few months. Have benefited a lot from all your suggestions, and request you to keep updating here whenever you complete a good book. I am doing this for my own convenience (and hopefully for other's as well), so that it is easy to pick and choose our next read :) Happy Reading !
PS: Sorry to spam you all. Tagging helped me in segregating the list properly, and maintaining the flow of the suggestions.
PPS: Please feel free in keeping this thread active :)
-TR
@BarackYomama'ssuggestions
3. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
@Silentobserver suggested
4. HAMID co-authored by Hamid Ansari and Geeta Mohan
5.The Hype Machine by Sinan Aral
6.Land of the Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal
And- Rakesh Maria's autobiography LET ME SAY IT NOW, THE MOSSAD, LES MISERABLES
@whatonly's suggested
7. Roses in December by Justice MC Chagla
8. Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
9. PG Wodehouse
10. Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
And- George Orwell's 1984, Amy Poehler's Yes Please
@Sadhika's recommendation
12. Khaled Hosseini's all three novels- 'The Kite Runner', 'A thousand splendid suns' and 'And the mountains echoed'
13. Premchand's 'Nirmala' and 'Gaban'
14. Savarkar- echoes from a forgotten past' by Vikram Sampath
15. Karma Yoga- Swami Vivekananda (and The other books in the series are Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga)
And- Manu Joseph's 'Serious Men'
The illicit happiness of other people
@Porus's suggestion
16. God of Small Things
17. Interpreter of Maladies
18. Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand' by K Vijay Kumar
19. Hemant Karkare: A Daughter's Memoir' by Jui Karkare Navare
20. Bullet for Bullet' by Julio Ribeiro
@BurtMacklin_FBI's suggestion
21. Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: the story of success
22. Krish Ashok's Masala lab: the science of Indian cooking
23. Ismat Chughtai's Lifting the Veil
24. A Life in Diplomacy by Maharajakrishna Rasgotra
25. The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty by William Dalrymple
26. The Anarchy: The East India Company.
27. A Song of Ice and Fire series
28. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
29. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
30. Those Days by Sunil Gangopadhyay
31. Jawaharlal Nehru Ji's Discovery of India
32. Collected works of TS Eliot
33. Rainer Maria Rilke
34. Khalil Gibran
35. Pablo Neruda
36. WB Yeats
37. Sylvia Plath
38. Emily Dickinson
39. Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
40. Jaishankar Prasad
41. Rupi Kaur Instagrammy poetry
42. Brandon Sanderson
43. The Hobbit by Tolkien
44. Martian by Andy Weir
45. William Ernest Henley’s Invictus
Reading your recommendations reminded me of some similar books I've read. Here are some of my favourites:
For lovers of fantasy and mystery thrillers combined, theMistbornseries as well as theStormlight Archives- both byBrandon Sanderson
For those seeking poignant tales (slightly similar to Khaled Hosseini tales),To kill a mockingbirdbyHarper Lee.Also,the Namesake byJhumpa Lahiri for those seeking Indian fiction in this category
For lovers of humour, PG Wodehouse is the best as someone here already suggested. Another book in a similar vein is The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxybyDouglas Adams.It is science fiction but absolutely humuorous
For lovers of autobiographies with humor, Surely, you're joking Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman. Fans of The Office can also readRainn Wilson'sautobiographyThe Bassoon Kingwith a forward by the one and only Dwight K. Schrute.
If you instead are looking for short stories, try Sum - forty tales from the afterlife.It is a collection of very short yet brilliantly innovative (and humourous at times) 40 tales of how life after death can look like.
Lovers of Barack Obama, can check outDreams from my father. He wrote this 10 years before running for the Senate. In it you can see how his early life contributed to who he became.
Now to the more practical books. Fellow introverts HAVE to readQuiet bySusan Cain. This changed how I looked at myself. Again, a must read.
For UPSC aspirants,Deep WorkbyCal Newport is extremely useful for learning how to focus deeply.
For anyone looking to learn how to write better,The sense of style bySteven Pinker is invaluable. The latter part can get too technical and detailed, but it's useful.
When I get anxious, I find Thin slices of anxiety to be extremely helpful. It's more like a picture book with works of art on all pages. Extremely creative and soothing.
One of the easiest reads, if you're beginning to read, isThe Last Lecture byRandy Pausch.It's about a professor who finds out he has months to live and then prepares and gives one last lecture. The actual lecture can be found on Youtube too.
And finally my favourite poem -When death comesbyMary Oliver(https://www.awakin.org/read/view.php?tid=477)
Apologies for the length. I realised how long the list is only after I typed it all out. :P
Hope you find something worth reading here.
Thank you for this thread and really look forward to some interesting suggestions and discussions.
Post mains my first pick was HAMID co-authored by Hamid Ansari and Geeta Mohan. My general interest in India's foreign policy and the crazy sounding story of Hamid Ansari in particular got me choose this book. And what an emotional roller coaster it turned out to be! It is as intense as a thriller, disgustingly evil and 'as real as surreal'. But most importantly Hamid is a celebration of humanity. It also gives an account of general state of affairs in Pakistan, the tribals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Afghanistan. I was happy to learn that India enjoys much goodwill and affection among common Afghans. As I finished reading this book I could only think of Kulbhushan Jadhav and so many unknown Indians languishing in Pakistan's jails (military and civil). You can well imagine so many things!
If anybody wants to read an authoritative and detailed explanation on the functioning of social media then may I say THE HYPE MACHINE by Sinan Aral is a must-read? Simply put, this book is about the science, sociology, psychology, politics, and economics of social media. Do we need social media regulation? After reading this book I certainly favor a social media regulation for the sake of sanity and civility to say the least.
Another must-read and especially for us UPSC aspirants is LAND OF SEVEN RIVERS by Sanjeev Sanyal. I think Sanyal just knows how to evoke curiosity in readers' minds and with this book one will be rather compelled to love history and geography. A rich account of India's geographical history, this can be used for value addition in essay paper.
@Devanapiyam Those are some amazing recs. Thank you! Seems like exactly what I was looking for. I read John Grisham’sRainmakerandThe Firm. Rainmakerhas stayed with me after all these years. It’s a great book with a lot of heart.
@SergioRamos yes!Discovery of Indiawas the first book I picked up after mains. I only regret not reading it earlier, as my first introduction to the subject.
Does anyone have any poetry recommendations? Feeling a particular craving :D
Collected works of TS Eliot; Rainer Maria Rilke, Khalil Gibran, Pablo Neruda, WB Yeats, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson...if I've to chose one I'll go with Eliot
Hindi mein Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Jaishankar Prasad (zyaada padhi nahi hain to be honest)
Also, maybe this is just me being a snob, but I cannot unrecommend enough Rupi Kaur and other instgrammy poetry
Will keep me satisfied for several days. Thanks :D
Also
START PARCHMENT BACKGROUND
START TYPEWRITER FONT
if we find ourselves
turning one day
to lazy random poetry
perhaps it is time
to dust off trusty old Laxmikanth
once again
END TYPEWRITER FONT
END PARCHMENT BACKGROUND
Fiction:
English- Khaled Hosseini's all three novels- 'The Kite Runner', 'A thousand splendid suns' and 'And the mountains echoed'. There are moments in these books that will stay with you forever. My favourite is 'A thousand splendid suns'. Miriam and Laila are the women one must know.
Hindi- Premchand's 'Nirmala' and 'Gaban'. While Nirmala traces the story of a young woman married to an old man, a poignant read. Gaban, on the other hand, deals with stories of greed, remorse and values in the society. The prose is exceptional.
Non fiction:
1) 'Savarkar- echoes from a forgotten past' by Vikram Sampath. Here, the author presents a meticulous research on the life and times of one of the most controversial figure of contemporary India. This book is an important read to understand the emergence of modern India, the people and the politics. One would come across the forgotten revolutionaries like Chiplunkar, Chapekar brothers among others. I would suggest to read it without presumptions. Difficult, I know.
2) Karma Yoga - Swami Vivekananda. It is a short book and an absolute treasure trove. The other books in the series are Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. One must read and reread them. I am doing the same.
3) As mentioned above in this thread-
Born a crime by Trevor Noah. The star of the book is his mother. And the stories are both funny and moving.
Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. ( I think everyone has already read these :P However, his ideas tend to get repetitive when you read the books back to back. So, skipped his third book. )
Anyone here likes reading espionage novels?Jean Le Carreor similar authors. I love them.
And also a lot of historical fiction or world history in general. I had a phase a while ago where I would read a lot of books about The Holocaust (Shrier mostly), then branched out to reading about the Roman Empire (300's depiction of Spartans and Achaemenid Empire was so inaccurate), the Ottoman, Gulag, Japanese Imperialism (do you know about Nanking though? -_-), tried to make sense about Middle East politics from a historical perspective (America's exploits still majorly responsible :P, also Rambo 2's plot makes more sense now: the time i watched it I had no clue why he would fight alongside the Mujahideens)
A combination of the above probably contributed to my interest towards Foreign Service.
Above are the books I read over the course of last year, time crunch due to UPSC made me explore an entirely new genre of books - Graphic Novels.
I couldn’t complete Alan Ryan’sOn Politics. Even for a PSIR optional person it felt too much at that time.
Read Guy Delisle’sJerusalemafter prelims - it’s a commentary about contemporary Jerusalem, the issues on the ground, bit of religious history, Israel-Palestine issues from the “fish out of water” perspective. Author Guy’s wife works for Doctors Without Borders, so he finds himself in conflict zones often. His other works which are equally famous includeBurma ChroniclesandPyongyang. It’s almost journalistic. Similar to works of Joe Sacco who covers war zones often and has even won a Pulitzer.
Marjane Satrapi’sPersepolisis now among my favourite books of all time. It’s a coming age of story of a girl in Iran, right at the time of the 1979 revolution. It’s incredibly well written and presented, and takes you through Marjane’s life in a liberal westernised Iran before revolution, under a theologic regime afterwards and as an expat in Austria. Left me sappy.
Read Nehru’sGlimpses of World Historyin January. It’s huuuuge (in Trump’s voice). I know it’s not scholarly or academic, probably has gross generalisations or inaccuracies. But I liked it. Also, for the un-initiated, this book is actually a compilation of letters he wrote to Indira Gandhi to teach her about the story of the world. It’s like having a friend narrate you a story: where the best bits have been put together to make it interesting.
Tintin needs no explanation, so that’s that.
:)
I’ve been longing to readMausnow. Another graphic novel which is generally regarded as the best one out there. It’s about the Holocaust so yeah, that’s reason enough for me to read it.
@Devanapiyam Those are some amazing recs. Thank you! Seems like exactly what I was looking for. I read John Grisham’sRainmakerandThe Firm. Rainmakerhas stayed with me after all these years. It’s a great book with a lot of heart.
@SergioRamos yes!Discovery of Indiawas the first book I picked up after mains. I only regret not reading it earlier, as my first introduction to the subject.
Does anyone have any poetry recommendations? Feeling a particular craving :D
Speaking of Morrison reminded me of Bob Dylan. All of Dylan’s music is the most beautiful poetry you can find. The lyrics of almost all of his songs are pregnant with meaning.
I would definitely recommend:
1. Desolation Row
2. Tambourine Man
3. Seven Curses
@Devanapiyam Those are some amazing recs. Thank you! Seems like exactly what I was looking for. I read John Grisham’sRainmakerandThe Firm. Rainmakerhas stayed with me after all these years. It’s a great book with a lot of heart.
@SergioRamos yes!Discovery of Indiawas the first book I picked up after mains. I only regret not reading it earlier, as my first introduction to the subject.
Does anyone have any poetry recommendations? Feeling a particular craving :D
Collected works of TS Eliot; Rainer Maria Rilke, Khalil Gibran, Pablo Neruda, WB Yeats, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson...if I've to chose one I'll go with Eliot
Hindi mein Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Jaishankar Prasad (zyaada padhi nahi hain to be honest)
Also, maybe this is just me being a snob, but I cannot unrecommend enough Rupi Kaur and other instgrammy poetry
For days when you'd like to get away from it all for a bit:Master and Margarita(some of the best Russian fiction, the kind of book that stays with you long after you're done) andSandman(not a novel, shoot me, but it's worth a read for the dreamy atmosphere and the incredible art).
I'd also be remiss if I didn't mentionNo Longer Human by Osamu Dazai; it's an incredibly emotional Japanese coming of age novel about a person who's haunted by the realization that he doesn't quite fit in with his peers.
Thanks@AzadHindFauz for creating this thread. I entered the UPSC race in 2017 summer. My major reading was mostly post Mains all these years. Other times, I'd try my best reading a few pages every other day or so. My book selection was usually non fiction, with utility for UPSC prep as well. I'll try and segment them sectionally and talk more about each.
I've been off fiction sadly for several years so I'm counting on the enriching discussions here. For fiction aficionados, there's a small YouTube channel, Chalchitra Talks, which covers quite an eclectic range of fiction books. Do check it out if interested!
+1 for Trevor Noah'sBorn a crime( the book gets even more funny if you read it in Trevor's voice)
Your standard non-fiction: Harari'sSapiens & 21 lessons for 21st century.I really enjoyed reading these books as some of his arguments were very new to me.
Also Malcolm Gladwell'sOutliers: the story of successis an interesting read. He emphasizes the role of non-traditional factors that make high-achievers different. This is the book that popularized the famous 10,000 hours rule. All in all, this book reaffirms the need for greater equity.
I'm halfway through@BarackYomama'sA Promised Land.His self-critical style of writing is really humbling. Also the book is filled with a lot of self-deprecating humour. It reminds you to take yourself less seriously.
For the people who cook (or self-proclaimed MasterChef's like me), I found Krish Ashok'sMasala lab: the science of Indian cooking a fun read. He tried to explain Indian cooking using basic 12th class science. In the end, he provides a scientific recipe to cook the perfect Hyderabadi biryani (I'm already drooling).
@whatonly I'm surprised you didn't mention your own bookPawnee: the greatest town in America :P
Fiction:
English- Khaled Hosseini's all three novels- 'The Kite Runner', 'A thousand splendid suns' and 'And the mountains echoed'. There are moments in these books that will stay with you forever. My favourite is 'A thousand splendid suns'. Miriam and Laila are the women one must know.
Hindi- Premchand's 'Nirmala' and 'Gaban'. While Nirmala traces the story of a young woman married to an old man, a poignant read. Gaban, on the other hand, deals with stories of greed, remorse and values in the society. The prose is exceptional.
Non fiction:
1) 'Savarkar- echoes from a forgotten past' by Vikram Sampath. Here, the author presents a meticulous research on the life and times of one of the most controversial figure of contemporary India. This book is an important read to understand the emergence of modern India, the people and the politics. One would come across the forgotten revolutionaries like Chiplunkar, Chapekar brothers among others. I would suggest to read it without presumptions. Difficult, I know.
2) Karma Yoga - Swami Vivekananda. It is a short book and an absolute treasure trove. The other books in the series are Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. One must read and reread them. I am doing the same.
3) As mentioned above in this thread-
Born a crime by Trevor Noah. The star of the book is his mother. And the stories are both funny and moving.
Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. ( I think everyone has already read these :P However, his ideas tend to get repetitive when you read the books back to back. So, skipped his third book. )
Khaled Hosseini's works are the first ones I always end up recommending to everyone when it comes to fiction. All three are wonderful, and my favourite too is Thousand Splendid Suns. I do think sometimes I read them too young, but never have I felt so connected to the characters.
Anyone picking these up should keep tissues handy, they make you feel a rollercoaster of emotions. Same goes of Premchand. I remember being made to read Nirmala as a part of syllabus at school. Terrific works.
Also have been wanting to read Born a Crime for a long while now. Really enjoy watching Trevor Noah.
I used to read a lot during my graduation. Both fiction and non-fiction. Some of the books which are close to my heart were read during that time.
In fact, one book was responsible for drawing me towards the civil service preparation. In my last year of graduation, I had readA Life in Diplomacyby Maharajakrishna Rasgotra. It inspired me to join the Indian Foreign Service. The kind of work that diplomats do and the little-known world of diplomacy fascinated me. I also got to know about the contours of Indian Foreign policy during cold war era through this book. So I would say it is a very fascinating read for those interested in foreign policy.;
I also love to read History books. One of the recent books that I read wasThe Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynastyby William Dalrymple. It gives a fascinating historical account of the 1857 revolt and the role played by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II. The book is not a typical history textbook which bores you to death. Rather, it has a very lucid storytelling. At one point, I felt like I was reading a novel. The author has done a remarkable work in collecting relevant and less-known information about the revolt through letters, newspapers, speeches etc. I have also recently picked up his another bookThe Anarchy: The East India Company.
With regards to fiction, I am currently reading the famousA Song of Ice and Fireseries. I recently completed the first book and now moving on to the second. The writing is just fabulous. Dialogues, characters, a fantasy world, court intrigues, narration is a level above. It lives up to its hype for me.
Another fascinating story that I read some time back wasA Time to Killby John Grisham. It has given me my new favourite genre that is Legal Thrillers. He has written many more books but due to Mains prep I could not pick up any of them and now I am wondering whether I should pick one of his books and drop the other two books that I am reading.
@Devanapiyam Those are some amazing recs. Thank you! Seems like exactly what I was looking for. I read John Grisham’sRainmakerandThe Firm. Rainmakerhas stayed with me after all these years. It’s a great book with a lot of heart.
@SergioRamos yes!Discovery of Indiawas the first book I picked up after mains. I only regret not reading it earlier, as my first introduction to the subject.
Does anyone have any poetry recommendations? Feeling a particular craving :D
Just putting some of my favourites down. Feel free to explore the other works of the same poet, they're all amazing.
In case you're into Urdu poetry, I'd strongly recommend reading Faiz. 'Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat' & 'Hum Dekhenge' are great starting points.
Wow some really awesome recommendations here! I'm gonna save them all. :D.
I need to read more non-fiction, especially relating to India.
Since Mains ended, I've found myself reading fiction a lot more than watching TV shows or movies. Just this past month I read two books by Brandon Sanderson, The Hobbit by Tolkien and the Martian by Andy Weir. Absolutely loved these books, even more than their corresponding movies (if they exist).
On another note, I participated in an online book exchange last week (through reddit). It was exciting; choosing your favourites for someone else while waiting for some random books to come and enthral you. For book lovers out here, I'll suggest participating in something similar. The reddit one is in Feb-Mar next year (a bit too late I know :P).
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