I got tagged on Facebook to put down a list of top 10 books. Without thinking too much ... in random order ... here goes ...
The Mysterious Mr. Quin (Agatha Christie)
The Mysterious Mr. Quin (Agatha Christie)
I've read practically all the murder mysteries by Agatha Christie featuring Hercule Poirot. But the book that takes the cake according to me is this collection of short stories which don't feature any of her popular protagonists. Each of the mysteries are solved by the eponymous Mr Quin simply by analyzing the facts of the case and prodding his constant companion / audience Mr. Satterthwaite in the right direction. What's special is that some of the mysteries are solved several decades after the crime is committed.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (J. K. Rowling)
This book is the turning point of the series. With several crucial moments and the tragic twist at the end it sets up the stage for the finale. I read this book in pdf format the day it was released in one shot while stuck alone in a lab (due to lack of cubicles) at my internship in Samsung. Yes I can say that openly now :)
Mahabharata (Veda Vyasa)
No I didn't steal this one from Shruti's list. It's impossible to not have this one on a top 10 list. The epic is so vast that I still have loads to learn and absorb besides what has been televised or discussed in the abridged editions that are usually found on book shelves. I don't think there are many people in the world who have read all the volumes from the original Sanskrit text or a translation.
The Adventure of the Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I consider this as the best Sherlock Holmes short story! A great introduction to code breaking and analytical puzzles for the novice reader. When I read this in grade school I was completely bowled over and truly fascinated.
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
The book was a tad longer than it should have been but Yossarian's antics and the dry humor ensures that it holds the reader's attention. I was in splits several times. Haven't seen the movie but I've heard it doesn't do justice to the novel.
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
This story in metaphors starts off in a lighter vein but leaves you with such a hard hitting statement that you can't help think and ponder over the current state of affairs in the world and draw parallels. I read this book well after graduate school. I don't think I would have appreciated it, had I read it as a teenager.
The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
This book is so brilliantly written that the author hasn't been able to live up to his own standards in any of his following works. The clever fusion of fact and fiction, the thrill, the questions and the end leaves you spellbound. This book will probably never make it to a top 100 list, but it was an out-and-out entertainer.
India after Gandhi (Ramachandra Guha)
Regardless of political beliefs and the author's so-called bias, we can't ignore the fact that we simply don't know much about India's recent history. Our text books conveniently stop at Independence and a lot has happened since 1947 that every Indian should know about. This book filled in that void and I'm better off having read it than not.
Lord of the Rings : Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien)
The third book of the series is the best one, so much so that there was very little that Peter Jackson could skip when he made the movie. It has all the ingredients of an epic and in some ways the movie makes you want to go read the book again just to see if there are any other interesting tidbits that were left out of the extended edition. I tried really hard to keep this book out of my list and see if I could nominate some other book here, but that wouldn't do it any justice.
Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
My sixth grade school teacher (to whom I attribute my love for reading and writing), used to read out chapters from this book for us. Those who grew interested were absolutely enthralled to hear the story and although the humor had to be explained to us at times, it was so awesome. One of the regrets I have is we had to switch back the state board English curriculum eventually and definitely suffered as far as language was concerned. I no longer remember enough of this story ... It's almost time to read this book again :)
I'm sure there are more and if I really sat down and thought about this for a long time I could come up with more interesting names ... but in the spirit of the challenge I think this is a pretty decent list!
Regardless of political beliefs and the author's so-called bias, we can't ignore the fact that we simply don't know much about India's recent history. Our text books conveniently stop at Independence and a lot has happened since 1947 that every Indian should know about. This book filled in that void and I'm better off having read it than not.
Lord of the Rings : Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien)
The third book of the series is the best one, so much so that there was very little that Peter Jackson could skip when he made the movie. It has all the ingredients of an epic and in some ways the movie makes you want to go read the book again just to see if there are any other interesting tidbits that were left out of the extended edition. I tried really hard to keep this book out of my list and see if I could nominate some other book here, but that wouldn't do it any justice.
Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
My sixth grade school teacher (to whom I attribute my love for reading and writing), used to read out chapters from this book for us. Those who grew interested were absolutely enthralled to hear the story and although the humor had to be explained to us at times, it was so awesome. One of the regrets I have is we had to switch back the state board English curriculum eventually and definitely suffered as far as language was concerned. I no longer remember enough of this story ... It's almost time to read this book again :)
I'm sure there are more and if I really sat down and thought about this for a long time I could come up with more interesting names ... but in the spirit of the challenge I think this is a pretty decent list!
Great list! Thanks for taking up the challenge :)
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