Saurabh Chanda Rita Thokchom Momina Nazir Saria Nizami Aaqib Raza Khan Kalyanee Rajan -- and I am sure many more people who tagged me in this ten book list on Facebook, variously known also as-- #TenBooksChallenge or the #BookBucketChallenge -- I think its tough for me to shortlist ten books. But I will do so. My ten books [and I am focussing here on books and not on texts, so, no individual poems] that will stay with me for life shall be the following (not in any particular order, however): 1. The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk. This is one of the best love novels that I have read all my life. I surely think the way the protagonist goes about collecting the various artifacts that remind him of his beloved is surely etched firmly in my memory. 2. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. This novel would stay in my life not just for the love relationships in it but also for the fact that they fray from the edges. And yes, they do not fray because there is a villain involved. They just fray. Also, how it is difficult to continue love relationships with someone who suffers from clinical depression and how the protagonist tries his best to keep up that relationship. But finally, that too withers. And finally, how he finds strength in life because of a new love-- that sunshine girl, Midori. I think this novel ought to be the novel of our age and for all ages to come. 3. Lost Horizon by James Hilton. This novel tells me about that paradise called Shangrila, where the protagonist, Conway, could escape and find respite from the harshness of this world. 4. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell. This novel told me about how human beings can exercise totalitarian power in a brutal way. 5. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. This novella told me how all human relationships can vanish all of a sudden if something in the world were to happen to you as it happens to Gregor Samsa. Very scary. 6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. What Konstantin Levin does in the novel should be inspiration for each one of us in our lives. We should try to live up to him. 7. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Many, I am sure, would debunk this novel but not me. I would admire this novel for its incisive comments about human relationships and the nature of this world. 8. Samskara by U R Ananthamurthy. I seriously think this great novel, which talks about corruption of various kinds in an agrahara is a must read for all Indians and for everyone else in this world. As Praneshcharya finds out, only Naranappa has the real courage and we will always say that Naranappa was the real sinner. 9. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. This novel should stay with me for the pains-- trauma and torture too-- that a woman has to undergo in restrictive male societies and how she overcomes it and finds strength. A wonderful novel of strength. 10. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I think this play should also stay with me for life. The fact that this girl is crippled and unable to live up to the standards of society makes her such a misfit is a very sad story. A sad commentary on the rat race -- the quest for the American dream-- in which we live. And we should stop living in such fiercely competitive ways. And yes, I am proud of not having lived ever in such competitive ways.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:47:01 +0000
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