This started a few years back and year end list of books has become an annual tradition of sorts with my cousins - @Vaidya and @Indhu. For almost a month now Vaidya has been hounding me to put up this list and I have been doing a GRRM on him by giving and missing deadlines frequently! Its usually hard trying to remember what you read and to put some meaningful notes for some books you really liked or did not like at all . Considering most of these were read a while back it takes a lot of effort to put it all together
Since last year most of my reading moved to Kindle and this year it was almost entirely on Kindle. I know its not like actual books etc, but for me it is more about convenience and being able to read the book I wanted to read whenever I wanted. I tried to squeeze some extra reading time by carrying the Kindle around whenever I had to go to any place where there might be some wait time involved and managed to get a little more reading than usual. Some meaningless meetings at work could also be salvaged by reading through Kindle online on my browser! Plus it was easy to make this list as well :)
I notice that of late I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, 4-5 years back I read only fiction and was reluctant to try anything else. Some things change with age I guess! My target for the year just like previous years was to reach 15 books and if possible cross it and when I tallied it up I'm surprised that I have not only crossed it but crossed it comfortably and clocked 22 this time
So without much further ado the list
1. Dalai Lama's Cat by David Miche
Pretty cute concept, covers some of the buddhist philosophies in a very light and easy to read way
2. If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conduted Tour of India by Srinath Perur
Had read a few articles by this author earlier, so picked this up. The author goes on 10 conducted tours over an year covering really diverse places Indian tourists travel and what makes them travel.Covers such a wide variety of conducted tours available, ranging from the usual sightseeing, religious ones to really exotic ones. It was like he was sampling various different set of folks all of whom are called Indians but each travel group is totally unlike other ones. More than the places visited, the writing focuses on the quirks of the groups he travels and people you encounter on the travel. Was a really interesting read!
3. Yatrik by Arnab Ray
Arnab is a very popular blogger who goes by the name GreatBong, had read another non-fiction book of his earlier which I didnt like but this one is fiction set in Kolkata and is pretty much a social commentary of Bengalis and the city and was a decent read
4. The Man in High Castle by Philip K Dick
5. Korma, Kheer & Kismet: Five Seasons in Old Delhi by Pamela Timms
Wonderful exploration of the foods and flavours of Old Delhi, the writing literally transports you and makes you appreciate the flavors. Quite a lot of interesting stories about various street food preparations across seasons and the people behind it.
6.The Sixth Extinction : An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Picked this up from Vaidya's 2014 list. Scary, super scary stuff as you read about how we are slowly destroying the environment we will in and our impact on flora and fauna
7. Hot Tea Across India by Rishad Mehta
The premise was interesting but didn't quite live up. This is mostly a set of blogs about his travel across India and some anecdotes turned into a book
8. Ten Kings by Ashok Banker
Battle of Thermopylae ( comic/film 300) type story based on an incident mentioned in Rig Veda
A battle of disproportionate numbers set in ancient India. Works if you keep your expectations accordingly!
9.The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
10.The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru
For most middle class Indians 2004 elections and its aftermath was totally unexpected. NDA unexpectedly lost power and out of nowhere congress pulled out a neat trick scored another huge moral victory by picking Mr.Singh the economist turned FM as the Prime Minister. Irrespective of our political preferences I think everyone was delighted to have Mr.Singh as PM. Brilliant economist or FM he might be but as a politician or as leader of the country he was a big disappointment and the book written by his Media advisor during UPA-1 Sanjaya Baru covers what went on behind the scenes. There are no big reveals or nothing major which we dint know but with deep sympathies and utmost respect for the PM, the author through various events and how decision making happened and how various events unfolded in PMO in the early years of Mr.Singh's tenure. The quagmire in which the PM found himself was partly because of his demure personality and tendency to avoid conflict and tricky decisions but also because of compulsions of coalition politics and lack of power within the set-up to make decisions without checking with Madam. The book very quickly establishes how hard it was for the PM to do what he really wanted to but after a point it seem to labour on and on establishing the same point and at times it felt like the author was blowing his own trumpet a bit. Bit of laborious read after you get the general idea on what happens in the corridors of power as author tries his best to defend hapless Mr.Singh and blame the power brokers of ruling regime for derailing all the good things the PM wanted. Mr.Singh's 10 years as man running such a huge country with zero political base is certainly a unique one and should remain so and as he himself remarked history will certainly judge him more kindly. This book gives a good view of his days as PM from an insider's perspective
11.A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer
This was a recco from Book reads in Economist Magazine and for a change was affordable as well. Read the description of this one and immediately ordered it on Kindle! North Korea is a country that has fascinated most of us and this book is about an extremely bizzare real life story of a South Korean filmmaker and his ex-wife ( a top actress) kidnapped by N Korean dictator to ensure North Korea is also able to make high quality movies. Sometimes truth is really stranger than fiction, the book covering the life the duo led in North Korea initially getting educated/brain washed and then as filmmakers aiming to put N.Korea on the map in International Cinema also sheds some light on how the country is run and chilling account of what people go through. It will be really hard for any fiction writer to top this for sure and this was by far the best thing I read this year!
12.A Life Of Spice: Stories of food, culture and life by Monica Bhide
13. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Amazon constantly recommends certain books based on past purchase ( Gone Girl), I usually ignore these as I try not to read similar stuff too soon. For a change decided to try a recommendation. This was something exactly on the same lines as Gone Girl with unreliable narrator though was not as taut but certainly a solid thriller
14. Out of the Blue by Aakash Chopra
The cricket book of the year, this about Rajastan's successful Ranji trophy campaign and its good to learn about the life of domestic cricketers way outside the limelight and the big money giving it all for the game
15. Ladies Coupe by Anita Nair
Was a book recommended by lot of folks, finally read it and totally understand why this was recommended
16. Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry
In 2000s the Blackberry was associated with 'Managers' and top folks in our offices and end of last decade it was a cool gadget thanks to the BBM. Even more spectacular than its rise was its fall, the book covers how a two young Canadian entrepreneurs ( a tech wizard and Sales/Marketing genius) managed to create a new product line and changed the industry within a short time with almost no backing. It was their ability to guess what business users want and prioritizing functionality and ensuring security and reliability which made them such a valuable brand. But the very same values made them obsolete within 4-5 years of their success, the same folks who could guess what the markets wanted got it so dead wrong within a few years leading to their spectacular fall. The book was a fascinating read to understand what made them succeed and how the very same traits led to their total downfall as well. During my MBA days I had read many such business stories but to read and rise and fall of something which happened so recently and something that had been part of our life made this a really good read
17. Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Wanted to read this for a long time as I had seen a documentary based on this earlier. Took this from Kindle Owner's library. I can safely say this should be a Must read on anyone's list
18. Tea time for Traditionally built : No:1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The usual one, I read the series after a long time and perhaps the first book I read after watching the delightful HBO adaptation of the series which unfortunately had only covered the first 2-3 books. But the TV series changed my mental image of the characters and their surroundings. Also this was the only physical book I read this year!
19. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
This was a good follow-up to earlier book by Jared Diamond. It covered some of those same topics about how we evolved to where we are today but this book was more focused on our homes and various everyday common things which we take for granted. Bryson basically takes on a tour of a Victorian era home in England and each chapter is about various various rooms/kitchen/garden came to be. Bryson is a delightful raconteur and we dont always stay on topic and cover a lot of related things but its such an engrossing read. I'm huge trivia buff and this book was a big collection of interesting fats about everyday things in human life and covers how society changed over last 150 years. One of my favorite reads of the year!
20. The Hair Dresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu
About life of a single mother in Zimbabwe, the story aside getting to know how people carry on with their life in a country with hyper-inflation and high unemployment. I like reading books like this which give us a slice of life of someone in a society we have no idea about
21. 2014 The Election that Changed India by Rajdeep Sardesai
The 2014 elections was perhaps one of the most landmark events in the country or atleast that is what it appeared to be. After many years of relative inertia caused by fractured mandate the elections gave a decisive majority to a single party. The book takes us through last few years of UPA where the author contends they clearly lost the plot and pretty much gave up and it also covers how Mr.Modi's campaign was crafted and how efficiently it was run bringing BJP back to power riding on a 'Modi Wave'. The book is certainly a brisk read and chronicles all the events that happened to Modi campaign and Rahul campaign and compares and contrasts both the main candidates for the election. Of course there is that expected bias that you would expect but it is not hard to mute that out and read. To his credit the author has tried his best to tone down judgement to a great extent in the book but it creeps up every now and then though. This is more like a collection of various events that influenced the main event, written from the beginning with the eventual result in mind without doing any in-depth analysis
22. The Tusk that did the Damage by Tania James
A multiple person narrative covering events through eyes of a poacher, western researcher and the Elephant covering Ivory trade and human-animal conflict. This is such a complex issue and well written, it will take me some time to gather my thoughts on this one. Thanks for the gift @Vaidya!
I think I read much more than what I expected at start of the year and I certainly had a fair bit of time on hand at the start of the year and towards year with things totally slowing down at workplace. Target for this year is again 15 books and also hopefully cover all those pending books I have on my bookshelves which I have been putting off to read later for 3-4 years now!
Since last year most of my reading moved to Kindle and this year it was almost entirely on Kindle. I know its not like actual books etc, but for me it is more about convenience and being able to read the book I wanted to read whenever I wanted. I tried to squeeze some extra reading time by carrying the Kindle around whenever I had to go to any place where there might be some wait time involved and managed to get a little more reading than usual. Some meaningless meetings at work could also be salvaged by reading through Kindle online on my browser! Plus it was easy to make this list as well :)
I notice that of late I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, 4-5 years back I read only fiction and was reluctant to try anything else. Some things change with age I guess! My target for the year just like previous years was to reach 15 books and if possible cross it and when I tallied it up I'm surprised that I have not only crossed it but crossed it comfortably and clocked 22 this time
So without much further ado the list
1. Dalai Lama's Cat by David Miche
Pretty cute concept, covers some of the buddhist philosophies in a very light and easy to read way
2. If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conduted Tour of India by Srinath Perur
Had read a few articles by this author earlier, so picked this up. The author goes on 10 conducted tours over an year covering really diverse places Indian tourists travel and what makes them travel.Covers such a wide variety of conducted tours available, ranging from the usual sightseeing, religious ones to really exotic ones. It was like he was sampling various different set of folks all of whom are called Indians but each travel group is totally unlike other ones. More than the places visited, the writing focuses on the quirks of the groups he travels and people you encounter on the travel. Was a really interesting read!
3. Yatrik by Arnab Ray
Arnab is a very popular blogger who goes by the name GreatBong, had read another non-fiction book of his earlier which I didnt like but this one is fiction set in Kolkata and is pretty much a social commentary of Bengalis and the city and was a decent read
4. The Man in High Castle by Philip K Dick
5. Korma, Kheer & Kismet: Five Seasons in Old Delhi by Pamela Timms
Wonderful exploration of the foods and flavours of Old Delhi, the writing literally transports you and makes you appreciate the flavors. Quite a lot of interesting stories about various street food preparations across seasons and the people behind it.
6.The Sixth Extinction : An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Picked this up from Vaidya's 2014 list. Scary, super scary stuff as you read about how we are slowly destroying the environment we will in and our impact on flora and fauna
7. Hot Tea Across India by Rishad Mehta
The premise was interesting but didn't quite live up. This is mostly a set of blogs about his travel across India and some anecdotes turned into a book
8. Ten Kings by Ashok Banker
Battle of Thermopylae ( comic/film 300) type story based on an incident mentioned in Rig Veda
A battle of disproportionate numbers set in ancient India. Works if you keep your expectations accordingly!
9.The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
10.The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru
For most middle class Indians 2004 elections and its aftermath was totally unexpected. NDA unexpectedly lost power and out of nowhere congress pulled out a neat trick scored another huge moral victory by picking Mr.Singh the economist turned FM as the Prime Minister. Irrespective of our political preferences I think everyone was delighted to have Mr.Singh as PM. Brilliant economist or FM he might be but as a politician or as leader of the country he was a big disappointment and the book written by his Media advisor during UPA-1 Sanjaya Baru covers what went on behind the scenes. There are no big reveals or nothing major which we dint know but with deep sympathies and utmost respect for the PM, the author through various events and how decision making happened and how various events unfolded in PMO in the early years of Mr.Singh's tenure. The quagmire in which the PM found himself was partly because of his demure personality and tendency to avoid conflict and tricky decisions but also because of compulsions of coalition politics and lack of power within the set-up to make decisions without checking with Madam. The book very quickly establishes how hard it was for the PM to do what he really wanted to but after a point it seem to labour on and on establishing the same point and at times it felt like the author was blowing his own trumpet a bit. Bit of laborious read after you get the general idea on what happens in the corridors of power as author tries his best to defend hapless Mr.Singh and blame the power brokers of ruling regime for derailing all the good things the PM wanted. Mr.Singh's 10 years as man running such a huge country with zero political base is certainly a unique one and should remain so and as he himself remarked history will certainly judge him more kindly. This book gives a good view of his days as PM from an insider's perspective
11.A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer
This was a recco from Book reads in Economist Magazine and for a change was affordable as well. Read the description of this one and immediately ordered it on Kindle! North Korea is a country that has fascinated most of us and this book is about an extremely bizzare real life story of a South Korean filmmaker and his ex-wife ( a top actress) kidnapped by N Korean dictator to ensure North Korea is also able to make high quality movies. Sometimes truth is really stranger than fiction, the book covering the life the duo led in North Korea initially getting educated/brain washed and then as filmmakers aiming to put N.Korea on the map in International Cinema also sheds some light on how the country is run and chilling account of what people go through. It will be really hard for any fiction writer to top this for sure and this was by far the best thing I read this year!
12.A Life Of Spice: Stories of food, culture and life by Monica Bhide
13. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Amazon constantly recommends certain books based on past purchase ( Gone Girl), I usually ignore these as I try not to read similar stuff too soon. For a change decided to try a recommendation. This was something exactly on the same lines as Gone Girl with unreliable narrator though was not as taut but certainly a solid thriller
14. Out of the Blue by Aakash Chopra
The cricket book of the year, this about Rajastan's successful Ranji trophy campaign and its good to learn about the life of domestic cricketers way outside the limelight and the big money giving it all for the game
15. Ladies Coupe by Anita Nair
Was a book recommended by lot of folks, finally read it and totally understand why this was recommended
16. Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry
In 2000s the Blackberry was associated with 'Managers' and top folks in our offices and end of last decade it was a cool gadget thanks to the BBM. Even more spectacular than its rise was its fall, the book covers how a two young Canadian entrepreneurs ( a tech wizard and Sales/Marketing genius) managed to create a new product line and changed the industry within a short time with almost no backing. It was their ability to guess what business users want and prioritizing functionality and ensuring security and reliability which made them such a valuable brand. But the very same values made them obsolete within 4-5 years of their success, the same folks who could guess what the markets wanted got it so dead wrong within a few years leading to their spectacular fall. The book was a fascinating read to understand what made them succeed and how the very same traits led to their total downfall as well. During my MBA days I had read many such business stories but to read and rise and fall of something which happened so recently and something that had been part of our life made this a really good read
17. Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Wanted to read this for a long time as I had seen a documentary based on this earlier. Took this from Kindle Owner's library. I can safely say this should be a Must read on anyone's list
18. Tea time for Traditionally built : No:1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The usual one, I read the series after a long time and perhaps the first book I read after watching the delightful HBO adaptation of the series which unfortunately had only covered the first 2-3 books. But the TV series changed my mental image of the characters and their surroundings. Also this was the only physical book I read this year!
19. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
This was a good follow-up to earlier book by Jared Diamond. It covered some of those same topics about how we evolved to where we are today but this book was more focused on our homes and various everyday common things which we take for granted. Bryson basically takes on a tour of a Victorian era home in England and each chapter is about various various rooms/kitchen/garden came to be. Bryson is a delightful raconteur and we dont always stay on topic and cover a lot of related things but its such an engrossing read. I'm huge trivia buff and this book was a big collection of interesting fats about everyday things in human life and covers how society changed over last 150 years. One of my favorite reads of the year!
20. The Hair Dresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu
About life of a single mother in Zimbabwe, the story aside getting to know how people carry on with their life in a country with hyper-inflation and high unemployment. I like reading books like this which give us a slice of life of someone in a society we have no idea about
21. 2014 The Election that Changed India by Rajdeep Sardesai
The 2014 elections was perhaps one of the most landmark events in the country or atleast that is what it appeared to be. After many years of relative inertia caused by fractured mandate the elections gave a decisive majority to a single party. The book takes us through last few years of UPA where the author contends they clearly lost the plot and pretty much gave up and it also covers how Mr.Modi's campaign was crafted and how efficiently it was run bringing BJP back to power riding on a 'Modi Wave'. The book is certainly a brisk read and chronicles all the events that happened to Modi campaign and Rahul campaign and compares and contrasts both the main candidates for the election. Of course there is that expected bias that you would expect but it is not hard to mute that out and read. To his credit the author has tried his best to tone down judgement to a great extent in the book but it creeps up every now and then though. This is more like a collection of various events that influenced the main event, written from the beginning with the eventual result in mind without doing any in-depth analysis
22. The Tusk that did the Damage by Tania James
A multiple person narrative covering events through eyes of a poacher, western researcher and the Elephant covering Ivory trade and human-animal conflict. This is such a complex issue and well written, it will take me some time to gather my thoughts on this one. Thanks for the gift @Vaidya!
I think I read much more than what I expected at start of the year and I certainly had a fair bit of time on hand at the start of the year and towards year with things totally slowing down at workplace. Target for this year is again 15 books and also hopefully cover all those pending books I have on my bookshelves which I have been putting off to read later for 3-4 years now!
