With the advent of Quora, I have started satisfying my hunger for writing by answering on Quora questions. But, this blog is too close to heart to give up! So, I am copying an answer which I wrote to the question: "What are some interesting novels to read?"
I have felt that the vast knowledge provided by books is largely untapped in India and people need to start reading more to appreciate their real life more. All the books that I have read have provided me with something which I never knew of. For me, books are interesting when after completing it, one feels liberated and one's horizons of imagination and clarity on reality are quadrupled. Now, coming to the main answer, there are too many interesting novels one can read. I am just focusing here on Indian and Indian-American authors so that 'desi' people can relate it more.
There are some Indian authors who have changed the art of story-telling in the Indian and the world literary landscape.
Some of my favorites Indian books are the following:
1) The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
The book has been awarded the Arthur C Clarke award for best science-fiction novel in 1997.
The story is a heady cocktail of fact, fiction, science and mystical practices. It mixes some Hindu beliefs and modern-day scientific concepts and the story once you are into it is "UNPUTDOWNABLE". It is one of those books which does not give you all the clues and you need to think and I mean think hard to know what exactly happened in the end!
2) Train to Pakistan by Khuswant Singh
This is one of those books which is read widely and heavily quoted from even 57 years after it was first published. The book depicts the partition riots between India and Pakistan in 1947 from a local foci of a village. It shows the realistic face of hardships faced by both communities, the local administrative authorities, an alien Samaritan with a backdrop of a torn love story. It paints raw human emotions at its finest. The book is still popular among literary circles because the story is applicable to even present-day situations
3) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Firstly, one should read this book only when he/she is confident of reading a 1000+ pages book. A Suitable Boy is one of the longest books written in a single volume as it is 1349 pages in length. But, once you get into the groove of this book, it is a book which has myriad shades amalgamated into one. The book is a story of four families over a period of 18 months as a mother searches for a suitable boy to marry her daughter. The book is set in post-independence India and deals with issues like strife between Hindu and Muslims, abolition of the Zamindari system, land reforms and empowerment of Muslim women. It is a mammoth masterpiece and has won the Best Book, Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1994.
4) God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The debut book by Arundhati Roy won the Booker prize in 1997. The book deals experiences of fraternal twins who are always preached the "Love of Laws" which proclaims "who should be loved, and how. And how much". The book's title aptly describes the story and tells the readers that sometimes though the big things are not in our hands; we can always take care of the small things.
After reading this novel, I hoped Arundhati Roy to write more because this is the only novel she has written till date.
5) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Now, this is not a novel but Jhumpa Lahiri's debut work is one of those books which you cherish reading. It is a book collection of exactly nine short stories detailing lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are caught between their inherited culture and the modern-day world. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000. The book mainly deals with relationships of different nature and different perspectives of people in the same situations.
I have tried to paint the picture of Indian literary works in a diverse way here and hence have included these diverse out-of-the box books. There are many more books by Indian authors which are worth the attention, but these 5 from my reading experience are must-read novels and would make you think more about life and it intricacies.
