Koel Purie Rinchet, actor and author
“This year, women authors rule my reading list. Bonnie Garmus, Min Jin Lee, Kate Atkinson, Twinkle Khanna, R.F. Kuang, and balancing like a star on top of this list is Curtis Sittenfeld’s ‘Romantic Comedy’. Two-thirds of the way into the novel, I started slowing down and rationing the pages I’d allow myself to read each day, in the futile hope of postponing the future emptiness of the days I’d no longer spend with the protaginists Sally or Noah, both of whom I so proudly regard as my new found post-Covid buddies. Such is the immersive quality of the world Sittenfeld creates. She invokes desire and grants access in equal measure. There is an old-world charm to this post-modern romance that pulls you in, rooting for the protagonists to make it. My copy of the book is dog-eared and underlined heavily, there are so many gems, one such: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready. The show goes on because it’s 11:30.”
Viswanathan Anand, chess grandmaster
“Ashok Alexander’s ‘How the Light Gets In’ is an important book and is required reading, especially if you are in public health or CSR. It is an account of how the author set up the Antara Foundation, which works in the field of maternal health and child welfare. I like the way he keeps a diary which shows, almost hour by hour, how things unfold, and you realise how much work goes into a good project. I was fascinated by his thousand little interactions. I could feel them.”(as told to P.K. Ajith Kumar)
Manu S. Pillai, historian and author
“A book that left an impact on me this year is Selina Hastings’s ‘The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham’. It is a nearly 15-year-old biography of the 20th century English writer, but it was only recently that I chanced upon the book. I haven’t read much of Maugham and picked up Hastings’s volume more out of an interest in biographies, than out of fandom for its subject. And I was not disappointed. In India, we haven’t quite mastered the art of the biography. Hastings’s book is a wonderful example — sympathetic but not unobjective, ready to praise when necessary but never succumbing to lionising. Maugham was a talented figure, but like all human beings, complicated. Given how, as a species, we are quick to judge, a book like Hastings’s urges patience, a readiness to view the world broadly, and to approach one another with a little more understanding — qualities much needed today.”
Thomas Zacharias, chef and founder of Locavore
“This year, I read ‘Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action’ by Simon Sinek. It resonated with me and expanded my vision for Locavore. If you have a vision or mission, it’s about making it your north star, and letting it guide you instead of having money be your primary motive. You might falter, but if that mission is your north star, and the money is a byproduct, the process becomes better, and what you create has far more longevity. You also attract good people and great talent. I came to the book after watching Sinek’s Ted Talk, which is also a great speech and a must-watch.”
Ashdeen Lilaowala, fashion Designer
“A book that I caught up with a little late, but wanted to read for a while, is Rohinton Mistry’s ‘Family Matters’. I had started reading it years ago but left it midway. This year, on a vacation, I picked it up again. And after the first 40-odd pages, I was hooked. Obviously for me, all the references feel very real — the details of the Parsi family, the humour and nuances are close to home. I could literally see the characters — I was like, this is my aunt, that is my cousin. There are books you get immersed in, but this was over-immersive for me. It has happiness, sorrow, the dysfunctional family.”
Vasudha Rai, author and columnist
“I’ve read several books this year, but Elif Shafak’s ‘10 minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’ stayed with me. It’s about Laila, a 40-something sex worker in Istanbul, and how she reflects over her life in 10 minutes and 38 seconds, the duration it takes her soul to depart her body. The book is very melancholic and morbid, but it is also full of love. This book was a reminder of how we live several different lifetimes in one.”
Feroze Varun Gandhi, Member of Parliament
“Simon Sebag Montefiore’s ‘Jerusalem: The Biography’ brings to life the momentous history of a city rising from the backwaters to become an entrepôt and then the centre of three major world religions, all while encapsulating an unbiased and unvarnished view. Its sheer breadth drew my curiosity — it delves into religious conflicts, political struggles in the land of Canaan, cultural transformation from the Assyrians to the Egyptians to the kingdom of Judah to the Romans and Abbasids, offering a rich tapestry of events and personalities. Montefiore has the ability to weave together different perspectives. From illuminating faith, to expanding on the reasons of conflict and showcasing co-existence between communities, there is much to learn of what not to do for those living in a complex society like India.”
Manju Kapur, novelist
“This year, I finished reading all of Annie Ernaux with ‘A Frozen Woman’, ‘A Woman’s Story’ and ‘Shame’. I love the way she mines her life, reflecting a whole age in her experiences. I also discovered Icelandic writer Halldor Laxness, with ‘Independent People’, which has stunning humour and pathos, and ‘The Atom Station’, which has a more overt political slant. And since I like reading about writing, I also enjoyed Elena Ferrante’s ‘Frantumaglia’. It was personal and insightful. Ferrante doesn’t like exclamation marks, and neither do I.”
Manav Kaul, actor and author
“On June 13, 1963, John Williams said to his agent, “The only thing I’m sure of is that it’s a good novel; in time it may even be thought of as a substantially good one.” His book ‘Stoner’ was published in 1965. Around 50 years after its publication, it suddenly became a bestseller. No one could understand how this vintage book had suddenly appeared on the bestsellers list. Word of mouth was a big reason for this. People had begun to recommend the book to one another. In the end, what Williams had said to his agent came true. The book tells the story of William Stoner, who was a teacher his whole life. Some good things had happened in his life, but almost everything had ended badly. It was a failed life, a life that Stoner was living, and reading in a library, where if he raised his voice even a little bit, people around him would get disturbed. So he continued to slowly read this failed life of his, without disturbing anyone. While reading the last chapter of this book, I too felt as if I’d aged like Stoner. I too began to question all the moments in my life.”
Karthika V.K., publisher, Westland Books
“The subject that is exercising our minds these days is the explosive shift in AI technology. ‘Dream Machine’, the graphic novel by Appupen and Laurent Daudet, cuts to the heart of the conflict, telling us a story about AI and the ethical dilemmas we are newly confronted with as a civilisation. The story is both urgent and complex, and the art, compelling. Every frame is so sharp, so layered, and so much fun that each time you revisit it, you find yet another detail that you’d missed the previous time. I love books that you read and immediately want to reread — this is one of those. ”
Vivaan Shah, actor and author
“I read Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Helena’, a satirical biography of St. Helena of Constantinople [mother of the emperor Constantine], who went on a quest to unearth the relics of the cross from the site at Golgotha. The book’s steady progression from the ritualistic to the absurd resembles, in some respects, the compositional anarchy of the ‘Asterix and Obelix’ comics, or even the “damn-the-torpedoes” humour of Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’. Fellini’s ‘Satyricon’ however would be a more fitting companion piece to this book.”
Published - December 29, 2023 06:01 pm IST
