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Life-changing reads of 2018
Five authors share the one book of 2018 that taught them something new about life
1. The value of #metoo
Suprita Das, author of Free Hit: The Story of Women’s Cricket in India
“Given that my own book’s research and writing was so intense, all I wanted to read was something fun and light. My pick would be Twinkle Khanna’s Pyjamas Are Forgiving. It served my purpose and at the same time weaved in #MeToo, the year’s most used hashtag in its storyline.”
2. Lessons In humility
Vikram Paralkar, author of The Afflictions and The Wounds Of The Dead
“Jayant Kaikini’s No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories taught me that the best way to approach the lives of others is with humility. There is such depth and subtlety in every person who walks unnoticed on the street. Kaikini’s writing constantly reminded me of that.”
3. Shades of the great war
Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of A Separation
“The book of 2018 for me would be India, Empire, and First World War Culture: Writings, Images, and Songs by Santanu Das. It goes beyond the grand narrative of the Great War and it illuminated for me just how coloured the battlefields of the First World War were.”
4. Evolution of myself
Sumana Roy, author of Missing
“In Godsong: A Verse Translation of the Bhagavad Gita with Commentary by Amit Majmudar. Majmudar interprets the Gita as ‘the greatest poem on friendship… in any language’. His commentaries, about karma and maya, the ethics of friendship and the changing nature of the self, and about the place of violence in our lives have made me think about myself in a new way.”
5. How to write a rom-com
Sunita Kohli, author of The Lucknow Cookbook
“Less by Andrew Sean Greer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018, revealed to me that a novel can be both brilliantly funny and romantic, and yet be deeply philosophical and insightful. It can be almost rambunctious and yet be written in prose that drips with lyricism and beauty, similar to that of Lawrence Durrell in his The Alexandrian Quartet.”
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From HT Brunch, December 16, 2018
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