There has been a recent trend on facebook which has gone viral- to name 10 books which have impressed the person being challenged. The book lover in me was enthused by this challenge.
Since the earliest time I can remember, books have been an integral part of my life and have at various times entertained, stimulated , educated and made me feel amazed at the world around me.
Here goes my list:
1. The Salmandra Glass by A. W. Mykel
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
3. Life according to Garp by John Irving
4. Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
5. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
6. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
7. The Outliers and What the dog saw by Malcolm Gladwell. (They are one book inspite of 2 titles)
8.The day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.
9. Waiting for the Mahatma by RK Narayan
10. The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini
And I'm the one of the biggest fans of PG Wodehouse, Agatha Christie and Jeffrey Archer. Wodehouse is the best comic writer in the world, Agatha Christie is the queen of detective stories and Jeffrey Archer is greatest short story writer ever. Since I can't fit in all their books into this list I've nearly excluded them all since they have a pride of place in my heart. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this list above can't be exhausting for a voracious reader like me.
My list is wacky in the sense that they don't follow any particular genre and that's down to my reading habits as I read anything from newspapers to trashy magazines. My hunger for the written word is insatiable and incurable. The unintended (at least in my case) yet positive aspect of reading is that when you enjoy it, over time you become extremely well informed about current world issues and have a modern outlook and logical opinion on most topics. This gets you into any conversation with all kinds of people and that is a huge advantage in life.
