Dear Reader, A Handsel

The Post-American World
Fareed Zakaria

I don’t get much time to read these days, but I did read this book about the rise of countries like India and China and America’s place in the globalised world.

Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century
Nandan Nilekani

I have been reading parts of Nilekani’s book.

Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri

I am drawn to stories about identity, about seemingly ordinary people whose lives and experiences, in the hands of some authors, transcend the mundane and become extraordinary. The moving short stories in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, so full of acute observations about human relationships, are an example of this.

My Name is Salma
Fadia Faqir

Tells the story of a woman from a village in the Levant who escapes to the UK after her illegitimate baby is taken away. The struggle of women holds a special fascination for me and this is a poignant and powerful story which will touch the hearts of women all over the world.

Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi

Is an amazing memoir, a graphic novel set during Iran’s Islamic revolution, which traces the author’s life—and that of her family—through unimaginable transformations. What I found especially appealing is the rich vein of wit that runs right through this remarkable story, made more vivid through its charming illustrations.

Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
George Crile

Another book published earlier which I came to read this year, is the true story of a covert CIA operation in Afghanistan by an unusual author, which reveals just how global power politics are played out.

Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China
Pallavi Aiyar

Is thoroughly entertaining and educative, written with wit and perception in a lively and evocative style. Her observations and experiences helped me to better understand China, to which I have been an occasional visitor.

The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
Stephen M.R. Covey

Stephen Covey is my favourite author but this book is by his son. In the foreword, Covey Sr describes his son’s book as "a classic", as "deep, practical and comprehensive" and one that "inspires hope". He is not exaggerating: the son has really surpassed his father.

The Interpretation Of Murder
Jed Rubenfeld

A thriller in which Freud makes an appearance, it provided me the core content for one of the closing chapters of my autobiography. Rubenfeld says a man can have either happiness or meaning for his life. But as I wrote in my book, "I have had the good fortune of experiencing both, and in abundance".

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert

This book is based on a very exciting, and true, story. Elizabeth describes her journeys as a spiritual pilgrimage. She has told her story in the form of a japmala in 108 tales. It is an extremely readable account of a modern American woman’s frantic efforts to strike a balance between worldly enjoyment and spiritual bliss.

Medicine and Compassion
Choakyi Nyima Rinpoche with David R. Shlim

This book inspired me because it spells out the virtues needed in the medical community: generosity, ethics, tolerance, perseverance, concentration and intelligence. I am discussing this book with my doctor friends because I think it will empower care-givers with a humane heart.

Five Minds for the Future
Howard Gardner
The book’s message is that in this turbulent world, five kinds of minds, namely the disciplined mind, the synthesising mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind are needed. Without them, a person will be at the mercy of forces he or she can’t understand. With them, a person will be well equipped to deal with the expected as well as the unanticipated.

Physics of the Impossible
Michio Kuku

This is a scientific exploration of unresolved mysteries. After reading it, I see how physics will be applied in exploring the universe with a new generation of particle accelerators, space-based gravity wave detectors and other technologies. As the author says, "We are not at the end but at the beginning of the new physics."

Curfewed Night
Basharat Peer

This memoir of Kashmir is a first-class book. It also happens to be a fragment of Independent India’s autobiography, a fragment that most Indians wouldn’t like to read about. But they are the Indians who should force themselves to read it.

The Forever War
Dexter Filkins

This a true picture of the war in Afghanistan. It made me understand the true consequences of war. After reading it, I believe that a military strike in Pakistan should be our last option.

Every Second Counts
Lance Armstrong

I re-read this book—about Armstrong’s fight against cancer and how he achieved his goals. Very inspirational.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Diaz

It’s one of the two novels I enjoyed most this year.

America, America
Ethan Canin

Is the other novel I thoroughly enjoyed.

History of China
John Keay

He deals with its unmanageably big subject with remarkable efficiency.

Hitler’s Empire—Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe

Chillingly demonstrates how the Nazis unleashed upon Europe many of the evils of European imperialism abroad.

A Splendid Exchange: How trade shaped the world
William J. Bernstein

A comprehensive, exciting history of how trade has shaped the world.

Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors shaped globalization
Nayan Chanda

A sweeping look at globalisation and the motives for it. Both these books show trade and globalisation have been present for ages and are not recent phenomena.

Hot, Flat and Crowded
Thomas Friedman

Classic Tom, as he marries the concept of the flat world to the challenge of the environment.

The Post-American World
Fareed Zakaria

A thought provoking analysis of the shifting powers in the 21st century.

The Wolf
Joseph Smith

This is a remarkable little novel narrated from the point of view of a predator as he stalks a frozen landscape for his next meal. This is not only nature writing at its luminous best, it’s also a much nuanced morality tale.

Ghulam Bagh
Mirza Athar Baig

An epic first novel from a philosophy professor from Lahore. It’s an archaeological thriller spanning four generations of two families in Lahore. I have not read a more ambitious and compelling Urdu novel in a decade.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Diaz

Every bit of hype about this book is justified. It’s heartbreaking and very funny at the same time. An absolutely rollicking read.

Some of the light readings I picked up at airports were not nice at all, and I seldom went beyond the first 20 pages. I don’t even remember their names. But these I enjoyed:

Artemis Fowl
Eoin Colfer

I read the new book in the enjoyable Artemis Fowl series.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants:

I have read all the books in this delightful series with my children. Also, the Judy Moody series for girls by Megan Mcdonald.

I’ve also been reading some books on Asperger’s syndrome to prepare for my new film.

One to Nine: The Inner Life of Numbers
Andrew Hodges

It’s a fascinating compilation of all trivia about numbers. I enjoyed it immensely.

The White Mughals; The Last Mughal
William Dalrymple

I liked The Last Mughal more. In school, you read about 1857 only briefly. But I liked the way Dalrymple dealt with it. After reading the book, you understand British attitudes for the next 90 years.

I’m not a very keen reader, but like to read about combat, defence forces, military history etc. These days I am reading about security groups like the nsg and marine commandos. I’ve also been reading about the civil defence/undercover agencies in countries like Israel and the US. Instead of being secretive, we should make sure the NSG inspire fear just the way other teams fear Tendulkar or Sehwag.

The Raj at Table: A Culinary History of the British in India
David Burton
I loved the stories it tells and the history of Anglo-Indian cuisine. It has some recipes as well.

The Complete Tin Tin Collection
Herge

I walked into a bookshop and saw this edition and couldn’t resist. It has all 22 titles and now forms my staple bedside reading.

The Hidden Forces of Life
Sri Aurobindo

I enjoy philosophy books and like all of Sri Aurobindo’s works, but this compilation on how chance events and people affect our lives is what I’m reading now.

Trouble across the border in Pakistan has dominated my reading this year.

Empires of the Indus
Alice Albinia

is a fabulously thoughtful, learned, perceptive and stereotype-breaking book which follows the Indus from its delta on the coast of Sindh up to its source in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Prophets are rarely recognised in their own family, and as Alice is my kid cousin, who I first met on her travels in a pram, I was initially a bit suspicious of the rave reviews the book garnered over the summer. But when I actually got around to reading the book last month in Sindh, I was blown away by this breathtaking and beautifully written debut.

Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation-Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia
Ahmed Rashid

Is a brilliant and passionate book, explaining more clearly than anything else I have read why Pakistan is failing and what must be done if the rot is to be arrested.

Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Daniyal Mueenuddin

is an astonishing collection of short stories by the new star of South Asian fiction. Like Turgenev, Mueenuddin creates a world peopled by wholly believable and completely realised ordinary rural folk.

I also greatly admired Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night, and Aatish Taseer’s superb, terse, economical translation of Manto’s Selected Stories.

Sea of Poppies
Amitav Ghosh

It’s a brilliant narrative, and combines a marvellous bit of story-telling with a kind of language used by the lashkars, which even if it is invented, is fascinating. There are so many dimensions to this book.

The File on H
Ismail Kadare

This Albanian writer is very good at satire. It’s about a couple of Americans going to Albania, where oral tradition is still alive, to discover how Homer composed Iliad. But it’s also about the Albanian state. Full of black humour, this is a very unusual and very fresh novel.

The Exile
Navtej Sarna

I have read another book on Maharaja Duleep Singh, but I liked this one very much.

The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga

Despite its unrelenting pessimism and so few likable characters, I found it a compelling read. Adiga writes very powerfully.

De Niro—A Biography
John Baxter

It’s very well-informed.

Brida
Paulo Coelho

This is a novel about a young girl in quest of knowledge and wisdom.

Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden

I just finished reading this fictional account of a Japanese geisha girl.