Indian Readers discussion

Pl. tell us the best book and best author that you have read.

my vote goes to the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy(ultimate version). For me the best author is Charles Dickens

Best Author(s) for me - Rohinton Mistry, Chetan Bhagat, Karan Bajaj, Arvind Adiga.

All their books are great read.

Helter wrote: "Rajat wrote: "

All their books are great read."

Word to your grammar."

I'm sorry, i didn't get this.

stephen king , daphne du maurier

2 Very difficult questions.....

very very difficult question indeed...for me, it keeps changing as i keep discovering new stuff..

charles dickens and p g wodehouse are currently running on my top 2...got across a used copy of one of his rares last week and they have bumped up on my list :-)

My favorite book is Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance...it's one of the most amazing book.

Abhilash wrote: "very very difficult question indeed...for me, it keeps changing as i keep discovering new stuff..

charles dickens and p g wodehouse are currently running on my top 2...got across a used copy of on..."

Abhilash wrote: "very very difficult question indeed...for me, it keeps changing as i keep discovering new stuff..

charles dickens and p g wodehouse are currently running on my top 2...got across a used copy of on..."

hey Abhilash,

P G Wodehouse is on my fav author list as well.you can check out our used book section for more rare books.(www.flipgraph.com)

Abhilash wrote: "very very difficult question indeed...for me, it keeps changing as i keep discovering new stuff..

I agree with you. Though I loved "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and " Half of a Yellow Sun".

It's a very tough question...might be decided by two factors:
U like a buk that portrays someone like you
or
U like a buk that portrays someone you want to become

Very tough indeed; but i particularly liked "The Book Thief".
Authors- there are many!

This is a tough one!!

Every book and every author has something to offer...i will never be able to say that i like a specific author persay.

I remember the first book that i was given to read was "Jack and the Beanstalk"...for me it was a masterpiece. It was also the book that captivated my imagination...pictures drawn in my head...wondering how the giant would look..or how would it be to climb up a tree to the clouds..just lovely.

Authors are gifetd individuals and all of them have a wonderful story to tell..and i just love stories!!

Yes, I totally agree. I ruminated much on this topic of 'best author' and 'best book' and found out that I couldnot pinpoint a single author or a single book. I've been captivated by many books and authors, each the best in their own way.

Richelle Mead is my favorite author.
favorite book: Vampire Academy series

There are quite many books that I like and I have been inspired by so many authors. It is hard to narrow it down to a couple of favourites. Yet the first few things that pop into my mind, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" for its portrayal of a boy, "Wuthering Heights", "After the Funeral". Enid Blyton occupies the top slot in my authors list for all the nostalgia that flood my mind whenever I recollect any books authored by her. Anne Perry, Charles Dickens, Rabindranath Tagore, Charlotte Bronte, Leo Tolstoy, Anita Desai and many more.

richelle mead - vampire academy
suzanne collins - hunger games

Ravi Tej wrote: "my vote goes to the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy(ultimate version)."
I totally agree it is one of my favorite books as well! I also enjoyed reading the Hunger Games and of course Harry Potter rules so does JK Rowling.

What exactly wud the 'hitchhiker's guide to galaxy' be termed as? science fiction? Is it a series of novels?

The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is science fiction comedy. I seriously recommend it to science fiction lovers! And yes it is a series of novels by Douglas Adams which comprise of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Mostly Harmless and And Another Thing... but you can buy the ultimate version which has all the books in one.

Ok, thanks Deep for the 'deep' insight :-) Will try to get the ultima version!

Aditya wrote: "Ok, thanks Deep for the 'deep' insight :-) Will try to get the ultima version!"
Your welcome and enjoy the book :)

The Seventh Scroll by wilbur smith is one of the best books i have ever ever read! Loved every page of it! Its actually a sequel to the river god which i still havent got a hand on.
maybe the reason i loved this book was the archaeology and treasure hunt genre that it come under.

Deep wrote: "The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is science fiction comedy. I seriously recommend it to science fiction lovers! And yes it is a series of novels by Douglas Adams which comprise of The Hitchhiker..."

Deep, if i had read your post before picking up H2G2, i would never have read it! im not a fan of sci.fi... just cant deal with it! But i loved this book! Im going to confess that real sci-fi lovers are going to "understand" this book and really LOVE it!
i loved it for the sheer madness in it!

aah...that's a mouth watering review for a sci-fi fan like me! lemme see wen i can go to the book store..

Every genre has its own writer. However Arthur Koestler's books among the popular sciences are fantastic, especially The Sleepwalkers. Peter Ustinov is another excellent writer (he is known more as an actor and producer)- I loved his book- God and Mr. Smith, Krumnagel, & Monsieur Rene. PG wodehouse is of course a class apart followed by Giovanni Guareschi (Don Camillo fame a must read). Of course my all time favs are Agatha Christie & P D James, Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason fame) among the mystery writers and Tony Hillerman. Among the Indian writers it is only Amitav Ghosh, followed by Vikram Chandra. Recently I have been falling in love with Alexander McCall Smith's books - so gentle upon the soul. Umberto Eco is also a fantastic writer across genres. Impossible to state just one!!

Yes, I do love PG Wodehouse ( he was my staple for a period of 2 or 3 years about a decade and half back. I had a crush on Psmith as a teenager), Agatha Christie, PD James. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is a work of its own kind.

My favourite book is "1984" by George Orwell

"The Idiot" by Dostoyevsky.

my favorite books....well, i cant remember so well. but there are a few books that never leave my mind...
The DaVinci Code(Dan Brown)
The Shining(Stephen King)
The Alchemist(even tho i hate all other books of Paulo)
Potter 7, etc

Choosing ONE book & author!!! Next to impossible.. :)

If it's absolutely necessary,well..hmm..

The book would be The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy'

Author : I'll vote for Rabindranath Tagore for the number of times I've reread Gitanjali :)

*This is what I feel at this moment :)*

@Adz:

http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/...

Go through these quotes from the book.. You'll get a fairly good idea :)

Catch 22, Joseph Heller
I liked it.
And ofcourse.. P.G Wodehouse books are great...

One book.. No chance.. atleast three..

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey - Dr. Ernesto Che Guevara

Anbu wrote: "One book.. No chance.. atleast three..

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
[book:The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin..."
oh great!
two of my favorites in there...

Book - A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author, since I haven't read many, I'd go with Stephen King

I'm a fantasy fan, so it was Harry Potter(by JK Rowling) for me!! I absolutely loved it!!

Tamanna, I like Jeffrey Archer too! My favourites are 'Sons of Fortune' and 'Not a penny more, not a penny less'....

Sons of fortune is one of my favourites to. Followed by kane and abel.

I fell in love with Fletcher's debating skills O.o

My favourite authors would be--Arthur C. Clarke, Issac Asimov, Mulk Raj Anand, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley,Kurt Vonnegut Richard Dawkins & Rohinton Mistry.....

And the books---The Odyssey Series, Foundation Series, 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse Five, Such a Long Journey, Never Let Me go & Climbing Mount Improbable.

Though I've read Orwell, Archer and several other famous writers, my favorite is still Khushwant Singh. Whether he writes about amatory escapades or when he writes about political ideologies, I find his writings very gripping.

God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

If you are asking English books and authors, I'd go with Dickens and Austen..and JK Rowling too..
But my absolute favourite author is M.T.Vasudevan Nair...

@Harsha: I thought MT made movies. A novelist too?! Brilliant!

@Teja
He is primarily an author with a lot of novels and shortstories to his credit.. And his masterpiece is Randamoozham( Second Turn) which got him the Jnanpith award. It narrates Mahabharata from Bhima's POV..

Cool. Are they all in Malayalam? I dont know Malayalam. So are there any English translations?

@Teja
They are in malayalam but I am sure there are English translations...

hey guys!! i am new to reading.. pls suggest some nice books.. likes jeffery archers , n black friday , godfather etc etc
dunno which book to pick next.. no philosophy books..

@Minal:
Hi! Welcome to this new world! My idea is that you take a good book in each genre and give a reading. Pick the genres you like the most and you have your niche.
For example
Read Ludlum, Forsyth for thrillers. Comedy- nobody can ever beat Wodehouse. Try Arthur Conan Doyle. Read fiction by Jhumpa Lahiri (I like her writing, some don't). Some of the best written essays are by Aldous Huxley. I've heard that Tagore's essays are really good. And yeah; the easiest way- read the books in currently reading section of Indian readers group. They are really good ones.

Hope this helps.

@teja : thanx a ton.. i must go thru wht u have suggested.. i used be very scared of thick books.. but once i hv strtd reading.. i finish them in no time.. but essays n stuff still scare me..