Top 10 Books - Fiction

This is basically a re-post of my first ever Facebook post. And I wrote it honestly enough, just that I found a few grammar issues with it afterward and since I also don't like the fact that any edits to the post would show up, I decided to put it here as well - with a few improvements, of course.

Here goes.

Its impossible to really pick your favorite books, they change from day to day and as you get older, your tastes change and your language changes and all that makes it really difficult. Most of these books are ones I grew up with and ones which introduced genres to me.

Top 10 books - they all turned out to be fiction, cause those were the ones that first came to my mind.

1. Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury - Upendrakishore Rachanasamagra - 2 volumes, cardboard bound and with blue glossy covers. Ultra thin paper. For really being the first literature I read and for being my introduction to the Indian mythologies (including being the best possible introduction to Ramayan and Mahabharat).

2. Rabindranath Tagore - Gora - Its about religion, tradition, family, caste, patriotism and identity. Big words and big ideas that make quite an impression and the first book that made me really think. Set in an incredible time and populated with a wonderful cast.

3. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay - Srikanta - the eponymous character is hardly the most interesting part of the novel - its the women in his life which actually give it direction and structure and ultimately make the novel.

4. Saradindu Bandopadhyay - the Byomkesh series (and if asked to pick a favorite, I'd pick two - Chorabali and Chiriyakhana and beg you to let me include Satyanbeshi). The thing is I know of the inspiration it takes from Sherlock Holmes and I have enjoyed the author's historical novels more probably - but Byomkesh for me remains the best portrayal of a detective.

(a little too many Bengali books probably, but I read the collected works of the authors in that wonderful 3 month period after the 10th board exams that we all get and that influence has remained - we'll move onto English now)

5. O'Henry - The collected short stories - The gift of the Magi and The Last Leaf are probably the only stories that have made me cry (I was young, so don't be judging). And A Retrieved Reformation and The Buyer from Cactus City are my favorites - if you need a picker-upper and are in no mood to self-medicate - may I suggest these two.

6. Agatha Christie - The murder of Roger Ackroyd, And then there were none - easily the author whose books I have read the most. Anytime somebody needed to gift me something or I had saved up some money, I would head to the one bookstore in the township and pick up a new Christie. Not the greatest fan of either Poirot or Miss Marple, I have liked the standalone ones more. But Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a masterpiece honestly, the twist is something that you don't see coming (don't lie to yourself now) and both the books have formats that differ from the one-camera format (to borrow from movie-making) that most books follow.

7. P. G. Wodehouse - You are expecting the Jeeves and Wooster books or the Blandings Castle series. But I'll put forth the Wrynkyn series as my pick here - the language is incomparable (but that is true of all Wodehouse), there's usually an underdog and it introduced me to Mike and Psmith (probably my favorite amongst all of Wodehouse's characters). Favorite book though - The White Feather.

Now we are doing genres, cause there has to be some structure to this and I really don't want to miss out on something obvious.

8. Alistair MacLean - The Last Frontier / Frederick Forsyth - The Day of the Jackal / Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Identity. If I am picking thrillers, then it has to be one of these three. I read the Alistair MacLean novels by borrowing them from the school library - enormous fun and easy reads. If I had to pick just one though, it would be the Ludlum - I was quite furious after they changed the basic storyline in the 2nd film. I think the Bourne Identity is pretty much perfect.

9. Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon - Daytripper - Unique and perfect. The graphic novel that would likely be on any favorite books list I make. Gorgeous and moving, without being manipulative, I have probably read too much into it - but this makes you question the ultimate value of your life. A book that I have loved everything about from the very first time I held it.

10. Neil Gaiman - American Gods / Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light / Jonathan Stroud - The Amulet of Samarkand - I don't think I can choose between these three. Shadow is that most inscrutable of anti-heroes in a world that's both mythical and modern, nowhere else is Hinduism more mysterious (and the hero prefers to call himself Sam - a little bit of conceit here, yes, permit me that) and Bartimeus and Nathaniel have the most interesting of relationships. So, I won't be choosing here - some leeway must be allowed in the last entry anyway.

So that's the list. As I am typing this, I am starting to question certain omissions. But this is the list for today and this it shall remain.

P.S. Found this picture - it is quite perfect ain't it?

A few well hidden speakers and we're set