I had posted an entry with the same title a year ago. (October 5, 2022, label: Learning) It was about an old lady who painstakingly went through all the books in a reading list of 150 books her school teacher had handed over to all the students who were passing out of school. The teacher knew that most of them would not be able to pursue higher studies. However, she wanted them to keep in touch with learning and books and so the list.
I had vowed to prepare a list myself, a modest one of 25 books. One year has elapsed and the list is pretty ordinary. However, I have gone through all of them and can vouch for them.
Because Google search has made access easy, I have not given complete bibliographical references, particularly in Fiction, for what may be called classics. I guess it will not be difficult to get the books.
Most of my readers are mature and I do know they occasionally want to escape our dreary world. We also long to understand our world better. I hope the reading list will help in both these cases.
Instead of lamenting about the death of the reading culture, giving specific suggestions is helpful.
So, do give the list a once over.
The reading list
Non-fiction
1. The complete Indian housekeeper and cook, Flora A. Steel, Grace
Gardiner, 1888, 1904
2. Social action and the labouring poor: an experience, Primila Lewis, 1991
3. Women’s work, the first 20,000 years, women, cloth and society in early
times, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, 1994
4. Give us credit, Alex M. Counts, 1996
5. Social research methods, qualitative and quantitative approaches, W.
Lawrence Newman, 2000
6. Truth, love and a little malice, an autobiography, Khushwant Singh, 2001
7. The laws of lifetime growth, Dan Sullivan, 2007, 2016
8. Outliers, the story of success,
Malcolm Gladwell, 2008
9. Deep work, Cal Newport, 2016
10. Failing to succeed, the story of
India’s first e-commerce company, K. Vaitheeswaran, 2017,2019
Fiction
1. The ladies’ delight (Au bonheur des dames), Emile Zola, 1883, 2001
2. Keep the aspidistra flying, George Orwell, 1936, 2000
3. These old shades, Georgette Heyer, 1926, 2004
4. A town like Alice, Nevil Shute, 1950
5. The Priestley companion, extracts from the writings of J.B. Priestley
selected by himself, 1951
6. True grit, Charles Portis, 1968
7. Changing places, David Lodge, 2011
8. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
9. Jane Eyre, Emily Bronte
10. Complete short stories, Anton Chekhov
11. Room, Emma Donoghue, 2010
12. The glass palace, Amitav Ghosh, 2000
13. Gone with the wind, Margaret Mitchell
14. All creatures great and small, James Herriot
15. China court, Rumer Godden, 2013
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3 comments:
This is great Vasudha. You have provided a treasure of reading list. I will look up details and would get into reading some of these, I am sure it will be a fascinating experience.
I admire your efforts of preparing a list lime this. I know how difficult it must have been.
My father used to say that he had forgotten more books than the ones I have read! Shamkaka's reading was even more extensive than his.
Anyway, I will keep noting more books as I will remember.
Nirad Chowdhary's autobiography in 3 parts is remarkable. Only the first part: Autobiography of an unknown Indian is famous.
Vishram Bedekar's Autobiography, Ek Zad, thon pakshi, in Marathi is excellent.
Don pakshi, sorry.
Thy hand, great anarch is part 2 ofChaudhuri's autobiography.
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