Books read in 2023

Hello, a happy 2024 to everyone.

Continuing the habit, here is a list of books I read in 2023.

1.    The Fall of the Ottomans – The Great War in the Middle East 1914 - 1920(Non-Fiction) by Eugene Rogan; Reading it immediately after Musa Dagh helped. One is often left to wonder how many great empires or regimes met their nemesis in Russia. The research is exhaustive. A definitive book on Ottomans. The post-war repatriations that would serve as the base of the 2^nd World War somehow spurred Ataturk to launch an immediate resistance and formed modern Turkey. The immoral British and French stand exposed for their shady dealings and promises they made that they had no intention of keeping. The continuing simmering cauldron that is the Middle East today is the sole creation of the certified troublemaker of the modern world, The British. A brilliant book. The withdrawal of Russia after the Bolshevik revolution from the Entente forces that changed the course of the war is something I learned from this book. The Ottomans were so close to a different outcome so many times. The fleeing of the three pashas and the Armenians tracking them down to avenge is poetic judgment.

a.    Started on 18^th December and finished on 21^st Jan

b.    Recommended by Arko and Vivek

2.    R.N.Kao: Gentleman Spymaster (Non-Fiction) by Nitin A Gokhale; What a shoddy piece of writing. Mr. Kao deserved a better biographer than Gokhale. After reading Walter Isaacson’s brilliant narratives in countless biographies, this comes across as poor. A comparison to WI is not fair, but even on its own, this is pathetic writing. The author says he finished writing in 2 months, and the result is evident. I wish someone else would write another biography on Mr. Kao that would do justice to his stature and achievement. The chapters on Bangladesh and Sikkim were better than the others. The appendix was entirely meaningless.

a.    Started on 21^st Jan and finished on  25^th Jan

b.    Recommended by Arko

3.    The Body- A Guide for Occupants (Non-Fiction) by Bill Bryson; Such a lovely read. Who would have thought that a book on how one’s body functions could be such a breeze. The anecdotes. The wit. Fantastic read. For a book that endlessly repeats, “this we do not know”, “for which science has no answer” and so on, it transfers a great deal of information and makes you much wiser about your own body. The more you look at what your body does, the more you stand in awe at the completeness, the functions and the industriousness of it. If I start sharing one quote a day, I will have quotes left after my time is up. Fabulous writing at its best. We owe so much to chance, that played a crucial role in most inventions to improve our health. And, as usual, out of the blue comes certain references that drag me back to the holocaust and unit 731. Sigh. Humans, how vile can they get?

a.    Started on 25^th Jan and finished on 5^th Feb

b.    Recommended by The Guardian and Krish Ashok (his tweet on race being a sliver of epidermis first drew me to this work)

4.    The Thursday murder club (Fiction) by Richard Osman; After three non-fiction works, I needed a fiction break. Fun, before anything else. Easy to read and clever at the same time. Subtle humor on almost every page. This one is my fav though “It would be the most uncomfortable chair that Chris had ever sat in, had he not just made the flight to Cyprus on Ryanair”. The whole novel is a wonderful tease. A highly satisfying read. Such a complicated plot, with so many characters, all neatly woven in.

a.    Started on 5^th Feb and finished on 11^th Feb

b.    Recommended by Shilpa (though this was on the news for a long and I had made a note of it earlier on too)

5.    Remote Sympathy (Fiction) by Catherine Chidgey; Did not expect this book to be such a fast read. Brilliantly written. So subtle in most places. In one of the pages she describes the photographs of the inmates as “the stubble-headed and pebble-eyed”. How very perfect. This will stay with me forever. It describes the countless photographs that I had seen at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I am no stranger to books about/around the holocaust but this one is so special, so unique, unlike any that I have read before. With alternating records between the doctor, Frau Hahn, the recordings of Dietrich Hahn from the Dachau trials, and the impressions of the 1000 men from Weimar, the novel unfolds exquisitely tenderly and unflinchingly. The climax is BEAUTIFUL! It is only February but I can’t imagine another book challenging this for the best book of the year’s reading. This is likely to be the image on the year-end blog post. Would love to meet the author one day and salute my admiration. So truthful to the Buchenwald account. Simply mind-blowing.

a.    Started on 11^th Feb and finished on 19^th February.

b.    Recommended by The Guardian.

6.    The Braided River A Journey along the Brahmaputra (Non-Fiction) by Samrat Choudhury; A lovely easy read. The humor is subtle and a constant presence. The author has covered a vast canvas. From the Ahom empire to the Muslim immigrant issues, NRC lives of people in villages, towns, and cities along the river, the rhinos and elephants. He has a keen eye and a tremendous capacity to listen and write what he has witnessed. The Bangladesh part was surprisingly small and appeared as if he hurried to finish it.

a.    Started on 19^th February and finished on 1st March

b.    Recommended by self but also a gift from Savitha Shetty

7.    Alai Osai (Fiction – Tamil) by Kalki; On my waiting-to-read list for a long time. The foreword itself was gripping. This book was special fun as I could read it in Tamil. What a wonderful book. The conversational tone, the ideas, and the narration are all spellbinding. Kalki holds you in his grip and never lets you go. Most ideas were so far ahead of time for the 1950s and it pains one to see that most of the customs and practices ridiculed in the book still prevail. The character sketches are brilliant. There is no singularly good or bad person. Sita comes across as a strong candidate for such a complex character sketch. While Lalita comes across as a symbol of innocence and trust, Sita is a kaleidoscope of characters. No one is unidimensional. A correct portrayal is that people do change over a period of time. Vast in its scope, and difficult to identify or slot it into a genre. A family story, a mystery, a historical novel, and to have managed to leave a final twist after 950 pages is no easy task. He must have written the whole novel in longhand (950 pages) back then – mad respect.

a.    Started on 1^st March and finished on 21^st March.

b.    Recommended by Self and this particular copy was gifted by Raja.

8.    A Calling for Charlie Barnes (Fiction) by Joshua Ferris; A writer's son writing about his father who died around 2008-2009. What is fiction and what is real? The power lies with the one who drives the narrative. Facts are rearranged, life embellished, events exaggerated or outright redacted. People vanish or compress into one new version. The ending when it happens, all too fast, takes your breath away. (Serendipity – I wrote a book about my father who died in 2008. I traded the same fiction and fact balance and many members of my family who would read it would feel that the story was my version of the life as I was controlling the narrative). Like V S Naipaul said, “Truth can be edited, only fiction never lies!”

a.    Started on 21^st March and finished on 3^rd April

b.    Recommended by The Guardian

9.    Embers by Saba Khan; A book of poems. The author is a friend. So bought and read on the same day. Mothers and Pockets and Purses struck a chord immediately. Other poems will slowly grow on me. I am not much of a poem person. So will read it a few more times. But to hold in your hand a book written by your friend is a special feeling

a.    Started and finished on 24th March

b.    Recommended by the author herself.

10. Range – How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (Non-Fiction) by David Epstein; A great read with a lot of anecdotes and insights. Early specialization is to be avoided and late specialization (if at all) is more rewarding. Makes absolute sense. I can feel it as I grew in my organization. I had to develop different skills than my core competence to perform. Came to a point where my core competence was no longer put to any use. But, how many will take this step? An essential book for everyone. If I leave my job anytime soon, this book would have been a catalyst. It is also a stroke of serendipity that I finished the book on the day my beloved friend who recommended this book ran the London Marathon for a charity! The book itself was a compelling read, alternating between well-known sports personalities, obscure management leaders and pioneers in science, and unknown female musicians of ancient Italy.  

a.    Started on 3^rd April and finished on 23^rd April

b.    Recommended by Arun Krishnamoorthy

11.  Foster (Fiction) by Claire Keegan; In her typical short novella style. As gripping as the other book, small things like these. A simple tale. Told beautifully. A satisfying read. We all could have wanted a cinematic shock event that almost came to pass or an ending that would have been more predictable and satisfying but one that would not have been fair. A satisfying read and the power of her books is that they are a quick read, leaving you wishing it were longer.

a.    Started and finished on 23^rd April

b.    Recommended by The Guardian.

12. Cutting for Stone (Fiction) by Abraham Verghese; The novel lived up to the expectations. A glorious read on the human psyche, family, relationships, and the ultimate fact that “the world turns on our every action, and every omission, whether we know it or not”. Made me smile and cry in equal measure. Will now proceed to devour everything he has penned. Reminded me a bit of Amor Towles in his writing style and what is it with doctors and literature? So many great books are written by doctors!

a.    Started on 25^th April and finished on 10^th June

b.    Recommended by The Guardian

13. The Psychology of Money (Non-Fiction) by Morgan Housel; Never thought that a book on money and finance would be such an easy read. No magical formula or a panacea, but everyday wisdom so obvious that we often miss them. The way the book was constructed, anecdotal, was a nice ploy to keep you engaged. You know some of those names, the incidents and it is easy to connect and identify. I picked up a few good points, which is win enough for me. More importantly, a few revelations like “The illusion of control is more persuasive than the reality of uncertainty that we choose to believe a narrative that reinforces our sense of control”. A lovely book.

a.    Started on 11^th June and finished on 16^th June

b.    Recommended by Ujval

14. Silence is My Mother Tongue (Fiction) by Sulaiman Addonia; Punches you in your gut and kicks you while you struggle to gain normalcy. Powerful and gut-wrenching. “was expecting womanhood to arrive through my education, character but it came via my vagina”, “we treat women like goddesses; Treat us like human beings and half the problems are solved” and “women were the colander through which the suffering of their nations was purged” are just a few examples. The ending of the book “full of generous people” is dripping with sarcasm. And the acknowledgments where he talks about "his being an Arsenal fan was punishing enough" reveal that the author can smile after all that he had been through!

a.    Started on 16^th June and finished on 30^th June

b.    Recommended by The Guardian

15. How fascism works – The Politics of Us and Them (Non-Fiction) by Jason Stanley; Similar in scope to Ece Temelkuran’s 7 steps to lose your country and equally powerful. His clarity is stunning. One feels so helpless when the problem and the approach of the fascists are so clearly laid out and we still can’t do much. The book is so full of quotable quotes, that this must be the most underlined and margin-noted book. This one line so simply sums up everything about us and them. “We make mistakes, they are criminals”. The world is falling apart right in front of our own eyes and we just watch with shock at how stupid people can be or should it be gullible? Either way, we do not learn from our history is evident. The fact that we have a war raging in Europe (400+ days) just 80 years after the devastating WW II is an indication that we have learned nothing. But can one lose hope? Certainly not.

a.    Started on 30^th June and finished on 4^th July

b.    Recommended by The Guardian

16. You made a fool of death with your beauty (Fiction) by Akwaeke Emezi; Disappointing! What a fall after Freshwater! Read more like Harold Robbins writing a book over a weekend after watching Masterchef Australia!

a.    Started on 5^th July and finished on 9^th July

b.    Recommended by self

17. Africa is not a Country – Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa (Non-Fiction) by Dipo Faloyin; Earlier I had said, How Fascism Works should be part of the school syllabus and we can add Dipo’s book to the list. So relevant and well researched and extremely clear in laying out facts. As an Indian, I can relate to the colonial excesses and the colonial baggage that we all carry. The grief expressed while visiting the British Museum and the shamelessness of the museums all over the world in refusing to return is absolutely spot on. A review would not be complete without his humor. Brilliant. Isn’t humor the only coping mechanism that we all have in facing our troubles? A satire on a Hollywood guide to making movies on Africa stands out. I laughed as much as I sat and pondered. And wept.

a.    Started on 9^th July and finished on 19^th July

b.    A random airport pick-up (as I finished Emezi, I started this book on the flight back – A book bought and begun at once, while earlier purchases are waiting their turn!)

18. Vajpayee – The ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977 (Non-Fiction) by Abhishek Choudhary; Biography done right. The author brings the much-needed nuance and kudos to him for having resisted the urge to paint everything in black or white. Was surprised to learn that Babri Masjid was an issue in 1949 and DeMo was suggested as a solution to rein in black money in 1970. I can confidently say Walter Isaacson and R Guha have a competent contemporary. Hope the part 2 does not disappoint. A relevant read to understand the slow but dangerous ascent of Hindu right!

a.    Started on 20^th July and finished on 4^th August

b.    Recommended by Panicker (Twitter)

19. The Lincoln Highway (Fiction) by Amor Towles; Does the author need an introduction? After the magnificent Gentleman in Moscow and the brilliant Rules of Civility (the order in which I read them) the 3^rd book was naturally on the cards. “For kindness begins where necessity ends” is a statement that shall stay with me for a long time. Original plot and excellent writing. Chekov’s gun principle is practiced unerringly. A lovely read. There is every potential for a Lincoln Highway part 2.

a.    Started on 4^th August and finished on 15^th August

b.    Recommended by self

20.  The association of small bombs (Fiction) by Karan Mahajan; How a small bomb impacts so many lives. The eternal Hindu–Muslim divide laid bare. A wonderful study of human behavior. “They should all die” to “let us go and support them” in a span of a few hours is a classic rendition of how humans behave. Rationality is not one's forte ‘when personal tragedy clouds your mind. A nice tie-up of all the events and characters in the end, though it felt that the author rushed the ending.

a.    Started on 15^th August and finished on 21^st August

b.    Recommended by self, a random pick-up.

21. A pocketful of happiness (Non-Fiction) by Richard E Grant; CRAP. If I write more, I will become more agitated.

a.    Started on 21^st August and finished on 27th August

b.    Recommended by self.

22. Pedro Paramo (Fiction) by Juan Rulfo; Picked up the book as the foreword was written by Garcia Marquez and his effusive praise. The book started well and had great potential but became weirder and weirder. Can’t say I enjoyed reading it. Too non-linear, and the dreaded magic realism in an uncontrolled way. Thankfully, it was a slim volume.

a.    Started on 28^th August and finished on 31^st August.

b.    Recommended by self

23. House of Glass – The story and secrets of a twentieth-century Jewish family(Non-Fiction) by Hadley Freeman; Started on the day the Second World War broke and the Glass family starts their lives in a town, Chrzanow, 80 km from where I live. After William Shirer introduced me to the 1000-year Reich, my life had been a constant engagement with WW II and the Holocaust. Seven trips to Auschwitz Birkenau and multiple volumes later, any book on Jews cca 1930s still packs a punch. “Individual lives are always more complicated than sweeps of history” and “Being Jewish is something to be endured, never flaunted” are two statements that define the book. No stranger to family tragedies, still the lives of Jacques, Mila, and Lily make your jaw drop. Alex – from stealing meatballs to getting personalized sketches from Picasso – what a life! A most satisfying book. Shed the usual tears. Another book that illustrates the complex nature of individuals and the fact that there are always shades of gray; life is never black or white.

a.    Started on 1^st September and finished on 9^th September

b.    Recommended by The Guardian

24. The End of Faith – Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason (Non-Fiction) by Sam Harris; Not for anyone seeking subtlety. He has taken a sledgehammer and never once puts it down. Written immediately after 9/11, the anger and the rage is palpable. Religion is laid bare here for what it is, EVIL! And this time he appeals to the rational men (and women) not to tolerate the nonsense anymore. Certain parts (his exploration of pragmatist and realist for example) were a bit dense but an honest piece of work. “The religious moderate is nothing more than a failed fundamentalist; by failing to live by the letter, while tolerating the irrationality of those who do, he betrays both faith and reason equally” “Theology is ignorance with wings” and “the more educated we become, the more second hand our beliefs are" are some of the quotes that describe how scholarly this book is. He has not diluted his anger and this book must be mandatory for everyone and more so for a fence sitter!

a.    Started on 10^th September and finished on 24^th September

b.    Recommended by The Guardian.

25. All the light we cannot see (Fiction) by Anthony Doerr; Superlative work. I loved all those small chapters. I also have a bias towards authors who name their chapters instead of numbering them. The alternate chapters flitting between the two main characters and jumping timelines were both done so effortlessly that one never feels lost. The author says in acknowledgments that it took almost a decade to write this book and the result is evident. A thoroughly researched book. A different kind of war book. Saint-Malo must be visited soon. I wanted to finish this book before the Netflix series/film comes out in November.

a.    Started on 25^th September and finished on 3^rd October

b.    Recommended by Mihir

26. So Late in the Day (Fiction) by Claire Keegan; The third Keegan book after the brilliant Small Things Like These and the taut Foster. She does not waste words, and one sits back and wonders at the simplicity of the book, its short length, and the powerful messages all packed so neatly into such a small volume. Brevity becomes beautiful in Keegan’s hand. She is unbelievably good.

a.    Started and finished on the 4^th of October. Will read it again.

b.    Recommended by self

27. Our Freedoms – essays and stories from India’s best writers (Non-Fiction) edited by Nilanjana S Roy; This has been on my to-buy list but Amalia decided to gift it to me. An engaging read. “Necessity stayed on the street while privilege went home “ and “I became an atheist when I started to think” came across loud and clear. Gautam Bhatia and Annie Zaidi set the tone, Perumal Murugan had his signature caste relevance, Yashica was incisive in her freedom exchange, Vivek Shanbhag was at his usual best, Roshan Ali’s “agendas” I would rate as the best in this collection, Salil Tripathi was brilliant, Aatish Taseer’s pain was palpable, Suketu Mehta was extraordinary bristling with rage – how can Gandhi and Amit Shah both come from Gujarat? -, Gyan Prakash’s probing of the untouchability from a different pov was mesmerizing, T M Krishna was his usual reliable stuff and Priyanka Dubey’s one on forgiveness was breathtaking. A good compilation.

a.    Started on 5^th October and finished on 10^th October

b.    Gifted by Amalia, so counts as her recommendation, even though it was on my “to buy” list

28. Nine rupees an hour – Disappearing livelihoods of Tamil Nadu (Non-Fiction) by Aparna Karthikeyan; Been following the works of the author on PARI and am now familiar with her style of storytelling. It is engaging. A lot has been written about the extinction of species but this is probably the first book to record the extinction of skills/professions. Almost every single profession she has recorded will cease to exist, sadly, in the coming decades. What is the price of self-respect? 36% per annum. Confused? Read the farmers’ story and understand why they avoid banks.  Groundwater issue – Summed up in one sentence. Punjab gets tanker water from Rajasthan! Which doctor do you go to? Not based on experience or reputation but the one who will not humiliate us. Sainath gives a unique perspective on why museums have not picked up in India and also nails it when the topic is inequality and skilled labor. Also, do you know the origins of the names chickpea, cowpea, pigeon pea, etc.. – Ask Sainath. The surprise package was the T. M. Krishna interview. “The terms classical and folk must be abolished” and “it is you and I who decide that poor needs no art” – with just these two quotes he had blown to smithereens centuries of bias. Bravo! A heartbreakingly beautiful book with so much of the inherent bias laid bare.

a.    Started on 11^th October and finished on 21^st October

b.    Recommended by self (after following the author on Twitter)

29.  The Ministry for the Future (Fiction) by Kim Stanley Robinson; Was not sure about reading a book that came under the genre of science fiction. What a marvelous book. A beacon of hope in the middle of all pessimists and naysayers. It is simple to sit back and criticize but it takes a willingness and an enormous knowledge to come out with solutions that are not far-fetched. That chapter towards the end that spoke eloquently about dignity from the point of view of a refugee/immigrant was so beautifully written.

a.    Started on 21^st October and finished on 3^rd November

b.    Recommended by Krish Ashok.

30. Strokes of genius – Federer, Nadal and the greatest match ever played (Non-Fiction) by L. Jon Wertheim; It had everything I admire. Tennis. Federer. Nadal. Wimbledon. It was inconceivable to me that a book could be written about ONE match, even with a bit of background to fill up the pages. It transported me 15 years back in my life and to that wonderful afternoon when sports reached its perfection. Effortless writing, even if some comparisons with American sports (NFL and Baseball) did not land well. A must for any sports enthusiast.

a.    Started on 4^th November and finished on 13^th November

b.    Recommended by Ujval and gifted by Savitha.

31. Really good actually (Fiction) by Monica Heisey; Funny in parts. The new generation with its social media online culture may appreciate this more. Many observations and behavioral observations were spot on. A decent read. Nowhere near the superlative level that the reviews claimed.

a.    Started on 13^th November and finished on 25^th November

b.    A random airport pick-up, so self-recommended.

32. The uncontrollability of the world (Non-Fiction) by Hartmut Rosa; A scholarly look at resonance and the conflict between our desire to control everything and the resulting frustrations whether we manage to control or not. His exploration of self-efficacy was outstanding, even, or especially, to inanimate objects. As in “we not only read but begin to process a book”. And the conclusion nails it efficiently. Our exasperation has its roots not in what is still denied to us, but in what we have lost because we now have it under our control. !

a.    Started on 26^th November and finished on 4^th December

b.    Met this lady Ana Maria at Dubai airport and she was reading this.

33. Catch and Kill – Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators (Non-Fiction) by Ronan Farrow; Another brilliant book along the lines of Bad Blood. The perseverance and fortitude shown by the reporters are commendable. And people like Harvey Weinstein make you sick and angry at the same time. The only complaint I have is far too many names to keep track of. The famous/notorious ones were easy but the remaining multitude was confusing. Had to keep a record of names for reference (who was the lawyer, who worked for NBC, New York Times, New Yorker, etc.…)

a.    Started on 4^th December and finished on 17^th December

b.    Recommended by Mihir

33 is not a bad number, I would say. Hope you pick up some from this list.

See you around the same time next year. Insha Allah!