Library
A handful of stories and sensory experiences that I come back to every now and then.
This isn't a curated list; it's more like me writing down the names that have been caught in the cobwebs of my mind for goodness knows what reason. But I think that's a good enough reason to recommend something: This stuck with me, that's it.
Note: Recommendations with * involve triggering topics explained in quite some detail. I don't recommend them any lesser for it — they are still masterclasses in storytelling.
Questions
These are a few questions that’ve occupied my mind recently, and I’m actively collecting information on them. Signposts to relevant links are always appreciated :-)
How might we bring tech back in touch with humanity?
What are the many ways in which language (and its byproducts, like stories) has shaped our reality?
Where do great ideas come from?
How do we optimise for curiosity in a world that optimises for material returns?
Read: Amoeba roles in tech
Published writing
I write both to think and to tell a story. Here are some of those stories I've documented in the last couple of years:
A modernist structure in Bengaluru's oldest neighbourhood, for Paper Planes
The past hides in a bowl of saaru, for Memories on a Plate
The many ways one can love a book, for Borderless Journal
Seeing Japan in Noguchi and Noguchi in Japan, for G5A Foundation
Home is everywhere and nowhere at once, for The Curator
Jars of pickle and whisperings of generations, for Kitaab
Finding your personal Zone of Genius, for Humanise (also in print)
Your message lives here, for ISHTBAFSTD, Yummy Colors' Concept of the Year
Fiction
Standalone novels
Babel, RF Kuang
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
The Architect's Apprentice, Elif Shafak
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara *
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh *
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers
Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie *
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy *
Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts
The Overstory, Richard Powers
The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt *
The Secret History, Donna Tartt *
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
White Teeth, Zadie Smith *
Classics
The premise of 'classics' and 'canon' is heavily contested in literature. Who is it a classic for? Who is the list catering to? Who is it alienating? Short note on this forthcoming, but the long and short of it is that these are my classics.
Malgudi Days, R.K. Narayan
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Little Women (and the lesser-known Little Men), Louisa May Alcott
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Persuasion, Jane Austen
Nagamandala, Girish Karnad
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
Demian, Herman Hesse
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Series
The Winternight Trilogy, Katherine Ardern
The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson
Six of Crows Duology, Leigh Bardugo
The Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
Gentleman Bastards, Scott Lynch *
Shades of Magic, V.E. Schwab
The Earthsea Cycle, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Expanse, James S. A. Corey
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Sandman, Neil Gaiman
Discworld, Terry Pratchett
Books about books and writing
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Four Seasons in Rome, Anthony Doerr
This Little Art, Kate Briggs
The Bookseller's Tale, Martin Latham
On Writing, Stephen King
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders
Steering the Craft, Ursula K Le Guin
Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami