I am generally considered to be a bibliophile or in other words a ‘bookworm’. My advice is generally sought out on matters related to reviews of books, asking about an author and all other sundry matters related to the collection of written texts. Though I don’t profess to be an all knowing Guru of book-ish knowledge, still I enjoy the tag. What I don’t exactly enjoy is answering the same old query almost everyone asks, “yaar, which book should I buy / read?”
If you think its easy, well, retrospect! For I may recommend a Mills & Boon to my young cousin, however I would recommend the Bhagwat gita to my old uncle. The trick of the trade is, my readers, to know the likes and general dislikes of a person; the personality in short.
That’s what gets me wondering – Is there no such list which can cater to all & sundry without prejudice to sex, age and proficiency in the English language? There are many such top 100 lists out there on the net but nothing for the junta who are willing to read but don’t know what to read.
Thinking of all the books I have read, heard or even just skimmed through, I can list some books that can cater to this vast segmented populace. This list is for the general public who want to read a book, but don’t consider themselves to be avid readers. The list is from my limited repository of books and excludes books which I have not read. So if you think some book is missing its rightful place here, please do drop a note.
So read away:
1. Animal farm – George Orwell.
2. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho.
3. Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien.
4. The Da vinci code – Dan brown
5. A walk to remember - Nicholas Sparks
6. The Kite runner - Khaled Hosseini
7. To kill a mocking bird – Harper Lee
8. A short history of nearly everything – Bill Bryson
9. The collected short stories by Jeffrey Archer
10. Treasure island - Robert Louis Stevenson
I have left out classics like Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, Lord of the Flies, Pride & Prejudice among many others. It wasn’t that they were not deserving, but they would not fit the reading list of the general population. But, I would not like to discourage anyone from reading further. If there is a specific genre you are looking for, please see this useful page: - Penguin List
In the end, I ask everyone reading this page to take a minute and just COMMENT on what your favorite book is till date. Thanks
