The year 2022 has been one of the most fulfilling and complete rollercoasters of emotions. And reading various books was one of them. With 18 books read this year (I know it’s not much, but hey! Better some than none!), I had one of the most satisfying reading experiences where I was able to learn, unlearn, emote, stay mute, cry, feel dry, angered, and enjoyed, all of ’em!
And hence I’d like to share with you my top 10 picks of this year in descending order.
#10
Before the coffee gets cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This book is the sequel to ‘Before the coffee gets cold’ written by the same author. This book is about a cafe that can transport back in time. Interesting, isn’t it? Yet it comes with some stringent rules that make you almost not want to try this opportunity of travelling back in time. I really enjoyed the first part but was skeptical, tbh, whether this one would match its predecessor’s benchmark. But it surprisingly did and the book had that warmth and affection that I usually don’t find in my collection of books/stories. And frankly, I needed that warmth, that invisible hug that makes me feel okay and move forward with a sense of peace in my mind.
So, with all these, I’d rank this as my number 10 pick for this year.
#9
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Have you ever imagined reading about WWII, in fact any war, would be pleasant? Scratch that, let me put it this way – would it be less uncomfortable? Well, Maus did. This book made reading about the holocaust without making me feel nauseating, sick, or uncomfortable. That didn’t mean that this book doesn’t have any details that the survivors of the Holocaust. It surely had and it was as detailed as possible. Yet I was able to go through with less uneasiness. Because this was a graphic novel and the representation of Jews, Nazis, Poles, etc., were made using animals like mice, cats, pigs, etc. If anyone of you likes graphic novels and/or struggle to read about the Holocaust, then this book is for you.
Hence my pick for number 9 for this year.
Thank you, Vaani Mahesh and Chalchitra Talks for recommending this.
#8
Tumhare Baare Mein by Manav Kaul
Those who love to travel to different places had always experienced some new/interesting outlook toward life, the being, and its philosophy. As a matter of fact, many of us wanted to pen down what we felt and mehsoos-ed during our travel expeditions. And I for one, who made it a life goal to travel at least once in two months, had more to spill some thoughts on paper (physically/virtually). For those who feel the same, this book will kickstart that zeal of documenting our experiences more often than ever. And surely did to me, at least.
So, for making me write and document and look at things with a new refreshing emotion, this book hails proudly at number 8 for this year.
Thank you, Abhishek Sharma, for recommending this.
#7
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Ever wondered why we, humans, have a perennial interest in bitching? Ever thought we, humans again, fight most of our time for power? Well, this book Sapiens had some reasonable explanations for such questions and many more that blew my mind while reading it. This book made me more chill and relaxed because it made me feel, “Nothing matters”. This book made me less angry with the world, its wrongdoings, its hypocrisy and trust me, it’s quite an achievement to make me more chill (ask my friends :D). I have much more to say and explain about it but I feel it is better experienced only if you read. So please do read.
It had the potential to be in my top 5 (easily!) but this book had certain historical fallacies that a reader should be aware of beforehand or else they might consider whatever “stats” Yuval had mentioned in the book to be true, which it wasn’t. Hence, for that reason, my pick for number 7 for this year will be Sapiens.
#6
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
My liking for books started when I was a kid and picked up Enid Blyton’s The Secret Seven. My liking turned to fondness when I completed reading Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire in my school library. I was never a serious reader but neither I took it lightly. When I read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, my kind-of serious reading began and most of the time I picked books with serious topics, biographies, etc. Somewhere in the pursuit of “understanding the complexity of the world” I lost the will to be a child and have the freedom of a creative imagination a kid has. But when I picked Haroun…, I again was encountered with various fantasies, imaginations, and an unapologetic sense of thinking. Though this book can be categorized as a children’s book, it can be read, enjoyed, and understood by all ages.
The only downside is not the story and the world but that little explanation of certain characters and names that were given at the end of the story. I didn’t want to be spoon-fed with inner meanings and explanations but Salman Rushdie did.
Hence, I placed this at number 6 for this year.
Thank you Nilanjana Roy for recommending this book and Amit Varma for bringing her to The Seen and The Unseen podcast through which I not only got to know about the book but about Nilanjana too. Please do listen to the podcast, if haven’t already.
#5
Nehru: The Debates that defined India by Adeel Hussain and Tripurdaman Singh
AFAIK, among all the politicians of the world, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is one of the very few politicians who are relevant to this day, even after his demise after nearly 60 years. Nehru and his ideology, commonly known as Nehruvian, is often hailed, criticized, and debated in the current Indian political ecosystem, depending on what your ideologies are. But not many know or make an effort to understand the true Nehruvian ideology, be it the supporters or opposers. “Nehru: The Debates that defined India” gives us a very compelling insight into his outlook on politics and governance. The book doesn’t have any personal POV of the authors or their political leanings. The entire book had the letters, parliament debates/discussions that were written by Nehru and his colleagues who opposed his views at that time. It had conversations (via letters and debates) between Nehru and the likes of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, and Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee. The debates varied from the inclusiveness of Moslem (Muslim) brethren, Hindu-Muslim equality, stance on the Sino-India conflict, and Freedom of Speech; which surprisingly (or not so much) is highly relevant in today’s time.
Every person, who bears the nationality Indian, must read this before supporting/refuting the current political situation because it gives us a somewhat in-depth view of how governance is done using religion, how politics comes to pass with the increasing pressure of “looking good on foreign stage”, etc.
This book is my number 5 (could be higher, if not for that dry and disengaging format of the backstory by the authors) for this year. I discovered the authors from Amit Varma’s The Seen and The Unseen podcast. So thank you, Amit (again), and thanks Supraja for persuading it to read.
#4
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Talk about squeezing the heart with words, emotions, and storytelling and there appears Arundhati. TGOST is Arundhati’s debut novel and it hit the bull’s eye, like no other. This book is set in Kerala and deals with casteism, “Love Laws”, mishaps, social discrimination of that (and present) time, and many more. You’d feel a stinging pain…wait wait…This seems like a deja-vu! But why though? Ah! I’ve already posted about this as soon as I finished it and shared the kind of impact it had on me. I also mentioned that it made me feel like “a quiet bubble floating on a sea of noise”.
This book will be my number 4. You might say why isn’t this on my top 3? Fair enough! But for a book to be on my top 3 list, it should shake me to the core and make my life, its existence, and ideologies question and literally change my perspective. And believe me, it’s very tough to “change my perspective”.
Khushali and Dhyanvi. Once again thank you so much for lending this book and pushing me to read it. Much love <3
And now to the TOP THREE…!
#3
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Speaking (I mean, writing) of shaking my ideologies to the core, I think no other book could come close to what this book did to me. Being a straight person, I never thought what a homosexual/bisexual person would go through, in terms of emotionally. I always had my sympathies and empathies but never did I (or could I) put myself into the shoes of a homosexual or bisexual person. Because I, frankly, never knew what they must’ve thought and what pains or struggles they must’ve endured in their day-to-day lives.
But this book. This darn book did an impossible. It made me think like a homosexual, and I’m saying this with the utmost respect and affection for homosexuality and nothing else. I could empathize with David, and Giovanni more than ever. I was that homosexual person whom the book was talking about. I WAS David and Giovanni. Such an impact that had created in me (and no! Cobalt Blue didn’t create that impact which this book did). And that is what a book should be all about – to make the reader become what they are not in real life, to think in the way the protagonist thinks without feeling shy about what society thinks, and last, to enable the mind to take any shape or form, good or bad, beautiful or handsome, and homosexual or heterosexual.
Hence, owing to what this book had done to me, I rank this one at number 3.
I’d like to thank Jayesh Sachdev and his art on Sobhita Dhulipala that made me buy this book with just one sentence in it – “Has it made you sure?” *Chef’s kiss*
#2
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
Oh boy! Where do I begin this book with? This book is the most perfect blend of emotions that one can feel it. It is like the Ugadi Pachadi (Google it) which we all like, hate, love, dislike, crave, and fear all at once when we taste it (thanks to shadruchulu i.e., 6 ingredients). This book has read my mind as no other book did. The moment I got fed up with the book, the author confesses that we (readers) feel irritated with the book. The moment I feel like throwing it, the author says, “are you feeling like throwing this book out of the window and making it into million pieces?” And the moment we feel elated and emotional, you know the drill – the author mentions that again. It was almost like; the author was watching over me somewhere behind the curtains and sending me a text message on my mobile about how I’m feeling. Italo, at some point, was way more dangerous than Meta and Alphabet Inc.
This book had brought so much joy that words, emotions, actions, and gestures fell short while ‘explaining’ it to my friends/peers/colleagues.
All right, I stop here and quickly move on to my topmost pick by putting this at number 2 for this year (and beyond).
#1
My number one pick is…
.
.
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If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino and translated by William Weaver
Have you thought that I picked the same book by mistake? No, I haven’t! This was intentional. By reading the number two pick’s description, you must’ve thought, “if you’re feeling so much, why wasn’t it on number 1?” right? Exactly! This book is so great that no other book that I’ve read this year had come to second place. This one took both the top spots comfortably. And the reason it happened was that I read this book two times back-to-back and with the second reading, I was having this feeling that I was reading a new book. It felt as new as having Johnny Walker Blue Label neat, tasting some peanuts, and again having another peg of JW Blue neat where it feels new again. This book is something. Italo Calvino is some legend.
Speaking of Italo, one must also mention William Weaver, for he translated the book into English from Italian. Usually translations, no matter how good they might be, fall short on some/few emotions that are lost in translation. But this one! This book, I believe, was translated not only from word to word but every emotion was translated and every nuance was recreated in English as much as it was first seeded in Italian by Italo (I was meaning to use this phrase :p). He was so great and thanks to him, I could immediately get blown away by the book.
So, no surprises here. With so many mentions and so many emotions, “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller” is my Numero Uno pick for this year.
Now, regarding this book on who recommended it. It was Tejaswini Naik who recommended us on Ukiyo (IYKYK). Tejaswini, no matter how much I say, I cannot thank you enough. I always respected you and admired your taste in books, films, and pop culture but this book was one helluva recommendation. You might already know how I (and Sandeep too) tripped over after reading it. But again, it is safe to say that this book deserves to be mentioned again and again. And you, to be thanked over and over again.
So thank you reader, from the other reader. 😊