20’s are the actual formation years when you are out of your colleges and trying to make something of yourself. There are certainly few books that allow a person to be a realist, an idealist and of all a fundamentalist. My picks for the 20s would be
- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts – a travelogue of an escaped Australian convict in India. It teaches you everything -love, melancholy and a path of thought. A realist’s favorite.
- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse – for all those college stoners who think that they have attained enlightenment, this book is a must. Its explains the very concepts of enlightenment like no other book I have read till date. A must for every bookshelf.
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling- a book about sheer experience of life. It puts forth success and failure, mistakes and achievement in such a candid way that you relate every such instance of your life with the book.
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand- of course, I cannot give this a miss. It teaches you to value your self and your thoughts. Very few books have been able to deliver meaning with such impact. Its surely not a book you would want to complete in one read. Give it time and you will see your ideals coming into place.
- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller- a true taste of sarcasm (yes, 20s can be fun too as long as there’s an underlying meaning). A hefty satire on wars- that’s how I would like to put it. It will make you question the decisions of the system being taken around you while still allowing you not to flow into emotional empathy.
- Howl by Allen Ginsberg – This book just blows your mind right off. No bull-shit and hardcore to the core. This book was so truthful that it was banned. It blows the lid of many issues that your elders don’t want you to know. But, it will show you the power of simple truth in a unique way.
- Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini – a book that will make you cry. Not a recommendation for the pedantic individual, this unravels the depths of friendship, a bond between a father and a son, betrayal and its ultimate redemption. With one of the most throat-croaking endings ever, this book should be read, irrespective of age.
- Flower’s for Algeron by Daniel Keyes – Gut-wrenching story and a must for every person who is into medicine or biotechnology. A poignant story about the relationship between a man and a mouse, both of which are subjects of a surgery that is aimed to increase people’s intelligence, this book touches a lot of ethical and moral themes simultaneously.
- Wuthering Heights- a classic that a lot of teen’s postpone. This book is a blow to the facade of love that is often portrayed in today’s world. If you are in a relationship in which you define the bond as “just going out with her/him”, do give this a read to understand where you are.
- The Book Thief – its not always that a person comes across a book that relates a love to know things in the worst period of history. Mark Zuckus more than bowled me over with this book. It strikes the strings of every book lover by unravelling the notions of a girl about the simple questions ‘What am I going to be left with in the end?’. Poignant to the core and mesmerizing until eternity, the book will always have a special place on my shelf.
- The Outsider by Albert Camus- the best slap on the norms of today’s society; it features a protagonist who adheres to the truth and dismisses every excessive portrayal of emotion which is demanded by the society. One of the best starting lines of a book “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday. I don’t know”
- The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger – I believe this book should be read every year, because every time you read it, you discover a new layer to it. This book personifies the term “timeless writing”. It covers almost every layer of teenage thinking -profanity, sexual craving, teenage angst, identity, belonging, alienation, etc. I still have a lot more to discover from this book.
- Go, Kiss the World by Subroto Bagchi – the tale of an entrepreneur in India. Its not the usual “get inspired because thats what you bought this book for” book. Its a story from which you just happen to draw teachings unconsciously. A must-read for every venture enthusiast.
- The Diary of a Young Girl – sheer indomitable courage is all this book is about. I am sure this is also one book you have postponed for long. Do give it a read, worth every second you give to it.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy – its a book of science fiction that can also be a wholesome treatise on irony. The end of earth, the question of life, the significance of having a sane mind instead of an intelligent mind has never been explained in a book before.
- The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor- for all those lazy folks who think that Mahabharata is too long a read. With a mixture of the plots of Mahabharata and freedom movement ending with Indira Gandhi’s emergency, this book is the perfect Indian Satire.
- Autobiography of a Yogi by Swami Parmahansa – this is not a scripture but is valued more than it. For every atheist who questions a lot, this a book that might solve a few of your answers. For me, this book was never preachy but the flow of thought accompanied logic hand-in-hand for every second.
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and in the end, - The Bhagvad Gita- its a daring task I tell you to even pick this book up. But this is not just a book when you read it, its a conversation that is the wholesome of every inquisitive conversation that would have happened anywhere in the world. Its not about a God, nor is it about the Devil, but its about the both of them that reside in us; its about Man -not the ideal one, but the common one. I understood myself and my temperaments a lot better after reading this book. The Bhagvad Gita is ultimate motivator of all the books I have ever read. I can say with every bit of confidence in me that this book will change your life.
In case I come across any more, I will keep posting.