Hello Loves!
You know I love and adore Indian Books. I'd say nearly 60% of the books I read in a year are Indian Books. In April and August, I read only Indian books and honestly, I could go a whole year just reading books from the Motherland. I love Indian books. And anyone who thinks Indian books are not that great or only think of those.."popular" books as Indian Fiction..well..do better. Look around and find yourself some great books from India. Whether written in English or translated from regional languages, we have such brilliant books to offer.
Maybe this list will help you.
So let's jump into my favourite books of the year.
TOP 10 INDIAN BOOKS OF 2024 (FICTION & NON-FICTION) :
1. The Hachette Book of Indian Detective Fiction Vol. I & II: I love detective stories and this beautiful boxset with two volumes full of the best detective stories from the country was a treat. I loved the curation and collection here. We have stories old and new. Of masters and new talent. Of known names and new authors to try. We have murder mysteries and other intrigues. I great collection if you love all things detection. The books themselves are beautiful too.
2. The Patient in Bed No. 12 by Raj Kamal Jha: A hate video goes viral. A father wants to make peace with his estranged daughter. The pandemic rages on. This book is a series of interconnected tales that will take your breath away. Set firmly in the India of today, of manufactured truths and violence and pain and hope. So good.
3. Welcome to Paradise by Twinkle Khanna: I went into this book hoping for a fun time. I had fun, I smiled and laughed but I was also moved to tears and sighed deeply. This is hands down Khanna's best work yet. I've read her previous books and found them enjoyable enough. This one was really good. A collection of short stories where every single story just sang and hit all the right notes. If you've never read her before this is a great place to start.
4. Ma is Scared by Anjali Kajal, Translation by Kavita Bhanot: A deeply moving and very familiar world comes alive in this collection of short stories. Set in North India, these are stories about mothers and daughters, about fear and anxiety (a part and parcel of being a woman in this world), of caste and discrimination and patriarchy and even the Pandemic. Short and moving and relatable.
5. The Museum of Failures by Thrithy Umrigar: I read this book in the very beginning of 2024 and even after 11 months this story had stayed with me. This is a story of an estranged mother and son. Of old family secrets and the long shadow these secrets cast. I loved this book and the characters we come across. Set in Mumbai, past and present come together wonderfully and if you love books about complicated families and healing and compassion..this is a great book for you.
6. A History of Burning by Janika Oza: An incredible historical fiction, a sweeping family saga. Set in Uganda, India and Canada and the UK, this book is an absolute treat. A family and displacement and home and healing and moving on form the crux of the story. I loved every second I spent with this book. It's so so so good.
7. Minor Disturbances at the Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar: After five very heavy books, lets lighten up our list. :) I read this book in May and it was such a perfect summer read. Light and sweet and moving and full of very kind and likeable people. Wonderful people really. Not like everything was light and fluffy. There were important and serious things going on here: breakups, coming out, threats of unscrupulous construction companies and loneliness and the pressure to get married. A warm and fuzzy and brimming with life sort of read.
8. The Gallery by Manju Kapur: I have read every single Manju Kapur book. I really enjoy her books. They always make you stop and think and it's people stay with for a long time. They are almost always melancholic. This one was no different. Its about women, mothers and daughters, mistress and help. The same house and two sets of mothers and daughters and how different life is for each set. It's a story of marriage, love, growing up, class and privilege. Well-written as always and just as good.
9. The Many Lives of Syeda X, The Story of an Unknown Indian by Neha Dixit: The only non-fiction book to make it to my list. This book was quite simply phenomenal. Powerful and simple and searing and so incredibly important. We follow along Syeda, from brith to marriage to displacement to moving to Delhi and doing a plethora of jobs to sustain herself and her family. And with her we see India from the 1980s right up to the Pandemic. We see riots, tensions, poverty, life, urban spaces and brutality and a struggle to live. I am so glad I picked this book up. It's brilliant and one of the absolute best things I've read in a long, long time.
10. Mother India by Prayaag Akbar: A very short and sharp read, set so firmly in the India of today. Of viral stories, of manufactured rage baits and hyper and faux nationalism. A story about two young Indians, a boy and girl, who live in the capital and are connected in a surprising way...it's a story of making it in our country. Of fitting in and truths and falsehoods. I loved Leila and this book was an auto buy. I really enjoyed it and grew fond of our main protagonists.
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