Indian Book Lists

Nilanjana S. Roy examines the merits of book lists.

This used to be disorienting, as though half the history of reading encoded in my memory before (and after) Rushdie had been deleted from the official record. Then last week, literary journalist and author Jerry Pinto gave a talk in Bombay on his personal selection of the 25 best books written in English.

It takes in about a century of Indian writing, it’s nicely contentious and very individual, it can be used as it stands as a rough guide for the neophyte, and it serves as the foundation for a great party game.