Salil Tripathi
Best book received as a gift: Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses . I lived in India in 1988 and was waiting for the copies to arrive, when the Indian Government imposed a ban on its imports, and Penguin (India) decided it would not publish it. A prescient British friend who was flying from London brought me a copy as a gift at my wedding, inscribing, “I hope you will read it before you make up your mind about it.”
The last book that surprised you: Half Life by Roopa Farooki. I bought a second-hand edition, not knowing what it was about. I’d lived in Singapore for eight years and, since 1999, in London, and have a deep interest in Bangladesh. The book dealt with a woman (who had lived in London), who decides to disappear in Singapore, where she had grown up; and the Bangladesh War forms a major sub-plot within the novel. It felt as though it had been written for me.
Favourite anti-hero: Meursault, in Albert Camus’ L’Etranger (The Stranger). I read it when I was in my teens and was struck by his emotionless existence, and how distanced he felt from reality. I ‘encountered’ him again as Michel, in Michel Houellebecq’s Platform (2001).
Favourite book turned into a movie: I think The English Patient , based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel, comes close to capturing on screen the poetry of his prose.
Bestseller/classic that under-whelmed: I didn’t finish reading it, but Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code deserves an honourable mention here. It was under-whelming precisely because I could not go beyond the first 20-odd pages.
Raghu Karnad
Best book received as a gift: The books that mean the most to me were gifts, and Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri is especially memorable. He made a pilgrimage town visible like I’d never seen before in the English language, mixing mockery and affection, and making cold, sceptical observations amidst the heat-shimmer of myth and faith.
The last book that surprised you: I knew I would learn about corporate culture and architecture from Nikil Saval’s Cubed , a history of the modern office. I ended up dwelling more on its insights about freedom, status and choice.
Favourite anti-hero: Terry Pratchett created a world teeming with anti-heroes, which is what makes his Discworld novels so wise to humanity and still so outrageously funny. A stand-out is the unwashed, foul-mouthed Nobby Nobbs, a police corporal who makes sure the Night Watch never gets too far out of the gutter.
Favourite book turned into a movie: I’m biased because it’s about World War II, but I thought The English Patient was a gorgeous adaptation of a truly great but flawed novel. Ondaatje’s prose is so luminous, it left me blinded and dazedabout what exactly was happening. Anthony Minghella really brought back the energy of the story.
Bestseller/classic that under-whelmed: I don’t feel like ripping into anyone right now, but there’s a reward even in books that are disappointing — it’s a reminder that every book, no matter how celebrated or canonical, is going to leave some readers enthralled and others baffled and irritated.
It’s the reader that closes the circuit of creativity, and not every book is conductive to every person.
Kunal Basu
Best book received as a gift: A teacher from my school days had presented me a copy of John Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians some years ago. Not only is it the best book I’ve received as a gift, but the darkly lyrical account of Apartheid in South Africa has remained my perennial favourite.
The last book that surprised you: While I wasn’t particularly looking forward to reading a war memoir, Zinky Boys by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich surprised me with the ferocity of personal narratives and the beauty of war-scarred Afghanistan.
Favourite anti-hero: Raskolnikov, in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment , is a man without morals, without God and plagued with guilt. In many ways, he is the icon of our godless and suffering age.
Favourite book turned into a movie: I’d waited to see a film adaptation of my favourite Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, Love in the Time of Cholera , for a very long time. I have to say though that when it finally appeared on screen, the cold and sober rendition of a hot Latin love story left me disappointed.
Bestseller/classic that under-whelmed: The runaway bestseller, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, promised much
as a fable with modern-day resonances. And yet, I found the simplistic formulation to be somewhat unsatisfying.
ManjulaPadmanabhan
Best book received as a gift: When I was 10 years old, I was given The Giant Golden Book of Biology , illustrated by Charley Harper. The drawings set my mind on fire, leading to a lifelong interest in living creatures.
The last book that surprised you: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. I didn’t expect to fall in love with an invertebrate! Great book.
Favourite anti-hero: Hard to say. Most likely Yossarian of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
Favourite book turned into a movie: John Fowles’ The Magus. It wasn’t a great film, but it starred Anthony Quinn and, anyway, nothing could possibly do justice to the book.
Bestseller/classic that under-whelmed: I expect to be underwhelmed by best-sellers so I rarely read any. Classics? I absolutely cannot read Proust.
Karan Mahajan
Best book received as a gift: Crash by J.G. Ballard.
The last book that surprised you: Durbar by Tavleen Singh.
Favourite anti-hero: The Professor, from Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent.
Favourite book turned into a movie : Sophie’s Choice by William Styron.
Bestseller/classic that under-whelmed:Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
