The book in my hand

Atul Wassan.

A weekly column on what well-known personalities are reading and planning to read. This week, it is former cricketer and commentator Atul Wassan and former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) A.S. Dulat.

Atul Wassan

I tend to read two or three books simultaneously. I am currently reading

God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, and it is quite a heavy read. Anyone who is agnostic or sitting on the fence about religion and “god”… this book might just tip you over. The other one I am reading is

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson. He has an amazing style with quite a sense of humour. Before this I read

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s

Love in the Time of Cholera remains my favourite book for the haunting melancholy and yearning it portrays.

Atul Wassan is a former cricketer, and a commentator.

A.S. Dulat

I am reading John le Carre’s

The Pigeon Tunnel . I have been a fan of le Carre for several reasons but also because I have been part of the world that he writes about. This book is autobiographical, and what I find fascinating is how he spoke to people to draw inspiration for the characters in his other books. I am also reading

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold . This is my favourite of all the le Carre volumes.

I am also reading Varun Gandhi’s poetry volume Stillness . I am a classics fan and usually love going back to the 19th century romantics, but felt that I should check Varun’s work.

A.S. Dulat is former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)