Bengalureans and their BFFs

From A Clockwork Orange to the Harry Potter books, from Emma to Catcher in the Rye, city folk list out their all-time favourite books

Books are forever: Long after you’ve read something special, you go back to it. Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

Have you ever thought what would have happened if Murph in Interstellar used an e-reader instead of books? How would the ghost have communicated with her? Are all the Nolan fanboys and girls up in arms yet? Be that as it may books — the ink and paper kind as well as the digital kind are friends for life and all. We ask city folk for their best friends forever.

Entrepreneur Agratha Dhinakaran says: “My favourite books are To Kill a Mockingbird, Life of Pi, Catcher in the Rye, Emma , and A Clockwork Orange . There is something important that I've learnt from each of these books, lessons on life, and the quirks and eccentricities of characters that I've liked. I also have to add the Harry Potter series to this list (all of the books), because my childhood would have never been the same without them. They gave me the power to imagine, and more importantly, to believe.”

For copywriter Sunil Noronha, “

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, especially how Narnia is sung into creation in

The Magician's Nephew , and

1984 by George Orwell, for making the most sense of modern political times, are easily my favourites.” Often, our choice of favourite books is determined by where we come from and what we do. “Khaled Hosseini is among my favourite modern writers,” says Sadhya Quereshi, bibliophile and homemaker. “

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a very special book to me. I’ve grew up in Afghanistan so on some level, I was able to identify with the characters in his book. Such a touching tale, it is the kind of novel I could go back to again and again. I have an affinity for war novels so Tolstoy’s

War and Peace , and Margaret Mitchell’s

Gone with the Wind are also my all-time favourites.”

Arjun Nanda, an engineer turned teacher, says: “Being a teacher, two books that have inspired me over my teaching career that spans a decade now, include

To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite and Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell. These two books have motivated me to be a better teacher, to go out of my way to help my students, and to love them. Over the years, like these two teacher-authors, I have also tried to develop my own methods for effective teaching and learning, and these novels have really added value to my life as an educationist.”

One of the best features of a book is that long after you’ve read something special, you go back to it whenever you can, even if it means reading a fairytale at 30! Niveditha Rao, owner of The Dessert Island, says: “One of my favourite books as a child was Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree series. From the Land of Take What you Want’ and the Land of Topsy Turvy to the Land of Goodies, there never is a dull moment with all the adventures the three characters have. It is one book that delights the child in you and I’d love to revisit it every now and then.”

Picking your best read can be quite daunting, and Advaita Kala, author of

Almost Single , says: “Over the last 10 years there have been so many books that have been memorable that it is hard to identify one, but every book I’ve read has increased my love for reading. Two things that have changed my reading habits in the last 10 years are buying books online — the sheer variety and the convenience has been seductive although I do still go to my ‘real’ bookstore for most of my book buying.

The other has been e-books, especially when it comes to titles which are hard to find in India.

So it is basically the way I read and the access to books that has evolved over the last decade.”

Like they say, you can’t buy happiness but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing, maybe today’s a good day to make some time to dig into a book. After all like master storyteller Stephen King says, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”