Un-shrugged

I am a book-lover and a book-snob. I admit it. I don't like Chetan Bhagat. I think he is a talentless hack. I could live with one more hack-author (hackthor) raking in the big money but what needles me is his fawning readership that look at every vacuous emission as an edict from the Writing-Gods. I understand that reading is a subjective experience but I do wish that folks are more discerning in their book choices. Surprising as it may sound, this post is not about Bhagat but another writer whose acolytes are legion; Ayn Rand. Though her philosophy and her writings have been eviscerated by critics, she surprisingly continues to win new readers in India (as does Mein Kampf). Part of the problem is that Indians of a particular generation (who went to universities in the 60s and 70s) belonged to the 'Atlas Shrugged' era. Hard as it is to imagine, it was the Twilight saga of that period. A transitional generation came to age reading Ms.Rand whose message of 'self' before 'society' resonated with the newly minted rebels. It was considered a rite of passage; a serious book that serious people read instead of Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins. Every generation is part of some Zeitgeist but the influence that Ayn Rand continues to exert over Indian youngsters seems to be because the Zeitgeist never ended; the original devotees handed the torch of the 'serious book' to the university student who enjoyed the titillation of the Danielle Steels and the Dan Browns but perhaps wanted not to be seen as a shallow fellow. The world had moved on and youngsters in other countries had all but forgotten Ayn Rand and it sure was no badge of honour having read her as say, reading Dostoevsky.  Still, Ayn Rand books proliferate, in railway platforms and streetside bookshops. And unsuspecting youngsters are hoodwinked into buying another copy of Atlas Shrugged for its social currency.

I want to suggest 10 books that could better serve the aspiring reader who wants to dip their toe in the vast ocean that is literature. Disclaimer: This is my list. It is not a list of my favourite books and it is not exhaustive (no David Foster Wallace or Vikram Seth) but it is a good start.

1. Farewell to arms by Hemingway
2. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
3. God of small things by Arundhati Roy
4. Midnight's children by Salman Rushdie
5. Catcher in the rye by Salinger
6. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
7. One hundred years of solitude by Garcia Marquez
8. Portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera

If I could include a few other books which while not quite "literature" are wonderful reads and a perfect stepping stone to my previous list, they'd be

1. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
2. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
3. Foundation series by Asimov
4. The fault in our stars by John Green

Go forth and read.