It is that time of the year when we share the list of our favourite books. I normally wait till the beginning of the new year to share this list. But this time, I feel that I’m not going to finish the current book I’m reading and so I thought it is a good time to make this list.
This year was not a great reading year for me, in terms of number of books. I had a three-month reading slump during the first half of the year, and a two-month reading slump during the second half, and with this, half my reading year was gone. But in terms of spectacular books, I read many.
I read 34 books, out of which 18 were fiction and 15 were nonfiction and one defied classification. I read 20 books by male writers and 14 books by female writers. I read 18 books which were written originally in English, 14 books which were translated, and 2 books in their original language which was not English.
So, here is the list of my favourites.
(1) Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba – I thought this was a manga comic when I got it, but it turned out to be a novel. I was disappointed initially, but I needn’t have, because it was spectacular. It has Japanese culture, history, ghosts and strange happenings embedded inside and it is beautiful.
(2) The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Sōseki – This year I read three books by Natsume Sōseki. This is the first time I read novels by him, and as soon as I read my first book by him, he zoomed past Yukio Mishima and became my all-time favourite Japanese writer. I loved all the three books of his I read (the other two were ‘Kokoro’ and ‘Botchan’) but ‘The Three-Cornered World’ (also called ‘Kusamakura’) is my favourite. It is incredibly beautiful. Pages and pages of beauty. It was an absolute pleasure to read. I think it is one of my all-time favourites. Hoping to read more by Sōseki-San during the coming year.
(3) Tomie by Junji Ito – This is my first Junji Ito book. Beautiful artwork, extremely scary story. A book which shouldn’t be read in the night, in the dark. It will give you nightmares.
(4) A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. – I wanted to read a Martin Luther King book and finally got to read this one. It was amazing, beautiful, inspiring! It was not just a collection of speeches, it was also in some way the history of the Civil Rights era. Most of us know some of MLK’s famous lines, especially, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” But we wouldn’t have read a complete speech or essay by him. This book has those amazing quotes, and it has those wonderful, inspiring speeches. As the old saying goes, if you want to read just one book by MLK, this is that one. This is probably my book of the year.
(5) Black Foam by Haji Jabir – The author is Eritrean, the book is written in Arabic, and the story happens in three places, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Israel – all these together made it a very unusual and fascinating book. The writing is beautiful and the story is moving and insightful.
(6) Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson – My second book by Jacqueline Woodson. This one is a memoir in verse. Very beautiful. Hoping to read more Woodson.
(7) Iravu Chudar (Night Flame) by R.Chudamani – I read a big collection of short stories by Chudamani last year. It was exceptional. Chudamani is a short story specialist. But she has also written a few slim novellas. This is the most famous of them. It is about how being your own person is very hard when your family and people around you are different. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story.
(8) Karukku by Bama – Karukku is Bama’s memoir. Bama is a Dalit writer and this book describes her life as a Dalit Christian since the time she was a kid. It is beautiful, eye-opening and heartbreaking. This is a book which satisfies the traditional definition of a classic – often recommended but rarely read. It deserves more readers.
(9) Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov – This is my most recent Andrey Kurkov book. Have loved all his books that I’ve read till now. This one is probably his finest. It is about the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it has impacted normal Ukrainians.
(10) Siberian Haiku by Jurga Vilė and Lina Itagaki – My first Lithuanian book which is also a graphic novel. It is about innocent Lithuanians who were deported and forced to work in Gulags in the middle of nowhere during the Soviet era. The story is moving and the artwork is incredibly beautiful.
(11) My Heart by Semezdin Mehmedinović – I read two books by Mehmedinović this year. The first one, ‘Sarajevo Blues’, is his most famous book. But this one, ‘My Heart’, is my favourite. Mehmedinović’s writing is incredibly beautiful and this book is an absolute pleasure to read.
(12) Artificial Intelligence : A Guide for Thinking Humans by Melanie Mitchell – Once in a while we stumble upon an amazing science book by accident. This is that book for me this year. Melanie Mitchell takes the complex concepts of Artificial Intelligence and makes them accessible and easy-to-understand for us. Clearly she is a great teacher. Her students are very lucky. I want to read everything that she has written for the general reader.
(13) Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart – I finally got to read my first Mary Stewart. This is her first book. The writing is beautiful, the heroine is charming, the story is gripping. What else do we need? I read one more book by her after this. Hoping to read more by her soon.
(14) The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé – I read a couple of books on Palestine and Israel. It is hard to pick a favourite between them, but I decided on this one. This is moving and heartbreaking. Not to be attempted when you are feeling vulnerable. But an important book which is especially relevant for our current times.
Have you read any of these? Which are your favourite books from this year?
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