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Top 30 Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs | HarperCollins Publishers India

There’s something irresistible about getting to know your favourite personalities a little better that make biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs so appealing. After all, these books offer a window to world that you would otherwise have little to no access to! Check out our selection of the most popular books in this genre.

ISRO by Aravamudan & Gita Aravamudan

ISRO pioneer R. Aravamudan narrates the gripping story of the people who built India’s space research programme and how they did it – from the rocket engineers who laid the foundation to the savvy young engineers who keep Indian spaceships flying today. This is a made-in-India story like no other.

Auroville by Anuradha Majumdar

Auroville was born to realize human unity through change of consciousness – a concept that still holds value in today’s world. Told by someone who has lived the adventure for thirty-six years, this book explores how far the city has grown to resonate with its founding vision. Anu Majumdar examines the life of Auroville both as a resident and as an observer.

Revolution by Emmanuel Macron

This is a remarkable book that seeks to lay the foundations for a new society — a compelling testimony and statement of values by an important global political leader who has become the flag-bearer for a new kind of politics — evocative in its scope, ambition and vision of Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope .

Bhupen Hazarika by Kalpana Lajmi

We all know Bhupen Hazarika as a singer-composer, poet and lyricist non-pariel. What about the man behind the legend? Told through the lens of Kalpana Lajmi, Bhupen Hazarika: As I knew Him is a free-flowing memoir, moving back and forth across time, defying description, much like the love story it narrates.

Devil’s Advocate by Karan Thapar

Riveting and fast-paced, Devil’s Advocate is as no-holds-barred as any of Karan Thapar’s interviews.

My Story by Kamala Das

When it was first published in 1973, Kamala Das’s sensational autobiography shocked readers with its total disregard for convention and its fearless articulation of subjects still considered tabloo. Narrating the author’s intensely personal experiences in her passage to womanhood and shedding light on the hypocrisies that informed traditional society, My Story was far ahead of its time and is today considered a masterpiece.

Close to the Bone by Lisa Ray

Funny, charming, and gut-wrenchingly honest all at once, Close to the Bone is Lisa Ray’s brave and inspiring story of a life lived on her terms.

Ocean to Ocean by Susmit Sen & Sehba Imam

Ocean to Ocean tells the story of Susmit Sen in the maestro’s own words. Warm, intimate and honest, it documents the life and times of a rare musician and composer, a man who dared to flow against the tide and came up trumps.

At the Helm by Krishnamurthy

At the Helm is the story of how a boy from the small village of Karuveli in Tamil Nadu starts out as a technician at airfields during the Second World War but goes on to script the biggest success stories of young India’s fledgling public sector over the next five decades.

My Father Baliah by B. Satyanarayana

The extraordinary story of a Dalit family in southern India. A narrative that derives its strength from the simplicity with which it is told, My Father Baliah is a story of great hardship and greater resilience.

Jail Diary by Sher Singh Rana

Jail Diary is Rana’s story in his own words. It begins on the day of his escape from Tihar and goes back and forth in time describing his childhood in small-town India, the beginning of his political career during college days, his induction into Eklavya Sena through which he was introduced to Phoolan, his days as a liquor vendor in Haridwar, and his nerve-wracking adventures as someone who broke one of the highest security prisons in Asia to pursue what, to his mind, was an act of honour.

Prison and Chocolate Cake by Nayantara Sahgal

A dramatic portrait of the spirit of sacrifice that carried India through the years of the struggle for independence, this evocative memoir of an unusual childhood ends with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.

Anusual by Anu Aggarwal

Anusual is the story of Anu Aggarwal, the dusky Delhi girl who went to Bombay and became an international model, and then a star with her very first Bollywood movie, Aashiqui, only to chuck it all up and join a yogashram.

No One Else by Siddharth Dube

 No One Else is beautiful, singular and unforgettable, a tour de force that celebrates love and sensuality, dignity and freedom, and holds to account those who would deny anyone these priceless human joys.

Standing My Ground by Matthew Hayden

Matthew Hayden was one of the most commanding batsmen the game has ever seen – and one of its great enigmas. A devout Catholic, and a ruthless on-field sledger. A brutal enforcer, and a soft-hearted family man. The Australian record-holder for highest score in Tests and One Day Internationals, who was at times troubled by self-doubt and doubters.  In Standing My Ground, Hayden confronts these contradictions head-on. Here is the superstar batsman, the surfer, fisherman and chef in a book as bold and powerful as the man himself.

Controversially Yours by Anshu Dogra

Shoaib Akhtar has been one of the most colourful characters in the history of cricket. He is the fastest bowler in the world, who set an official world record by achieving the fastest delivery when he clocked in at 161.3 km/ph (100.2 mph) twice in the same match. Having taken more than 400 wickets in international cricket, he is a phenomenal cricketer too. Tagged as being undisciplined, Akhtar’s career has been plagued by injuries, controversies and accusations of poor attitude. Here he tells his side of the story.

Manik Da by Nemai Ghosh

Satyajit Ray, known to his intimates as Manik-da, remains India’s most respected name in international film circles. This nuanced and lucid translation from the Bengali original, which includes a perceptive Foreword by Sharmila Tagore, presents to the English reader Ghosh’s thoughts on Ray with over fifty exquisite, never-before-seen photographs.

Against the Wind by Rajni Kumar

Observant and vivacious, this is a memoir that is a testament as much to Rajni Kumar’s lifelong work in education as to the spirit of romance and daring with which she set foot in a new country all those decades ago.

The Commonwealth of Cricket by Ramachandra Guha

The Commonwealth of Cricket is a first-person account of this astonishing transformation. The book traces the entire arc of cricket in India, across all levels at which the game is played: school, college, club, state, country. It presents vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons, and international stars.

Advice and Dissent by V. Reddy

Leavened with his irrepressible sense of humour, Advice and Dissent is a warm, engaging account of a life that moves easily from a career in the districts as a young IAS officer to the higher echelons of policy making, in a trajectory that follows change in the country itself.

Corporate Yogi by Arvind Lal

This book presents Dr Arvind Lal’s journey as a spiritual seeker and an accidental entrepreneur. How did a saint from a remote Himalayan village called Hairakhan transform Arvind’s life? How did Lal Pathlabs become a household brand in India? How does spiritualism shape his thoughts as an entrepreneur? Can work and spirituality gel in a ‘karma yoga’ form as mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures? Woven around Arvind’s life, this book answers these and many other questions about work, life and spirituality.

Darling Ji by Kishwar Desai

Travelling as it does from the nineteenth century to the present, this book tells the larger story of the evolution of Hindi cinema, and of a society and a nation in the throes of change.

A Life Misspent by Suryakant Tripathi Nirala &  Satti Khanna

Set in pre-Independence India, A Life Misspent is as much the account of an unlikely friendship as it is a coming-of-age story. A memoir on the making of one of the greatest poets of all time.

The Man Who Bombed Karachi by Admiral S.M. Nanda

The Man Who Bombed Karachi is the inspiring story of how a childhood fascination for the sea led an outstanding officer to rise to the pinnacle of India’s armed forces. It gives a glimpse into life in the Royal Indian Navy, with a dramatic rebellion by Indian sailors against their British superiors, and traces its evolution into an organization that is today a force to reckon with globally. Most of all, it is an insider’s authentic account of the inventive naval strategies that led to one of India’s biggest victories in war to date.

Honour Bound by Sarosh Zaiwalla

In Honour Bound , Sarosh Zaiwalla looks back on his career – from his passage to England at a time when diversity had barely begun to take root in its legal circles, to now leading a ground-breaking law firm.

What We Carry by Maya Shanbhag Lang

Absorbing, moving, and raw, What We Carry is a memoir about mothers and daughters, lies and truths, receiving and giving care, and how we cannot grow up until we fully understand the people who raised us.

At Large in the World in Harish Chandola

At Large in the World tells the stories behind the headlines and makes startling disclosures as it paints a compelling and honest portrait of India in eventful times over the last half-century.

Family Fables and Hidden Heresies by Vrinda Nabar

Drawing on history, myth and gender,Vrinda Nabar unravels the many fault lines women have to negotiate, often at great cost, in their search for a middle ground between individuality and conformity.

More Maicious Gossip Pb by Khushwant Singh

This selection of Khushwant Singh’s prose is like the man himself: blunt, perceptive, incorrigibly provocative, often amusing but always bubbling with life. The book includes candid portrayals of public personalities such as Zail Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, Nani Palkhivala, Rajni Patel and Nargis Dutt. There are also vivid portrayals of public personalities such as Zail Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, Nani Palkhivala, Rajni Patel and Nargis Dutt. There are also vivid portraits of places such as Delhi, Amritsar, Goa, Lucknow, Bhopal and Hyderabad. Then there are his musings on such issues as communalism, terrorism and bride burning, still as vivid today as when the pieces were first written.

The Afternoon Girl by Amrinder Bajaj

The Afternoon Girl celebrates a friendship that swings between love and loathing, adoration and indifference, support and abandonment, but stood the test of time and circumstances. With disarming honesty, the book builds and busts a few myths, and offers unexpected insights into Khushwant Singh: good- and sometimes ill-humored mentor, garrulous yet grumpy friend, and saintly but outspoken old man.

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10 Must-Read Biographies of Indians Who Transformed The Nation

Here’s a list of 10 biographies of pioneering Indians -- from Dr Ambedkar and Satyajit Ray to APJ Abdul Kalam and Kapil Dev -- that will leave you inspired.

1. Dilip Kumar: The Definitive Biography by Bunny Reuban

2. Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye by Andrew Robinson

3. The Man Who Knew Infinity (Srinivasa Ramanujan) by Robert Kanigel

4. Sir C V Raman by Uma Parameswaran

5. Beyond the Last Blue Mountain (JRD Tata) by R M Lala

6. Gandhi Before India (M K Gandhi) by Ramachandra Guha

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8 Library Cafes Across India to Bookmark For Your Travels

What’s better than freshly brewed coffee? A great book to go with it! Choose from a wide selection of literary works at these library cafes across the country.

7. Waiting for a Visa – BR Ambedkar

8. Wings of Fire – An Autobiography by APJ Abdul Kalam and Arun Tiwari

9. Straight from the Heart: An Autobiography – Kapil Dev

10. The Race of My Life by Milkha Singh

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Best Autobiographies

• Updated on  
• Mar 22, 2021

When we read an autobiography, turn its pages one by one, we gradually immerse ourselves into a world filled with fascinating stories, dreams and efforts of the author. To read about great personalities through their own voice is always a joyful journey because we experience their lives and feel their raw sentiments. It is like experiencing someone else’s story through their own lens and feeling all their emotions, fears, feelings and takeaways. This blog brings you a complete list of some of the best autobiographies in the world, digging deeper into the stories they tell and the lessons you can learn from them!

This Blog Includes:

Long walk to freedom by nelson mandela, the story of my experiments with truth by mahatma gandhi, the diary of a young girl by anne frank, i know why the caged bird sings by maya angelou, agatha christie: an autobiography by agatha christie, open: an autobiography by andre agassi, dreams from my father by barack obama, 20 best biographies of all time, best memoirs of all time.

Giving us a first-person narrative of an individual’s life, autobiographies paint the stories of their authors thus helping us percieve them as truly human and their life as the testament of their mistakes, lessons and untold stories. Here are some of the best autobiographies you should read once in your life!

Now, let’s explore some of these popular autobiographies in further detail:

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Elaborating upon the life story by one of the famous revolutionaries from the past century, ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ is a must-read for people of all ages. In his own words, Nelson Mandela , narrates a stirring account, his odyssey and how he led a political struggle against the very foundation of a system that was inherently discriminatory against people of colour. In a riveting account, he recalls his years spent struggling behind the bars during the apartheid period. In this book, Mandela gives an insightful analysis of the successful anti-apartheid movement from which a new South Africa was born.

“But you can wake a man only if he is really asleep; no effort that you may make will produce any effect upon him if he is merely pretending sleep.”

What made an ordinary law practising young man to become one of the greatest political leaders in modern history? This autobiography gives a brilliant understanding of Mahatma Gandhi’s early life and how he conceptualised the notion of truth and his globally lauded ideas of non-violence and civil cooperation. He talks about his political struggles, his days in England, and how he led the independence struggle against the British in India. If you want to know about Mahatma Gandhi’s journey and why he is revered as an idol by millions of people around the world, this book is one of the top autobiographies for you to read.

“I’ve found that there is always some beauty left — in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”

Chronicling her detailed and personal diary entries while hiding away from the Nazis, the words of a young Anne Frank still haunt the world to this day. To protect themselves from the brutalities of the Nazi regime, the family of Anne Frank went into hiding for a long period of two years while Jews were being executed. It is an evocative description of horrors, that followed the days of the Holocaust, from the eyes of a teenager. Anne has also written about her personal joys, like the birthday present she had received making it a wholesome read. This is considered one of the best autobiographies to learn about the days of Nazi Germany as explores the fears of a teenager in a time of extreme emotional turmoil and mortal danger. 

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.”

In this first part of the six-volume autobiography, Maya Angelou vividly paints her life as a woman born in a black family facing impoverishment and discrimination. Soon after its release, this book became one of the best-selling autobiographies worldwide. Maya Angelou brilliantly reconstructs her childhood days in the America of 1930s which was dominated by a racist division. As a child, she was extremely conscious of her marginal place in society and how the black community was relegated to a non-entity by the system.

“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. ”

One of the best-selling novelists renowned for her detective novels and short story collections, Agatha Christie’s autobiography is scarcely spoken of. The book is an honest and compelling narrative of her life. Word by word, she untangles the mysterious threads of her own life with an easy candour. Disregarding the numerous hurdles she faced, she opens up about her most intimate episodes of life that left a lasting impression on her. She narrates how the death of her mother left her shaken and the trauma she went through after coming to know about her first husband’s extramarital relationship. This book is evidence of her strength as a woman. One of the best autobiographies written by a woman, you will get to explore the personal life of Agatha Christie, unravelling her mysterious personal life from her childhood till the time this memoir was concluded.

“Remember this. Hold on to this. This is the only perfection there is, the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting meaning. This is why we’re here. To make each other feel safe.”

From the day the Olympic Gold Medalist and Grand Slam Champion Andre Agassi walked on the verdant tennis field with a racket, he stunned the world with his innate potential. Even as his early days are a reminder of his constant struggles, his swift triumph in the Wimbledon of 1992 made him a renowned tennis star. In his book, he talks about the days of rigorous training and his violent relationship with his father. He narrates the emotional trauma he felt after his three Grand Slam defeats. He has also delightfully penned down the happy times of his life and enchants the world with his humble portrayal.

“My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn’t, couldn’t, end there.”

Through this book, Barack Obama clears away the mist surrounding his personal life as he was born to an inter-racial couple. Inquisitively exploring his roots, he takes us through his relationship with his father Barack, a black man from Kenya. He discovers the narratives about his father as told by his grandparents and his mother and then from his step-sisters and step-brothers.

Obama takes the reader through his childhood, teenage years and then his time as an organiser in Chicago working with black communities. He also talks about his days when his family moved to Hawaii and his political struggle until he became the first Black President of the United States. Dreams From My Father is amongst the most cherished and best autobiographies around the world because of its foundings in ground reality and people’s relatability to the struggle.

Now that we have explore the best autobiographies, let’s also take a look at the top 20 biographies of all time!

• Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
• Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert
• Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
• The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
• Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson
• Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts
• Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
• Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt
• E=mc²: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis
• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
• A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• War and Peace: FDR’s Final Odyssey by Nigel Hamilton
• Mozart: A Life by Peter Gay
• Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman
• Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
• Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

There is a slight difference between autography and memoir and there are various intriguing and interesting memoirs that capture a certain phase of the author’s life. So, here is a list of some of the best memoirs you must read once in your lifetime:

• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
• Wild by Chery Strayed
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• The Color of Water by James McBride
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Following are the best autobiographies to read: 1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin 2. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela 3. The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi 4. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 5. Chronicles, Vol 1 by Bob Dylan

Yes, reading biographies is beneficial, you get to have a closer look into the life of a person. There are various things to learn from the journey of an individual. Apart from that, you get to explore a new culture, country and perspective of a different person.

1. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy Schumer 2. Bossypants, Tina Fey 3. In the Country We Love, Diane Guerrero 4. Wildflower, Drew Barrymore 5. If You Ask Me, Betty White 6. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling 7. Scrappy Little Nobody, Anna Kendrick

Thus, reading the aforementioned best autobiographies and biographies, you will surely get to see these world-famous personalities in a whole new light and perspective! Aiming to study creative writing? Leverage Edu experts are just a click away from helping you explore the top creative writing courses across the globe and finding the best one that suits your interests! Register for a free counselling session with us today!

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15 Best-Selling Books Of All Time By Indian Authors That You Should Read

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Books written by Indian authors have enjoyed the popularity that is beyond imagination. It’s difficult to keep count of the books sold by Indian authors due to the number of publishers publishing the same book and no accurate statistics drawing system available for the general public. Not just that, India is a country with several languages and hence several translations of popular books. Although, based on public appeal and overall international recognition and reception, here’s the list of the best-selling books by Indian authors . This list would not include religious, political, or educational books as these books are sometimes given out for free by institutions and there’s no way to trace their sales. The list will however include several award-winning books that have sold a decent amount of copies over the years.

Also read: 15 Best-Selling Books of All Time That Are Worth the Read

Let’s have a look at some of the best-selling books of all time by Indian authors that are worth your time!

1. The Namesake

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri was first published in the year 2003. Ashoke and Ashima soon after their marriage move to Massachusetts and try to build a life for themselves there. This extremely poignant novel traces the life of the couple across three decades and tries to bring forth the struggles of immigrants in a foreign land.

2. Midnight’s Children

Salman Rushdie’s masterpiece, Midnight’s Children, is an allegorical novel that parallels major historical events following the Independence of India to the birth of 2 children born at the stroke of midnight on 15th August 1947. This best-seller has the power to captivate its reader into a world of magic realism from which the reader doesn’t wish to escape. This highly popular novel has sold millions of copies in various languages and isn’t going to go out of the shelf any time soon.

Famous author and comparative mythologist, Devdutt Pattanaik, has successfully been able to remove the air of mysticism that surrounds the genre of mythology and has made it more accessible to the public. Jaya is the most interesting and simple retelling of the epic Mahabharata. Its simplicity is what makes it a hit among the public. It is one of the best-selling books of all time that has been written by an Indian author.

4. Clear Light of Day

On the surface, this novel is just a domestic drama, but deep within it is a profound saga that explores the delicate emotions and dynamics that the members of a family share with each other. This book has redefined the way the world perceives Indian literature and has sold enough copies to be considered as one of the best-selling novels of all time by an Indian author.

5. The God of Small Things

A New York Times Bestseller, winner of the Booker Prize in 1997, and one of the most celebrated novels written by an Indian author, The God of Small Things, is without a doubt Arundhati Roy’s magnum opus. It has sold millions of copies and has been translated into more than 40 languages. It is an impactful tale about casteism, sexuality, all wrapped up with Indian politics and its dynamics. This best-selling novel is a must-read.

6. A Suitable Boy

This is the longest novel in the English language to be ever written by an Indian author. Set in post-Independence India, this novel is the story of Lata whose mother wants her to get married to a ‘suitable’ boy. The story is much more than just a matrimonial quest. It is a dive into history, an interesting take at love, an appreciation of art and skill, and an overall celebration of individuality. The book has sold approximately 26 million copies to date.

7. Train to Pakistan

Khushwant Singh is one of the most celebrated writers of India. His works have enjoyed a steady readership for so many years. Train to Pakistan is one of the seminal works of Khushwant Singh. It is the story of a village that is shoved into the darkness of communal violence and hatred due to the Partition. Mano Majra is the fictitious village in this novel, home to Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu families. The once harmonious community falls prey to fear and communalism and this feeling lurks throughout the novel. Human emotions are depicted in the rawest form possible, and the character development is spot on.

8. The White Tiger

Aravind Adiga’s debut novel, The White Tiger, won a Man Booker Prize in 2008. With the 2021 film adaptation , The White Tiger has become one of the most popular reads of the century. The Harper Collins edition of the book alone sold more than 1.5 lakh hardcover copies in just one year which is a huge achievement.

9. The Blue Umbrella

A girl named Biniya receives a beautiful blue umbrella from some Japanese tourists. The local shopkeeper soon gets obsessed with the umbrella and makes up his mind to acquire it at any cost. The story seems to be focused on such a simple and trivial matter. But it is much more profound than it appears to be, just like every other work of Ruskin Bond. The secret to Bond’s success in the book business is that he writes stories that are loved by people of all ages, and sells them at very low costs. A copy of The Blue Umbrella can be bought at a price as low as 60 rupees.

10. The Palace of Illusions

Yet another retelling of the epic Mahabharata, this novel has a very interesting narrator. The narrator here is Draupadi, one of the most misunderstood and wronged characters in the original epic. This book throws light on her perspectives and emotions and helps us view the story from a different and more empathetic angle.

11. Malgudi Days

This collection of short stories was first published in 1943 and has been one of the most loved collections of all time. There is not one person in India who is not aware of R.K. Narayan’s masterpiece, Malgudi Days. It is a set of heartfelt and interesting stories set in the fictional town of Malgudi. Although when the book was first published in 1943, it was only able to sell 230 copies. But soon enough the sales gained momentum and now the book is one of the most re-printed best-selling novels of all time.

Godaan is one of the most important novels of Hindi literature written by popular writer Munshi Premchand. It is known to have sold approximately 46 million copies to date across various editions. This classic novel is about the ritual of cow donation in India is one of the best-selling books of all time written by an Indian author.

13. The Shiva Trilogy

Ever since this series of books hit the bookstores, there hasn’t been a year in which these have not appeared on the list of the top-selling books of India. Amish Tripathy has successfully initiated a steady fan following for the mythological fiction novels that he writes. This highly popular series has sold tens of millions of copies ever since it first came into the picture.

14. The Great Indian Novel

This extremely witty novel by best-selling author Shashi Tharoor is a satirical retelling of the epic of Mahabharata. What’s different about this retelling of Mahabharata you ask? Tharoor reimagines the popular characters of Mahabharata as important figures in the Indian Independence movement. First published in the year 1999, The Great Indian Novel is one of the best-selling books by an Indian author that has successfully taken the shape of a modern classic.

15. Gitanjali

The first Asian and the only Indian ever to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, Rabindranath Tagore is one of the most acclaimed Indian writers. A collection of devotional poetry, Gitanjali, has been a perennial bestseller ever since its first publication in 1910 and is considered the best work of Rabindranath Tagore.

Indian authors have successfully been able to create a place for themselves in the world of books and writing. The book industry in India alone amounts to several hundred billion of capital. Even in recent years, a number of books have been able to stir up the international interest in Indian writing . Which of these books written by Indian authors do you like the best? Do let us know in the comments section.

I like writing poetry, love reading books, appreciate good stuff on the screen, and simply adore being on stage. Basically, I'm a shadow intoxicated by dreams, darkness, and other indulgences.

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15 Best Indian Books of 2023 That You Must Read

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10 Must-Read Inspiring Indian Biographies & Autobiographies

Needless to say, this carefully chosen list of Best biography & autobiography books of great personalities from India, will help seekers of all ages. Especially young generation students. Young students can learn a few things to lay the foundation for their future. Also, it is said that this kind of motivational and inspiring book also passes on a fraction of the positive energy of these great people to the readers.

How these biographies could help us?

Let’s have a look at the case of M.K. Gandhi.

We might know many things about Mahatma Gandhi, but do you know how this man became a noble soul, his journey in his own words seems to be the words of God himself. Once you read the book – ‘ My Experiment with Truth by M.K. Gandhi’, you will realize that this is altogether a new world, new learning, a new horizon, witnessing the unthinkable. He frankly admits and reveals that while his father was extremely ill and dying on the bed, he was so lustful that even then he was thinking about sexual intimacy. How this lustful MK Gandhi transformed into the person who retaliated against the British cruelty in South Africa for a cause and how he became a powerful source of energy for 32 crores Indian Population.

We only know his extraordinary ethics, values, and principles, we think of a man who must’ve been perfect, without any flaws!

You would see in this book that he had his own flaws and how his determination, discipline, routine, and improvement on small things overcame his flaws.

Similarly, most of the below-mentioned books show that “winners are not born, they are made!”

Why read Biographies and autobiographies?

Each and every biography book will help you become more flexible, determined, visionary, inspirational, and above all a great human being.

The beauty of reading is that you can imagine the story in your own way of fascination. Reading also helps us to become better human beings and smart people .

Best Biography & Autobiography books of Great Personalities of India

If you’re from India and an avid reader of autobiographies, you’ll probably recognize the best and most overwhelming Indian biographies & autobiographies books listed here.

The below mentioned list is the result of my reading habit and a little bit of research, so don’t waste your time verifying the details about these books:

# 1. My experiment with truth by M. K. Gandhi

Irrespective of many controversies we have heard about M. K. Gandhi, “My Experiment with Truth” by Mahatma Gandhi himself is a must-read. In his autobiography, at times, he is brutally honest in describing his experiments and incidents.

Without any doubt, I can say that this book is among the best biography and autobiography books in India.

Also, it provides an invaluable insight into one of the 20th century’s most iconic characters whom Albert Einstein once said “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a person as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. (said for Mahatma Gandhi)”.

If such are the words of the greatest scientist in the world, then what more do you need to get excited to read this wonderful book?

Amazon India

Amazon.com ( for US/Global)

# 2.  Vivekananda: A Biography – by Swami Nikhilananda

I recommend this ultimate book to energize and rejuvenate yourself, as I think this book carries the part of himself – Swami’s power. Many have already been energized by just reading him. Remember his famous quote:” Arise, awake and stop not, till the goal is reached”.

Many publications have released the biographies & autobiographies of Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest modern-day yogi of India. Be careful in selecting the books on his life.

Since you have reached here, it means you have come here with a purpose. This one of the best biography books is worthy enough for your all due diligence in searching for such great books. Surely you will get inspired after reading this. This biography book from India is about a man with a clear vision and mind, a brilliant speaker, who has clearly inspired our lives for over a century. His superhuman accomplishments in the 1890’s America with unbelievable odds worked against him. Yet what he did in 1893 in Chicago will be heard for centuries.

Apart from your own read, this is one of the finest biographies to gift your near and dear ones of all age groups and this will surely help students .

Also, check this one:

We Indians have one of the greatest role models from modern Indian saints India has ever produced, Swami Vivekananda. Swami made Indians believe that “strength is life weakness is death” and one should be strong enough (from both perspectives – physically and mentally) to fight any battle. How can we forget his message to goal-seekers “Arise, awake and stop not, till the goal is reached”? But reading Vivekananda is not only any single topic but this is more related to enlightening ourselves, personality development, and knowing the spiritual aspect of life.

Parents or elders wish to make their children – strong and brave enough to fight against any odd situation in life, sensitive enough to feel the pain of deprived classes, intelligent enough to understand and respond brilliantly to any situation or talk, and knowledgeable enough to accept and learn from the world but at the same time never forget the greatness of our own great culture. In order to help your young kids get a part of the energy, Swami Vivekanand’s persona emits, do one thing. G ive them the option to read this set of complete works by Swami Vivekananda, which was written largely by himself.

Apart from Swami Vivekananda’s biography, one should read the complete works of Swami Vivekananda. This set of 9 books was largely written in his own words. This could also be gifted to children in your family, which could also change their lives in a positive manner.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (set of 9 volumes):

Also check this collection in Indian languages – Hindi , Kannada .

# 3. Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Abdul Kalam

If you are expecting a story about his life, then this is not that. This is more than an autobiography. With very few resources and only dreams, hopes, and aspirations, the man of excellent character changed the defense scenario of India. He later achieved the highest honor in the country and reached the highest position in the country.

APJ Kalaam always wanted to fuel every Indian with the same pride, which he carries. ‘Wings of Fire’ is one of the best-selling biography books of India.

#4. The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel

Born poor in India in 1887, this rigorously orthodox Hindu, exemplary mathematician rose to the heights before he died at the very young age of 32 years. This is a well-researched book and a fascinating account of the short but outstanding life of the enigmatic and extraordinary mathematician Ramanujan.

Ramanujan could be easily compared with the greatest of any subject or he could be described as the mathematical equivalent of a Mozart.

Everyone would surely find Ramanujan fascinating, even if you have no interest in mathematics.

#5. Nani A. Palkhiwala: A life M V Kamath

Mr. Nani Palkhiwala was one of the most admired lawyers in India. A must-read biography book for all young brains, who aspire to become legal professionals or lawyers in India. There are two books on the life of Nani Palkhiwala, truly a legal legend of India, and both books are among the best Indian biographies/autobiographies list. Believe me, you won’t resist reading both. I rate this book on top.

Mr. Nani A. Palkhivala is regarded as one of the best lawyers, India has ever produced. His life is a teacher in itself for all legal professionals. Mr. M. V. Kamath, through this book, made Nani alive by telling the story of his life in an impressive manner. His courage, intellect, brilliance, and knowledge were unmatchable.

Also, I would like to recommend the second book on his life – Nani Palkhivala: The Courtroom Genius   by Soli J. Sorabjee and Arvind P. Datar.

#6. The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

This is for sure that you won’t regret spending every single penny. Entrepreneurs would love to read this.

An inspiring story of a 17-year-old boy who decided to turn around the family business, who defeated bankruptcy to become one of the richest people in the country with an estimated wealth of around USD 70 Billion. Entered into the media business at the best-ever favorable time to enter. The book shows the risk-taking, courageous character of Subhash Chandra.

You will surely learn a lot. With easy language, this is a must-read!

#7. I Too Had a Dream by Verghese Kurien (Author)

This is one of the best biography/autobiography books of India. While writing the autobiography, Verghese Kurien would have easily mentioned interesting stories about his sacrificed personal life and hobbies. Rather he was very much focused on showing us how he made Amul a brilliant success story.

This book shows us his legendary role in making the AMUL. It is more important to realize how he drove the success of the cooperative movement and the white revolution.

There are many similarities with another Gujarati Sardar Patel, he was really an Iron Man, whose strength was indispensable when the great work of nation-building was underway.

Indeed, this book deserves to be read by every Indian. One of the best Indian Memoirs!

#8. Karmayogi: A Biography of E. Sreedharan by M.S. Ashokan

India needs more such examples of bureaucrats & engineers who have spent their lives in the service of fellow human beings. This is truly remarkable that projects of E. Sreedharan have been carried out with the highest degree of efficiency.

The book may influence to Stay humble even though you are such a highly accomplished person like Sreedharan.

#9. Beyond the Last Blue Mountain by R. M. Lala

J R D Tata: “What is good for India is good for Tatas”

A book written with utmost detail and the personal side of JRD is explained well.

It’s a very inspiring read about JRD to understand the passion and desire that has gone behind setting up and establishing the airline industry and TATA empire in India.

#10. Not Just an Accountant by Vinod Rai (Author)

The book gives insights into the official communication between entities of the governments. How various warning bells have been neglected during the series of scams by UPA Govt. and Congress leadership. The way he addresses the criticism is impeccable.

The best part of the books is the clear and straightforward presentation of facts without any unnecessary storytelling.

He is surely just not an accountant, but more as a leader how he performed the duty with the power of audit is phenomenal.

#11. The Journey Home by Radhanath Swami

An outstanding story of a young American man, Radhanath Swami who travels to India seeking God and truth. Especially this book is an incredible adventure described in touching detail, which truly mesmerizes.

‘The Journey Home’ gives much deeper insights into the mysterious lives of true Sadhus. In particular, reading this book makes swami, Sadhu’s life quite understandable as well as the devotion path. His life takes him on a journey path from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and finally to India.

I recommend this magnificent book to everyone.

This inspiring book spreads a positive attitude and shows a new way to look at life.

Some other notable & Best Indian Biographies and autobiographies from India

• Sachin Tendulkar – Playing It My Way
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel   and Patel a Life
• Indra Nooyi – A Biography
• Unbreakable  by  Mary Kom
• Born Again on the Mountain: A Story of Losing Everything and Finding It Back
• Kalpana Chawla: A Life
• Bhabha and His Magnificient Obsessions

As well said by Walt Disney “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

If you want to read about the Best Indian Biography and autobiography books in Hindi language , click here .

So enjoy this great treasure!

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121 Best Indian Books Written in English: A List of Must-Read Novels by Indian Authors (2024)

Are you confused about which book to read next? Are you searching for the best Indian books and novels by Indian authors to read? Do you have a particular genre in mind?

Don’t Worry!

Indian English Literature has come a long way – from just a few English books releasing a year previously to thousands of new titles launching every year now.

In 2020, India’s book market is valued at an with an estimated Rs 739 billion . India ranks second, after the US, in English language publishing with over 9000 publishers.

From a humble start in the 20th century, after Independence, India published 21,600 new English titles in 2010.

With so many books releasing and Indian literature developing by leaps and bounds, it can be a daunting task to find the best Indian novels amongst the lot.

To make this easier, we have compiled this list of “Best Indian Books” of all the different categories and genres.

Also Read : 75 Best Indian Authors in English: The Most Definitive List

NOTE : We have not included books by many award-winning authors of Indian-origin like Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses, Midnight’s Children), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake), V.S. Naipaul (A Bend in the River), Rohinton Mistry (A Fine Balance) etc.

Table of Contents

(Click on an genre to navigate to the particular section)

• Literary Fiction
• Religion and Mythology
• Historical Fiction
• Mythological Fiction
• Thriller and Mystery
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy
• Biography and Memoir

Best Indian Classics

The guide by r.k. narayan.

The Guide  is a 1958 novel written in English by the Indian author R. K. Narayan. Like most of his works, the novel is based on Malgudi, the fictional town in South India.

The novel describes the transformation of the protagonist, Raju, from a tour guide to a spiritual guide and then one of the greatest holy men of India.

The novel brought its author the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award for English.

MALGUDI DAYS BY R.K. NARAYAN

Malgudi Days  is a collection of short stories by  R.K. Narayan  published in 1943.

The book includes 32 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located in South India. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF AN INDIAN PRINCE BY MULK RAJ ANAND

The Private Life of an Indian Prince   is a novel by Mulk Raj Anand first published in 1953. This book deals with the abolition of the princely states system in India.

UNTOUCHABLE BY MULK RAJ ANAND

Untouchable  was inspired by Anand’s aunt’s experience when she had a meal with a Muslim woman and was treated as an outcast by his family.

The plot of this book revolves around the argument for eradicating the caste system.

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN BY KHUSHWANT SINGH

Train to Pakistan  recounts the Partition of India in August 1947.

Instead of depicting the Partition in terms of only the political events surrounding it, Singh digs into a deep local focus, providing a human dimension which brings to the event a sense of reality, horror, and believability.

GODAN BY MUNSHI PREMCHAND, TRANSLATED BY JAI RATAN

Godan  is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand, translated into English as  The Gift of a Cow .

It is themed around the socio-economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor. It was translated into English in 1957 by Jai Ratan.

THE ROOM ON THE ROOF BY RUSKIN BOND

The Room on the Roof  is the story of an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy, Rusty, living in a European colony in Dehradun with his guardian Mr. Harrison, who wants him to stay away from Indians and groom him as a pure Englishman.

Related: A list of Ruskin Bond’s Best Books

THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF FELUDA BY SATYAJIT RAY

Between 1965 and 1992, Satyajit Ray wrote a total of 35 Feluda stories, featuring the master sleuth Pradosh C. Mitter, AKA Feluda.

These stories are now available in 2 volumes of  The Complete Adventures of Feluda . They were translated into English by Gopa Majumdar.

COMBAT OF SHADOWS BY MANOHAR MALGONKAR

Manohar Malgonkar’s  Combat of Shadows  is the tale of an Anglo-Indian woman, Ruby Miranda, who dreams of becoming a pucca memsahib to an Englishman but has to face the reality of racial discrimination prevalent in pre-independence India.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN UNKNOWN INDIAN BY NIRAD C. CHAUDHURI

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian  is an astonishing work of self-discovery. In this book, he mingles the growth and changes of India’s politics, societies, and national feelings with those of his own personality. It is a serious and introspective narrative and historical testimony.

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Best Indian Literary Fiction Novels

The god of small things by arundhati roy.

The God of Small Things  by Arundhati Roy is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel, whose lives are destroyed by the “Love Laws” that are laid down by society.

The book explores how small things affect people’s behaviour and their lives. It won the Booker Prize in 1997.

THE WHITE TIGER BY ARAVIND ADIGA

The White Tiger  provides a darkly humorous perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized world. The novel has been well-received, making the New York Times bestseller list in addition to winning the Man Booker Prize.

It is a first-person narrative of Balram Halwai, an impoverished young man from a small village who moves to Delhi to work as a chauffeur for the rich.

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS BY KIRAN DESAI

The Inheritance of Loss  by Kiran Desai follows the journey of Biju, an illegal immigrant in the US who is trying to make a new life; and Sai, an Anglicised Indian girl living with her grandfather in India.

The major theme is colonialism and the effects of post-colonialism.

A SUITABLE BOY BY VIKRAM SETH

A Suitable Boy  by Vikram Seth is set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India.

The novel follows the story of four families over a period of 18 months, and centres on Mrs Rupa Mehra’s efforts to arrange the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, to a “suitable boy”.

It is one of the longest novels published in a single volume in the English language.

SEA OF POPPIES BY AMITAV GHOSH

At the heart of the story of  Sea of Poppies  is a vast ship, the Ibis.

Her destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China and onboard are a diverse cast of characters.

Another famous novel by Amitav Ghosh is “The Hungry Tide”.

NARCOPOLIS BY JEET THAYIL

Narcopolis  by Jeet Thayil is about the lives of a few people, bound together by a common passion – Opium, and about Bombay, in a way we have never heard of before.

Bombay is stripped of its glamour, riches, beaches, and skylines and we are taken to Shuklaji Street, to Rashid’s opium den, and are impelled to see the other side of Bombay.

THE GREAT INDIAN NOVEL BY SHASHI THAROOR

The Great Indian Novel  is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor which takes the story of the Mahabharata and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence.

FASTING, FEASTING BY ANITA DESAI

Fasting, Feasting  by Anita Desai is the story of a family living in a small town in India, where provincial customs and attitudes dictate the future of all children: girls are to be married off and boys are to become as educated as possible.

THE HOUSE OF BLUE MANGOES BY DAVID DAVIDAR

A gripping family chronicle, David Davidar’s  The House of Blue Mangoes  spans nearly half a century and three generations of the Dorai family as they search for their place in a rapidly changing society.

The novel brings vividly to life a small corner of India while offering a stark indictment of colonialism.

VANITY BAGH BY ANEES SALIM

Vanity Bagh  is about the life of a boy from the minority community. The book is not about hope. It is about hopelessness.

More than anything else, it is about distress and religious intolerance that can divide humanity and win elections.

Best Books on Indian History

Related: 53 Best Books on Indian History (The Complete Guide)

EARLY INDIA FROM THE ORIGINS TO AD 1300 BY ROMILA THAPAR

Romila Thapar’s Early India  explores India’s past quite vividly, helping readers to visualize the formation of a nation and how it grew and flourished over generations.

It explores all varieties of hue that India represented from then to now and documents India like it has never been documented before.

HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA BY SATISH CHANDRA

History of Medieval India provides a comprehensive overview of the history of medieval India.

It covers the thousand-year period between the eighth and the eighteenth century.

It deals with the histories of many known and lesser-known kingdoms. Kingdoms included are the Cholas, Rajputs, Turks, Vijayanagara, Bahmanis, Mughals, Marathas etc.

FROM PLASSEY TO PARTITION: A HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA BY SEKHAR BANDYOPADHYAY

From Plassey to Partition  is an eminently readable account of the emergence of India as a nation.

It covers about two hundred years of political and socio-economic turbulence – 1757 to 1947 – and maps a wide and often complicated terrain of historical happenings.

It presents the entire history of the rise of various Indian freedom fighters. It also talks of the Partition that led to the creation of India and Pakistan.

INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE BY BIPAN CHANDRA

Bipin Chandra’s book,  India’s Struggle for Independence , is a well-documented history of India’s freedom struggle against the British rule.

It is one of the most accurate books which has been painstakingly written after thorough research based on legal and valid verbal and written sources.

The book also explains in detail Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation and the civil disobedience movements.

INDIA’S WAR: WORLD WAR II AND THE MAKING OF MODERN SOUTH ASIA BY SRINATH RAGHAVAN

In  India’s War , historian Srinath Raghavan paints a compelling picture of battles abroad and of life on the home front, arguing that the war is crucial to explaining how and why colonial rule ended in South Asia.

LAND OF THE SEVEN RIVERS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIA’S GEOGRAPHY BY SANJEEV SANYAL

In  Land of the Seven Rivers , Sanjeev Sanyal sets off to explore India and look at how the country’s history was shaped by, among other things, its rivers, mountains and cities.

HIMALAYAN BLUNDER: THE ANGRY TRUTH ABOUT INDIA’S MOST CRUSHING MILITARY DISASTER BY BRIGADIER JOHN DALVI

Himalayan Blunder  dealt with the causes, consequences and aftermath of the Sino-Indian War of 1962, which ended in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army inflicting a defeat on India.

Brigadier Dalvi served in the Indian Army and gives a first-person account of the war.

The book was banned by the Indian Government after its publication.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NETAJI? BY ANUJ DHAR

What Happened to Netaji  talks about the controversy surrounding the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and lights the factual position with regard to the air crash theory.

It provides three prominent theories of Bose’s death zeroing in on what has come to be known as the Faizabad angle of the Bose mystery.

AN ERA OF DARKNESS: THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA BY SHASHI THAROOR

In this explosive book,  An Era of Darkness , bestselling author Shashi Tharoor reveals with acuity, impeccable research, and trademark wit, just how disastrous British rule was for India.

Besides examining the many ways in which the colonizers exploited India, he demolishes the arguments of Western and Indian apologists for the Empire on the supposed benefits of British rule.

Best Indian Books on Religion and Mythology

The complete works of swami vivekananda.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda  is an 8-volume set and contains all the books, lecture, discussions, prose, poetry, and letters written by Swami Vivekananda, a spiritual teacher who introduced Hindu philosophies such as Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world.

MAHABHARATA BY C. RAJAGOPALACHARI (Translator)

Originally published in the year 1951, this book is an abridged English retelling of Vyasa’s  Mahabharata .

The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women, and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, and speculative thought on human problems.

YAJNASENI: THE STORY OF DRAUPADI BY PRATIBHA RAY

Yajnaseni  makes a determined effort for a balanced portrayal of the epic character of Draupadi and brings to the surface the broader and deeper aspects of her mind that lay submerged in the majestic sweep of the grand Mahabharata.

It was translated into English by Pradip Bhattacharya.

RAMAYANA (Series) BY ASHOK K. BANKER

Ashok K. Banker’s  Ramayana Series  is a retelling of Valmiki Ramayanam .

It is a set of 8 books – Prince of Ayodhya, Siege of Mithila, Demons of Chitrakut, Armies of Hanuman, Bridge of Rama, King of Ayodhya, Vengeance of Ravana and Sons of Sita.

MYTH = MITHYA: A HANDBOOK OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY BY DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

In  Myth = Mithya , Devdutt retells sacred Hindu stories and decodes Hindu symbols and rituals, using a unique style of commentary, illustrations and diagrams.

The aim is not to outgrow myth, but to be enriched and empowered by its ancient, potent and still relevant language.

my HANUMAN CHALISA BY DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

In  my Hanuman Chalisa , acclaimed mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik demystifies Hinduism’s most popular prayer for the contemporary reader.

His unique approach makes the ancient hymn accessible, combined as it is with his trademark illustrations.

Best Indian Historical Fiction Novels

The devil’s wind by manohar malgonkar.

The Devil’s Wind  by Manohar Malgonkar tells the story of Nana Saheb, who played a leading role in the 1857 War of Independence.

It provides a sympathetic portrait of a man whom the British portrayed as a great villain.

The book is written as an autobiography in which Nana Saheb describes his life in his own words.

CHANAKYA’S CHANT BY ASHWIN SANGHI

In  Chanakya’s Chant , Ashwin Sanghi takes the greatest strategist of Indian History, Chanakya and makes us question –

“What if Chanakya were alive today?”; “What if he were a player in today’s politics?”; “Would his brilliance and principles be relevant even in today’s murky politics?”

TAJ MAHAL TRILOGY BY INDU SUNDARESAN

The Taj Mahal Trilogy  is a woman-centric tale of power, passion and love.

The first part,  The Twentieth Wife , narrates the story of Mehrunnisa, the powerful wife of Jahangir.

The second part,  The Feast of Roses , narrates the story of Mumtaz Mahal.

The third part,  Shadow Princess , is the story of Jahanara, the daughter of Shah Jahan and the sister of Aurangzeb.

HARAPPA: CURSE OF THE BLOOD RIVER BY VINEET BAJPAI

Harappa: Curse of the Blood River  knits 3,700 years of powerful ancient and modern-day characters and a nail-biting conspiracy – all in one literary thriller.

It is the first among a series of four books. A saga of violence and deceit, gods and demons, love and ambition.

EMPIRE BY DEVI YESODHARAN

Devi Yesodharan’s  Empire  is the tale of an archer and warrior in the empire of Rajendra Chola, who ruled a vast empire from 1014-44.

This warrior is not from South India but rather a Greek woman, who has been surrendered in defeat by a raiding party bested by the Cholas.

ZELALDINUS: A MASQUE BY IRWIN ALLAN SEALY

Zelaldinus  is a fictional story which involves the great Mughal Emperor Akbar, and a current-generation tourist Irv. Together they rediscover the gloomy city of Fatehpur Sikri; a city which was abandoned soon after its completion.

Best Mythological Fiction Books by Indian Authors

Shiva trilogy by amish tripathi.

The Shiva Trilogy  by Amish Tripathi is on a radical idea that all Gods were once human beings; it was their deeds in the human life that made them famous as Gods.

The three books of the trilogy are – The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras.

ASURA: TALE OF THE VANQUISHED BY ANAND NEELAKANTAN

Anand Neelakantan’s  Asura: Tale of the Vanquished  depicts the tale of Ramayana from the viewpoint of Ravana and a common Asura, Bhadra.

The book attempts to highlight the voice of the vanquished as opposed to the victor’s version of Ramayana that is commonly known.

THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS BY CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI

The Palace of Illusions  is a rendition of the Hindu epic Mahabharata as told from Draupadi’s viewpoint, namely, that of a woman living in a patriarchal world.

The novel traces Princess Panchaali’s life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom.

THE ARYAVARTA CHRONICLES BY KRISHNA UDAYASANKAR

The Aryavarta Chronicles   (Trilogy)  isn’t the usual tale of Mahabharata.

Rather, it is a completely new myriad of characters woven into the familiar story of the Kauravas and the Pandavas seen through the eyes of Govinda Shauri.

THUNDERGOD: THE ASCENDANCE OF INDRA BY RAJIV G. MENON

Thundergod  by Rajiv G Menon is the story of Indra, born of a prophetic union between the Earth Goddess Gaia and Daeyus, chief of the Devas.

It is a compelling saga, blended by history, spiced by legend and mutated by myth.

KARNA’S WIFE: THE OUTCAST’S QUEEN BY KAVITA KANE

Karna’s Wife: The Outcast’s Queen  tells the extraordinary story of Karna, the unsung hero of the Mahabharata, through the eyes of his wife Uruvi, bringing his story to the reader from a unique perspective.

SARASWATI’S INTELLIGENCE BY VAMSEE JULURI

The Kishkindha Chronicles  re-imagines the ancient prehistory of India from a startlingly new perspective that will make us rethink what it means to be human and animal. 

Saraswati’s Intelligence  is the first book in the trilogy.

Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta by Amish

Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta is worth every minute that you spend reading it.

With the classic combination of action and adventure doused in a generous dose of mythology and fantasy, the book appeals to almost every kind of reader.

That Amish decides to pour in a generous amount of information and detailing is like the icing on top.

Keepers of the Kalachakra by Ashwin Sanghi

Keepers of the Kalachakra  is a historical cum mythological cum science-fiction thriller which revolves around an ancient concept in Vajrayana Buddhism – the  Kalachakra .

The writing makes use of many mystical concepts, scientific theorems & research, historical incidents and, conspiracy theories which Ashwin blends in beautifully with the story.

Best Romance Novels by Indian Writers

Related: Best Indian Romance Novels | A List of 20 Romantic Books

THE ONE YOU CANNOT HAVE BY PREETI SHENOY

Preeti Shenoy’s  The One You Cannot Have  handles the delicate subject of love failure and depression and puts a different spin on things.

It gives us a message that if the situations are handled in a more mature way all these lives can be saved.

I TOO HAD A LOVE STORY BY RAVINDER SINGH

Not all love stories are meant to have a perfect ending.  I Too Had a Love Story  by Ravinder Singh is one such saga.

It is a tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi — two people who find each other on a matrimonial site and fall in love until life puts their love to the ultimate test.

THIS IS NOT YOUR STORY BY SAVI SHARMA

This is Not Your Story  follows the story of 4 youngsters – Shaurya, Miraya, Anubhav and Kasturi, and how they tackle their problems and conquer life.

The book explores what it takes to dream fearlessly and giving love a second chance.

Another good book by Savi Sharma is Everyone Has A Story .

THE GIRL OF MY DREAMS BY DURJOY DATTA

The Girl of My Dreams  by Durjoy Datta is the story of Daman who suffers a memory lapse after he wakes up from a coma following a car accident.

All he remembers now is a name — Shreyasi, a girl who was in the same car and whose hazy face now haunts his dreams.

IT’S ALL IN THE PLANETS BY PREETI SHENOY

It’s All in the Planets  is the story of how four people’s lives and their two love stories coincide to bring a permanent change in all their lives.

It is a very fresh and unique love story which transcends age and geographical boundaries and makes you go all gooey in the heart.

SORRY YOU’RE NOT MY TYPE BY SUDEEP NAGARKAR

Sorry, You’re Not My Type  is the story of one of the reputed Delhi-based college music band, VAYU – Vikrant, Anamika and Yuvi, and they will make you believe ‘When your passion and purpose is greater than your fears, you find a way to overcome them’.

THOSE PRICEY THAKUR GIRLS BY ANUJA CHAUHAN

Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan , set in 1988, revolves around the Thakur family of Hailey Road, which includes Justice Laxminarayan, his wife and their five daughters who are named alphabetically – Anjini, Binodini, Chandrakanta, Debjani and Eshwari.

2 STATES: THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE BY CHETAN BHAGAT

2 States: The Story of My Marriage  by Chetan Bhagat is about a couple coming from two different states in India, who face hardships in convincing their parents to approve of their marriage. The book is partly autobiographical.

A HALF-BAKED LOVE STORY BY ANURAG GARG

A Half-Baked Love Story  unfolds a candid narration by a love-struck, dumbstruck and spellbound guy, Aarav, who confesses every last detail of his love story to his drunkard friends on a New Year’s night. The tale of his first love Anamika.

JUST MARRIED, PLEASE EXCUSE BY YASHODHARA LAL

Just Married, Please Excuse  by Yashodhara Lal is the story of a young couple, a quick-tempered big-city girl and a laidback desi boy, who must learn to adjust to married life and to each other with a little help from their idiosyncratic staff, Zarreena and Vinod, their nutty friend Vivi and, of course, their respective families.

Best Indian Thriller and Mystery Novels

Spy in the amber by manohar malgonkar.

Spy in Amber , first published in 1971, is set during the time when tensions between India and China were at their peak.

Hidden away from the world, in the deep belly of the Himalayas lies the Ragyabas monastery which has a treasure worth millions in its possession.

Fearing a Chinese invasion, the head monk decides to hand over the treasure to India for safekeeping. But, the Chinese have different plans.

SACRED GAMES BY VIKRAM CHANDRA

Sacred Games  draws the reader deep into the life of Inspector Sartaj Singh, and into the criminal underworld of Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India.

It is a story of friendship and betrayal, of terrible violence, of an astonishing modern city and its dark side.

BYOMKESH BAKSHI (SERIES) BY SHARADINDU BANDYOPADHYAY

In the early thirties, a detective by the name of  Byomkesh Bakshi  made an unobtrusive entry into the world of Bengali fiction.

Within days he was a household name, courtesy of his cerebral skills and the exciting situations he found himself in. The English version is translated by Monimala Dhar.

IF GOD WAS A BANKER BY RAVI SUBRAMANIAN

If God Was A Banker  by Ravi Subramanian revolves around two management graduates who are in the rat race for success.

Sundeep is ambitious and selfish, which leads him to achieve his goals through unscrupulous means. Swami is the exact opposite as he sticks to his morals and ethics to ensure success in his career.

MURDER IN A MINUTE BY SHOUVIK BHATTACHARYA

In  Murder in a Minute , when a young woman is found lifeless in a pool of her own blood, everyone is convinced that it is her college sweetheart who murdered her.

The victim’s step-brothers, Rishabh and Arya aren’t so convinced. They embark on a journey to unearth the truth, a journey riddled with fallacies and conspiracies, planted intentionally to trap them.

MARRY ME, STRANGER BY NOVONEEL CHAKRABORTY

Marry Me, Stranger  is the story of Rivanah Bannerjee, a young and independent girl living alone in Mumbai.

Her life is in danger. Someone has been following her around, watching her every move, trying to get control over her life.

PATANG BY BHASKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

In  Patang , a man is found brutally murdered, his body posed like a kite on the tallest cell tower in the city.

As one corpse after another turns up in the unlikeliest of places, maverick investigator Chandrakant Rathod has to pit his sharp instincts against the machinations of the sadistic, ruthless killer.

THE MURDER OF SONIA RAIKKONEN BY SALIL DESAI

In The Murder of Sonia Raikkonen , late one November night, the mutilated corpse of a young Finnish tourist is found in a public garden in Pune.

It looks like a case of brutal rape and murder, but Senior Inspector Saralkar and PSI Motkar find themselves probing further….delving deeper.

DEAD IN A MUMBAI MINUTE BY MADHUMITA BHATTACHARYA

In  Dead in a Mumbai Minute , detective Reema Ray is given the case of the year – the murder of Ashutosh Dhingre, former assistant to fading Bollywood superstar Kimaaya Kapoor.

The location of the crime is Kimaaya’s private island. The suspects – her house guests, and Kimaaya herself!

A CUT LIKE WOUND BY ANITA NAIR

A Cut Like Wound  begins on the first night of Ramadan when a young male prostitute is killed and burnt alive.

As bodies begin to pile up one after the other, and it becomes clear that a serial killer is on the prowl, Inspector Borei Gowda recognizes a pattern in the killings which no one else does.

Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books by Indian Writers

Professor shonku by satyajit ray.

Professor Shonku  is a fictional scientist created by Satyajit Ray in a series of Bengali science-fiction books published from 1965.

His full name is Trilokeshwar Shonku, and by occupation, he is an inventor. Professor Shonku was translated into English by Sukanya Jhaveri in 1981.

GAMEWORLD TRILOGY BY SAMIT BASU

Three books, The Simoqin Prophecies, The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations, form the three parts of  The GameWorld Trilogy .

The trilogy narrates the reawakening of the terrible rakshas, Danh-Gem, and the arrival of a hero to face him.

THE RISE OF SIVAGAMI BY ANAND NEELAKANTAN

Anand Neelakantan’s  The Rise of Sivagami  is a prequel to the epic Indian movie Bahubali: The Beginning.

The story revolves around Sivagami, a character of Baahubali. It also tells the readers more about Kattappa, another important character of the story.

THE DEVOURERS BY INDRA DAS

The Devourers  is set during the reign of the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century and extends to modern India.

It features Shape-shifters, more specifically werewolves, and explores the concepts of love, cannibalism, and what it means to be human.

It is told in a multi-layered manner, alternating between different time periods and perspectives.

DARK THINGS BY SUKANYA VENKATRAGHAVAN

Combining fantasy with the rich tapestry of folklore,  Dark Things  is a strange fairytale wrought of intrigue and enchantment, of shadows and secrets, of evil and those who battle it.

CULT OF CHAOS BY SHWETA TANEJA

Cult of Chaos  is the story of Tantriks, who are now overground. They have their own council, police and justice systems.

It narrates the story of Anantya Tantrik who struggles to stop the madness of White and Red Tantriks who are facing off, and of a Black tantric who is brewing some dangerous shakti.

SAVAGE BLUE BY VIKRAM BALAGOPAL

Savage Blue  by Vikram Balagopal is the story of two people – Akila Raina, who disappeared when she was only ten, and Shyam, who was with her that fateful night.

Now twenty years later, Akila has mysteriously reappeared, grown-up and gorgeous. She tells him of surreal worlds, her travels between them and her encounters with strange creatures.

NINE TRILOGY BY SHOBHA NIHALANI

For thousands of years, the wisdom of the  NINE  has protected mankind from destroying itself.

But a vengeful ancient spirit has returned to shatter the peace. With the help of magical powers, he has possessed a young man and mobilised black yogis to destroy the  NINE .

SKYFIRE BY AROON RAMAN

Skyfire  is set in May 2012 when India is hit by a series of freak weather disturbances and startling epidemics that threaten to bring the country to its knees.

At the same time, children are vanishing from the slums of the capital and nobody seems to care.

Now it is upon journalist Chandrasekhar, historian Meenakshi Pirzada and intelligence operative Syed Ali Hassan to follow the leads and solve the mystery.

ALICE IN DEADLAND (TRILOGY) BY MAINAK DHAR

Civilization as we know it ended more than fifteen years ago, leaving as it’s legacy barren wastelands called the Deadland and a new terror for the humans who survived- hordes of undead Biters. 

Alice in Deadland  is the story of Fifteen-year-old Alice who has spent her entire life in the Deadland learning how best to use guns and knives in the ongoing war for survival against the Biters.

Best Indian Humour Books

Serious men by manu joseph.

Serious Men  tells the story of Ayyan Mani, a middle-aged Dalit, who works as an assistant to a brilliant Brahmin astronomer at a scientific institute in Mumbai.

Furious at his humble situation in life, Ayyan develops an outrageous story that his 10-year-old son is a mathematical genius – a lie which becomes increasingly elaborate and out of control.

DORK TRILOGY BY SIDIN VADUKUT

The three books of  Dork Trilogy  are – Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese , God Save the Dork and Who Let The Dork Out?

It narrates the adventures and misadventures of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese; a stupendously naïve but academically gifted young man (he was ranked 41st in his class).

This trilogy is for all of those who’ve ever sat depressed in cubicles…and wanted to kill themselves with office stationery.

MRS FUNNYBONES BY TWINKLE KHANNA

Full of wit and delicious observations,  Mrs Funnybones  captures the life of the modern Indian woman — a woman who organizes dinner each evening, even as she goes to work all day, who runs her own life but has to listen to her Mummyji, who worries about her weight and the state of the country.

GONE WITH THE VINDALOO BY VIKRAM NAIR

Gone with the Vindaloo  is 2 stories running parallel – One is in the Mahadev household, where the cook Pakwaan is trying to learn cooking from his father and yearns to one day make the Vindaloo that his grandfather was most known for.

The parallel story is indeed about Pakwaan’s grandfather, Kalaam.

THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY BY SHOVON CHOWDHURY

The Competent Authority  is a satire on almost all the power circles of our country – the government, the bureaucracy, the police, the army, social workers, spiritual gurus and others.

In the 2030s, India has been nuked by the Chinese and is in a pitiable state. Pakistan ceases to exist after being bombed by the Americans.

With this backdrop, Shovon contrives a humorous story defacing the power mongers.

Best Chick-lit Novels by Indian Writers

Trust me by rajashree.

Set against the backdrop of the Hindi film industry,  Trust Me  is a comic story about love, heartbreak and friendship.

The protagonist, Parvati, decides to go off men when she is dumped by her boyfriend.

PIECE OF CAKE BY SWATI KAUSHAL

Piece of Cake  is the story of Minal who wants it all – a successful career, a lifestyle to match, and a totally cool guy who’ll buy her diamonds, bring her flowers, and laugh at her jokes.

But given the unending record of her life’s embarrassments, it’s not going to be that simple.

THE ZOYA FACTOR BY ANUJA CHAUHAN

The Zoya Factor , written in the first person, is the story of a cricket-hating ad-executive, Zoya, who is forced to become a part of the Indian cricket team, not as a player nor a cheerleader nor a physiotherapist nor a psychiatrist but as a lucky charm.

ALMOST SINGLE BY ADVAITA KALA

Almost Single , a heartfelt and wickedly funny cross-cultural debut novel, introduces a smart, irreverent young woman, Aisha Bhatia, searching for independence and matrimony in a culture-bound by tradition.

CONFESSIONS OF A LISTMANIAC BY MEENAKSHI REDDY MADHAVAN

Confessions of a Listmaniac  is the story of seventeen-year-old Layla who knows that journal writing is way retro but thinks, why not recreate the whole blog thing in a notebook?

Layla’s journal entries often morph into quirky lists that record her observations on her life and times.

I QUIT! NOW WHAT? BY ZARREEN KHAN

I Quit! Now What?  is the story of a marketing professional Nimisha, who after having worked 7 years with her current company, is still not treated the way she deserves to be treated and that makes her upset.

ENCOUNTERS OF A FAT BRIDE BY SAMAH VISARIA

Encounters of a Fat Bride  is the story of Madhurima Pandey, a twenty-five-year-old single girl who is gradually coming to terms with the annoying ‘you’re next’ nudges from family and friends.

But soon they realize that chances of finding a groom for her are slim – mainly because she’s not.

At 93 kilos, she knows she isn’t the ideal weight for marriage, even if her family believes she’s the ideal age.

Best Biographies and Memoirs by Indians

The story of my experiments with truth by mahatma gandhi.

The Story Of My Experiments with Truth  is the autobiography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, covering his life from early childhood through to 1921.

It was written in weekly instalments and published in his journal Navjivan from 1925 to 1929. The English translation was done by Mahadev Desai.

PLAYING IT MY WAY BY SACHIN TENDULKAR

Playing It My Way  is the autobiography of the God of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.

The book summarises Tendulkar’s early days, his 24 years of international career and aspects of his life that have not been shared publicly.

MY DAYS: A MEMOIR BY RK NARAYAN

In My Days: A Memoir , R.K. Narayan in his usual winning, humorous style, shares his life story, beginning in his grandmother’s garden in Madras with his ferocious pet peacock.

LONE FOX DANCING: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY RUSKIN BOND

In this brilliantly readable autobiography,  Lone Fox Dancing , one of India’s greatest writers shows us the roots of everything he has written.

He begins with a dream and a gentle haunting, before taking us to an idyllic childhood in Jamnagar by the Arabian Sea, where he composed his first poem, and New Delhi in the early 1940s, where he found material for his first short story.

WINGS OF FIRE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY A. P. J. ABDUL KALAM

In  Wings of Fire: An Autobiography , A. P. J. Abdul Kalam examines his early life, effort, hardship, fortitude, luck and chance that eventually led him to lead Indian space research, nuclear and missile programs.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI BY PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

Autobiography of a Yogi  presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time.

With engaging candour, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda narrates the inspiring chronicle of his life.

Recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West.

THE ACCIDENTAL PRIME MINISTER BY SANJAYA BARU

The Accidental Prime Minister  is a 2014 memoir by Sanjaya Baru, who was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s media advisor from May 2004 to August 2008.

The book alleges that Manmohan was not entirely in control of his cabinet, or even the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Instead, significant power was wielded by the Congress party’s president Sonia Gandhi.

OUR MOON HAS BLOOD CLOTS: THE EXODUS OF THE KASHMIRI PANDITS BY RAHUL PANDITA

The heartbreaking story of Kashmir has so far been told through the prism of the brutality of the Indian state, and the pro-independence demands of separatists.

But there is another part of the story that has remained unrecorded and buried. 

Our Moon Has Blood Clots  is the unspoken chapter in the story of Kashmir, in which it was purged of the Kashmiri Pandit community in a violent ethnic cleansing backed by Islamist militants.

RAJINIKANTH: THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY BY NAMAN RAMACHANDRAN

Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography  recounts Rajini’s career in meticulous detail, tracing his incredible cinematic journey from his very first film, Apoorva Raagangal, in 1975 to memorable forays into Bollywood to the mega-hits.

Along the way, the book provides rare insights into Rajini’s personal life.

VEERAPPAN: CHASING THE BRIGAND BY K. VIJAY KUMAR

No other bandit in recent times has captured the public’s imagination as much as Koose Muniswamy Veerappan.

Be it his trademark moustache, stories of his daring escapades or his ruthless massacre of officers, Veerappan continues to fascinate, even thirteen years after his death. 

Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand  is a lucid and incisive account of the rise and fall of India’s most dreaded forest brigand.

Best Indian Self-Help Books

The monk who sold his ferrari by robin sharma.

A wonderfully crafted fable,  The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari  tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life.

On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he discovers powerful, wise, and practical lessons that give us the wisdom to create a life of passion, purpose, and peace.

WHO WILL CRY WHEN YOU DIE? BY ROBIN SHARMA

In  Who Will Cry When You Die? , Robin Sharma offers 101 simple solutions to life’s most complex problems, ranging from a little-known method for beating stress and worry, to a powerful way to enjoy the journey while you create a legacy that lasts.

YOU CAN WIN BY SHIV KHERA

In  You Can Win , Shiv Khera reveals that all success is deliberate and there is nothing magical about winning.

Using common sense and varying lessons taken from ancient wisdom to modern philosophy, he shows how we can deal with issues of our daily lives, and how we can turn otherwise bad situations into good ones.

INNER ENGINEERING: A YOGI’S GUIDE TO JOY BY SADHGURU

In  Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy , Sadhguru presents readers with a path to achieving absolute well-being through the classical science of yoga.

It is a means to create inner situations exactly the way you want them, turning you into the architect of your own joy.

CHANAKYA’S 7 SECRETS OF LEADERSHIP BY RADHAKRISHNAN PILLAI

Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership  puts forth a model for leadership drawn from the teachings of Chanakya who lived in the 4th Century BC, was prime minister and guru to one of India’s most powerful and successful emperors.

13 STEPS TO BLOODY GOOD LUCK BY ASHWIN SANGHI

In  13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck , Ashwin Sanghi explores that critical, much-longed-for element called luck.

Through entertaining and informative anecdotes, narrations of personal experiences and vignettes of homespun wisdom, Ashwin gives us a whole new insight into how people can work towards being lucky.

THE HABIT OF WINNING BY PRAKASH IYER

In  The Habit of Winning , you’ll find stories that can change the way you think, work, live.

Stories about leadership and teamwork, self-belief and perseverance. Life lessons from cola wars and cricket, Olympic heroes and ordinary folks.

THE WELLNESS SENSE BY OM SWAMI

Expounding on the esoteric aspects of ancient wisdom, in simple terms,  The Wellness Sense  shows you how to take care of yourself better and how to lead a healthier life in our present world — a world where we have all the comforts yet we are restless.

We have organic breakfast on the table but no time to eat it, we have the comfiest mattress but little sleep.

Best Indian Books on Travel and Places

Around india in 80 trains by monisha rajesh.

Taking a page out of Jules Verne’s classic tale, Around the World in 80 Days , Monisha Rajesh embarked on a 40,000km adventure  Around India in 80 trains .

Travelling a distance equivalent to the circumference of the Earth, she lifted the veil on a country that had become a stranger to her.

WHEN THE ROAD BECKONS BY RAVI MANORAM

When the Road Beckons  is an inspiring odyssey that promises to transform a generation.

Caught in the inescapable hurricane of life, the protagonist decides to snap out of the everyday mendacity and go on a 4000 km motorbike journey across Ladakh.

FOLLOWING FISH: TRAVELS AROUND THE INDIAN COAST BY SAMANTH SUBRAMANIAN

In a coastline as long and diverse as India’s, fish inhabit the heart of many worlds — food of course, but also culture, commerce, sport, history and society.

In  Following Fish , journeying along the edge of the peninsula, Samanth Subramanian reports upon a kaleidoscope of extraordinary stories.

HOT TEA ACROSS INDIA BY RISHAD SAAM MEHTA

There’s not a highway, road or dirt track in India where you can’t find a cup of chai whenever you want it.

And with those cuppas come encounters and incidents that make travelling in India a fascinating adventure.

In  Hot Tea Across India , Rishad takes you across the length and breadth of India, from Manali to Munnar, from the Rann of Kutch to Khajuraho, with a wonderful combination of wit, sensitivity and insight.

BATTLEFIELDS & PARADISE BY SABIR HUSSAIN

Battlefields and Paradise  is a travelogue in which the author writes about his trip from Delhi to Turtuk which is India’s northernmost point on the LoC.

On his journey, he rides a very ordinary bike, travels solo, engages in passionate talks with ordinary Kashmiris while learning about their daily lives and a bit or two about the politics of the state.

BUTTER CHICKEN IN LUDHIANA: TRAVELS IN SMALL TOWN INDIA BY PANKAJ MISHRA

In  Butter Chicken in Ludhiana , Pankaj Mishra captures an India which has shrugged off its sleepy, socialist air and has become instead kitschy, clamorous and ostentatious.

Pankaj paints a vivid picture of a people rushing headlong to their tryst with modernity.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO GANGA BY RUSKIN BOND

The Ganges is a river which has held India’s heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history.

In  All Roads Lead to Ganga , Ruskin Bond captures the breathtaking beauty and splendour of Ganga, describing with nostalgia and affection the places and people he has lived with and encountered for over forty years.

THE HEAT AND DUST PROJECT BY DEVAPRIYA ROY

Saurav and Devapriya junk the swivel chairs, gain a couple of backpacks and set out on a transformational journey across India.

On a very, very tight budget: five hundred rupees a day for bed and board. And  The Heat and Dust Project  begins.

IF IT’S MONDAY IT MUST BE MADURAI BY SRINATH PERUR

This entertaining travelogue around ten conducted tours contains myriad riches: of hanging on to a camel in the Thar; rediscovering music on the trail of Kabir; joining an ancient pilgrimage, and hunting for sex in Tashkent.

THE LAND OF FLYING LAMAS BY GAURAV PUNJ

Beyond the hill stations, the mall roads and the ‘points’ is the ‘other Himalaya’ – a Himalaya where flowers bloom in the green rolling meadows, the streams are bubbly, no-pedal boats ply in the lakes, the glaciers can be felt and the passes crossed to more magical lands –  The Land of Flying Lamas .

We hope that you liked this list of the best English Novels by Indian Authors.

Other lists in this series:

75 of the Most Famous Indian Writers

11 Apps and Websites to Read Free Books Online

A Short Quiz on Books by Indian Authors

Rajmohan’s Wife by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay in 1864

The Travels of Dean Mahomet by Sake Dean Mahomed in 1794. It was not a novel but an autobiographical

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

1. The Guide by R.K. Narayan; 2. Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan; 3. The Private Life of an Indian Prince by Mulk Raj Anand; 4. Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand; 5. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh; 6. Godan by Munshi Premchand; 7. The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond; 8. The Complete Adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray; 9. Combat of Shadows by Manohar Malgonkar; 10. The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian by Nirad C. Chaudhuri

The Pulitzer Prize is only given to Americans. The Indian-Americans who have won the Pulitzer for writing are: 1. Jhumpa Lahiri for her short story collection Interpreter of Maladies in the year 2000; 2. Siddhartha Mukherjee for his book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer in the year 2011; 3. Vijay Seshadri for his collection of poems 3 Sections in the year 2014

1. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy in 1997; 2. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai in 2006; 3. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga in 2008

Well, it’s not the US. The answer is INDIA. According to the NOP World Culture Score Index, India is the country that reads the most. An average Indian reads for 10 hours 42 minutes per week.

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Father to Ahaana. Husband to Mayuri. Co-founder at bookGeeks. Engineer at BMM.

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The 18 most-anticipated Indian books of 2024

By Saachi Gupta

The most important document on my phone is a list of all the books I have read in the last three years, segregated by month and then year, with each book rated out of five stars. As 2024 dawns bright and clear (hazy and smog -filled for Indians), it’s time to reset the list: fortunately, there are plenty of new releases to look forward to in 2024. From Salman Rushdie’s much-awaited memoir about his 2022 stabbing and Ruskin Bond’s new book celebrating his 90th birthday to Kanan Gill ’s debut novel Acts of God and the explicit and educational diary of a sex therapist, 2024 brings with it a diverse range of books. Below, Vogue rounds up the best Indian books of 2024—for me (and you) to add to your list.

Maria, Just Maria by Sandhya Mary

Sandhya Mary's Maria, Just Maria published by HarperCollins India and translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil is the story of a woman trying to find her place in the world

Following the death of her grandmother, Maria has stopped speaking—not because she can’t, but because she doesn’t want to. Now in a psychiatric hospital, she recalls her journey of being ‘just Maria’: a girl born into a Syrian Christian family in Kerala whose companions were a grandfather who she wandered around the village’s toddy shops with, a great-aunt with dementia who challenged Maria’s position as the youngest in the family, a dog with a penchant for philosophy and several long-dead family members. Masterfully translated by Jayasree Kalathil, Sandhya Mary’s Maria, Just Maria published by HarperCollins India is a sharp and humorous take on the ideas that define contemporary society, told through the story of a woman trying to find her place in the world.

Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie's Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder answers violence with art, documenting his 2022 stabbing

By Vogue Staff

By Prabal Sharma

By Shriya Zamindar

Salman Rushdie has been living under threat of assassination since 1989. In August 2022, the Booker Prize winning author was stabbed ten times as he was about to give a public lecture in New York, even as several people attempted to hold the assailant back. Despite losing the use of one hand in sight in one eye, Rushdie stated in an interview with The New Yorker that his overwhelming feeling was gratitude at having survived. In this much-awaited memoir about his near-death experience, Rushdie answers violence with art, reminding us of the power of words as he comes to terms with the unthinkable. Gripping and intimate, this Penguin Random House India publication is a meditation on life, loss , love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.

Ma is Scared by Anjali Kajal

Ma is Scared marks Anjali Kajal's much awaited English debut, and is a collection of short stories that delve into the ordinary lives of women in Northern India from Dalit points of view

Marking Anjali Kajal's long-overdue debut in English, Ma is Scared is a collection of short stories published by Penguin Random House India, drawing us into the ordinary lives of women in Northern India from Dalit points of view. Hard-hitting because it reflects the realities and daily lives of marginalised communities in India, the book is an exploration of gender, caste and most importantly, resistance. In the title story ‘Ma is Scared’, a mother anxiously awaits her daughter's return from work while deflecting comments from judgmental neighbours. ‘Pathways’ follows two boys, Vipul and Sanjay in their journey to get an engineering degree, uncovering the privilege of social capital as the two hail from vastly different backgrounds. In another story, titled ‘History’, a girl—nameless, her sole identity being ‘Scheduled Caste’—struggles with casteism in college. Whether combating caste-based disdain in the workplace or enduring the new blows that the pandemic landed upon the Dalit community, Kajal's characters find a resilience and a dignity that we can all learn from.

Stories by Manto: A Graphic Narrative edited by Pinaki De and Debkumar Mitra

Indo-Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto was known for his inciting socio-political writing that reflected the realities of society. Published by Simon and Schuster and edited by Pinaki De and Debkumar Mitra, this book brings the prolific author's fiction to visual life, drawing from old and new illustrations of his prose.

Wonderland of Words by Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor's Wonderland of Words published by Aleph Book Company is a journey of discovery through a treasure house of astounding words

No one has a vocabulary like Shashi Tharoor —and his latest book is all set to reinforce his mastery of the English language. In Shashi Tharoor's Wonderland of Words published by Aleph Book Company, India's greatest wordsmith Shashi Tharoor takes readers on a journey of discovery through a treasure house of astounding words.

Late Blooming Cherries edited by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath

Published by HarperCollins India, Late Blooming Cherries is India’s first-ever anthology of haikus. Edited by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath, the collection arrives in the aftermath of the long isolation of the pandemic , documenting experiences so nostalgic that one is reminded of what it feels like to be human. From young love to the despair of loneliness, from a child’s bed to a grandmother’s lap, this anthology has a bit of everything from both new and accomplished haiku artists. Late Blooming Cherries is meant to be savoured as slowly as the late-bloomer cherries of Shillong, which is where its name comes from.

Unashamed: Notes from the Diary of a Sex Therapist by Neha Bhat

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In her 15 years working as a sex therapist, Neha Bhat has seen it all. A father who collapses into shame every time he tries to tell his son he is gay ; a much-in-love married couple who are at their wits end about why they have no desire for each other; a 25-year-old whose childhood trauma has taken physical manifestation every time she has sex. Bhat’s work has taken her through the length and breadth of Indian cities and towns, often showing her that sex and shame are different sides of the same coin. With Unashamed published by HarperCollins India, Bhat hopes to break this pattern: part psychoeducation and part self-help, this first-of-its-kind book presents the reader with simple challenges and questions to reframe their perspective on sex, sexual myths, relationships, kinks and fantasies and desire, helping them understand sexual maturity and sexual wellness. This is a BTS of sexual desire and sex in India.

The Architecture of Modern Empire: Conversations with David Barsamian by Arundhati Roy

Combining a lifetime of experience in solidarity and resistance with her skills as a writer, Arundhati Roy illuminates the hidden structures of modern empire like no one else, revealing their workings so we can resist. “I try to create links, to join the dots, to tell politics like a story, to make it real,” the bestselling author states. Addressing subjects like war, nationalism and rising fascism combined with values like truth, justice, freedom and resistance, Roy encourages us to envision a different future and fight for it.

The Hill of Enchantment: The Story of My Life as a Writer by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond celebrates his ninetieth birthday in May 2024 with the release of his memoir The Hill of Enchantment: The Story of My Life

In May 2024, India’s most loved writer Ruskin Bond will turn ninety. To celebrate this milestone, the prolific author—with a career spanning over 70 years and hundreds of books to his name—has written a new memoir, published by Aleph Book Company. The Hill of Enchantment: The Story of My Life contains stories Bond has never told before about his life, his sources of inspiration , the people he has loved, the people he has lost, and a myriad other absorbing details about his long and successful life as a writer.

The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian by Neha Dixit

Neha Dixit's The Many Lives of Syeda X , published by Juggernaut Books, shows us what it means to be a poor Muslim woman in today’s India

In this non-fiction title, acclaimed journalist Neha Dixit traces the life of one woman and her family over the course of thirty years in harrowing detail. Spanning from the early 1990s to the present day, the Juggernaut Books publication shows us what it means to be a poor Muslim woman in today’s India.

The Authorised Biography of Shabana Azmi by Satyarth Nayak

Shabana Azmi's biography, published by Penguin Random House India, is a peek into her evolution as an actor and human being

2024 marks the fiftieth year of Shabana Azmi 's glorious cinematic journey. In this official biography, Nayak captures the luminary's legendary acting career: from her process of inhabiting the iconic characters she plays to her evolution as an actor, in addition behind-the-scenes memories and anecdotes. Alongside documenting her artistic inclinations and activism, the book will also delve into Shabana Azmi, the person. From her growing up in a commune to her life in Janaki Kutir, from the influences of Kaifi Azmi's poetry and communism to the feminism and theatre of Shaukat Azmi shaping her worldview—this Penguin Random House India biography paints a complete portrait of the iconic actor, capturing her true essence.

Baal-o-Paar: Collected Poems by Gulzar

Baal-o-Paar , published by HarperCollins India, is a definitive collection of Gulzar’s poetry, comprising six volumes of poems

There are few Indians who aren’t familiar with a verse or two of Gulzar’s. HarperCollins India’s Baal-o-Paar is a definitive collection of Gulzar’s poetry , comprising six volumes of poems. The first volume, Chand Pukhraaj Ka , was written four decades ago; the last, Triveni , in 2004. Collected together for the first time and newly translated into English by Rakshanda Jalil (with the original poem appearing on the opposite page in Devanagari script), the many hundreds of poems bear witness to a remarkable poetic journey.

Like Being Alive Twice by Dharini Bhaskar

Dharini Bhaskar's Like Being Alive Twice is a speculative fiction novel with a split narrative

Published by Penguin Random House India, this speculative fiction novel plays out in an unnamed city in an unnamed country where Priyamvada (or Poppy) and Tariq are in love. In a few hours, Tariq is meant to propose to her. Things take an unexpected turn when the narrative splits in two. One segment follows all that does happen including Poppy’s impulsive dalliance with Yuvraj and her continued association with Tariq, now wedded to her oldest friend, Yana. The other approaches what-could-have-been—Poppy’s decision to ignore Yuvraj and fix things with Tariq and her eventual marriage to Tariq. All of this transpires against the backdrop of a city transforming: every citizen’s life is now governed by a scorecard, with the degree of access to housing and work dictated by how they fared. The scores, in turn, are governed by parentage and religion; by the social acceptability of a marriage; and by whether a woman can give birth. The laws are unforgiving—and no matter the narrative thread that is followed, Tariq and Poppy cannot remain untouched.

The Idolators by Manu Pillai

In his newest novel, prolific author Manu Pillai brings to light a forgotten slice of colonial history, writing about the startling colonial connections that have shaped independent India’s self-image today

In his newest novel, prolific author Manu Pillai brings to light a forgotten slice of colonial history, writing about the startling colonial connections that have shaped independent India’s narrative. The Idolators examines the influence of the West on Indian beliefs, chronicling the lives of remarkable men and women who were instrumental in shaping India's self-image today. Travelling through the eighteenth century to the present, the novel explores everything from caste , religion and gender, extrapolating the manner in which the dynamics of the colonial age continue to affect India even today.

Riverside Stories: Writings from Assam edited by Banamallika Chaudhry

Published by Zubaan Books and edited by Banamallika Chaudhry, Riverside Stories is the sixth in an acclaimed series featuring Northeastern writers and stories, covering Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Acts of God by Kanan Gill

Kanan Gill's debut novel Acts of God , published by HarperCollins India is a delightful alchemy of humour, imaginativeness and philosophical provocations

In comedian Kanan Gill’s wildly entertaining and inventive debut novel published by HarperCollins India, a celebrated scientist has been relegated to spending his days supervising a trifling project, but is secretly obsessively creating and destroying universes. The bumbling private detective P Manjunath and his long-suffering assistant Heng have embarked on a trans-continental adventure to investigate a series of seemingly unrelated disasters. A Danish policeman accidentally becomes a clothing-optional leader of a worldwide group of Science Haters, a sentient piece of wall struggles with the limits of its artistic expression and a lapel pin’s habit of always giving truthful advice results in utter chaos. A delightful alchemy of humour, imaginativeness and philosophical provocations, Acts of God marks the evolution of one of India’s finest comedic voices and is one of the most awaited Indian books of 2024.

An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayan Murthy by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

An Uncommon Love traces the early lives of Sudha Murty and Narayan Murthy, telling a story of love, compromise and endurance

In this Juggernaut Books publication set to release later this month, author Sudha Murty and Infosys founder Narayan Murthy let readers into their lives like never before. Penned by prolific author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni , the memoir follows the love story of the two public figures, telling a tale of determination, compromise and endurance. At its heart, Banerjee believes, An Uncommon Love is the story of two ordinary people falling in love, refusing to compromise on their value systems and as a result, inspiring a nation to follow their dreams.

Ananda: A Journey into India’s Ancient Complex Relationship with Cannabis by Karan Madhok

Ganja or Cannabis indica or Cannabis sativa has been used in a variety of ways in the subcontinent for centuries. In this non-fiction publication published by Aleph Book Company known as the first major biography of ganja, Karan Madhok travels to every corner of the country, delving into the medical and scientific uses of cannabis as well as the central place it occupies in the counter-culture of the subcontinent.

The best books of 2023: A preview

The best books of 2022: A preview

Seven classic mystery books to curl up with over the winter

By Anoushka Shankar

By Praachi Raniwala

By Upasana Das

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Year Ender 2023: 24 best Indian books of the year, fiction and non-fiction

Year ender 2023: 24 books of fiction and non-fiction that evoke contemporary india, from siddhartha mukherjee's song of the cell to deepti kapoor's age of vice..

Amitav Ghosh's Smoke and Ashes is a stunning part-memoir, part-travelogue, part-history book that traces how India became the world’s largest producer of opium during the 18th and 19th centuries.

It’s been a stunning year for books from India—and it will perhaps come as no surprise that a lot of the action is taking place in translation, immigrant writing and non-fiction. There’s substantial millennial perspective on shelves this year—a lot of it deeply political, smartly (and often cynically) reckoning with the monumental shifts that are currently underway in India. They span the spectrum of genre—straightforward thrillers to mind-bending speculative treatises; and deal with big, pulpy themes like power, class, family, corruption as well as tend to universal themes like love, loss and belonging. Between them, these 24 books demonstrate what it means to be Indian today—our preoccupations, paranoias, and persuasions laid bare for the world. As we get set to welcome 2024, a 2023 recap through books:

1. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

“India’s answer to The Godfather ”, declared The Guardian in a headline about Deepti Kapoor’s sophomore novel , a thriller that scorched bookshelves across the world in January. It follows three young men and one woman from vastly disparate backgrounds, whose lives get entangled forever one fateful night. With superb pace and intrigue, Kapoor paints a cinematic portrait of 21st India, where the filthy rich and dirt-poor spin through a vortex of power, corruption and unbridled avarice.

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2. Quarterlife by Devika Rege

A jaded Wall Street consultant returns to India. A college acquaintance is eager to escape the drudgery of her New England life to teach in a Muslim-majority slum in Mumbai. His younger brother is using his family’s newfound wealth to climb the social ladder in Mumbai, but feels the need to dig deeper into his roots. Around them, a new India is taking shape, an aggressive political party in power, and the air is rife with a certain kind of optimism. Devika Rege’s stunning debut might just be the definitive “millennial India” book—expertly documenting the conversations and preoccupations of a guinea pig generation.

3. Sakina’s Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag

Eight years after the groundbreaking Ghachar Ghochar , we have a Shanbhag novel translated in English by the equally inimitable Srinath Perur—and what a treat. Our narrator Venkat is stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity, a mid-level executive with tepid relationships with his wife and daughter. Except in a Taken -like spin, his daughter disappears, and he has to go up against a world of men—gangsters, policemen, politicians, tabloid journalists—to find her. Shanbhag is delightfully acidic as usual on caste, class, gender hierarchies and family power dynamics.

4. This Is Salvaged by Vauhini Vara

A new book from Vauhini Vara , the Canadian-American writer of Indian origin whose debut novel The Immortal King Rao was on the Pulitzer shortlist, was always going to be exciting. These 10 short stories deal with women and womanhood, diving into themes like grief and loneliness, climate change and relationships, and selfhood and intimacy. Vara remains fascinated with death, and luxuriates in exploring the nature of being—a child, parent, friend, sibling, lover. It is often morbid, and always gripping.

5. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

American physician-writer Abraham Verghese returns with his first novel since 2009’s Cutting For Stone , and this one is a fascinating, sprawling epic that covers generations of a family living in Kerala. A Christian family that is afflicted by a strange medical condition: They die by drowning in unusual places, in a land where everyone swims. A treatise on families, myth-building, even a portrait of India for a Western audience, Verghese’s latest mines his gift for suspense, and immense knowledge of the human anatomy, with spell-binding results.

6. Assassin by KR Meera

The Kerala literary superstar’s latest is a nailbiter from beginning to end. Translated into English by J Devika, it begins with a close shave with death for a woman living in the big city, who realises the incident is much more complicated than that—she was actually the target of an assassination, and the conspiracy doesn’t stop at her. Believed to invoke Gauri Lankesh’s murder, KR Meera has said that this book is perhaps the most personal fiction she has ever written. As Satyapriya hunts her demons, you come face-to-face with the insidious violence that follows women everywhere.

7. Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan

Winner of the 2023 JCB Prize for Literature , Murugan’s Fire Bird  is about a man called Muthu—an everyman on a quest for permanence in a world where no such thing exists. It’s a question triggered when his father cuts up the family farmland, leaving him with almost nothing and pushing his family into uncharted territory, financially, geographically and figuratively. In Murugan’s hands, this ordinary story acquires spectacular depth that scrapes the bottom of the barrel when it comes to social critique and understanding of the human condition.

8. The Best Possible Experience: Stories by Nishanth Injam

Telangana-origin, US-based Nishanth Injam’s debut book of short stories is an empathetic (and sympathetic) look into immigrant life—green card marriages, loss of parents, reckoning with a sense of displacement, yearning for belonging, and fundamentally, the notion of home. Gently related, but always to the point, Injam’s stories implore us to think about the very human ramifications of the “happily ever after” of achieving the American dream.

9. The Light At the End Of The World by Siddhartha Deb

New Delhi’s AQI might be hitting surreal levels, but Siddhartha Deb’s strangely speculative novel imagines strange plausibilities into being. In his latest, The Beautiful and the Damned  author connects centuries of Indian history and its potentially apocalyptic future, all of it considered in the background of the events of the last decade—demonetisation, online rage, secret detention centres, nationalist violence. The story is told through five inexplicable chapters of Indian history—located in, for example, Calcutta in 1947, Bhopal in 1984, and Delhi in the early 2000s, where the Monkey Man makes an appearance. An ambitious novel, where the past, present and future are intertwined forever.

10. Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker, Chetna Maroo’s smash debut taps into this moment of national obsession with sports. Its protagonist is 11-year-old Gopi who has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket, and then has the game become her entire world after her mother dies—as her father throws her into the deep end of a rigorous training regimen, perhaps as a way to contend with grief for the both of them. A story of sisterhood, families, life in London, and the sacrifices made to get where we sometimes aren’t sure we want to be. Maroo’s novel underlines the difference between winning and triumph.

11. Victory City by Salman Rushdie

In Victory City , the master storyteller of our time delivered a mythology for the zeitgeist. Pampa Kampana, inspired by the 14th century princess-poet Gangadevi, manifests the empire Bisnaga (or Vijayanagar), ruling it as a sort of feminist utopia over 200 years—because she is cursed with such a lifespan. Portuguese colonisers, magic spells that can turn people into animals all figure in this sprawling fable about a kingdom that was finally brought down by political intrigue, warring factions and bigotry.

12. One Small Voice by Santanu Bhattacharya

Ten-year-old Shubhankar’s life is changed forever in 1992, in a Lucknow rife with riots. As a young adult, on the cusp of achieving everything middle class India dreams of in the 21st century—a good education, a good job, shiny new possessions—he begins to question his life choices. As do his friends, Syed and Shruti—in the optimistic freedom of urban life, they wonder if they could do something…bigger. But then comes a wave of nationalism that cannot be quelled, bringing Shabby back in touch with the demons of his tumultuous past. Bhattacharya’s sizzling debut won the Observer award.

Non Fiction

13. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey Through Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh

India’s greatest contemporary novelist pens a stunning part-memoir, part-travelogue, part-history book that traces how India became the world’s largest producer of opium during the 18th and 19th centuries, the macro and micro stories associated with it and how the poppy plant has indeed shaped the modern world.  Amitav Ghosh expertly navigates the immense quantities of research he accumulated while writing his Ibis trilogy, as well as his own personal connection to the plant.

14. H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars by Kunal Purohit

What does popular music and poetry, usually the domain of love, heartbreak and ideological resistance, have to do with contemporary Indian politics? A lot, apparently. Purohit investigates the way that popular music from Haryana and UP has, among other things, used easy verse, an infectious beat and social media to mainstream the agenda of right-wing parties. As Ramachandra Guha writes: “In the country of Bismillah Khan and MS Subbulakshmi, Kishori Amonkar and Kishore Kumar, music has now become an artefact of right-wing propaganda, a vehicle of vindictiveness and violence.”

15. The Day I Became A Runner: A Women’s History of India Through the Lens of Sport by Sohini Chattopadhyay

Journalist and writer Sohini Chattopadhyay’s incredible book is part history, part feminist manifesto, part memoir—diving into the history of some of India’s most famous and promising women athletes to offer surprising insight. She anchors her book in her own story of beginning to run to cope with grief, and through profiles of luminaries like Ila Mitra, the first Indian-origin woman at the 1940 Olympics, to PT Usha who shattered all kinds of barriers in the 1980s, to reckon with why and how women have gone running in the public sphere in a country that has traditionally wanted to keep them indoors.

16. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink by Arati Kumar Rao

Environmental photographer and writer Arati Kumar Rao’s beautifully put together book seeks to highlight the subjective experience of climate change, through the under-told stories of people living in zones hit harder by ecological shifts than others. Shepherding tribes in Rajasthan, fishermen tribes in Assam, clans that have settled along the river Ganga—we get a raw look into their lives and the degree to which they have (or not) benefited from modernisation. The black-and-white illustrations add a poetic element to this book—a note of caution.

17. The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Pulitzer winner Siddhartha Mukherjee is back to making science, especially the human body, interesting by going down to the fundamentals in his latest, magnificent book —the human cell. Exploring the works of key figures in history, such as the German scientist Rudolf Virchow who saw the human body as a “citizen state” to the inventors of IVF, the US-based oncologist puts the spotlight on the one building block of all human life, while also considering what ails it. As usual, a fascinating read.

18. Fire on the Ganges by Radhika Iyengar

Writer and journalist Radhika Iyengar’s debut work of non-fiction is an incisive, empathetic and considered exploration of what it really means to be part of the Dom community—a sub-caste that has been tasked with burning dead bodies in Varanasi, in essence for those departed to attain moksha; while also being treated as untouchables. Over eight years, Iyengar traced the lives of 30-odd members of the community to underline the irony of this existence, and the challenges of pushing past these brackets.

19. The Half Known Life by Pico Iyer

In this memoir , the world-famous travel writer expounds on the value of stillness while reflecting on his many journeys around the globe, always in search of paradise. He begins in Iran and also considers Kashmir, his prose poetic and evocative of the beauty he has witnessed wrapped in conflict, state surveillance, politics and occasionally, barbed wire. This is Pico Iyer at his ephemeral best.

20. The Yellow Sparrow by Santa Khurai

Santa Khurai, hailing from Manipur, was born male, but began dressing as a woman at the age of 17. She has experienced heartbreak in a heterosexual relationship, and the joys of adoption. An extraordinary memoi, Khurai’s story is at once relatable and unexpected. In a country that is still coming to terms with the legal framework to ensure equitable existence for transgender people, Khurai’s story needs to be read as a testament of courage and conviction in the face of stacked odds.

21. Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das

This one’s for the history buffs. Das’ widely acclaimed chronicle of the early days of the British in the Indian subcontinent—still an enterprise, not yet a “rule”—is actually a riveting tale of the magnificence of the Mughal empire, even if it was on its last legs. By studying the diaries and correspondence of an early East India Company employee and other emissaries in the Mughal court, Das underlines the contrast between two cultures—one that spoke and wrote from a place of prejudice and a supremacist attitude, and the other that had survived centuries in a diverse land by accepting and encouraging that very diversity. Plus, who thought emperor Jahangir could be such an alluring character in Indian history?

22. Raw Umber by Sara Rai

This is an extraordinary memoir from the granddaughter of Hindi fiction’s greatest storyteller, Munshi Premchand—and not just because of that. Rai reflects on her life and legacy through this collection of essays built around the people, worlds and life experiences that filled her world. Grandparents, siblings, parents, distant relatives, homes and oral histories suffuse this book—important as much for being an untold account of a family that had immense impact on Hindi literature, but also of families anywhere.

23. The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America by Saket Soni

After Hurricane Katrina, due to a Green Card scam, hundreds of Indian workers ended up in the US, working in what was essentially a labour camp in Mississippi. These workers were then hunted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department—but who had their own private motivations. Soni, who’d gone to the US years prior to study theatre, but had his own visa waylaid due to an error in paperwork, and now runs the non-profit Resilience Force to advocate for immigrant workers, unearths this story with great precision and a thriller writer’s penchant for a sizzling hook.

24. Courting Hindustan: The Consuming Passions of Iconic Women Performers in India by Madhur Gupta

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These 12 Stunning Autobiographies Will Leave You in Wonder

By Mia Barzilay Freund

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to win Wimbledon , run The Washington Post , or get drunk with Jimmy Buffett ? Through the best autobiographies and celebrity memoirs , we can access gripping true stories told in the words of the people who lived through them.

Translating experience into language is a creative act. Autobiography can be earnest or irreverent, playful or profound. Often, real life can be stranger than fiction. The best autobiographies bring us closer to remarkable people and circumstances—and they’re well-written, to boot.

But that’s not all. The best examples from the genre can provide insights that help us improve our own lives. After all, there’s nothing like a story of perseverance against all odds to prove anything is possible.

These tales of endurance, transformation, and unlikely triumph are sure to command your attention––and dare we say, inspire your own main character energy .

Open by Andre Agassi

You don’t need to love tennis to find yourself totally engrossed by the story of Agassi’s legendary career. Once the number-one player in the world, Agassi led a life of pressure and publicity—from his intense childhood coached by his father to his high-profile marriages to Brooke Shields and Steffi Graf to the acute physical pain of his last chapter in professional tennis. The book was written with the help of ghostwriter J. R. Moehringer, whose own memoir The Tender Bar inspired a 2021 film with Ben Affleck. (Moehringer most recently helped Prince Harry pen his memoir, Spare .)

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

The Glass Castle

A New York Times bestseller for more than eight years, this stunning memoir details the author’s unconventional upbringing and her trajectory from a trailer park in Arizona to the New York City literary scene. Under her troubled but relentlessly dreaming father, Wells nurtured her imagination as she and her siblings learned to fend for themselves within their dysfunctional household. Her approach was creative and sometimes painful—like when she suffered full-body burns cooking hot dogs at age three, or when she fashioned homemade braces from rubber bands and wire. A brilliant prequel, Half Broke Horses , focuses on Walls’s adventurous grandmother during the early 1900s.

The Accidental Life by Terry McDonell

The Accidental Life

A legend in the world of magazines and publishing, McDonell was the trusted editor and friend of literary greats like James Salter and George Plimpton. His 2016 memoir chronicles relationships and skirmishes across a four-decade career in journalism—from sipping wine with Jimmy Buffett to playing “acid golf” with Hunter S. Thompson. Each chapter comes marked with a word count, making for satisfying, self-contained dips into literary lore. Evocative, irreverent, and honest, McDonell’s memoir spans a wild and wonderful time in American media.

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

How to Say Babylon

A poet as well as a memoirist, Sinclair fills her 2023 memoir with lyrical descriptions of her upbringing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where the Rastafarian faith into which she was born prescribed rigid codes on the basis of gender. However, language—specifically, poetry —served as a welcome escape, made possible by Sinclair’s literature-loving mother. Moving and unflinching, Babylon is an astonishing feat of memory set in motion.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird

Angelou enlarged and enriched the genre of autobiography with her 1969 account of her early life in Stamps, Arkansas. In it, she fashions her younger self into a literary character through whom she revisits events of the past. A young Maya endures affronts to her humanity through encounters with racism and sexual violence, but her story channels adolescent insecurity into self-possession, reflected in the author’s breathtaking command of language and narrative.

Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones

Easy Beauty

Born with sacral agenesis, a rare condition that affects her gait and stature, Cooper Jones is keenly aware of the reactions her physicality elicits. Her subtle and humorous 2022 memoir—a Pulitzer Prize finalist—challenges the reader to reassess the way bodies claim space , tracing how Cooper Jones’s own perspective shifts when she unexpectedly becomes a mother.

Personal History: A Memoir by Katharine Graham

Personal History

Graham’s Pulitzer Prize–winning autobiography explores her isolating upbringing amid extreme privilege, her exhilarating and agonizing marriage, and her leadership of The Washington Post during its coverage of events like the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal. With its intimate insight into a formidable figure in American life, Graham’s Personal History makes the memoir a literary force.

Grace: A Memoir by Grace Coddington

Vogue ’s longtime creative director pulls back the curtain on the fashion industry and the creative world surrounding it, documenting the insecurities of moving from industry outsider to insider and the joy of bringing to life fashion fantasies in the magazine’s pages. Beginning with her upbringing in Wales and her early career in modeling, Coddington recounts things in a playful and characteristically British tone: the professional squabbles, artistic decisions, iconic outfits, and all. The memoir also features Coddington’s personal photographs, as well as lush spreads from her favorite features.

Por Estas Calles Bravas / Down These Mean Streets by Piri Tomás

Down These Mean Streets

Growing up in Spanish Harlem in the 1930s and ’40s, Tomás experienced discrimination and abuse on the basis of his Puerto Rican heritage. In an environment of poverty and violence, he fell into crime and drug addiction and eventually was incarcerated over a dispute with a police officer. His vivid personal account, available in both English and Spanish, details his journey from a place of hopelessness to self-acceptance through storytelling.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Douglass’s narrative is an important document of American history, as well as an essential piece of American literature. It records his experiences under slavery and his eventual escape and involvement in the abolition movement. A story of incredible hardship and triumph, the narrative includes the acquisition of language itself; Douglass taught himself to read and write, skills the enslaved were otherwise denied.

The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day

The Long Loneliness

A leader in the Catholic Worker movement, Day was a radical political organizer and journalist governed by principles of nonviolence and charity. Her autobiography captures a storied life, including her religious conversion, her personal conflicts over motherhood, and her founding and operation of the Catholic Worker newspaper. Her autobiography stands as an exquisite piece of personal reflection and social activism (with a moving introduction by psychiatrist Robert Coles).

Night by Elie Wiesel

Written in 1960, Wiesel’s memoir is the sobering account of his experiences during the Holocaust, including his time in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. At certain moments, his prose takes on a fractured, faltering quality, as if language itself fails to capture the horrors he endured. Sixty-four years after its publication, Night remains an important record of a dark chapter in recent history.

By Christian Allaire

10 Must Read Books For Every Indian Entrepreneur

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an entrepreneur in possession of a startupmust be in want of a good book. Alright, so maybe those werent Jane Austens exact words. But the point still stands! Among all the various different ways in which you can keep yourself motivated , a reading habit has consistently been ranked as one of the top most productive habits. While there are heaps of curated list of inspiring books for Indian entrepreneurs, we have got you the ones penned down by and about Indian entrepreneurs.So without further ado, here are the best entrepreneur books for every Indian startup founder:

1. Dream With Your Eyes Open by Ronnie Screwvala

2. Bhaag by Ganesh V.

3. Connect The Dots by Rashmi Bansal

4. Dhirubhai Ambani: Against All Odds by A G Krishnamurthy

5. Steel King: Lakshmi Mittal by Prateeksha M Tiwary

• How to start a startup in India – idea to execution
• 9 part-time business ideas to feed your entrepreneurial soul in 2020

6. Take Me Home by Rashmi Bansal

7. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal

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8. Bhujia Barons: The Untold Story of How Haldiram Built a 5000 Crore Empire by Pavitra Kumar.

9. The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time by Subhash Chandra and Pranjal Sharma

10. You Can Win by Shiv Khera

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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