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Among the hype and hoopla over Earth Day, we forgot there’s a window of opportunity for bookworms worldwide—World Book Day celebrated April 23.
As a celebration of this day, the Speaking Chic team drew up a list of books that we find stylish. FYI, by stylish we mean:
- Books that we love, that make us laugh or cry, that take us by surprise or anger us.
- Fun reads
- Fresh styles of writing
- Creative/ cool works of literature
Here’s our list—a mix of international and Indian writers (in random order):
- Cervantes’ Don Quixote—The book that everyone wanted to read, but didn’t because of its size!
- William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar— “Friends, fans and followers, lend me your eyeballs.” Classic. (Also: Hamlet, Macbeth and A Merchant of Venice)
- Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and D H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover: Late 19th century, early 20th century. Married women having affairs. Ooooh.
- Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone—Yeah yeah, it’s a total time pass yaar, but Chetan’s voice struck a chord with young urban Indians.
- J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy—The imagery, the imagination, incredibly irresistible for all fantasy lovers.
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude—My introduction to magical realism. After the second reading, I was sure it’s of epic proportions.
- Amitav Ghosh’s A Glass Palace—Excellent historical fiction.
- Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative Indian—Gave me a new perspective on what it is to be an Indian.
- Philip Kotler’s Principles of Marketing Management—Perhaps one of the most “mugged” books ever?
And here’s a sampling of what people thought was stylish:
1. Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point
“It was my first non-fiction and it made me look at things bit differently. Things that appear obvious on the surface might have some other phenomenon lying beneath.”
— Prakash, tech student at Austin, Texas
2. Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead
“It’s its the best book I’ve ever read, because it teaches a very important fundamental of life–
every man is capable of living a self sufficient life, instead of living like parasites dependent on others.”
— Rahul, working in outsourcing industry, Delhi
3. The Goddess Dairies
“It’s a treasure trove of stylish info on everything from being a domestic goddess, to sex goddess, to style goddess. It had great tips; from how to remove stains on silk to dressing up stylishly.”
Chelna, writer, Mumbai
4. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged
“Just one thought: life-changing!”
— Sia, copy writer, Mumbai
What’s the most stylish book you’ve read? If we missed out on some super stylish books, let us know! Happy reading.
i love the list!!
@CK– Good to know that! Do let us know if you’d like to add to the list.