Half Of A Yellow Sun

After reading Chimamanda's Purple Hibiscus I have been on the look out for her second book. And it is as brilliant and as realistic as the first one. Ugwu, Olanna, Odenigbo, Kainene and Richard do not get out of your head for a long time. It is not for leisure reading though. It shows the dark side of human nature at its starkest.

Picasso's War

At a time when one feels helpless that nothing one does will make a difference to the world, this book is the much needed truth. It makes you want to believe. It will tell you to be very very afraid of the violence and deceit the people of the world are capable of. But mostly it is the story of one man's belief, that will make you think, try a little harder and more than anything else, believe.

'Indian Summer' in winter

History that you will not read in Indian textbooks. I for one feel very vindicated on account of Gandhi but am not sure of the glorified Nehru legacy. An intimate look at the Raj, Independence and Partition. The romance between Nehru and Edwina didn't bother me and doesn't skew the narrative either.