Onions in a Kindle on a Remote Island – Part 2 (The List)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; All six senses become invigorated and engaged. One experiences her world palpably with sights, sounds, smells and emotions. I have never been to Kerala nor do I know any Keralite Christian families. I would love to discover both.  

The Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa; I must, perforce, limit myself to only one of her books whereas I would prefer to include all. She belongs to my land, I project her identity. She is Parsi, comes from Lahore, and tells a magical story founded on these quintessential attributes.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri;  I have never migrated, but I have also never fully belonged, so I relate strongly to this account of the immigrant experience. Her language forces one to turn back the page to savor the words again. It’s a peculiarly South Asian skill, I find.

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammad Hanif; The story is provocative, the characters uncomfortably real and Hanif is brutally honest. He unveils aspects of my world which I find unrecognizable. I am astounded. Alice is my saint.

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; As a young girl, this was the first story I read about the burden of guilt, the contentment of truth, and the price of courage or cowardice protagonists pay, in different ways.  

Muhammad by Martin Lings; This book brings the greatest of all men to life as an extraordinary human being without deifying him. Traditional characterizations of our great Prophet do not do his remarkable life and achievements justice.

A History of God by Karen Armstrong; Her research is impeccable, her hypotheses well defended.  She offers profound and acute observations without any hint of disrespect, bias or bigotry towards any faith. 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; If I could clutch a book to the heart and take it to my grave, this one would be it, and because Atticus Finch who looked like Gregory Peck was the man I wanted to marry.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela; When I stood in the mock up of Mandela’s prison room on Robben Island, I realized the walk was as long as the room was small, and a chill ran down my spine.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; Although there are several better loved books by Dickens, this one reminds me of school – Sister Immaculata reading, all of us falling in love with Sydney Carton, together discovering London and Paris while living in Murree….indeed it was the best of times…

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh; He writes the way he looks - a bit messy. Could be forgettable except for its relevance to my world. The star-crossed lovers and the sequence of events leading to partition are less noteworthy than the character Iqbal. He still lives among us.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; No other account of the disaster that was (is?) the Afghan war has reverberated like this one. It personalizes a tragedy too often reduced to statistics.  The Kite Runner’s life matters.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful but men seldom realized that when struck by her charm, as were the Tartleton twins”…I know several paragraphs by heart. At age 11, what I learnt of America was that good-looking men get away with rude statements like “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. I repeated it often.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran; I soldier on trying to read it in Arabic, a daunting task despite help from Lebanese friends. Even though so much is lost in translation, what remains is astonishing in structure, depth of thought and musicality. “Your children are …life’s longing for itself”. Epic.     

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder; Not to be confused with the Meryl Streep movie which was good but not comparable. A gift from a friend, it was her way of gently introducing me to philosophical thought. It intimidated me at first, but I surrendered to Sophie’s charm.

Mirror to the Blind by Abdul Sattar Edhi and Tehmina Durrani; This could find its way to the “Pretty Poorly Written” list because it does not do justice to its larger than life subject and his extraordinary life. But how wrong can you go while describing Edhi? I agree with Tehmina that it must be included in our school curriculum. Edhism should be our way.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare; If I learn a book by heart, it belongs in the list! A lifetime after I first read it, I revel in the classic lines “et tu Brute, then fall Caesar” and “Friends, Romans, Countrymen”. I discovered the literary power of the rhetorical triad, and the dexterity of sustained meter and rhythm in a story told by a genius.   

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; African-American history fascinates me, and while Dr. King and Rosa Parks symbolize the struggle, Maya represents the soul of it. I too know why the caged bird sings; there are many in my world, caged but singing their defiant song. 

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein; My “I see, said the blind man” moment. I would cave in to the ridicule hurled at me for my conspiracy theories (often over the top, I admit!) except for declarations of “shock and awe” by those who know better and can back the claim with evidence.  

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins; A similar “Aha!” moment celebrating my unflinching belief in conspiracies.  I suggested to my Professor at LUMS that instead of using Bernanke’s text we should spend some time with Perkins. He had an advisory role at EAD. He did not agree. 

Jinnah of Pakistan by Stanley Wolpert; “Jinnah did all three”… a resounding opening paragraph which every Pakistani must internalize, like I did. Mohammad Ali Jinnah is arguably the most underrated of great world leaders, sadly because, thus far, his Pakistan has not lived up to his expectations. I like to think there is still time. 

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam by Dr. Mohammad Iqbal; Like most Pakistanis, my association with this greatest of modern day philosophers remained limited to his Urdu poetry. Indeed it is uplifting and awe-inspiring, but this thought-provoking thesis is incomparable. If, like me, you cannot wrap your head around it, listen to Javed Iqbal’s lectures to demystify.  

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Yet again, much lost in translation I am sure, but one makes do with what is on offer in English which is still quite powerful.  The matrix of time, characters, generations and parallel events is mind-boggling and necessitates re-reads, until you begin to notice similar dimensions your world. Then, it is revealed gloriously. 

Kim by Rudyard Kipling; The British Raj was despicable, but some aspects were endearing, even admirable. Kipling and Kim, Twain and Finn of India, are treasures of our heritage. Many things Kim still exist – Kim’ Gun in Lahore, Kim’s Game and the conflict that consumes many, that of the Great Game vs. the Path of Enlightenment.

Roots - The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley; Family sagas intrigue me and I have many favorites, but this tops the list. I watched the TV production before I read the book, and I was not disappointed by either. “Kunta Kinte” remains a family hero; my brother and I have held all our children up to God and declared “Behold, the only Being greater than yourself”. Epic again!

Collected Stories of William Somerset Maugham; Short stories are my favorite genre. I expect a story to hit me like a speeding train, a ton of bricks, a bullet, reducing me to a wreck, or do the opposite and electrify me. Many have, and most are written in Urdu/Hindi. My ignorance of world literature aside, Maugham stands with the greats; he is the Manto of English short stories.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; We could read Dickens, Shakespeare and Hardy under the watchful, approving eye of the Sisters. Robbins and Sheldon were for late night, under the covers after lights out. Austen was our happy medium; a classic with gossipy girl-talk and sisterhood. Stolen glances, unexpected kisses, desiring the wrong man; we were all Elizabeth, sometimes!

The Islam Quintet by Tariq Ali; Five enlightening stories about prosperous, thoughtful, tolerant times of Islam – the way Allah meant for it to be, and because Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi, brilliant military strategist and liberator of Jerusalem, was a hero of my father’s.

The Begums of Bhopal by Shaharyar Ali Khan; Many years ago I had a fangirl moment with the quirky, original liberated woman of Pakistan, Princess Abida Sultan. The Begums preceding her were quirkier I found, and yet more politically incorrect. More fangirl moments. 

The Diary of a Social Butterfly by Moni Mohsin; Every Pakistani woman schooled at a Convent has a Kulchoo and a Janoo in her life, and every one of us has experimented with speaking-English-thinking-Punjabi/Pashto or vice versa. Butterfly is all my Convent friends rolled into one divine cupcake from Masoom’s. 

Phew, did you really read it all?