Books read in 2008

I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2008 with their background and my feedback. I also embed here their original language of creation and mine language of study (either Hindi /English). This is done because I believe that the thinking pattern of author is reflected much in original language of his writings. The emotional binding content between reader and book is somewhere lost in translation / transliteration. Ratings are highly personal.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini-English -7.5/10
Slow paced and Heart wrenching story of a woman in Afghanistan.

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life-Lance Armstrong-English--8/10
Inspirational autobiography of a sports person.

Lajja-Taslima Nasreen-Bangla(Read in English)--8/10
Story of Hindu family living in Bangladesh in religious riots.

Midnight's Children-Salmaan Rushdie-English--8/10
Facts interwoven with Fiction. Beautiful art of story telling with post Indian sub-continent independence background of a Muslim family.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain-English-7.5/10
Journey of young and rebel boy in 1870's American dropout with strong remarks on orthodox society practices with ton of laughs.

Smaran ko pathey banane do -Vishnukant Shastri-Hindi-7.5/10
Detailed and poetic autobiographic epilogue of important personalities that influenced the writer's life and literature.

Ghumakkar Shastra-Rahul Sankrityayan-Hindi-7.5/10
An inspiring push for young minds to travel in the world with his autobiographical experince.

Animal Farm-George Orwell-English-9.5/10
A deep and sarcastic look at Stalin era communism with simple narrative and absolute masterpiece.

Sanvatsar- ‘Agyeya’-Hindi-8.5/10
4 brief psychological essays on time and human consciousness.

Garden of Essays-Firaq Gorakhpuri-English-8.5/10
Essays for all the seasons of life with wide diversity in topics.

Kim-Rudyard Kipling-English-7/10
Adventures of young English boy with Buddhist monk across India in 1900;

The Pearl-John Steinbeck-English-7/10
Short novel about Poverty, Lust and Luck of a mankind intertwisted with a simple story.

Srimadbhagvadgita- Sanskrit(Read in English)-10/10
Is anything needed to say about this larger than life book?

Srimad Dayanand Prakash- Swami Satyanand -Hindi-7/10
Biography of Dayanand Saraswati.

Anamdas ka Potha -Hazariprasad Diwedi-Hindi-7/10
Struggle to know the ultimate truth by a young sage in ancient India.

Gunahon ka Devta -Dharmveer Bharti--Hindi-7/10
Compelling novel about man-woman relationships and traditions set in Allahabad of 1960's.

Volga se Ganga tak - Rahul Sankrityayan--Hindi-9/10
Chronological migratory detail of human from 6000 BC to 1940 AD; 15 short stories with focus on social and cultural evolution in India.

Life is no bargain - Indira Goswami-Assamese (Read in Hindi)-7.5/10
Autobiography of this prolific writer and inner views of changing times in her life.

Freedom at Midnight- Larry Collins & Domanic Lapierre-English (Read in Hindi)-8.5/10
Honest opinion and detailed account of Indian partition and Independence. A must read for learning about Indian subcontinent in 1947;

The Old man & the Sea-Ernst Hemingway-English-7/10
Saga of constant struggle of man and nature depicted with only 2 main protagonists.

The National Culture of India - S. Abid Hussain - Hindi - 7/10

Concepts of the geographical influence on origin and evolution of Indian culture have been explained beautifully. 

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.