Amritesh Mukherjee
Writer, Editor
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Satire, irony, caricature, and parody are a long and storied tradition in Indian literature. In this reading list, writer Amritesh Mukherjee compiles ten great works of satire in Indian literature across centuries and generations. From the seminal Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla to Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel or English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee.
The books are of and from a world where milliseconds matter more than minutes, where winning demands a particular kind of madness. From novels that imagine the thrill and romance of speed to memoirs that reveal its cost, from technical deep-dives to corporate exposés, each offers a window into a universe that operates by its unique, relentless logic.
In this beautiful list of forest-themed books, Amritesh starts with the literal and arrives at myths and legends, gothic ecology, and the sociological margins in the forests. There’s a tiger telling his own tale and the perspective of a tree at the brink of destruction.
Most of us were first introduced to Kannada literature by ‘Ghachar Ghochar’—the wonderful 2015 novella by Vivek Shanbhag. This year, Kannada lit claimed the spotlight once again when Banu Mushtakh’s collection of short stories ‘Heart Lamp’ won the International Booker Prize. We celebrate that win with this wonderful list of Kannada literature—tales of caste and queerness, myth and memory, love and alienation.
This excellent reading list curated by Amritesh Mukherjee offers much-needed context on the fraught and complicated relationship between the two nations. These books cover everything from Partition narratives to diplomatic policy, the border wars, and global geopolitics.
