What's on Prashanth Srivatsa's Top-10 Books List?

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Vintage Classics

A timeless book, an ode to travel and cities. Marco Polo’s adventures told cryptically to Kublai Khan serve as a reminder of what it means to leave our home, and sometimes, what it means to return to it. A marvellous feat of imagination.

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, Profile Books

A beautiful, haunting, bizarre novel, set in the town of Comala in Mexico, and my favourite read this year. Written in a fractal, non-linear structure, the story plays between life and death, between past and present. It is a story of forgotten lives, and the envy of every writer who dreams of enchanting their reader.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Fourth Estate

A poignant, often witty, and always clever account of the life of statesman and lawyer Thomas Cromwell, in service of Henry VIII. Wolf Hall and its sequels are arguably the greatest novels I have ever read, in no small part to its richness of character, place and the sheer wealth of language at Mantel’s disposal.

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, Vintage Classics

Few books have had the kind of influence on my writing as Peake’s Gormenghast. Named after its eponymous castle, it is an atmospheric and brooding tale of family, ritual and power. Read it on a winter night, under the flame of a shivering candle.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, Faber & Faber

A quintessential Indian novel. Set during the Emergency and its aftermath in the 70s and 80s, the story follows four characters swept into the winds of rapid social and political change. Mistry’s eye for detail and for relationships painted in the harsh colours of despair will leave you seething with anger, but also, in some poignant moments, breathing the scent of hope.

Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan, Penguin

A master of articulating the experiences of the marginalized, and critiquing the ceaseless and relentless oppression against Dalits in rural Tamil Nadu. His long descriptions of the countryside, of local deities and folklore, the subtle interplay between traditional and modern, give the social environment as much character as his young protagonists.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, Pan

Weird fiction is often underrated simply for what is its feature. Perdido is an example of why it shouldn’t. The world of New Crobuzonis a work of imaginative genius. Its myriad characters, societies and livelihoods intertwine to give you the strangest story you will ever read.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Bloomsbury Press

Set in an alternate 19th century England, where magic had once flourished and is now resurging, this Dickensian and Poe-ish tale is a masterpiece of fantasy. Its plethora of footnotes are rich in imagination and gave me some of my most memorable reading experiences.

Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin, Clarion Books

Speculative fiction is incomplete without Ursula K. Le Guin. In four beautiful, brilliant stories, Le Guin proves why she is a master storyteller. The tales follow the life of Ged, a young wizard in a culturally complex archipelago, and are a delicate reminder of why adults must read more children’s works.

Everything The Light Touches by Janice Pariat, HarperCollins

Written across time and space, Everything the Light Touches converges upon the misty hills and vales of Meghalaya, among the Khasi tribes and their folklore. The novel is beautifully narrated through letters and archives, diaries and poems, from the distant past of Goethe in Italy to a present-day journalist rediscovering her roots.