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REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
India's largest bookstore chain Crossword released its annual list of the bestselling books of the year. Keep clicking to find out what India has been reading this year.
Crossword's list of the bestselling books across their stores and website has thrown up an eclectic mix of genres and authors. In the pages to follow, we bring you the top five books (in ascending order) each from Indian and international fiction to have topped the sales in Crossword. Read on
Asura: Tale of the Vanquished
Anand Neelakantan
You've probably read Ramayana ten times over but Anand Neelakantan's book offers a slightly different take. Asura: Tale of the Vanquished tells the story of the epic from the point of view of its villain, Ravana.
Neelakantan describes Asura as 'the epic tale of the vanquished Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed outcastes of India for 3000 years'.
Read an interview with Anand Neelakantan here.
Click here to purchase a copy of Asura: Tale of the Vanquished.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
The Bankster
Ravi Subramanian
An aspiring John Grisham of financial thrillers, Ravi Subramanian is the author of four bestsellers -- If God Was A Banker, I Bought The Monk's Ferrari, Devil In Pinstripes and The Incredible Banker -- before he wrote this one .
The story of his latest, The Bankster, is set in the fictitious Greater Boston Global Bank (or GB2) where a series of murders rocks its plush corridors.
Karan Panjabi, a reporter and a former banker decides to investigate and realises to his horror that there is much more than what meets the eye.
Read an interview with Ravi Subramanian here.
Click here to purchase a copy of The Bankster.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
Narcopolis
Jeet Thayil
Poet Jeet Thayil made his debut as a novelist with this book that found its way to the shortlist of the Man Booker Prize 2012.
Nacropolis narrates a hallucinatory tale set around a Bombay opium den (Thayil refuses to call the city by its present name -- Mumbai) and follows a set of fascinating characters through whose lives and times shows how the city transforms itself.
The Guardian describes Narcopolis as 'a blistering debut that can indeed stand proudly on the shelf next to Burroughs and De Quincey'.
Click here to purchase a copy of Narcopolis.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
Tea for two and a piece of cake
Preeti Shenoy
After being abandoned by her suave husband of eight years, Nisha finds herself struggling to find her feet till a young Akash sweeps her off her feet.
Having burnt her fingers once, can Nisha dare to fall in love all over again?
Preeti Shenoy's Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake narrates this story. Incidentally, it is also the only chick lit novel in the top five list of bestselling books of 2012.
Click here to purchase a copy of Tea for two and a piece of cake.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
God Save the Dork
Sidin Vadukut
Sidin Vadukut's bumbling protagonist makes a comeback after his first successful outing in Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese.
In God Save the Dork, Robin travels to London to handle the Lederman account. The book narrates the hilarious account of Varghese as he bumbles his way around the Queen's country.
Read an interview with Sidin Vadukut here.
Click here to purchase a copy of God Save the Dork.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
Fifty Shades of Grey
EL James
The worldwide publishing phenomenon, Fifty Shades of Grey tells the story of Anastasia Steele and her (ahem) passionate love affair with a successful entrepreneur Christian Grey.
Fifty Shades is the first of a trilogy of erotic novels written by EL James and has sold over 65 million copies worldwide setting the record as the fastest-selling paperback of all time beating even the Harry Potter book series.
Click here to purchase a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
A Wanted Man
Lee Child
Lee Child's most famous protagonist, Jack Reacher makes a comeback as he attempts (yet again) to right the wrongs and see that justice is done in his 17th appearance, A Wanted Man.
A Wanted Man won the Thriller and Crime Novel of the Year award by the National Book Awards even as Jack Reacher makes his silver screen debut in the eponymous film starring Tom Cruise.
More about Lee Child here.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
Silent House
Orhan Pamuk
A 'new' Orhan Pamuk novel from almost 30 years ago, the English translation of his 1983 Silent House is the second most popular book in the international fiction gendre being sold at Crossword.
Silent House is Pamuk's second novel after Cevdet Bey and His Sons spans a week in the life of three siblings visiting their grandmother in Cennethisar, a small town near Istanbul that is gathering in the shadow of the impending military coup of 1980.
Click here for Rediff RealTime updates on Orhan Pamuk and here to purchase his books.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
The Time Keeper
Mitch Albom
The Time Keeper tells the story of Father Time, the first man on earth to count the hours and who is punished for trying to measure time. Finally, he is given one chance to redeem himself by teaching two people the true meaning of time.
A compelling tale of the first man on earth to count the hours, The Time Keeper comes from Mitch Albom, author of the acclaimed books Tuesdays with Morrie and Five People you meet in Heaven and is a heartfelt novel that will make you want to reconsider your notions of time and how you spend it.
Click here to purchase copy of The Time Keeper and here for other Mitch Albom books.
REVEALED: The books India read in 2012!
I've Got Your Number
Sophie Kinsella
Poppy has managed to lose the one thing she was supposed to keep safe -- her engagement ring that has been in her fiance's family for three generations.
Does it get worse? Apparently so! She's also managed to lose her phone!
On the bright side lays her hands on an abandoned handset in a bin only to realise that its owner businessman Sam Roxton isn't quite happy with the idea of Poppy wading into his personal life.
Sophie Kinsella was a UK-based financial journalist before her first book The Tennis Party became a runaway success. She is best known for her popular Shopaholic series that can be bought here.
Click here to purchase a copy of I've Got Your Number.
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