Choosing one’s favorite five books is an arduous task. At times the choices that one has to make are not easy. Choosing five books only, leaving out the rest that have also intrigued and fascinated you is a Herculean task. So, let’s see …

Two Adolescents by Alberto Moravia
I was sixteen when I chanced on this book at a kabadiwala’s. All about the pains of growing up, this book comprised two long short stories with turbulent adolescents as the protagonist of each. Two Adolescents is one of the finest pieces of part-fiction writing. I empathized with the two boys and still look at them with great fondness. Moravia is a master storywriter. Do not miss his Empty Canvas.

Gertrude by Hermann Hesse
A tragic love story by Hesse (the ‘Buddhist’ writer), Gertrude narrates the tale of a crippled musician and his unrequited passion for Gertrude.

Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
Another classic from Hesse. For Hesse it was not just a novel, but the outpouring of his intellectual and spiritual self.

100 Great Lives
A highly informative book on the 100 personalities who have helped shape human civilization. The choices may be debatable, but the book makes for great reading.

Collected works of Saadat Hasan Manto
Manto brilliantly recollected the horrors of partition of the Indian sub-continent in his short stories. Brevity is the hallmark of his style. Though hacked by contemporary critics for the obsessive use of explicit sexual imagery, Manto is now considered to be a great short story, much in the mould of Chekov and Saki.