Shunali Khullar Shroff is the author of ‘Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother’ that reveals the realities of a parent in today’s ultramodern and chaotic world. The author in this book says that motherhood can be as imposing as a trip to outer space without an oxygen mask. She shares her top five reads
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
My fascination for all things Japanese isn’t the only reason I like this book as much as I do. Norwegian Wood is an intense and exquisitely painful memoir of Toru Wantanabe, who I realised after reading the book, was my idea of a perfect man. No modern day author has addressed death, loss, grief and love in quite the same haunting way as Murakami has in Norwegian Wood.
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
I can read it again, and again and again. This entrancing novel did not acquire the cult status for nothing. Holden Caulfield is deep and funny at the same time and never fails to amuse me. He has real feelings, many of which we have felt over the years but not voiced them, perhaps even to ourselves.
The girls guide to hunting and fishing
- Melissa Bank
The stories follow the main character. Bank uses humour to deflect despair and yet there is no trauma or exaggerated tragedy depicted in the book. It is the little pains of everyday living, loving and losing that Bank writes about so poignantly through her character Jane Rosenal and yet manages to keep you humoured. Love the writer’s crisp and introspective writing style and the way in which she uses humour to deflect despair.
The Golden Gate - Vikram Seth
The book is set in the 1980s, and follows a group of yuppies in San Francisco. The only novel that I have ever read which is in a mesmerising verse form. I found the wordplay in The Golden Gate beautiful and hilarious at the same time.
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Considered one of the best works of literature, War and Peace has meant different things to me at different times but when I re-read it the last time, I realised that it was a deeply spiritual and insightful piece of work.