2024 Reading Challenge: Read 14 books with IBC!

Join us for the 14 books reading challenge!

What better time for setting reading goals than the new year?
As we are all ready to set foot into a new year, IBC brings to you 14 books you should read in 2024.

Best part? We'll give you 16 options and you get to choose 14 books that will make way into your reading lists. These books are diverse and unique in their own ways. They explore various themes and allow us to experience emotions like never before.

If you decide to read these books and want to voice your perspectives, the Indian Book Club is always there!

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Isma finds freedom with an American mentor, but worries persist for her sister Aneeka and her missing brother Parvaiz. When Parvaiz reappears globally, Isma's fears are realized. Eamonn, the son of a powerful figure, enters their lives, intertwining two families' destinies in a novel exploring sacrifices for love.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
With a focus on California life, John Wayne, Howard Hughes, and the essence of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, Didion's distinctive style captures the counterculture's heart. Joyce Carol Oates praises Didion as an articulate witness, always in control, exploring enduring truths of our time.

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Keep It in the Family by John Marrs
Mia and Finn, renovating their dream home, face a shocking revelation of a murderous past. A message hints at an attic secret, leading to a gruesome discovery. As Mia becomes fixated on the house's dark history, her search for answers unveils a terrifying present danger. Determined to protect her family, she confronts the secrets of the previous tenants, unsure if they'll let her uncover the truth.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig
In "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," a father and son embark on a transformative motorcycle journey through America, discovering profound self-insights. The elemental narrative, spanning diverse landscapes and weather, has influenced American culture for the past 25 years.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

Blankets by Craig Thompson
"Blankets" by Craig Thompson is a poignant graphic memoir portraying a young man's journey to self-discovery amidst a Midwestern winter. Against the backdrop of small-town life and a strict Christian upbringing, the narrative unfolds with finely drawn linework. The story of love, faith struggles, and personal demons is vividly brought to life through Thompson's unique page designs.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
In post-Civil War Barcelona, 1945, Daniel seeks solace in a mysterious book, "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julián Carax. His quest to find Carax's other works unravels a shocking revelation: someone is destroying every copy of Carax's books. As Daniel delves deeper, he uncovers an epic tale of murder, madness, and doomed love, exposing one of Barcelona's darkest secrets.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
In the precarious England of the 1520s, with civil war looming, Henry VIII seeks to annul his marriage and marry Anne Boleyn, facing opposition from the pope and Europe. Thomas Cromwell, a charismatic and ambitious figure, steps into the turmoil, maneuvering to break the opposition for Henry's desires. However, Henry's volatility poses challenges, leaving Cromwell to ponder the price of his triumph.

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
In Tehran, Forugh Farrokhzad rebels against societal expectations, gossiping, writing poetry, and seeking independence. Despite a suffocating marriage, she pursues freedom, enduring scandal for her brilliant, controversial poems. Vilified and hailed, she perseveres through love and upheaval during the Iranian revolution, her writing's power intensifying at great personal cost.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant follows a rigid routine until her life takes a turn when she meets Raymond, an outgoing man who becomes the sunshine in her life. Together, they rescue an elderly man, and Raymond helps Eleanor open up and heal. "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" is a heartwarming book by Gail Honeyman that expertly delves into themes of friendship and healing, featuring a plot twist that is truly shocking.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old history teacher, but he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen it all. As long as he keeps changing his identity he can keep one step ahead of his past - and stay alive. The only thing he must not do is fall in love.

Secular Common Sense by Mukul Kesavan
"Interrogating India" is a thought-provoking series offering critical perspectives on pressing issues. Authored by some of India's top minds, these passionate reflections aim to enhance public debate and prompt responses to the challenges at hand. Mukul Kesavan's essay in the series contends that secularism has consistently been the political common sense of the Republic.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry opens his compelling story with a declaration of survival, taking readers from childhood dreams to the highs of fame, addiction, and recovery after a life-threatening health crisis. Amid frequent hospital visits and rehab stints, Perry shares pivotal moments from his journey, from childhood travels between separated parents to becoming a nationally ranked tennis star at fourteen and landing a lead role in the pilot for what would later become "Friends."

Murder on the Orient Express
Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again.

Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
"Beauty Is a Wound" by Eka Kurniawan is an epic novel blending history, satire, tragedy, and the supernatural. Centered around Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu and her daughters, the narrative explores themes of incest, murder, and the undead, offering a scathing critique of Indonesia's troubled past, from colonialism to the 1965 mass murders and despotic rule. The story begins with the startling resurrection of Dewi Ayu after two decades in her grave.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
After her husband's death and her son's mysterious disappearance 30 years ago, Tova Sullivan works at the aquarium and befriends Marcellus, a wise octopus. Marcellus, an unlikely detective, uses his abilities to deduce the truth behind Tova's son's vanishing, determined to bring closure before it's too late.

Let’s experience the joy of reading together!