List of books read so far...

This blogpost is an attempt to maintain a list of books I have read so far (Updated on October 15th, 2023). The list is 154 books long 😊 and spans 25 years. 

The link on good reads website is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/170769422-sudhir-kumar?per_page=20&shelf=read&utf8=%E2%9C%93&view=table# 

Before getting into the complete list, I wanted to share some thoughts on what my best experiences with some books are.

1. Three books by Jeffrey Archer: The Fourth Estate, First Among Equals, Eleventh Commandment. He was the first author I read, and therefore The Fourth Estate blew me off. Lot of people told that it was similar to Kane and Abel, but then I read K&A later, so my favorite is The Fourth Estate. First Among Equals was the first political thriller I read and given my interest in politics, this book gave me lot of highs. Especially the ending! Eleventh Commandment was a action + political thriller - how Jeffrey Archer weaved the story is simply too good. Many of his other books are also my favorites but these three stand out because of what I experienced while and after reading them! 

2. Three books by Sidney Sheldon: Master of the Game, The Other Side of Midnight, The Doomsday Conspiracy. Master of the Game was about diamond trade; I was so engrossed with this book that I couldn't wait to complete it. So I was reading it in class while Maths teacher was busy with Matrix theory. She came to my desk, took the book and I had to beg her later to return it 😀. The other side of midnight is perhaps the first book I read with a powerful female character. The writing was raw in its portrayal of emotions. The Doomsday Conspiracy was thrilling and also my first book that involved some Sci-Fi too. But what I distinctly remember about this book was how Sidney Sheldon explained all his research behind this book - it was fascinating. 

3. Two books by Erich Segal: Love Story and Doctors. I must have read the Doctors book atleast 3 times! It was really beautiful how Erich Segal intertwined friendship, family and also medicine into this book. Can never forget the book! Love Story was perhaps the first book of that kind I read (romance and tragedy) - I couldn't get myself to read its sequel, Oliver's Story, because I couldn't imagine him with anyone else! 

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzzo. What a book! Fat and small font 😀. Towards the end, I couldn't even sleep...so stayed up late into the night to finish it. I also remember it was snowing that night and the parking lot was filled with snow by the time I finished the book. The movie also did perfect justice to the book. 

5. Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh. This was the first time I came to know about the horror and tragedy that the Partition of 1947 was. It changed the way I viewed the history that was taught to us. 

6. Two books by Michael Crichton. Airframe and Disclosure. Airframe - because the subject was new and the writing was fascinating. I remember reading this and recommending the book to @Sarath  and he in turn recommended Disclosure! I recommended Airframe to another friend, who chose to read it on a flight journey and spooked his neighbour 😂. 

7. Night without end, by Alistair Maclean. The book was a slow read. But it was fascinating how the author wrote about the night - it felt as though I was also there struggling with the characters in the ice filled region! His other books didn't create the same impact! 

8. A thousand splendind suns, by Khalid Hosineni. This is perhaps the only book that left me really sad after reading it. Mariam stays with you long long after you finish reading the book. What a really fascinating and realistic story; and wonderful writing by the author too! 

9. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. Did NOT expect the twists. Just brilliant it was! 

10. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turrow; The Silent Patient by Alex M - both these books also are very very gripping. Difficult to put them down without finishing them. 

11. I like some political biographies too- Rajneeti (biography of Rajnath Singh); Half Lion (biography of P.V.Narasimha Rao) are my favorites because of the many new things I learnt after reading those books.

The below sequence is sorted out alphabetically with the Author's name. It was only recently that I started writing about some of these books (So far, only 5 though!). I've hyperlinked those blogs too. I hope to pick up the habit of writing more about the books I read :). 

S. No	Book Name	Author
1	The Woman in the Window	A.J.Finn
2	The Silent Patient	Alex Michaelides
3	The Last Frontier	Alistair Maclean
4	The Golden Gate	Alistair Maclean
5	Night without end	Alistair Maclean
6	Mahabharat Unravelled	Ami Ganatra
7	The immortals of Meluha	Amish Tripathi
8	The Secret of the Nagas	Amish Tripathi
9	The oath of the Vayuputras	Amish Tripathi
10	Scion of Ikshavaku	Amish Tripathi
11	Raavan	Amish Tripathi
12	Ignited Minds	APJ Abdul Kalam
13	Wings of Fire	APJ Abdul Kalam
14	The Untold Story	Aroup Chaterjee
15	The Final Diagnosis	Arthur Hailey
16	Airport	Arthur Hailey
17	Strong Medicine	Arthur Hailey
18	Worshipping False Gods	Arun Shourie
19	Does He know a Mother's heart	Arun Shourie
20	Eminent Historians	Arun Shourie
21	Governance	Arun Shourie
22	Anita gets Bail	Arun Shourie
23	Transforming India	Atanu Dey
24	Being Mortal	Atul Gawande
25	Better: A surgeon's notes	Atul Gawande
26	The Fountainhead	Ayn Rand
27	Saluting our heroes	B Shantanu
28	Many Lives, Many Masters	Brian Weiss
29	Mahabharata	C Rajagopalachari
30	2 states	Chetan Bhagat
31	One night at a call centre	Chetan Bhagat
32	Then she vanishes	Claire Douglas
33	Digital Fortress	Dan Brown
34	Da Vinci Code	Dan Brown
35	Deception Point	Dan Brown
36	House of Spies	Daniel Silva
37	The Black Widow	Daniel Silva
38	The English Spy	Daniel Silva
39	The Camel Club	David Baldacci
40	Hell's Corner	David Baldacci
41	First Family	David Baldacci
42	The Sixth Man	David Baldacci
43	The forgotten	David Baldacci
44	Saving Faith	David Baldacci
45	The Guilty	David Baldacci
46	The Fallen	David Baldacci
47	King and Maxwell	David Baldacci
48	Simply Lies	David Baldacci
49	Love Story	Erich Segal
50	Man, woman and child	Erich Segal
51	Acts of Faith	Erich Segal
52	Prizes	Erich Segal
53	Doctors	Erich Segal
54	Only Love...	Erich Segal
55	The Class	Erich Segal
56	Rajneeti	Gautam Chintamani
57	Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn
58	Home	Harlan Coben
59	Live Wire	Harlan Coben
60	I will find you	Harlen Coben
61	To kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee
62	Cynical Theories	Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay
63	The Bullet	Iris Johansen
64	Criss Cross	James Patterson
65	The Black Book	James Patterson
66	A quiver full of arrows	Jeffrey Archer
67	The Prodigal Daughter	Jeffrey Archer
68	The Eleventh Commandment	Jeffrey Archer
69	Sons of Fortune	Jeffrey Archer
70	False Impressions	Jeffrey Archer
71	Kane and Abel	Jeffrey Archer
72	The Twelve Red Herrings	Jeffrey Archer
73	Not a penny more, Not a penny less	Jeffrey Archer
74	First Among Equals	Jeffrey Archer
75	The Fourth Estate	Jeffrey Archer
76	As the crow flies	Jeffrey Archer
77	Honor among thieves	Jeffrey Archer
78	A matter of Honour	Jeffrey Archer
79	Shall we tell the President	Jeffrey Archer
80	Paths of Glory	Jeffrey Archer
81	A twist in the tale	Jeffrey Archer
82	Cat'O Nine tales	Jeffrey Archer
83	Heads you win	Jeffrey Archer
84	Nothing Ventured	Jeffrey Archer
85	Tell Tale	Jeffrey Archer
86	Hidden in Plain Sight	Jeffrey Archer
87	Turn a Blind Eye	Jeffrey Archer
88	Over my dead body	Jeffrey Archer
89	Next in Line	Jeffrey Archer
90	And thereby hangs a tale	Jeffrey Archer
91	To cut a long story short	Jeffrey Archer
92	The Firm	John Grisham
93	Runaway Jury	John Grisham
94	The Broker	John Grisham
95	A Time to kill	John Grisham
96	The Pelican Brief	John Grisham
97	The Chamber	John Grisham
98	The Boys from Biloxi	John Grisham
99	The Tyranny of Cliches	Jonah Goldberg
100	12 Rules for Life	Jordan Peterson
101	The Last Flight	Julie Clark
102	Sita's sister	Kavita Kane
103	Newcomer	Keigo Higashino
104	A thousand splendid suns	Khaled Hosineni
105	And the Mountains Echoed	Khaled Hosineni
106	Train to Pakistan	Kushwant Singh
107	My Country, My Life	L.K.Advani
108	The Enemy	Lee Child
109	The Family Remains	Lisa Jewel
110	The Godfather	Mario Puzzo
111	Airframe	Michael Crichton
112	Disclosure	Michael Crichton
113	A case of need	Michael Crichton
114	The Andromeda Strain	Michael Crichton
115	The Maid	Nita Prose
116	Everybody loves a good drought	P Sainath
117	The Insider	P.V.Narasimha Rao
118	When breath becomes Air	Paul Kalanithi
119	The Kalam Effect	PM Nair
120	The Coalition Years	Pranab Mukherjee
121	The Presidential Years	Pranab Mukherjee
122	The Matarese circle	Robert Ludlum
123	Abduction	Robin Cook
124	Vital Signs	Robin Cook
125	Terminal	Robin Cook
126	Harmful Intent	Robin Cook
127	Mortal Fear	Robin Cook
128	Coma	Robin Cook
129	Unsung Valour	Sai Swaroopa
130	Heart	Sandeep Jauhar
131	The Accidental Prime Minister	Sanjaya Baru
132	India Positive Citizen Perspective	Savitha Rao
133	Presumed Innocent	Scott Turrow
134	The Couple Next Door	Shari Lapena
135	If Tomorrow Comes	Sidney Sheldon
136	The Sky is Falling	Sidney Sheldon
137	Tell me your dreams	Sidney Sheldon
138	Rage of Angels	Sidney Sheldon
139	Master of the Game	Sidney Sheldon
140	Nothing Lasts Forever	Sidney Sheldon
141	Are you afraid of the dark?	Sidney Sheldon
142	The Best Laid Plans	Sidney Sheldon
143	Morning, Noon and Night	Sidney Sheldon
144	Memories of Midnight	Sidney Sheldon
145	The Other Side of Midnight	Sidney Sheldon
146	The Naked Face	Sidney Sheldon
147	The Sands of Time	Sidney Sheldon
148	Windmills of Gods	Sidney Sheldon
149	The Doomsday Conspiracy	Sidney Sheldon
150	Bloodline	Sidney Sheldon
151	A stranger in the mirror	Sidney Sheldon
152	Jugalbandi	Vinay Sitapati
153	Half Lion	Vinay Sitapati
154	To the last bullet	Vinita Kamte