Books and Authors

Highly Relevant for Government Exams (History, Polity, Governance, Ethics, and Society)

1. Arthashastra – Kautilya (Chanakya)
2. Rajatarangini – Kalhana
3. The Discovery of India – Jawaharlal Nehru
4. India After Gandhi – Ramachandra Guha
5. The Idea of India – Sunil Khilnani
6. We the People – Nani Palkhivala
7. The Last Mughal – William Dalrymple
8. The Story of My Experiments with Truth – Mahatma Gandhi
9. My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir – Jagmohan
10. Fearless Governance – Kiran Bedi
11. Planned Economy for India – M. Visvesvaraya
12. The Harshacharita – Banabhatta

Relevant for Governance, Public Administration, and Ethics

13. Wings of Fire – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
14. The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
15. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
16. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy
17. Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life – Sheila Dikshit
18. The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian – Nirad C. Chaudhuri
19. To Live or Not Live – Nirad C. Chaudhuri
20. The Serpent and the Rope – Raja Rao

Relevant for Indian Society, Social Issues, and Culture

21. Gitanjali – Rabindranath Tagore
22. Gora – Rabindranath Tagore
23. Malgudi Days – R.K. Narayan
24. The Guide – R.K. Narayan
25. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
26. Such a Long Journey – Rohinton Mistry
27. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
28. The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai
29. Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri
30. Unaccustomed Earth – Jhumpa Lahiri
31. The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri
32. The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri
33. Lajja – Taslima Nasrin

Relevant for Indian History and Freedom Struggle

34. Train to Pakistan – Khushwant Singh
35. The Room on the Roof – Ruskin Bond
36. The Private Life of an Indian Prince – Mulk Raj Anand
37. Untouchable – Mulk Raj Anand
38. Godan – Munshi Premchand
39. The Edge of Time – Kalpana Chawla

Relevant for Contemporary Affairs, Social Issues, and Biographies

40. Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand – K. Vijay Kumar
41. Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl – Ram Kamal Mukherjee
42. Welcome to Nowhere – Elizabeth Laird
43. Combat of Shadows – Manohar Malgonkar
44. A Bend in the Ganges – Manohar Malgonkar
45. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
46. Shame – Salman Rushdie
47. The Golden House – Salman Rushdie
48. Rich Like Us – Nayantara Sahgal
49. Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh
50. Chhaunk: On Food, Economics and Society – Abhijit Banerjee

Relevant for Sports, Leadership, and Inspirational Reads

51. Straight from the Heart: An Autobiography – Kapil Dev
52. Goal – Major Dhyan Chand
53. 281 and Beyond – VVS Laxman
54. The Greatest: My Own Story – Muhammad Ali

General Fiction and Literature (Less Relevant for Exams)

55. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
56. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
57. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
58. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
59. The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
60. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
61. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
62. Forbidden Verses – Abu Nuwas
63. Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling
64. The Complete Adventures of Feluda – Satyajit Ray
65. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage – Chetan Bhagat
66. Memories of Rain – Sunetra Gupta
67. Em and the Big Hoom – Jerry Pinto
68. Kathasaritasagara – Somadeva
69. A Place Called Home – Preeti Shenoy
70. Kerala: God’s Own Country – Shashi Tharoor
71. My China Diary – J.N. Dixit
72. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens