To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Awesome Read! 

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee discusses a lot of issues - gender disparity, class distinction, race division, capital punishment, rape, The Great Depression, and ethics and morality - as viewed from the perspective of the young girl, Scout. TKAM is one of the best fictional novels I have ever read.

To spice things up, I gave my own titles to each chapter in the book.

Part I	Part II
Chapter 1 - Radley Opening	Chapter 12 - Cal Church
Chapter 2 - Morning Sickness	Chapter 13 - Finch Pride
Chapter 3 - Afternoon Show	Chapter 14 - Dill Flee
Chapter 4 - Vacation Drama	Chapter 15 - Cunningham Encounter
Chapter 5 - Tweet Radley	Chapter 16 - The Courthouse
Chapter 6 - Peep Talk	Chapter 17 - Tate-Bob Witness
Chapter 7 - Thank Cement	Chapter 18 - Mayella Witness
Chapter 8 - Tundra Blaze	Chapter 19 - Tom Witness
Chapter 9 - Landing Tussle	Chapter 20 - Closing Remarks
Chapter 10 - Dead Shot	Chapter 21 - The Verdict
Chapter 11 - Dubose Deadly	Chapter 22 - Tears of Injustice
	Chapter 23 - Gender-Class-Race Divide
	Chapter 24 - Missionary Tea Hypocrisy
	Chapter 25 - Maycomb Tribune
	Chapter 26 - Grace Double Standards
	Chapter 27 - Back to Normal
	Chapter 28 - Bob Attack
	Chapter 29 - Boo Save
	Chapter 30 - Alternate Story
	Chapter 31 - All is Well

Animal Farm, A Fairy Story - George Orwell

Animal Farm is a nice political satire on the Soviet Union written by George Orwell in 1943-44. The story portrays the evil effects of Socialism in an intelligent manner.

An interesting feature of Animal Farm is that the book spans only 90 pages which makes it remain one of the favorites among the busy working class even today.

I gave my own title to each chapter in the book. Spoiler Alert!

Chapter I	The Dream Proposition
Chapter II	The Rebellion Theorem
Chapter III	The Heydays Axiom
Chapter IV	The Recapture Claim
Chapter V	The Napoleon Prime
Chapter VI	The Windmill Lemma
Chapter VII	The Traitors Corollary
Chapter VIII	The Frederick-Pilkington Conundrum
Chapter IX	The Boxer-Glue Conjecture
Chapter X	The Pig-Man Paradox

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

This is a fascinating book, which changed my impression about Afghanistan altogether. It tells the story of two women, Mariam and Laila, against the backdrop of various tragic events that happened in Afghanistan over a course of three decades. Hosseini displays exemplary narrative style by changing the perspective from one character to another with each chapter.

It all starts with the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, followed by the civil wars between rival factions and finally, the Taliban. Kabul, which was once a vibrant and cosmopolitan city, gets totally shattered by the constant fights. Millions of Afghans flee to neighbouring countries. The Buddha statues of Bamiyan, which were destroyed by the Taliban, is one of the many atrocities that took place during that time.

Mariam is the character I liked the most in the novel. Her father was ashamed of the daughter since she was born outside marriage. Her mother so jealous of her that she feared her own daughter might enjoy the luxuries of life which she herself was denied. Her husband had contempt for her since she did not give birth to a boy. But still, Mariam never complained and led a selfless life. The final moments of her life, when she evaluates her own life and feels that she has someone to care for in her life is very emotional.

In short, 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' is a must-read.