Books and Authors General Knowledge Questions

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The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, follows the journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he returns home from the Trojan War, facing various mythical challenges along the way.

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The Sound and the Fury, a novel by William Faulkner, is renowned for its innovative narrative style and its deep exploration of the decline of a Southern aristocratic family.

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‘Curfewed Night’ is a memoir by Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer, published in 2008. It gives a compelling account of his life growing up in the violence-torn Kashmir Valley during the insurgency of the early 1990s.

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‘Why Not Me?’ is an essay collection written by popular Indian writer Chetan Bhagat. First published in 2014, the essays explore love, career, self-improvement, politics and takes on Bhagat’s own life journey overcoming failures to becoming a bestselling author.

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A Fine Balance’ is a 1995 novel by Rohinton Mistry set during The Emergency in 1975-77 in India. With four characters from varied backgrounds, it illustrates the cruelty and beauty of India’s caste system while portraying the human spirit’s ability to endure hardship.

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‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ is a spiritual autobiography published in 1946 written by Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the first yoga gurus to come to America. The book recounts his encounters with spiritual figures in India and America.

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Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ is a fantasy novel written by Salman Rushdie and first published in 1990. It explores the Indian oral tradition of storytelling through a young boy’s adventures to restore his storyteller father’s gift of speech.

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India After Gandhi’ is a non-fiction book by Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, published in 2007. It covers the history of independent India from 1947 till early 2000s after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

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Nectar in a Sieve’ is a 1954 novel by Kamala Markandaya about a peasant woman in a village in India whose attempts to improve her family’s fortunes meet with little success as tradition and exploitation block progress.

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Sea of Poppies’ is a 2008 novel by Indian author Amitav Ghosh. It is the first installment of the Ibis trilogy examining the British opium trade and set just before the First Opium War.