My top 10 books

As recently yet again we have shifted home and set up our reading spaces as always with great fervour I am discovering some hidden truths about a lot of my friends and acquaintances. Most of my friends read, which is good news. Some youngsters too like reading, well that's even superlative news considering the onslaught of the idiot box in this part of the world...there is still "hope" for all of us! So I thought may be I can just put down the names of my favourite books which have had a lasting impression on me over the years. It's a mix bunch and this is how it goes:

1. Pratham Bhaag - Ishwar Chandra Vidya sagar - which taught me the Bangla alphabets, it was special as I learned it pretty late in my life at the age of 10, never graduated to the second part of the book and all the barnos were learnt pictographically as I became more conversant in the language
2. Sohoj Path - Rabindranath Tagore - Kumor parar gorur gari, bojhay kora kolsi haanri taught me to rhyme and enjoy the lyrical quality of my mother tongue.
3. Badshahi Aangti - Satyajit Ray - Totally got me smitten over the sharp private investigator, Prodosh Mitter and improved my skills further in reading Bangla.
4. Johnathan Livingstone Seagull and Illusions - Richard Bach - made me keep faith in myself and taught me to be confident of myself even though I could not fit into any stereotypes. It made me survive puberty and gave me the courage to be radical!
5. Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera - Inspired me to be a free spirit.
6. Calcutta Chromosomes - Amitav Ghosh & God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy made me believe each breath was important and should not go wasted in mundane-ness but should be experienced completely!
7. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Sheer brilliance and made me believe once more in magic realism!
8. City of Djinns & From The Holy Mountain- William Dalrymple - Totally enamoured by the writing style. (Still bear a grudge to the person who has my copy of From the Holy Mountain and don't think I - don't - know - who? I am watching you!)
9. Aabol Tabol - Sukumar Ray - Learnt to make sense of life.
10. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseni - The history that could have been rewritten and may be still can be if we tried a little more...

Well, now it's time to name a few of your favourites...so get going, it will be fun if you could mention why they are so...