Recommendations based on The Guideby R.K. Narayan

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Swami and Friends

    by R.K. Narayan
    A group of friends living in a small Indian town experience adventures and growth.

    The story revolves around a ten year old school boy named Swaminathan and his friends. Throughout the novel he is called as Swami . All the events take place in Malgudi , A fictional town. Swami ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Malgudi Days

    by R.K. Narayan
    A captivating collection of stories set in a fictional South Indian town, exploring the lives of its eccentric inhabitants.

    Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennial Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look ... (Goodreads)

  3. Train to Pakistan

    by Khushwant Singh
    Peasant villagers in India during partition, forced to confront the brutality of sectarian violence.

    “In the summer of 1947, when the creation of the state of Pakistan was formally announced, ten million people—Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs—were in flight. By the time the monsoon broke, almost a ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Immortals of Meluha

    by Amish Tripathi
    Epic adventure of an ancient warrior, seeking to protect a kingdom from evil forces.

    Meluha is a near perfect empire, created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram , one of the greatest Hindu kings that ever lived. However, the once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

    by Devdutt Pattanaik
    A beautifully illustrated retelling of the epic Indian mythological tale, the Mahabharata, exploring its many complex characters and themes.

    High above the sky stands Swarga, paradise, abode of the gods. Still above is Vaikuntha, heaven, abode of God. The doorkeepers of Vaikuntha are the twins, Jaya and Vijaya, both whose names mean ... (Goodreads)

  6. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

    by Chetan Bhagat
    A romantic comedy about two people from different cultural backgrounds who must overcome family opposition to be together.

    2 States: The Story of My Marriage is autobiographical with only names changed. The story is about a couple Krish and Ananya, who hail from two different states of India, Punjab and Tamil Nadu , ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Ghachar Ghochar

    by Vivek Shanbhag
    A family's rise from poverty to wealth leads to a tangled web of relationships and secrets.

    The novel is the first-person account of an unnamed, sensitive young man. He regularly visits an old-world coffee shop in Bangalore where he is drawn towards a laconic waiter named Vincent, who the ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT

    by Chetan Bhagat
    Three friends at IIT navigate their way through college, learning life lessons along the way.

    The book is narrated by Hari, with some small passages by his friends Ryan and Alok, as well as a letter by Hari's girlfriend Neha Cherian. It deals with the lives of the 3 friends, whose elation on ... (Wikipedia)

  9. The Hungry Tide

    by Amitav Ghosh
    A story of love, loss, and discovery set in the Sundarbans region of India.

    Off the easternmost corner of India, in the Bay of Bengal, lies the immense labyrinth of tiny islands known as the Sundarbans, where settlers live in fear of drowning tides and man-eating tigers. ... (Goodreads)

  10. A Fine Balance

    by Rohinton Mistry
    A gripping story of four unlikely lives intertwined in the tumult of India's caste system.

    The book exposes the changes in Indian society from independence in 1947 to the Emergency called by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi . Mistry was generally critical of Indira Gandhi in the book. ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Mahabharata

    by Vālmīki
    Epic poem of ancient India, recounting a legendary war between two branches of a royal family.

    Originally published in the year 1951, the huge popularity of the book has resulted in the book being re-printed several times. Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata: "What is not in ... (Goodreads)

  12. A Quiver Full of Arrows

    by Jeffrey Archer
    A masterful collection of short stories, weaving together the lives of its characters.

    Ordinary Heros, Extraordinary Deeds The bestselling author of Kane & Abel, The Prodigal Daughter and Honor Among Theives once again astonishes, delights, and electrifies his legions of fans. From ... (Goodreads)

  13. A Suitable Boy

    by Vikram Seth
    Epic story of a young woman's search for love and her family's struggle for acceptance in 1950s India.

    In 1951, 19-year-old Lata Mehra attends the wedding of her older sister, Savita, to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Lata’s mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, says that it is time for Lata to be married as ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Love Story

    by Erich Segal
    A tale of love, loss and hope, as two young lovers navigate life's challenges.

    Oliver Barrett IV, a wealthy jock from a stuffy WASP family on his way to a Harvard degree and a career in law . . . Jenny Cavilleri, a sharp-tongued, working-class beauty studying music at Radcliffe ... (Goodreads)

  15. The 3 Mistakes of My Life

    by Chetan Bhagat
    Three friends start a business, but their dreams and lives are shattered by natural disasters and religious conflict.

    In late-2000, a young boy in Ahmedabad called Govind dreamt of having a business. To accomodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. Govind's wants to make money and thinks ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Inheritance of Loss

    by Kiran Desai
    An exploration of the effects of colonialism on the characters' lives in a small Himalayan town.

    In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered judge who wants only to retire in peace, when his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his ... (Goodreads)

  17. Scion of Ikshvaku

    by Amish Tripathi
    A retelling of the Ramayana, following the journey of Ram from his birth to his exile and quest to rescue his wife Sita.

    Ram Rajya. The Perfect Land. But perfection has a price. He paid that price. 3400 BCE. INDIA Ayodhya is weakened by divisions. A terrible war has taken its toll. The damage runs deep. The demon King ... (Goodreads)

  18. Honor Among Thieves

    by Jeffrey Archer
    A young man from a poor family rises to the top of the criminal underworld, but struggles to maintain his honor and loyalty.

    Spring 1994, Washington, D.C. - While the Clinton Administration grapples with its domestic policies, a sinister plot is being masterminded six thousand miles away in Baghdad. By using $100 million ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

    by Arundhati Roy
    Exploration of the lives of a diverse group of characters in India, searching for identity and purpose.

    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on a journey of many years – the story spooling outwards from the cramped neighbourhoods of Old Delhi into the burgeoning new metropolis and beyond, to the ... (Goodreads)

  20. Chanakya's Chant

    by Ashwin Sanghi
    A political thriller that weaves together the stories of Chanakya, an ancient Indian strategist, and a modern-day politician.

    The year is 340 B.C . A hunted, haunted Brahmin youth vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father by the Emperor of Magadh, Dhana Nanda. Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Q & A

    by Vikas Swarup
    An impoverished man's journey of luck and circumstance that leads to a life-changing prize.

    Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who ... (Goodreads)

  22. Shantaram

    by Gregory David Roberts
    An Australian convict escapes to India and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

    In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to a 19-year imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions , and shops. In July 1980, he ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The God of Small Things

    by Arundhati Roy
    A moving story of two siblings growing up in India, exploring love, politics, and class.

    The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers' demonstration. Inside the car ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Eleventh Commandment

    by Jeffrey Archer
    A political thriller centered around a CIA agent's mission to uncover a top-secret conspiracy.

    The chief of the CIA , Helen Dexter, decides, on her own, to order the murder of political figures of other nations on the basis of their views on the United States. The book starts with the murder ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Oath of the Vayuputras

    by Amish Tripathi
    An epic adventure of revenge, redemption and self-discovery.

    ONLY A GOD CAN STOP IT. Shiva is gathering his forces. He reaches the Naga capital, Panchavati, and Evil is finally revealed. The Neelkanth prepares for a holy war against his true enemy, a man whose ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Namesake

    by Jhumpa Lahiri
    A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.

    The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

    by Milan Kundera
    A story of love and loss in a politically turbulent Czechoslovakia.

    In The Unbearable Lightness of Being , Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and ... (Goodreads)

  28. Life is What You Make It: A Story of Love, Hope and How Determination Can Overcome Even Destiny

    by Preeti Shenoy
    A young woman battles with mental illness and learns to take control of her life, finding love and hope along the way.

    The book is set in Kerala in the 1980s. The story opens with a series of letters between the protagonist, Ankita and her childhood friend, Vaibhav, who is in IIT Delhi. Ankita has just entered St ... (Wikipedia)

  29. The Prophet

    by Kahlil Gibran
    Collection of poetic musings about life, spirituality, and love.

    Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone ... (Goodreads)

  30. Midnight's Children

    by Salman Rushdie
    A magical tale of India's history told through the story of a boy born at the stroke of midnight.

    Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem ... (Goodreads)