Recommendations based on Pather Panchali: Song of the Roadby Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

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

  1. 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)

  2. Mother

    by Maxim Gorky
    A journey of self-discovery for a young man, as he learns the truth of his past.

    In his novel, Gorky portrays the life of a woman who works in a Russian factory doing hard manual labour and combating poverty and hunger, among other hardships. Pelageya Nilovna Vlasova is the real ... (Wikipedia)

  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 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)

  5. The Glass Palace

    by Amitav Ghosh
    Epic tale of a family's journey through Burma, India, and Malaya during the British colonization.

    Set in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, this masterly novel by Amitav Ghosh tells the story of Rajkumar, a poor boy lifted on the tides of political and social chaos, who goes on to create ... (Goodreads)

  6. Ivanhoe

    by Walter Scott
    An epic tale of chivalry, heroism and romance set in 12th century England.

    For this novel, Scott moved far away from the setting of his own turbulent time. He went back to the late 12th century, and to England rather than the Scottish settings of all his previous novels. He ... (Goodreads)

  7. The Three Musketeers

    by Alexandre Dumas
    An adventurous tale of friendship, courage, and battle in 17th century France.

    In 1625 France, d'Artagnan leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard . At a house in Meung-sur-Loire , an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted, ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Family Matters

    by Rohinton Mistry
    Follows the lives of the Parsi family, navigating complex relationships in Bombay.

    Nariman Vakeel is a 79 year-old Parsi widower beset by Parkinson's disease and haunted by memories of the past. He lives with his two middle-aged step-children. When Nariman's illness is compounded ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Amazonia

    by James Rollins
    Adventure through the Amazon rainforest to uncover a hidden power.

    “Gripping…a first-rate nail biter.” —,Tampa Tribune, James Rollins—the author of, The Doomsday Key,, The Last Oracle, The Judas Strain, Black Order,, and other pulse-pounding,, New York Times, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. She: A History of Adventure

    by H. Rider Haggard
    A thrilling journey of a woman's search for her true identity, filled with adventure and danger.

    On his twenty-fifth birthday, Leo Vincey opens the silver casket that his father has left to him. It contains a letter recounting the legend of a white sorceress who rules an African tribe and of his ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Exorcist

    by William Peter Blatty
    A priest's battle against a powerful demon possessing a young girl.

    An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. After discovering a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Kafka on the Shore

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.

    Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Bloodline

    by Sidney Sheldon
    An investigative journalist discovers a hidden family secret that leads to a global conspiracy.

    Roffe and Sons is a family firm, an international empire filled with desperate, cash-hungry family members. The family consists of It is clear that everyone in the family is in need of money. The ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Palace of Illusions

    by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
    A narrative of a brave woman's journey through Indian mythology, coming to terms with her fate.

    A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman. Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    by Arthur Conan Doyle
    A detective's collection of cases, full of intrigue and suspense.

    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Calculus Affair

    by Hergé
    A thrilling detective story as two detectives and a professor try to retrieve a stolen calculus formula.

    Tintin, the Captain, and Snowy attempt to rescue Dr. Calculus who has been kidnapped by the Bordurians. ... (Goodreads)

  17. Uncle Tom's Cabin

    by Harriet Beecher Stowe
    An anti-slavery novel exploring themes of morality, faith, and justice.

    The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife Emily Shelby believe that they have a benevolent relationship with ... (Wikipedia)

  18. And the Mountains Echoed

    by Khaled Hosseini
    Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.

    The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)

  19. If Tomorrow Comes

    by Sidney Sheldon
    A woman's quest for justice, taking revenge against the criminals who wronged her.

    Tracy is a successful bank-worker in Philadelphia, engaged to a wealthy heir, whose child she is carrying. Then her mother commits suicide, after being scammed by the New Orleans Mafia and left in ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Black Island

    by Hergé
    Tintin and Snowy investigate a mysterious island off the coast of Scotland, uncovering a criminal plot involving counterfeit money.

    Investigating a mysterious plane crash, Tintin discovers he's onto something big! The case leads Tintin to Scotland, where he learns of a monster that stalks a lonely island. ... (Goodreads)

  21. Haroun and the Sea of Stories

    by Salman Rushdie
    A fantastical journey to the depths of the imagination, reclaiming the power of storytelling.

    At the beginning of the story, protagonist Haroun Khalifa lives with his father Rashid, a famous storyteller and doctor, and his mother Soraya, until the latter is seduced by their neighbor 'Mr. ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Return of the Native

    by Thomas Hardy
    A story of a man's ill-fated love, set against the wild landscape of rural England.

    The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath , and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses , covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy ... (Wikipedia)

  23. 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)

  24. 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)

  25. Dr. Faustus

    by Christopher Marlowe
    A man's tragic descent to damnation, as he sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge.

    The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title ... (Goodreads)

  26. Oliver Twist

    by Charles Dickens
    An orphan's journey of survival and resilience in the face of poverty and injustice.

    Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune, raised in a workhouse in the fictional town of Mudfog , located 70 miles (110 km) north of London . , , , He is orphaned by his father's ... (Wikipedia)

  27. River God

    by Wilbur Smith
    An epic tale of the rise and fall of a powerful ancient Egyptian kingdom.

    River God follows the fate of the Egyptian Kingdom through the eyes of Taita, a multi-talented and highly skilled eunuch slave. Taita is owned by Lord Intef and primarily looks after his daughter, ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Hours

    by Michael Cunningham
    Interwoven stories of three women and the impact of Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway.

    Note: This Summary does not contain the whole book, nor end at the ending. The stream-of-consciousness style being so prominent in this work, a summary of the plot based on physical action does not ... (Wikipedia)

  29. For One More Day

    by Mitch Albom
    A man's journey through time, exploring the bonds of family, life, and death.

    The book's theme is mortality: , it analyzes how people might react to the chance to have a dead relative back for a day. , The book tells the story of Charles "Chick" Benetto, a former baseball ... (Wikipedia)