12 Books We Are Thankful For

On the days of joy, they are your trusted friends, on the days of sorrow, they are your secret allies. And in the true spirit of Thanksgiving, we would like to give thanks for these twelve fascinating books that will become our companions during this festive season.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

A little gem, that shines brighter than its more famous Austenesque counterparts, tells a sentimental story of a 27-year-old spinster Anne Elliot, haunted by the memories of her past. It has been seven years since Anne broke off the engagement with Frederick Wentworth, but time has proven inefficient in healing the wounds of her heart. Back then, naive and wealthy Anne fell a victim of social prejudice, when persuaded by well-wishers to part with an unworthy match. But now, on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne is forced to reevaluate her principles, when her old flame comes back from war as an eligible bachelor. Brimming with satire and witty remarks, this magnificent tale of second chances tears apart all misconceptions of social disparity by poking fun at the vanity of the 19th-century aristocracy. 

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

These days, you will be hard-pressed to find a person who has never heard of The Handmaid’s Tale. This chilling dystopian novel paints a gloomy picture of a man’s world born out of theocratic coup. The new patriarchal regime strips women of their identity and moulds them into various social roles – all subservient to men. Some become Commanders’ Wives evangelising a new doctrine, some will be their Maids, while others will be carefully selected for their reproductive abilities. In society obsessed with surrogacy, the latter will be turned into sacrificial lambs subjected to ceremonial rapes and daily abuse. As frustration and despair begin to seep from the pages of the book, you can’t help but search for the ray of hope for the oppressed. 

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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

“The temporal world rests on a few very simple ideas; so simple that they must be as old as the hills. It rests notably on the idea of fidelity.”

“He came, he saw, he conquered – and then he succumbed and died. Mistah Kurtz. An enigma, who ultimately came to signify the gloomy reality of sin, which closely lurks in the minds of mortal beings and keeps ready to pounce upon the heart and to sink it into darkness at the mere hint of viciousness. Which impatiently awaits the weak moments of vanity, false notions and fickleness to take over control and let humanity die a grief death of hopelessness; A sad departure which is at once trivial and grave. Trivial, for an opportunity wasted and grave, for the fear it raise.”- R. Dalal

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War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

A prestigious debutante ball opens its doors to society’s brightest young ladies hoping to secure the most advantageous proposal. Among new entrants is a seventeen-year-old countess Natasha Rostova, whose understated elegance and vigour light up the ballroom, charming even the most cynical bachelors. 

Here, she is yet to cross paths with an all-consuming love hurricane called Prince Andrei and later will be nursed back to life with the most genuine, healing force of nature embodied in Pierre. Each of her suitors will undergo their own metamorphoses too. From the harrowing battles of Austerlitz and Borodino to a spiritual crisis and charitable work in the countryside, both men will emerge stronger and wiser on the other side of life. 

Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic wars, this iconic masterpiece represents a rich tapestry of Russian aristocracy and peasantry, who, despite their differences, become a united front against a common enemy, going through multiple transformations on their way to victory. 

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The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

“Told in a careless, joyful and entertaining language, this lighthearted and happy tale of an outlaw and his adventures depicts Robin Hood not as a criminal, but a lovely young man with a sharp wit, sense of humour and excellent skills with the bow. He is the king of his band of men yet they are equal, he shows mercy for the needing and sympathy for the weak. You wish him all good in the world and it is with a somewhat heavy heart that you wish him a good journey with the King of England when he “grows up”, and you shed tears when he returns to Sherwood. Even so, all things good must end and you feel like you’ve lost your dearest cousin, the one that was your favourite because he was charming, witty, well-mannered with a heart of gold.”- Karen Ros 

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The Call of The Wild by Jack London

Loosely based on a true story, London’s masterpiece follows St.Bernard coming to grips with life after being snatched from his sun-kissed Californian home. The harsh reality strikes when Buck is forced into submissiveness in the frozen wilderness of Alaska. Exploited and underfed, the sled dog suffers greatly at the hands of his avaricious masters. But despite all adversities, nothing can possibly break Buck’s spirit. While his natural instincts bring him closer to his true identity, his strength and cunning earn Buck the reputation of the most feared dog in Alaska. 

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Walden by Henry David Thoreau

“In 1845, Thoreau moved to a cabin that he built with his own hands along the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Shedding the trivial ties that he felt bound much of humanity, Thoreau reaped from the land both physically and mentally, and pursued truth in the quiet of nature. In Walden, he explains how separating oneself from the world of men can truly awaken the sleeping self. Thoreau holds fast to the notion that you have not truly existed until you adopt such a lifestyle—and only then can you reenter society, as an enlightened being.” 

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And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A harmless minstrel song chimes through the mansion on an isolated island, where ten strangers have been lured in a grand act of retribution. Bound by the gravest of sins, the visitors are forced to relive the past they would rather forget. Soon they begin to suspect foul play as the shadow of death claims its first victims. It’s not long before the guests arrive to a chilling conclusion: the killer uses a nursery rhyme as a blueprint for murders and he is among them. One by one, an invisible hand of justice obliterates the perpetrators who have gone unpunished for so long. 

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The Last of The Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

It is 1757. Across north-eastern America the armies of Britain and France struggle for ascendancy. Their conflict, however, overlays older struggles between nations of native Americans for possession of the same lands and between the native peoples and white colonisers. Through these layers of conflict Cooper threads a thrilling narrative, in which Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of a British commander on the front line of the colonial war, attempt to join their father. Thwarted by Magua, the sinister ‘Indian runner’, they find help in the person of Hawkeye, the white woodsman, and his companions, the Mohican Chingachgook and Uncas, his son, the last of his tribe.

Through the character of Hawkeye, Cooper raises lasting questions about the practises of the American frontier and the eclipse of the indigenous cultures.

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A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

“Set over a Christmas it emerges that Nora has been keeping a very large secret from her husband Torvald. But as events start to pan out she has to tell her friend Christine, what she has done. Fearing for her husband’s health Nora managed to get a loan, but how she got it wasn’t strictly honest. With the man she got the loan from likely to lose his job he has come to Nora with intent to blackmail. As the play unfurls we see how what at the beginning looks like a normal happy marriage isn’t really so. As layers are drawn back we see that there are some problems here.”- M Dowden

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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

In the year of 1815, a mighty storm is brewing behind the closed doors of Parisian parlours. During Napoleon’s exile to Elba, the veterans of the Grand Armée are planning a coup to reinstate their military leader as a monarch of France. This vortex of treason, cryptic messages and intrigue soon reaches an unsuspecting young captain Edmond Dantes, dragging him into the heart of darkness for a crime he did not commit. Having spent fourteen long years behind bars, Dantes resurfaces with a new identity and an elaborate plan to settle scores with his nemesis, protecting everyone he once held dear.

Although the novel focuses on the ordinary man caught in crossfire, General Bonaparte’s name becomes the very cause of main character’s misfortunes, reflecting the magnitude of destruction during the Napoleonic wars.

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The Lord of The Flies by William Golding

An ultimate story of survival, The Lord of The Flies follows a group of children marooned on a tropical island after a disastrous plane crash. As the harsh reality descends upon the young castaways, tempers begin to fray and friendships are put to the test. It’s not long before the first shoots of democracy are ripped out by anarchy when the voice of reason is silenced by primordial needs of the tribe. Smeared with blood and savagery, this twisted allegory brings to light the wickedness of the untamed heart away from civilisation.

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