HT reviewers pick their best reads of 2023

HT reviewers have been devouring everything from Booker-nominated novels and collections of short stories to works of micro-history translated from the Persian, essays that meld memoir and marine biology, and poems from Gaza. From linguistics to a novel that could be read as a critique of cancel culture, and plenty of literary fiction, this is an exceptional reading list. Click on the link under each picture to learn about that reviewer’s favourite read of the year

ARUNIMA MAZUMDAR

A retired man reminisces about his school days and the repercussions of his conduct in this Booker Prize winning novel from over a decade ago.

CHINTAN GIRISH MODI

A novel about a Jain family in the UK that shows how sport can help an individual process grief

FARZANA VERSEY

On this year’s celebrated novel Yellowface by RF Kuang that mimics woke social media outrage against the backdrop of friendship and jealousy in the publishing world

LAMAT R HASAN

The anecdotes about chieftains and their chelas, the ode to Farrukhabad, and the art of expressing time through chronograms make Tarikh-i-Farrukhabad a compelling read

MAJID MAQBOOL

The story of a girl sent away to live with foster parents in rural Ireland and the work of a poet from Gaza keep the reader hooked

MIHIR CHITRE

A book that travels across continents to explain the various aspects and quirks of language

PRAHLAD SRIHARI

A search for a lost horror film leads the protagonists into a world of Nazi occultism in a novel that explores the legacy of colonialism in Mexico

SAIKAT MAJUMDAR

A collection of short stories that marks women as pervasive and self-destructive forces of nature

SAUDAMINI JAIN

The Bee Stingis about family and friendship and climate change, and the heaviness of existing in the world now

SHIREEN QUADRI

A taut, and well-wrought work of psychological fiction told from the first-person perspective of an unnamed narrator

SIMAR BHASIN

Three novels that delve into the multiple histories of immigration

SUHIT BOMBAYWALA

A gut-wrenchingly tragic story about caste-crossed lovers Saroja and Kumaresan who pay the price of forbidden love

SYED SAAD AHMED

10 essays that profile “the ocean’s strangest creatures” and weaves them with personal stories

TEJA LELE

A book that strikes the right chord at a time when women are angrier than ever before about everything from sexual violence to domestic inequality

IN MEMORIAM

Every review he wrote displayed the depth of his knowledge and the breadth of his reading. His contributions enriched the Books page immensely.

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