BOOKS for 20"S

20's  are the actual formation years when you are out of your colleges and  trying to make something of yourself. There are certainly few books that  allow a person to be a realist, an idealist and of all a  fundamentalist. My picks for the 20s would be

• Shantaram  by Gregory David Roberts - a travelogue of an escaped Australian  convict in India. It teaches you everything -love, melancholy and a path  of thought. A realist's favorite.
• Siddhartha  by Herman Hesse - for all those college stoners who think that they  have attained enlightenment, this book is a must. Its explains the very  concepts of enlightenment like no other book I have read till date. A  must for every bookshelf.
• Kim by  Rudyard Kipling- a book about sheer experience of life. It puts forth  success and failure, mistakes and achievement in such a candid way that  you relate every such instance of your life with the book.
• The  Fountainhead by Ayn Rand- of course, I cannot give this a miss. It  teaches you to value your self and your thoughts. Very few books have  been able to deliver meaning with such impact. Its surely not a book you  would want to complete in one read. Give it time and you will see your  ideals coming into place.
• Catch  22 by Joseph Heller- a true taste of sarcasm (yes, 20s can be fun too as  long as there's an underlying meaning). A hefty satire on wars- that's  how I would like to put it. It will make you question the decisions of  the system being taken around you while still allowing you not to flow  into emotional empathy.
• Howl by  Allen Ginsberg - This book just blows your mind right off. No bull-shit  and hardcore to the core. This book was so truthful that it was banned.  It blows the lid of many issues that your elders don't want you to know.  But, it will show you the power of simple truth in a unique way.
• Kite  Runner by Khalid Hosseini - a book that will make you cry. Not a  recommendation for the pedantic individual, this unravels the depths of  friendship, a bond between a father and a son, betrayal and its ultimate  redemption. With one of the most throat-croaking endings ever, this  book should be read, irrespective of age.
• Flower's  for Algeron by Daniel Keyes - Gut-wrenching story and a must for every  person who is into medicine or biotechnology. A poignant story about the  relationship between a man and a mouse, both of which are subjects of a  surgery that is aimed to increase people's intelligence, this book  touches a lot of ethical and moral themes simultaneously.
• Wuthering  Heights- a classic that a lot of teen's postpone. This book is a blow  to the facade of love that is often portrayed in today's world. If you  are in a relationship in which you define the bond as "just going out  with her/him", do give this a read to understand where you are.
• The Book Thief - its not always that a person comes across a book that relates a love to know things in the worst period of history. Mark Zuckus more than bowled me over with this book. It strikes the strings of every book lover by unravelling the notions of a girl about the simple questions 'What am I going to be left with in the end?'. Poignant to the core and mesmerizing until eternity, the book will always have a special place on my shelf.
• The  Outsider by Albert Camus- the best slap on the norms of today's  society; it features a protagonist who adheres to the truth and  dismisses every excessive portrayal of emotion which is demanded by the  society. One of the best starting lines of a book "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday. I don't know"
• The  Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger - I believe this book should be read  every year, because every time you read it, you discover a new layer to  it. This book personifies the term "timeless writing". It covers almost  every layer of teenage thinking -profanity, sexual craving, teenage  angst, identity, belonging, alienation, etc. I still have a lot more to  discover from this book.
• Go, Kiss  the World by Subroto Bagchi - the tale of an entrepreneur in India. Its  not the usual "get inspired because thats what you bought this book  for" book. Its a story from which you just happen to draw teachings  unconsciously. A must-read for every venture enthusiast.
• The  Diary of a Young Girl - sheer indomitable courage is all this book is  about. I am sure this is also one book you have postponed for long. Do  give it a read, worth every second you give to it.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy - its a book of science fiction that can also be a wholesome treatise on irony. The end of earth, the question of life, the significance of having a sane mind instead of an intelligent mind has never been explained in a book before.
• The  Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor- for all those lazy folks who  think that Mahabharata is too long a read. With a mixture of the plots  of Mahabharata and freedom movement ending with Indira Gandhi's  emergency, this book is the perfect Indian Satire.
• Autobiography  of a Yogi by Swami Parmahansa - this is not a scripture but is valued  more than it. For every atheist who questions a lot, this a book that  might solve a few of your answers. For me, this book was never preachy  but the flow of thought accompanied logic hand-in-hand for every second. 
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  and in the end,
• The  Bhagvad Gita- its a daring task I tell you to even pick this book up.  But this is not just a book when you read it, its a conversation that is  the wholesome of every inquisitive conversation that would have  happened anywhere in the world. Its not about a God, nor is it about the  Devil, but its about the both of them that reside in us; its about Man  -not the ideal one, but the common one. I understood myself and my  temperaments a lot better after reading this book. The Bhagvad Gita is  ultimate motivator of all the books I have ever read. I can say with  every bit of confidence in me that this book will change your life.