Book reading these days is considered an onerous pastime. While it is an activity so important that we can hardly afford to call it a hobby, those who do and yet cannot spare time for it complain that there are so many books in the market that you cannot effectively sift through them. For those among such folks who trust my judgement, I am suggesting some good titles that I have read and liked or as in case of one voluminous book I am still reading.

The first book that I have more than once recommended is Karen Armstrong’s The Spiral Staircase. While all of Amrstrong’s writings are well written and engaging, I believe that our readers need to give importance to her life struggle too instead of getting singularly obsessed with her work on Islam or God. You cannot appreciate a person’s intellect unless you have known what it takes to be a legend personally.

Those who liked Russell’s A history of Western Philosophy will truly relish Anthony Gottlieb’s book Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy. Maybe it is because Gottlieb is an editor for The Economist, my most favourite journal for the last 20 years, or because he is such a natural, you feel that you are not reading a book on a topic considered quite dry, but something as easy and light as Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World. Yet the book is full of unique insight and manages to leave Russell’s work far behind.

I am sure George Crile’s Charlie Wilson’s War is read by quite a lot of people. But where Crile leaves Ahmad Rashid’s Taliban, Jason Burke’s Al Qaeda and Peter Bergen’s Osama bin Laden I Know do quite a lot of justice. Here I must also express my disappointment on some titles I really awaited badly but could not find them delivering the goods. George Tenet’s At the Centre of the Storm is exactly such a title. Such a lavish waste of paper makes you feel pity for the trees that were killed to bring this title to the fore. Likewise, I do not want to write too much on President Musharraf’s book for I have already written enough.

I have gone through Benazir’s autobiography Daughter of the East’s revised edition and it is quite amazing in its scope and context. Unfortunately, I have not been able to lay my hands on her posthumous book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West. But do not worry, it will not take me long. Talking about books penned by politicians, what I really liked reading recently were two titles. Madeleine Albright’s Mighty and Almighty and Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope. And how can Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom be forgotten? Of politically important, though apolitical people, I liked Michael J Fox’s Lucky Man.

And can we ignore science books? Well not quite. My favourites among the science authors as I am sure I have mentioned quite a lot of times have remained Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. Hawking’s two titles, A Briefer History of Time (yes, it is not an editing mistake, the revised edition is called ‘a briefer history’) and The Universe in a Nutshell are books that have made quite a lot of things about the cutting edge research in cosmology far easier for me to comprehend. His style is so simple and appealing that I had no difficulty in reading History of Time’s first edition when I was in my seventh grade at school.

And Carl Sagan. Well, I have told you earlier that his television series ‘Cosmos’ compelled me to show interest in science for the first time. His most important non-fiction books in my view are The Demon Haunted World and Billions and Billions for they are bursting with insight on issues related to our own mundane lives.

Before I switch to fiction, let me mention here the voluminous book that is still under my study and appears never ending and yet quite refreshing in its approach. Yes, I am talking about Will Durant’s Story of Civilisation co-authored with his wife. This 11-volume series is not just another history book. You know its true worth when you compare it with other such works by Toynbee and Spengler who essentially look pygmies in front of Durant. If you  can read Urdu and you have not read Abul Kalam Azad’s Ghubar-e-Khatir or Mushtaq Yusufi’s books, you have not read anything. And finally in the non-fiction section please folks that like quoting Iqbal’s poetry, for God’s sake read at least once his Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.

Now fiction. I will start with science fiction and in this genre ignoring Arthur C Clarke’s Rama series will be an unforgivable sin. However, you must read something of Isaac Asimov, especially his short stories and Sagan’s Contact. No, no, no, the movie does not do justice to the book.

Authors like Mario Puzo can never be overlooked. But there is a lighter series that I believe should be adapted for television like ‘Sex and the City’ or then for the silver screen just like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. It is called the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. Folks, you have to read it to believe me. It is really fabulous. In espionage Robert Littell’s The Company is indeed quite great.

Books written for younger audience and yet liked by the adults have two well known names at the top of the list. JK Rowling and Philip Pullman. Kindly stop behaving as a know-it-all adult and make an adventure into Harry Potter’s world now. Your time will not be wasted. Philip Pullman is writer of the same stature. The only trouble with his works, however, is that too religious people should not read it for they would be rudely shocked. Oops, while my recommended reading list is not quite finished yet, I have run out of time. Maybe another time then.

The writer is a television journalist and a commentator on political and security issues. He can be reached through his website: www.pitafi.com