We all want to know what our favourite authors read. There is this sense of camaraderie in knowing that they also love reading authors we love to read and dislike reading authors we don’t think much of. I think it stems from a place of familiarity and comfort.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning bestseller author who straddles effortlessly between genres. If her latest book Before We Visit the Goddess touches upon immigration, The Palace of Illusions is a retelling of the story of Draupadi, while The Mistress of Spices dabbles at magic realism. We caught up with her to talk about her favourite books, what she reads when not working, and what she reads when she is.
Q: What books are currently on your night stand?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: I am reading Amish Tripathi's Sita and Richard Haass's The World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order. In my bathroom (a favorite reading space) is The Lord of the Rings, which I re-read from time to time.
Q: What was the last good book that you read?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee. It is a fascinating history of how humans discovered and understood the gene.
Q: What genres do you love reading and which are the ones that you avoid?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: I read pretty much all genres except romance.
Q: If you had to give every Indian a book to read at this time, which one would it be and why?
My Experiments with Truth by Gandhi, because it is so honest and can inspire people to make the best of themselves.
Q: Which books according to you explain the current situation in India most appropriately?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: There are many good books. I like The End of Karma, by Somini Sengupta, which follows the lives of several young people and their dreams and challenges in contemporary India.
Q: What books people would be surprised to find on your shelf?
I love reading children’s books, such as The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, about an alternate world. Also, Satyajit Ray’s The Adventures of Feluda, a tale of fun and adventure.
Q: Which is one of your favourite books that most people haven’t heard of?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: I love Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Very poetic and surreal. It's worth reading slowly and carefully.
Q: What do you read when you are working on your books? What kind of reading do you avoid while writing?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: I read all the time, so I don't avoid any books. Sometimes I'll read books in the same genre (mythology or family dramas) to stay in the mood.
Also read: From Tharoor to Manto, Talking Books With Amish Tripathi
Q: How do you organise writing your books?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: I outline the plot and have a notebook where I jot down ideas about my characters.
Q: You are organising a literary party. Which five living authors would you invite and why?
Very tough! There are so many great ones. I would invite Amitav Ghosh, Maxine Hong Kingston, Louise Erdrich, Volga, and Tim O’Brien because they have all influenced my writing in different ways.
Q: Whom would you want to write your life story?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: My life is a very quiet one - nothing in it of interest for readers!
Q: What books are going to be read next?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: Actually, now I am deep into my own novel on Sita, so no reading for a while, except for spiritual books. I think I'll re-read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama.
Also Read: How Do Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Datta & Co Work Magic With Readers?
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