13 Books to Read in 2026

After Nations

Rana Dasgupta

As American hegemony unwinds and autocracies rise, the nation-state system is unravelling, leaving billions insecure. In After Nations, Rana Dasgupta traces how this system emerged — from ancient empires to modern tech giants — and why it’s failing today. Urging a reimagining of citizenship, law, and economy for our global, fragile era, this is a bold, urgent analysis of the world’s political unravelling and what might replace it.

Red Alert

Sunil Gupta and Samanwaya Rautray

In Red Alert, Sunil Gupta, former Superintendent of Tihar and co-writer of the bestseller Black Warrant (now running as a successful jail series on Netflix), takes off from where he left off in his earlier book. In this book, he talks of a series of jailbreaks which were the highlight of his over three-decade career in Tihar Jail. The stories cover the escape of Charles Sobhraj and Sher Singh Rana, who killed dacoit-turned-parliamentarian Phoolan Devi. 

The Girls’ Club

Harnidh Kaur

The Girls’ Club is a fierce, tender and radically useful book for ambitious Indian women navigating workplaces, power and personhood. It blends manifesto-style essays with action-first tools: burnout protocols, salary scripts, boundary templates, career maps, and more. Structured like a survival guide you can dog-ear, highlight or gift to every woman who's ever asked, "Why didn't anyone teach us this?" 

Begum Samru: A Biography

Ira Mukhoty

In the late 18th century, as the Mughal Empire crumbled and British power was still uncertain, India was a land of shifting loyalties and fierce ambition. Amid Maratha, Jat, and European struggles for control, a new kind of woman emerged from behind the veil—the tawaif, or courtesan. Through the extraordinary life of Begum Samru, who rose from courtesan to ruler and patron, this book explores how these women wielded influence, defied convention, and shaped the destiny of Hindustan.

The Last of the Earth

Deepa Anappara

In 1869, as Britain trains Indian spies to enter forbidden Tibet, Balram joins a perilous mission to rescue his missing friend. Alongside him travels Katherine, a defiant explorer disguised as a monk, determined to reach Lhasa. Facing storms, bandits, and their own haunted pasts, their journeys intertwine in this sweeping tale of friendship, ambition, and the human urge to leave a mark on the world. The Last of Earth confirms Deepa Anappara as one of our greatest and most ambitious storytellers.

Absolute Jafar

Sarnath Banerjee

This is the most ambitious work of the world-renowned graphic novelist. It tells the story of Bhrigu and his son Jafar and deals with the themes of displacement and exile, making sense of history and identity and contemporary realities in a graphic novel of ideas.

India in 100 charts

Rohit Saran

A visual discovery of India through striking charts and graphs that turn complex datasets into compelling stories, making information accessible, understandable and engaging, offering fresh insights into the country you thought you knew but didn't quite.

Meena Kandasamy

Through the lens of a young Indian woman living in London who faces brutal online trolling because of a sex scandal, Meena Kandasamy presents a nuanced narrative of race, politics, sex and sexuality, and the insecurities that drive people to do what they do. 

Love Sex India: An Anthology

Paromita Vohra

A powerful collection of real stories by Indians who are discussing their experiences with sex and being honest about their desires, their needs, their kinks and their expectations.

The Paralympics Revolution

Boria Majumdar with Trisha Ghosal and Rohan Chowdhury

India stood still in Paris 2024, watching in awe as its Paralympians brought home a record-breaking 29 medals — the nation’s best-ever performance. But this book is not just about the triumphs — it’s about the trials, grit and spirit of athletes who redefined what it means to represent a nation. It is about them — our Paralympians — and the path they carved through silence. 

The Ghost of Indian Small Towns

Ruskin Bond

India’s small towns, like its villages, once had a magic all of their own. It was where many Indians lived, but now they are rapidly emptying, as more and more residents move to the big cities. This book is an elegy to all that we are losing as small towns are buried under a mass of concrete and pollution. It is also an evocation of everything that was worth celebrating about these memorable places.

Twin Malaise

Parakala Prabhakar

Subtitled “Majoritarianism and Inequality in India”, this book is an attempt to understand why our nation is so unequal. It looks at the issue of economic inequality from the perspective of majoritarianism. They may or may not be causally related to each other. They, nevertheless, reinforce each other.

Vigil

George Saunders

The 2017 Booker-winner’s second novel unfolds at the deathbed of a powerful oil company CEO named K.J. Boone. His guide in these last hours is Jill “Doll” Blaine, a young woman who died tragically in 1976, and has dedicated her afterlife to the work of comforting the dying. As Boone races toward death, visitors (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead) arrive, clamouring for a reckoning.