100 Best Pakistan Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Malala Yousafzai

5.0

I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while ri

Recommended by Adrienne Kisner.

Adrienne Kisner

Malala’s story of triumph is a battle cry for girls (and boys) everywhere. Education can set you free. [source]

2

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

4.9

The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia.

In April 2011, the CBS documentary "60 Minutes" called into question Greg Mortenson's work. The program alleged several inaccuracies in Three Cups of Tea, and its sequel, Stones into Schools, as well as financial improprieties in the operation of Mortenson's Central Asia In

Recommended by Gretchen Peters, Jennifer Steil, and Nicholas Kristof.

Gretchen Peters

I went to a refugee camp after 9/11 where people were living in tents and boiling grass to make tea and at least one family offered to let me sleep in their tent. [source]

Jennifer Steil

Greg Mortenson has changed literally thousands and thousands of lives. [source]

Nicholas Kristof

I think Greg does a very good job of providing a more nuanced portrait of the Islamic world and what is possible in it. [source]

3

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mohsin Hamid

4.8

At a cafe table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter...

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant,

Recommended by Ahmede Hussain, Amy Waldman, and Daniyal Mueenuddin.

Ahmede Hussain

This is an amazing book, and it’s a shame that it didn’t win the Man Booker Prize in 2007 – in my opinion it was the best of the bunch. I think it’s going to become a modern classic in five or 10 years’ time, if it’s not already regarded as one. This novel speaks for so many peoples’ experiences in the aftermath of 9/11. The prose is very tight and the title is also very clever. [source]

Amy Waldman

You’re right – the protagonist has a completely different profile from the humble one in Harbor. Changez is from a prestigious Pakistani family, but one without a lot of money. He comes to the United States to attend Princeton on a scholarship and then is recruited into the corporate world. The whole novel is a monologue. This character, in a café in Lahore, is talking to an unidentified American, telling his story about the life he led in the United States. How he was enamoured of New York, yet smiled as the Towers fell and grew even more embittered toward America in the wake of the attacks. The structure is original and well executed. [source]

Daniyal Mueenuddin

Well, it’s an odd kind of book. I think what’s especially useful about it is the way in which it describes the transformation in this man’s thinking. The protagonist is somebody who had been living in New York and been a banker and he gradually turns into, as the title says, a reluctant fundamentalist. This is something that I have seen among my friends in Pakistan. People who I have always thought of as very, very Westernised. They went to school abroad and certainly didn’t have the habits of religious types. But they are increasingly angry with the West and sympathetic to an anti-Western agenda and propaganda and very receptive to all kind of thoughts. These are really rational people who will now tell me straight out that September 11 was actually perpetrated by the Israelis and had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. To me their theories seem absolutely loony and yet these guys have come out with something radically different. [source]

4

Pakistan: A Hard Country

Anatol Lieven

4.8

In the past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, and a large diaspora in Britain and North America, Pakistan is central to the hopes of jihadis and the fears of their enemies. Yet the greatest short-term threat to Pakistan is not Islamist insurgency as such, b

5

A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Mohammed Hanif

4.6

A Washington Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boston Globe Best Book of the Year

Intrigue and subterfuge combine with bad luck and good in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, tyranny, family, and a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen.

Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the gove

Recommended by Daniyal Mueenuddin and Sophie Mcneill.

Daniyal Mueenuddin

No. This is a book about the assassination of General Zia. Nobody really knows who killed him, but the suggestion is that a case of mangoes was loaded on to his airplane and inside the case of mangoes was nerve gas which knocked out the pilot and caused the plane to crash. In a way it’s a comic book because it pokes fun at the General. I think it’s a useful book because of that. People like General Zia shouldn’t be taken seriously. They are comical figures who converted the country into some sort of banana republic. And poking fun at them is a good way of deflating them. Another part of the book is the role the Americans were playing in Pakistan. In the Afghan war the Americans were talking up people like General Zia and giving them anything they wanted in return for their connivance in helping with the war in Afghanistan. The Americans certainly weren’t complaining about the General’s undemocratic ways because they needed people like him. Read 4 A Sportsman’s Sketches by Ivan Turgenev Read [source]

Sophie Mcneill

@diaahadid @AFPAfPak Love this book x [source]

6

How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia

Mohsin Hamid

4.5

From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy’s quest for wealth and love.

His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a radically inventive storyteller with his finger on the world’s pulse. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia meets that reputation and exceeds it. The astonishing and riveting tale of a man’s journey from i

Recommended by Chris Sacca and Beth Blum.

Chris Sacca

Amazing. [source]

Beth Blum

It’s at once describing things that everyone should do from that commanding, imperative voice of the self-help manual: move to the city if you want to be successful, don’t fall in love, things like that. But at the same time, it’s also describing the particular narrative of this one character, and it’s oddly collapsed in this figure of you, who is both the protagonist and the author, but also the reader, who identifies with the protagonist through the second-person voice. [source]

7

Home Fire

Kamila Shamsie

4.5

Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark

8

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

Daniyal Mueenuddin

4.5

“The rural rootedness and gentle humour of R.K. Narayan with the literary sophistication and stylishness of Jhumpa Lahiri.”—Financial Times

Passing from the mannered drawing rooms of Pakistan’s cities to the harsh mud villages beyond, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s linked stories describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family, industrialists wh

Recommended by Anatol Lieven.

Anatol Lieven

I put it on my list for two reasons. The first is that simply he’s so good. Some of his stories I would say rival Chekhov in their ability to put across character, place and situation in a very vivid and deep way in a very short space. I mention Chekhov and the Russian writers deliberately because I think the other thing that makes him so interesting is that besides being half American, he also represents a Pakistani educated class which is very Western influenced and which speaks English, but which, like the Westernised Russian intelligentsia and landowning class of the 19th century, lives in a country where most of the population holds to a very different traditional and religious culture. [source]

9

Pakistan: A Personal History

Khan Imran

4.5

Born only five years after Pakistan was created in 1947, Imran Khan has lived his country's history. Undermined by a ruling elite, and unable to protect its people from the carnage of regular bombings from terrorists and its own ally, America, Pakistan has for years suffered from instability. Now Imran Khan and his own political party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf, offer a real political alternative for th

Recommended by Zitto Kabwe Ruyagwa.

Zitto Kabwe Ruyagwa

I know it is has happened since two weeks now. But I feel obliged to heartily congratulate @ImranKhanPTI for the successful election. Went through his 2011 book, his struggle and those of his party were remarkable. Lots to learn. I wish him success in transforming PAKISTAN [source]

10

Moth Smoke

Mohsin Hamid

4.5

When Daru Shezad is fired from his banking job in Lahore, he begins a decline that plummets the length of this sharply drawn, subversive tale. Before long, he can't pay his bills, and he loses his toehold among Pakistan's cell-phone-toting elite. Daru descends into drugs and dissolution, and, for good measure, he falls in love with the wife of his childhood friend and rival, Ozi—the beautiful, res

11

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)

Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormick

4.5

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous rec

Recommended by Adebola Taofeek.

Adebola Taofeek

I am finishing this Malala book tonight . Issa must. [source]

12

Amal Unbound

Aisha Saeed

4.5

The compelling story of a girl’s fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude.

Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when–as the eldest daughter–she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal i

13

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

4.5

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that

14

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini and Simon & Schuster Audi

4.5

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacri

Recommended by James Altucher, Ann Miura-Ko, Magda Marcu, and 1 others.

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

Excellent novel. [source]

Ann Miura-Ko

Ann Miura-Ko recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show". [source]

Magda Marcu

I’m currently reading “The Kite Runner”. I never have expectations from books, I let them surprise me as I get into the story. Learning about characteristics of different cultures, in this case the Afghan one, it’s one aspect I am interested in. [source]

15

Descent into Chaos: How the War Against Islamic Extremism Is Being Lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia

Ahmed Rashid

4.5

After September 11th, Ahmed Rashid's crucial book "Taliban" introduced American readers to that now notorious regime. In this new work, he returns to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia to review the catastrophic aftermath of America's failed war on terror. Called "Pakistan's best and bravest reporter" by Christopher Hitchens, Rashid has shown himself to be a voice of reason amid the chaos of

Recommended by Gretchen Peters, Paddy Docherty, and Thomas Barfield.

Gretchen Peters

This is a thorough analysis of how Western policy towards the region has made things worse since 2001. It is pretty bleak. Rashid joked to me while he was writing it that the working title was, What A Fucking Mess. [source]

Paddy Docherty

Because it is the authoritative account of the current situation in the region. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to understand what’s going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [source]

Thomas Barfield

His book about the Taliban came to prominence after 9/11. What Rashid manages to do is to show that this is a transnational problem. [source]

Cover unavailable

16

Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Steve Coll

4.4

Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars, the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11

Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying o

17

Burnt Shadows

Kamila Shamsie

4.4

Beginning on August 9, 1945, in Nagasaki, and ending in a prison cell in the US in 2002, as a man is waiting to be sent to Guantanamo Bay, Burnt Shadows is an epic narrative of love and betrayal.

Hiroko Tanaka is twenty-one and in love with the man she is to marry, Konrad Weiss. As she steps onto her veranda, wrapped in a kimono with three black cranes swooping across the back, her world is suddenl

18

The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan

Rafia Zakaria

4.4

A memoir of Karachi through the eyes of its women

An Indies Introduce Debut Authors Selection

For a brief moment on December 27, 2007, life came to a standstill in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, the country’s former prime minister and the first woman ever to lead a Muslim country, had been assassinated at a political rally just outside Islamabad. Back in Karachi—Bhutto’s birthplace and Pakistan’s other

19

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

4.4

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal

Recommended by Timothy Ferriss, Emma Watson, James Altucher, and 1 others.

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

Excellent novel. [source]

Ann Miura-Ko

I would encourage people to read it because it gives you a sense of Afghanistan’s incredible history and the role women have played within that history [source]

20

The Night Diary

Veera Hiranandani

4.4

It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.

Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is

21

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

Steve Coll

4.4

The news-breaking book that has sent shockwaves through the Bush White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeda's evolution. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.

Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and f

22

The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan

Yasmin Khan

4.4

The Partition of India in 1947 promised its people both political and religious freedom—through the liberation of India from British rule, and the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Instead, the geographical divide brought displacement and death, and it benefited the few at the expense of the very many. Thousands of women were raped, at least one million people were killed, and ten to fifte

Cover unavailable

23

Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Greg Mortenson, Khaled Hosseini

4.4

From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea, the continuing story of this determined humanitarian's efforts to promote peace through education.

In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan

Cover unavailable

24

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie

4.4

Saleem Sinai was born at midnight, the midnight of India's independence, and found himself mysteriously "handcuffed to history" by the coincidence. He is one of 1,001 children born at the midnight hour, each of them endowed with an extraordinary talent—and whose privilege and curse it is to be both master and victims of their times. Through Saleem's gifts—inner ear and wildly sensitive sense of sm

25

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Lawrence Wright

4.4

A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany

Recommended by Audrey Kurth Cronin, Bryan Callen, Lloyd Gardner, and 5 others.

Audrey Kurth Cronin

Reading this one book gives you an excellent grasp of the human story and the context from which al-Qaeda emerged. [source]

Bryan Callen

I love this author. [source]

Lloyd Gardner

Wright looks at the linkage between the Egyptian Jihad and Al-Qaeda. It is a worthwhile book to read to try to understand the whole problem. [source]

26

Train to Pakistan

Khushwant Singh

4.3

27

Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River

Alice Albinia

4.3

“Alice Albinia is the most extraordinary traveler of her generation. . . . A journey of astonishing confidence and courage.”—Rory Stewart

One of the largest rivers in the world, the Indus rises in the Tibetan mountains and flows west across northern India and south through Pakistan. It has been worshipped as a god, used as a tool of imperial expansion, and today is the cement of Pakistan’s fractiou

Recommended by Fatima Bhutto and Victor Mallet.

Fatima Bhutto

I chose this because it beautifully tells the story of this legacy of conquest, of the empires and colonialism and all the politics that go along with that. And also we know that the wars of this century are more than anything else going to be about resources, one of which is water. If you look at South Asia you can see that water is a huge part of that conflict. There is all the flooding in Pakistan today. The Indus is a life force for this country. It is the birthplace of what is now Pakistan. And Albinia’s book starts with Pakistan and follows the Indus all the way up to China and talks about not just the British Raj and its role in destroying the Indus delta but also as far back as Alexander the Great and his conquests and why his conquests were so successful. [source]

Victor Mallet

A wonderful book. It’s an adventure story, apart from anything else. She starts at the mouth of the Indus, and heads to the source. [source]

28

Unmarriageable

Soniah Kamal

4.3

In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found hap

29

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide

Gary J. Bass

4.3

A riveting history—the first full account—of the involvement of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the 1971 atrocities in Bangladesh that led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left in their wake a host of major strategic consequences for the world today.

Giving an astonishing inside view of how the White House really works in a crisis, The Blood Telegram is an unprec

30

Kartography

Kamila Shamsie

4.3

Raheen and her best friend, Karim, share an idyllic childhood in upper-class Karachi. Their parents were even once engaged to each others' partners until they rematched in what they call "the fiancée swap." But as adolescence distances the friends, Karim takes refuge in maps while Raheen searches for the secret behind her parents' exchange. What she uncovers reveals not just a family's but a count

31

Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military

Husain Haqqani

4.3

Among U.S. allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important center of radical Islamic ideas and groups. Since 9/11, the selective cooperation of president General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending al Qaeda members has led to the assumption that Pakistan might b

Recommended by Bruce Riedel.

Bruce Riedel

I would say that the United States has had a tempestuous relationship with Pakistan. There have been moments of great embrace between the two of us in the 50s and 60s when we built the secret U2 base there to fly over the Soviet Union. Also in the 1980s when we supported the mujahideen in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and then at the beginning of this century when the United States and Pakistan worked very closely against al Qaeda. These periods of great highs have also been interrupted by great lows when we have broken relations, we have sanctioned Pakistan and we have cut off arms exports at critical moments of their history. [source]

32

Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition

Nisid Hajar

4.3

Nobody expected the liberation of India and birth of Pakistan to be so bloody — it was supposed to be an answer to the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centuries. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi’s protégé and the political leader of India, believed Indians were an inherently nonviolent, peaceful people. Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a secular lawyer, not a

33

The Wandering Falcon

Jamil Ahmad

4.3

A haunting literary debut set in the forbidding remote tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Traditions that have lasted for centuries, both brutal and beautiful, create a rigid structure for life in the wild, astonishing place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet—the Federally Administered Tribal Lands (FATA). It is a formidable world and the people who live there are constantly subjecte

34

Maps for Lost Lovers

Nadeem Aslam

4.3

If Gabriel García Márquez had chosen to write about Pakistani immigrants in England, he might have produced a novel as beautiful and devastating as Maps for Lost Lovers.

Jugnu and Chanda have disappeared. Like thousands of people all over England, they were lovers and living together out of wedlock. To Chanda’s family, however, the disgrace was unforgivable. Perhaps enough so as to warrant murder.A

35

The Golden Legend

Nadeem Aslam

4.3

When shots ring out on the Grand Trunk Road, Nargis's life begins to crumble around her. Her husband, Massud--a fellow architect--is caught in the cross fire and dies before she can confess her greatest secret to him. Now under threat from a powerful military intelligence officer, who demands that she pardon her husband's American killer, Nargis fears that the truth about her past will soon be exp

36

Jinnah of Pakistan

Stanley Wolpert

4.3

“Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three.” Stanley Wolpert

These are the opening lines of the preface of Stanley Wolpert’s book, “Jinnah of Pakistan” and serves to entice you to read an extremely thorough, comprehensive and detailed study about on

37

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (Shabanu, #1)

Suzanne Fisher Staples

4.3

Life is both sweet and cruel to strong-willed young Shabanu, whose home is the windswept Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. The second daughter in a family with no sons, she' s been allowed freedoms forbidden to most Muslim girls. But when a tragic encounter with a wealthy and powerful landowner ruins the marriage plans of her older sister, Shabanu is called upon to sacrifice everything she' s dreamed

38

Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding

Husain Haqqani

4.3

The relationship between America and Pakistan is based on mutual incomprehension and always has been. Pakistan—to American eyes—has gone from being a quirky irrelevance, to a stabilizing friend, to an essential military ally, to a seedbed of terror. America—to Pakistani eyes—has been a guarantee of security, a coldly distant scold, an enthusiastic military enabler, and is now a threat to national

39

Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

Ahmed Rashid

4.2

An urgent, on-the-ground report from Pakistan--from the bestselling author of "Descent""Into Chaos" and "Taliban" Ahmed Rashid, one of the world's leading experts on the social and political situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, offers a highly anticipated update on the possibilities--and hazards--facing the United States after the death of Osama bin Laden and as Operation Enduring Freedom winds

40

Malala's Magic Pencil

Malala Yousafzai

4.2

Shortlisted for the Little Rebels Children's Book Award!

As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil that she could use to redraw reality. She would use it for good; to give gifts to her family, to erase the smell from the rubbish dump near her house. (And to sleep an extra hour in the morning.)

As she grew older, Malala wished for bigger and bigger things. She saw a world that n

41

Shame

Salman Rushdie

4.2

The novel that set the stage for his modern classic, The Satanic Verses, Shame is Salman Rushdie’s phantasmagoric epic of an unnamed country that is “not quite Pakistan.” In this dazzling tale of an ongoing duel between the families of two men–one a celebrated wager of war, the other a debauched lover of pleasure–Rushdie brilliantly portrays a world caught between honor and humiliation–“shamelessn

Recommended by Daniyal Mueenuddin and Fatima Bhutto.

Daniyal Mueenuddin

This is the only one of Rushdie’s books which is set in Pakistan. A lot of the stories in the book are actually true. For example, the description of relations among various members of the Bhutto family and the descriptions of the corruption and bribes going on are all true. [source]

Fatima Bhutto

I have personal reasons for choosing this. It is the story of two men, two very powerful men. One is based on my grandfather, Pakistan’s former president and prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the other is based on Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who was a military general who overthrew my grandfather and eventually killed him. [source]

42

Written in the Stars

Aisha Saeed

4.2

This heart-wrenching novel explores what it is like to be thrust into an unwanted marriage. Has Naila’s fate been written in the stars? Or can she still make her own destiny?

Naila’s conservative immigrant parents have always said the same thing: She may choose what to study, how to wear her hair, and what to be when she grows up—but they will choose her husband. Following their cultural tradition,

43

Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia

Ahmed Rashid

4.2

Correspondent Ahmed Rashid brings the shadowy world of the Taliban—the world’s most extreme & radical Islamic organization—into sharp focus in this enormously insightful book. He offers the only authoritative account of the Taliban available to English-language readers, explaining the Taliban’s rise to power, its impact on Afghanistan & the region, its role in oil & gas company decisions, & the ef

Recommended by Jonathan Powell.

Jonathan Powell

9/11 was a big shock. When the first plane hit I thought it was an accident. When I was told of a second plane, I assumed it was a loop on the film. Once I knew the truth, I spent the rest of the day dealing with the consequences and trying to make sure the UK wasn’t under attack. [source]

44

A Golden Age

Tahmima Anam

4.2

Rehana Haque, a young widow, blissfully prepares for the party she will host for her son and daughter. But this is 1971 in East Pakistan, and change is in the air.

Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution; of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism in the midst of chaos—and of one woman's heartbreaking struggle to keep her family

Recommended by Syed Ashfaqul Haque.

Syed Ashfaqul Haque

While Days of 1971 is the recollections of a mother, this is a different generation writing about the Liberation War. Tahmima based her book on the memories of her grandparents. She also paints a bigger picture of 1947 and how we were separated again and again. The main character is a Pakistani woman living in Bangladesh, and she sided with Bangladesh during the war. This was a very emotional decision. She is an amazing character but you would find many others like her in real life – there were many cases of Pakistanis siding with Bangladesh. And there were many families with a Pakistani father and a Bengali mother, or vice-versa. It was a very complicated and intertwined thing and Tahmima portrayed these feelings masterfully. It is a story of divided hearts. When this book was published it sent ripples throughout Bangladesh. It is now very popular across the globe. [source]

45

Cracking India

Bapsi Sidhwa

4.2

The 1947 Partition of India is the backdrop for this powerful novel, narrated by a precocious child who describes the brutal transition with chilling veracity. Young Lenny Sethi is kept out of school because she suffers from polio. She spends her days with Ayah, her beautiful nanny, visiting with the large group of admirers that Ayah draws. It is in the company of these working class characters th

Cover unavailable

46

Freedom at Midnight

Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins

4.2

The end of an empire. The birth of two nations.

Seventy years ago, at midnight on August 14, 1947, the Union Jack began its final journey down the flagstaff of Viceroy’s House, New Delhi. A fifth of humanity claimed their independence from the greatest empire history has ever seen—but the price of freedom was high, as a nation erupted into riots and bloodshed, partition and war.

Freedom at Midnight

47

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

Clinton Romesha

4.2

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen-hour firefight at the Battle of Keating by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.

"'It doesn't get better.' To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost

48

Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir

Fatima Bhutto

4.2

In September 1996, fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto shielded her baby brother while shots rang out outside the family home in Karachi. This was the evening that her father, Murtaza, was assassinated. It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the world's best-known political dynasties.Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of feudal landlords who became power brokers in

Recommended by Vishakha Desai.

Vishakha Desai

This, again, is a book written from the inside about a family, in this case the Bhutto family. Fatima is Benazir Bhutto’s niece. Both her father and her uncle were killed. What I like about the book is that, again, it’s very well written. It is unflinching in terms of exploring the family dynamic. At the same time, it really gives you an insider’s perspective on, in this case, a very feudal family – how the family really rule the country. Fatima is very young. She’s a very courageous woman, to write this book. [source]

49

Daughter Of Destiny: An Autobiography

Benazir Bhutto

4.2

50

The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Mahatma Gandhi's Autobiography with a Foreword by the Gandhi Research Foundation

M. K. Gandhi

4.2

It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography.

...Identification with everything that lives is impossible without self-purification; without self-purification, the observance of the law of Ahimsa mu

Recommended by Barack Obama, Tim Cook, Cory Booker, and 2 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, this title is among his most influential forever favorites. [source]

Tim Cook

CEO/Apple

I have two books going right now: One is the Bobby Kennedy book “Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon,” by Larry Tye that just came out. The other is quite an old book. It’s a Gandhi book “Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth” that I got interested in because we went to the Gandhi museum when we were in India recently. I tend to like nonfiction and particularly reading about people and how they lived and how they fought, and what motivated them and their philosophy and so forth. [source]

Cory Booker

A profound read. [source]

51

The Blind Man's Garden

Nadeem Aslam

4.2

The acclaimed author of The Wasted Vigil now gives us a searing, exquisitely written novel set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the months following 9/11: a story of war, of one family’s losses, and of the simplest, most enduring human impulses.

Jeo and Mikal are foster brothers from a small town in Pakistan. Though they were inseparable as children, their adult lives have diverged: Jeo is a dedicat

Cover unavailable

52

Iqbal

Francesco D'Adamo

4.2

When young Iqbal is sold into slavery at a carpet factory, his arrival changes everything for the other overworked and abused chidren there. It is Iqbal who explains to them that despite their master's promises, he plans on keeping them as his slaves indefinetely. But it is also Iqbal who inspires the other children to look to a future free from toil...and is brave enough to show them how to get t

53

Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life & Times

Stanley Wolpert

4.2

No individual in the history of Pakistan--indeed, few people in modern history--have achieved greater popular power or suffered so ignominious a death as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto's political rise and fall were so meteoric that his name became a legend in the land he once ruled. Indeed, a full decade after his execution his continuing popularity ensured the election of his daughter, Benazir, to

54

Broken Verses

Kamila Shamsie

4.2

Fourteen years ago, famous Pakistani activist Samina Akram disappeared. Two years earlier, her lover, Pakistan's greatest poet, was beaten to death by government thugs. In present-day Karachi, her daughter Aasmaani has just discovered a letter in the couple's private code—a letter that could only have been written recently.

Aasmaani is thirty, single, drifting from job to job. Always left behind w

55

The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power

Tariq Ali

4.1

Now in paperback, from a writer with unrivalled access and knowledge, a riveting portrait of America’s closest ally in the war on terror as it spirals into political chaos.The sixth most populous country in the world, Pakistan is the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons. Its border with Afghanistan extends over 1,000 miles and is the likely hideout of Osama bin Laden. Yet it is the linchpin

Recommended by Fatima Bhutto.

Fatima Bhutto

They say that there are three forces that determine the direction of Pakistani politics: the army, Allah and America, and I think that is slightly overstated because I am not sure Allah has that much to do with it! [source]

56

If They Come for Us

Fatimah Asghar

4.1

Poet and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated web series "Brown Girls" captures the experience of being a Pakistani Muslim woman in contemporary America, while exploring identity, violence, and healing.

In this powerful and imaginative debut poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America by braiding together personal and marginalize

57

I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan

Khalida Brohi

4.1

A fearless memoir about tribal life in Pakistan--and the act of violence that inspired one ambitious young woman to pursue a life of activism and female empowerment

"Khalida Brohi understands the true nature of honor. She is fearless in her pursuit of justice and equality."--Malala Yousafzai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

From a young age, Khalida Brohi was raised to believe in the sanctity of arr

58

The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District

Louise Brown

4.1

With beautiful understatement, Louise Brown turns a novelist's eye on a true story that beggars the imagination - the lives of the 'dancing girls' of Lahore, Parkistan.

The dancing girls of Lahore inhabit the Diamond Market in the shadow of a great mosque. The twenty-first century goes on outside the walls of this ancient quarter but scarcely registers within. Though their trade can be described wi

59

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World

Tim Marshall

4.1

Preview Summary

In the bestselling tradition of Why Nations Fail and The Revenge of Geography, an award-winning journalist uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain the geo-political strategies of the world powers.

All leaders of nations are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas, and concrete. To understand world events, news organizations and other authorities often focu

Recommended by Lee Mckenzie, Lucas Morales, and Sunil Chhetri.

Lee Mckenzie

This is a great book and by far the best thing I have read for a while. If you are curious about the world in which we live, geopolitics or just fancy something a little different, you couldn’t do much better than this. Coffee optional! @Itwitius 👏🏻 #prisonersofgeography https://t.co/Gd3G2tDVyT [source]

Lucas Morales

Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar A Theory of Justice by John Rawls Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall [source]

Sunil Chhetri

@TaranaRaja The cover got me and I'm sure the book is very, very interesting! [source]

60

Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi

Steve Inskeep

4.1

Morning Edition cohost Steve Inskeep presents a riveting account of a single harrowing day in December 2009 that sheds light on the constant tensions in Karachi, Pakistan—when a bomb blast ripped through a Shia religious procession, followed by the torching of hundreds of businesses in Karachi’s commercial district. Through interviews with a broad cross section of Karachi residents, Inskeep peels

61

The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia's New Geopolitics

Andrew Small

4.1

The Beijing-Islamabad axis plays a central role in Asia's geopolitics, from India's rise to the prospects for a post-American Afghanistan, from the threat of nuclear terrorism to the continent's new map of mines, ports and pipelines. China is Pakistan's great economic hope and its most trusted military partner; Pakistan is the battleground for China's encounters with Islamic militancy and the hear

Cover unavailable

62

The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Kim Barker

4.1

A true-life Catch-22 set in the deeply dysfunctional countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region’s longest-serving correspondents.

Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to w

63

Basti

Intizar Husain, Frances W. Pritchett, Asif Farrukhi

4.1

Basti is the great Pakistani novel, a beautifully written, brilliantly inventive reckoning with the violent history of a country whose turbulence, ambitions, and uncertainties increasingly concern the whole world. In Urdu, basti means any space, from the most intimate to the most universal, in which groups of people come together to try to live together, and the universal question at the heart of

64

Mottled Dawn: Fifty Sketches and Stories of Partition

Saadat Hasan Manto, Khalid Hassan

4.1

This is a collection of Saadat Hasan Mantos most powerful pieces on the Partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947. The book includes unforgettable stories like "Toba Tek Singh", "The Return", "The Assignment", "Colder Than Ice" and many more, bringing alive the most tragic event in the history of the Indian subcontinent.

Recommended by Daniyal Mueenuddin.

Daniyal Mueenuddin

All of these stories are brief, violent, hastily written and stark. I think this is very fitting to the period which he was describing which is around the time of the Partition. It’s similar to Pakistan today which has become a more violent place than a few years ago. I particularly recommend his story, “Toba Tek Singh”, which is about how two or three years after Partition, the governments of Pakistan and India decided to exchange lunatics. In other words, Muslim lunatics in Indian madhouses would be sent to Pakistan, while Hindu and Sikh lunatics in Pakistani madhouses were handed over to India. But, one lunatic – Toba Tek Singh – ended up in no-man’s-land between India and Pakistan. For me, Saadat Hasan Manto is important as a writer because you see with stories like this there is nothing prettied up about his writing. One of the things that I object to about most of the people who write about Pakistan is “the scent of mangoes and jasmine school of writing”. I think that does a disservice to the country and plays into the stereotypes that most Westerners have about Pakistan, and he certainly doesn’t do that. He tells it like it is, with all the violence, madness and political turmoil that involves. Read 2 Shame by Salman Rushdie Read [source]

65

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Peter Frankopan

4.1

Preview Summary

The sun is setting on the Western world. Slowly but surely, the direction in which the world spins has reversed: where for the last five centuries the globe turned westwards on its axis, it now turns to the east...For centuries, fame and fortune was to be found in the west - in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of adventure and riches. The regi

Recommended by Professor Frank Mcdonough and Raoul Pal.

Professor Frank Mcdonough

Christmas is coming and if you want to give a thought-provoking book to that history fan in your life then the recent books by the brilliant @peterfrankopan will satisfy. Some write books, this guy changes perceptions. https://t.co/gWZWZnv5TN [source]

Raoul Pal

@The92ers @zerohedge It’s fascinating. The Peter Frankopan book on the Silk Roads told history well from the perspective of Iran in particular [source]

66

Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day

Peter Zuckerman, Amanda Padoan

4.1

When Edmund Hillary first conquered Mt. Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the m

67

My Feudal Lord

Tehmina Durrani

4.1

Born into one of Pakistan's most influential families, Tehmina Durrani was raised in the privileged milieu of Lahore high society. Like all women of her rank, she was expected to marry a prosperous Muslim from a respectable family, bear him many children and lead a sheltered life of leisure.

Her marriage to Mustafa Khar, one of Pakistan's most eminent political figures, soon turned into a nightmar

68

The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for Pakistan

Ayesha Jalal

4.1

In 1940 the All-India Muslim League orchestrated the demand for independent Muslim states in India. Seven years later Pakistan was created amidst a communal holocaust of unprecedented proportions. Concentrating on the All-India Muslim League and its leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, The Sole Spokesman assesses the role of religious communalism and provincialism in shaping the movement for Pakistan.

69

Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London

Mohsin Hamid

4.1

In Discontent and Its Civilizations, Mohsin Hamid traces the fracture lines generated by a decade and a half of seismic change, from the "war on terror" to the struggles of individuals to maintain humanity in the rigid face of ideology, or the indifferent face of globalization. Whether he's discussing courtship rituals or pop culture, drones or the rhythms of daily life in an extended family compo

70

The Murder of History: A Critique of History Textbooks Used in Pakistan

K. K. Aziz

4.1

In this volume, Aziz sets out to correct the injustice that has been committed in Pakistan ever since its creation, and still continues. The history text books in the country have been woefully distorted for political ends. In this book, he has critiqued and provided the corrections for 66 text books being taught in the Social Studies, Pakistan Studies and History disciplines to students from grad

71

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West

Benazir Bhutto

4.1

Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007, after eight years of exile, hopeful that she could be a catalyst for change. Upon a tumultuous reception, she survived a suicide-bomb attack that killed nearly two hundred of her compatriots. But she continued to forge ahead, with more courage and conviction than ever, since she knew that time was running out—for the future of her nation and for

Recommended by Bruce Riedel and Hassan Abbas.

Bruce Riedel

It is a manifesto of those who believe that Islam is a religion of moderation and of modernity. [source]

Hassan Abbas

Benazir Bhutto understood the issues that matter – the religious radicals, the religious extremism in the northwest, the militancy. [source]

72

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir

Samra Habib

4.1

A CANADA READS 2020 SELECTION
NATIONAL BESTSELLER

How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don't exist?

Samra Habib has spent most of her life searching for the safety to be herself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, she faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From her parents, she internalized the lesson tha

73

The Idea of Pakistan

Stephen P. Cohen

4.1

In recent years Pakistan has emerged as a strategic player on the world stageboth as a potential rogue state armed with nuclear weapons and as an American ally in the war against terrorism. But our understanding of this country is superficial. To probe beyond the headlines, Stephen Cohen, author of the prize-winning India: Emerging Power, offers a panoramic portrait of this complex countryfrom its

Recommended by Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Stephen Cohen has a similar thesis to Sherbaz Khan Mazari’s book but he also looks into the future. And the future he looks into and concludes about Pakistan is at odds with my final author MJ Akbar’s prediction of the future, where all you see is a void. Stephen Cohen makes the much more valid point that Pakistan is, in fact, a very stable country, because it has a highly educated, highly sophisticated establishment, which stretches through the military and into the land-owning classes and, through them, into the political parties. [source]

74

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

Mohammed Hanif

4.1

The patients of the Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments are looking for a miracle, and Alice Bhatti is looking for a job.

Alice is a candidate for the position of junior nurse, grade 4. It is only a few weeks since her release from Borstal. She has returned to her childhood home in the French Colony, where her father, recently retired from his position as chief janitor, continues as part-time h

75

Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan

Ali Eteraz

4.1

“[Eteraz’s] adventures are a heavenly read.” —O, the Oprah magazine

“In this supremely assured, lush, and rip-roaring book, Eteraz manages to do the impossible, gliding confidently over the chasm that divides East and West. Wildly entertaining…memoir of the first order.” —Murad Kalam, author of Night Journey

Ali Eteraz’s award-winning memoir reveals the searing spiritual story of growing up in Pakis

Recommended by Fatima Bhutto.

Fatima Bhutto

I like Children of Dust because I think it is authentic. I think what we see so much with these immigrant stories coming out of Pakistan are these very basic narratives of third world meets the big city and the big continent. There is a crisis of identity and a questioning of their upbringing and then they come back and are completely destroyed as a human being! And that for me is a very one-dimensional way of writing about this experience. [source]

76

In the Name of Honor: A Memoir

Mukhtar Mai, Linda Coverdale, Marie-Thérèse Cuny

4.1

In June 2002, Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman from the impoverished village of Meerwala, was gang raped by a local clan known as the Mastoi -- punishment for indiscretions allegedly committed by the woman's brother. While certainly not the first account of a female body being negotiated for honor in a family, this time the survivor had bravely chosen to fight back. In doing so, Mai single-handedly

Recommended by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Kwame Anthony Appiah

It’s by this amazing woman, though it’s an ‘as told to’ book written by a French journalist working through an interpreter. She talked to her about how she became known around the world because of this episode where she was raped, essentially at the order of a village council in Pakistan because one of the local big families said her brother, who I don’t think was even a teenager, had allegedly assaulted one of their daughters. In fact, he had only been talking to her. But it escalated and at the end of the day, because that was an assault on the honour of this family, they insisted on getting their own back. [source]

Cover unavailable

77

Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire

ALEX VON TUNZELMANN

4.1

A re-creation of one of the key moments of twentieth-century history: the partition and independence of India, and the final days of the Raj.

Recommended by William Dalrymple.

William Dalrymple

Partition is a very complicated story. Many people have tried to tell it before, but this is far and away the best book I’ve read on Partition. I don’t think she had particular access to any brand-new material. She certainly didn’t get her hands on the material she would most have liked, the love letters between Nehru and Lady Mountbatten wife of Lord Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India. Because she does two things at once: she’s telling the love story of Mountbatten and Nehru – this extraordinary love triangle at the close of British India – and the extraordinary end to 300 years of what was often extremely violent imperial conquest. To have it ending with India’s first independent prime minister falling in love with the wife of the last viceroy – it’s an utterly amazing and extraordinary story. It’s not terribly clear whether their love was consummated at the time, although most people tend to believe that it probably was consummated at some point later. [source]

Cover unavailable

78

پیر کامل (Peer-e-Kamil, #1)

Umaira Ahmad

4.1

Peer-e-Kamil (English: The Perfect Mentor) is a story focusing on a deviational sect which violates the finality of our Prophet (P.B.U.H) meanwhile, narrating a heart wrenching journey of two unhappy souls; Salaar Sikandar, a genius with an outstanding I.Q who has complicated queries about life and Imama Hashim, an ordinary girl with a stable family. Both are poles apart in terms of spiritual awak

79

Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy

Ayesha Siddiqa

4.1

Pakistan occupies a paradoxical, even contradictory place in American foreign policy. Nominally a strategic ally in the war on terror, it is the third-largest recipient of US aid in the world. At the same time, it is run by its military and intelligence service—whose goals certainly do not always overlap with US priorities.
This book offers a close look at what the rise of the military has meant f

Recommended by Bruce Riedel.

Bruce Riedel

This is another remarkable book. Husain Haqqani is today Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States. In his book he tells of the no-holds-barred relationship between the army and the Islamic religious parties and institutions and civil society. And the picture he paints is of an army that has gradually taken over more and more control. It has built an intelligence service that has become deeper and deeper enmeshed in Pakistani life. [source]

80

The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics

Ayesha Jalal

4.1

Established as a homeland for India's Muslims in 1947, Pakistan has had a tumultuous history. Beset by assassinations, coups, ethnic strife, and the breakaway of Bangladesh in 1971, the country has found itself too often contending with religious extremism and military authoritarianism. Now, in a probing biography of her native land amid the throes of global change, Ayesha Jalal provides an inside

81

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes

Tamim Ansary

4.1

We in the west share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years.In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up o

82

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea

Greg Mortenson, Susan Roth

4.0

Greg Mortenson stumbled, lost and delirious, into a remote Himalayan village after a failed climb up K2. The villagers saved his life, and he vowed to return and build them a school. The remarkable story of his promise kept is now perfect for reading aloud. Told in the voice of Korphe’s children, this story illuminates the humanity and culture of a relevant and distant part of the world in gorgeou

83

Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War

C. Christine Fair

4.0

Since Pakistan was founded in 1947, its army has dominated the state. The military establishment has locked the country in an enduring rivalry with India, with the primary aim of wresting Kashmir from it. To that end, Pakistan initiated three wars over Kashmir-in 1947, 1965, and 1999-and failed to win any of them. Today, the army continues to prosecute this dangerous policy by employing non-state

Cover unavailable

84

In the Sea there are Crocodiles

Fabio Geda

4.0

One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs or weapons, don't cheat, don't steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn't there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone at the border of Pakistan to fend for himself.

In a book that takes a true story and shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatol

Recommended by Gill Lewis.

Gill Lewis

This book makes you think about the enormity of the decision to leave home. And how will you ever create a new home. It is also a very readable book. [source]

85

Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State

Maleeha Lodhi

4.0

86

Pakistan: Eye of the Storm

Owen Bennett Jones

4.0

Pakistan, with its political instability, Islamic community, pressing economic and social problems, access to nuclear weapons, and proximity to Afghanistan, stands at the centre of global attention. This title looks at Pakistan's past, recounts its recent history, and assesses its future options.

87

Memories Of My Future

Anil Sinha and Ammar Habi

4.0

USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Available in paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited!
Winner of the 2017 Independent Press Award!

Look into the past and you can change the future. In Memories Of My Future, Dr. Avinash Singh is the type of surgeon that other physicians envy, and has the world in his hands. That is until tragedy strikes—and it’s a tragedy that puts him on the ropes, forcing him to revisit his

88

The Crow Eaters

Bapsi Sidhwa

4.0

At the dawn of the 20th century in Pakistan, Freddy Junglewalla moves his family — pregnant wife, baby daughter, and Jerbanoo, his rotund mother-in-law — from their ancestral forest home to cosmopolitan Lahore. He opens a store, and as his fortunes grow, so does the animosity between Freddy and his mother-in-law. While Freddy prospers under British rule, life with the domineering Jerbanoo is anoth

89

Tinderbox The Past And Future Of Pakistan

M. J. Akbar

4.0

Indians and Pakistanis are the same people: why then have their nations moved on such different trajectories since freedom in 1947? Pakistan was the culmination of a search for what might be called Muslim space that began during the decline of the Mughal Empire. Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted a secular nation with a Muslim majority, just as India was a secular nation with a Hindu majority. The father

Recommended by Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Akbar comes to the conclusion that Pakistan is a failing state or, at any rate, a state threatened with failure which might take us down with it. I don’t think that is true. I think Akbar does not take sufficient account of the self-interest of the Pakistan establishment, be it the military or the influential civil elements. They don’t want to live in a Talibanised Pakistan. If you look at their lifestyle you see a people that are indistinguishable from the New Delhi elite or even the London elite. And that is why Pakistanis are to be seen in such large numbers at the elite London club Annabel’s. The ones you see there are really the representatives of those who constitute the Pakistan establishment. [source]

90

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Helen Simonson

4.0

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major P

Cover unavailable

91

Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way

Jon Krakauer

4.0

Greg Mortenson has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also not what he appears to be. As acclaimed author Jon Krakauer discovered, Mortenson has not only fabricated substantial parts of his bestselling books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, but has also misused millions of dollars donated

92

Shahabnama / شہاب نامہ

Qudratullāh Shahāb

4.0

یہ کتاب قدرت اللہ شہاب کی خور نوشت ہے۔
ایک بھرپور زندگی کے ہنسنے ہنسانے، رونے رلانے والے واقعات کا حیرت ناک اور عبرتناک مرقع۔
ماضی اور حال کے آئینے میں پاکستان کے مستقبل کی عکاسی۔
یہ کتاب سربراہوں کی کج رویوں، سیاست دانوں کی ہیرا پھیریوں، نوکر شاہی کی جی حضوریوں، بیوروکریٹس کی من مانیوں، انتظامیہ کی دھاندلیوں، سور معاشرے کی بے حسی کی بے لاگ داستان ہے۔ انگریز کا راج، ہندو کا سماج، سکھوں کا مزاج، مس

93

Insight Guides Pakistan (Travel Guide with Free eBook)

Insight Guides

4.0

94

The Faithful Scribe: A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War

Shahan Mufti

4.0

A journalist explores his family’s history to reveal the hybrid cultural and political landscape of Pakistan, the world’s first Islamic democracy

Shahan Mufti’s family history, which he can trace back fourteen hundred years to the inner circle of the prophet Muhammad, offers an enlightened perspective on the mystifying history of Pakistan. Mufti uses the stories of his ancestors, many of whom ser

95

Haveli (Shabanu, #2)

Suzanne Fisher Staples

4.0

The world of Newbery Honor book "Shabanu" is vividly re-created in this novel of a young Pakistani woman's heartbreaking struggle against the tyranny of custom and ancient law. Shabanu, now a mother at 18, faces daily challenges to her position in her husband's household, even as she plans for her young daughter's education and uncertain future. Then, during a visit to the "haveli, " their home in

96

In the Orchard, the Swallows

Peter Hobbes

4.0

In the foothills of a mountain range in northern Pakistan is a beautiful orchard. Swallows wheel and dive silently over the branches, and the scent of jasmine threads through the air. Pomegranates hang heavy, their skins darkening to a deep crimson. Neglected now, the trees are beginning to grow wild, their fruit left to spoil on the branches.

Many miles away, a frail young man is flung out of pris

97

The Pakistani Bride

Bapsi Sidhwa

4.0

Zaitoon, an orphan, is adopted by Qasim, who has left the isolated hill town where he was born and made a home for the two of them in the glittering, decadent city of Lahore. As the years pass Qasim makes a fortune but grows increasingly nostalgic about his life in the mountains. Impulsively, he promises Zaitoon in marriage to a man of his tribe. But for Zaitoon, giving up the civilized city life

98

Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within

Shuja Nawaz

4.0

Based on 30 years of research and analysis, this definitive book is a profound, multi-layered, and historical analysis of the nature and role of the Pakistan army in the country's polity as well as its turbulent relationship with the United States. Shuja Nawaz examines the army and Pakistan in both peace and war. Using many hitherto unpublished materials from the archives of the United States, the

Recommended by Bruce Riedel.

Bruce Riedel

Shuja Nawaz’s book is a monumental study of the Pakistani army and its politics, and, since Pakistan is a country in which the army has always had an unusually large role in determining the political and economic future of the country, it is absolutely critical to understanding modern Pakistan. Shuja comes from a family that is part of the establishment. He knows the army from the inside and is able to tell the story of its development and how it played an increasingly important role in the country’s politics. [source]

Cover unavailable

99

No Way Down: Life and Death on K2

Graham Bowley

4.0

“No Way Down is both a gripping read and a clear-eyed investigation of the hubris, politics, and bad luck that brought on one of the worst disasters in modern mountaineering history.” — Michael Kodas, author of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed

“Graham Bowley’s No Way Down does a great job of putting you on the mountain. It is a refreshingly unadorned account of the true brutalit

100

Salt and Saffron

Kamila Shamsie

4.0