Books by Arundhati Roy
Mother Mary Comes to Me
by Arundhati Roy
The first work of memoir by the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things. Crushed by the death of her mother in 2022, the writer recalls the peculiar intensity of their relationship, from her childhood in Kerala and into the present. "I learned early that the safest place can be the most dangerous," writes Roy. "And that even when it isn’t, I make it so.'
Field Notes on Democracy
by Arundhati Roy
What Arundhati Roy’s book does is act as an antidote to all the current fashionable prejudices and notions about India…and shows that India is not immune to a whole set of problems shared by countries around the world.
“Of all the great modern Indian novels, of which there has been a flood, Arundhati Roy is the one I enjoyed most. It’s got that fabulous quality, in the literal sense. It has a craftsmanship to it, and one of the greatest endings to any novel. There are so few modern novels which end perfectly, with that perfect click into place, the lock clicking shut. But it has that, and it’s a very well-worked, well-written novel. I hope she repeats it at some point in the future. It has a great debt, although not in subject matter at all, to Toni Morrison’s Beloved: oppression, in this case not between black and white, but of the lower caste by the upper caste, the love affair between an upper-caste woman and an untouchable man. It ends in tragedy. But although you know what will happen for almost the entire book, she still manages to save up this extraordinary ending.” Read more...
William Dalrymple, Travel Writer
Interviews where books by Arundhati Roy were recommended
The best books on India, Ancient and Modern, recommended by William Dalrymple
The award-winning writer selects five books on India and says that the Mahabharata, eight times the length of the Bible, is one of the great works of literature of mankind – and every bit as good as it’s made out to be
The best books on India, recommended by Pankaj Mishra
The world’s largest democracy isn’t something that has just materialised in the past 60 years, says the Indian essayist and novelist. He chooses books that illustrate India’s complex history and diverse society.
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1
Mother Mary Comes to Me
by Arundhati Roy -
2
107 Days
by Kamala Harris -
3
All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation
by Elizabeth Gilbert -
4
This is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web
by Tim Berners-Lee -
5
Raising Hare
by Chloe Dalton -
6
The Minotaur at Calle Lanza
by Zito Madu
New Memoirs
New Memoirs
New memoirs continue to come out hard and fast, testimony to our enduring interest in hearing people tell the stories of their own lives. So far in 2025, these have included candid tales told in painful detail by talented writers, as well as books that combine personal history with other objectives—such as, for example, saving the internet.
