100 Books Like Operation Trojan Horse

Not exactly literary fiction, I know. And it breaks none of the rules governing the novelist’s craft. And we all read it back when it came out, didn't we? Or saw the movie, there've been a couple of versions...

So why is it on my list, you ask?

The Day of the Jackal is quite simply the greatest thriller ever written, and should be read by anyone who writes fiction, literary or otherwise—and by the rest of us as well.

Think for a moment: We follow The Jackal’s relentless quest to corner and kill French President Charles DeGaulle for 380 pages, waiting with breath bated to see whether he will succeed even though we know before we ever open the cover of the book (if we know even the slightest bit of history) that DeGaulle was never assassinated—ever!—not by The Jackal and not by anyone in… show more.

I read this book a long time ago and went back to it again as it is so revolutionary and quite startling for its time (1968). His theories were often laughed at, but he has been hugely vindicated by later discoveries. I think he was a very brave man to write this book, addressing one of the greatest mysteries of all—how we became civilized.

He must have known he would be vilified for producing such a book, but he did it anyway and in doing so unleashed a torrent of unconventional archaeologists and explorers of the past. So much has changed since this book came out, but it is still a seminal work that, IMO, should be read by anyone interested in the ancient past and the evolution from simple farmers into advanced societies.

The book captivatingly provides more than a peek into the legendary secret service organization – Mossad and its secretly executed high-stake operations. What would stun anyone is the sheer bravery of the Mossad agents who carry out their life-threatening assignments with clockwork precision. They are also men of flesh and blood, only they have steel nerves. They are the guardians of the Israeli nation and they do it literally with their sweat and blood. The readers would certainly get to feel the heartbeat of these amazing men on their onerous duty. Cannot miss reading this book.

The book is a remarkable one amongst contemporary spy thrillers. In spy thrillers, all agents have difficult missions to accomplish. However, in The Eleventh Commandment, in addition to the extremely challenging assignment in a high-security environment, the protagonist has another dangerous enemy to tackle, and strangely, that is his own boss! Then there is this unique crisis in the protagonist’s personal and family life. Only Archer’s master storytelling abilities could have woven these complex dimensions together to present an excellent and memorable thriller. 

Are humans special?

Julia looks at this question through ten ancient stories about animals ranging from the every day (bees and birds) to the fantastical (the Sphinx and the Cyclops). These are, of course, stories produced out of human creativity and curiosity, and out of them emerges some surprising insights about how we understand our place in the world.

If animals could talk to us, what would they say about us? 

India has always fascinated me, so I was intrigued to read this account of a 30-year-old woman riding 17,000 miles through the sub-continent, alone, on a motorbike. Never having previously ridden a motorbike, she takes a 3-day crash course on how to do so. What could possibly go wrong?

Nonchalantly tackling muddy jungles, deserts, and virtually impassable terrain, frequently breaking down, she muddles through with a mixture of ingenuity, optimism, and the never-failing help of the local people. 

A satisfyingly honest and self-deprecating account of a remarkable achievement by a woman who believed she could, and so she did.

If you already know a lot about India and are interested in an unusual insight into the role of temples in the history, culture, architecture, and myths of the subcontinent, then this is for you. It will also introduce you to thirteen writers who include journalists, academics, and authors. Each one was asked to write about one temple, recounting its origins and the mythology and history surrounding it. It’s beautifully illustrated by Mistunee Choudhury. You can enhance the experience by googling the locations. It has introduced me to some must-see places to go on my want to visit list. I visited the unforgettable temples of Khajuraho and they appear in my own book.

This is another book on the same subject written by an eminent historian and economist. I am recommending this book because of the clear and categorical historical decade-wise demarcations since the inception of railways in India since the 1830s. The 20th century is summarised in one entire chapter, bringing a contemporary context. One of the best parts of the book is a timeline of the government policies and committees on Indian Railways in a tabular form that gives a quick summary of how the organization progressed in its different forms, including the seamless transfer from old colonial railways to national railways adding the current reforms and policies. Another key feature of the book is that it gives a timeline of the various railway companies and railway lines spread across India.

I am also proud to mention that the book liberally quotes my first book when it mentions India’s railway… show more.

Mohandas Gandhi—whom Churchill called “that little naked man,” who had little more than his loincloth and his staff, who loved to sit at his spinning wheel—would catalyze the independence of India from the British Empire and ultimately help bring down that empire—without a phone or the internet or social networks.

This book reads like a thriller. I got into Gandhi’s head and learned how he became a man who would lay down his life for his principles of non-violence and the dignity of human beings; how he cunningly used symbolic actions like the salt march to expose the injustice of the British Commonwealth; and how he rose to be Churchill’s chief rival on the world stage and become a transcendent leader of our time.

It is all too easy to forget that when Britain went to war in 1939, it did so as the world’s largest imperial power. Khan’s book is a rich social history of India at war, telling us the stories of not only the soldiers, but the business owners, the peasants, the refugees, and the political activists whose lives were shaped by war in the Indian subcontinent. The flawed political settlement that brought independence and partition to India and Pakistan was born out of the Raj’s experience of war, and this book gives voice to those who experienced this most turbulent time in the region’s recent history.