George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman :“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”

Bano Qudsia :Raja Gadh

Franz Kafka : The Trial
the quote I love by Franz: You are free, and that is why you are lost.


Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar

Haruki Murakami my fav: Kafka on the Shore!, "When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."

Oh man! I had absolutely no intention of logging in today..

Okay, you can read them in whatever order you want. I read them in order but You can read Huckleberry Finn without Tom Sawyer
There are only two details from Tom Sawyer that you will need while reading Huckleberry Finn. The first is the vast sum of money that Huck has. The second is that Huck was adopted. Those details matter for context, but you could just as easily accept that Huck has been adopted and he has a large sum of money and you would be fine.
But if you are planning to read both then go in order because Huckleberry Finn is more serious and poignant compared with the adventures of Tom Sawyer. And it will feel weird to go backwards
Tom is more of a fun story, whereas Huck is a commentary on race relations in a world where slavery was still considered by many to be acceptable.
I hope this helps. Have a nice day!

P.S @ EVERYONE: This is an excellent place to download books bookzz.org
(It seems spammy, but trust me it isn't)

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You are so awesome. I never thought, again, that someone will say, read Kafka on the shore, here. It is an amazing book. I loved it, I grabbed my best friend and basically shouted at her while shaking her badly that she had to read it too. That's how much excited I was. The imagery, the characters, all the metaphors- I fell in love.
I have so many quotes that I loved from this book so I am just going to throw goodreads's quote page here. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quote...mibe-no-kafuka

Kafka's the trial
I just finished it. I can't seem to get it out of my head. It was also my first Kafka book. I feel like there is so much more to this book than what I am getting out of it. I will re-read it after few years. It is fascinating.

Bano Qudsia- Raja Gidh
I have read it. Beautiful book.

Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
This is the only book out of the four that I have not read. I'll squeeze it in. It seems very interesting.

Thank you so much for stopping by. You rock!

thanks @Nazish for the site suggestion. I use it sometimes too.

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...Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

I would recommend "Everything That Happens to me is good" to all Css Aspirants and i have it in Soft Copy,If ever you need it let me know.

Found the book for you:
"Everything That Happens to me is good"

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@Zainab
I would begin by saying the obvious that no one book is an absolute must read for CSS aspirants. However, putting aside this facile argument, I'd say that Khalid Bin Sayeed's 'Pakistan: The Formative Phase, 1857-1948' is a must-read sort of book. It is a brief but comprehensive book which covers the period from the first war of Independence till the partition. It covers almost all the cultural, economic, religious and above all political currents that were underway in the 19th and 20th century Indian Muslim world. Besides, its utility as a source material for CSS preparation can not be overstated.

If one wants to improve vocabulary then reading, reading and a lot of reading is the most obvious and effective way to achieve that. Read The Economist, The New York Times (especially Books, Bookends, Opinionator and Grey Matter sections), and other literary or journalistic publications which publish longform essays.

The reformed syllabus contains good book recommendations and at least two or three books from the new syllabus are available online. I believe reading the officially recommended books are also very helpful in preparing one for the CSS.
I'm not much into fiction so, primarily, I read non-fiction. I don't know whether i can post my Goodreads account link here, so you could see for yourself which books I've read (and intend to read).

My recommended book would be Francis Gavin's 'Adventures in Human Being', an absolutely brilliant book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Usman Ahmad

English grammar in use by raymand murphy

First of all great work Zainab, this thread will surely help anyone looking for some good books to read.

Secondly, Although everyone in reply to this thread has listed many great books, I think following books should also be read by anyone, let alone a CSP aspirant:

1. The Art of Living (by some Chinese author, sorry I forgot his name, so maybe this suggestion doesn't count).
2. Ignited Minds by Late APJ Abdul Kalam (all his books are fantastic).
3. Although you all people must be way more advanced literature reader than me, I kind of think "100 years of solitude by Márquez" deserves mention in any list.

I have just finished this novel, The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk, and I must say I loved it and would recommend it to almost anyone with a desire to understand what love can mean and also what is the power and place of museums and objects, not only in life of nations, but also in an individual's life.

"A stirring exploration of the nature of romantic attachment and of the mysterious allure of collecting, The Museum of Innocence also plumbs the depths of an Istanbul half Western and half traditional—its emergent modernity, its vast cultural history. This is Orhan Pamuk’s greatest achievement." (by Publisher on back page.)

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"What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops" - David Mitchell

Hey,

A few books I'd suggest:
The heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad
Enigma by Robert Harris and honestly all the books he has written: Fatherland, Archangel etc.
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Howard's end by E M Forster
Wings of the dove by Henry James (A difficult read)
Moth smoke by Mohsin Hamid

Happy reading everyone

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Without you this house is a hearse without wheels (Babybird)

Now that I'm done with exams. I am back to my reading habits.
So I've got like 44 books on my reading list.

I have read " To kill a mockingbird"
Absolutely loved it.
Now I'm reading hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
Already read 2 parts.
It's SciFi but humorous to the end.
I've never read anything like this before.

@Nawazish
I have a hundred years of solitude on my list. Looking forward to it.
I'll try to accommodate your other recommendations as well.

P.S: I seem to have forgotten good sentence structure after exams. Don't mind it.

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