Thursday, January 10, 2013

My top ten Tamil Novels

This year's Chennai Book Fair is being held at YMCA Nandanam from January 11-23. BAPASI waited till I moved out of Alwarpet to bring the book fair to Nandanam. At this time I thought I will put up a list of my top ten Tamil Novels. Usual disclaimers - this is my list based on the novels I have read, I haven't read a lot of published writers, if you feel this list is awful go ahead and put up your own list.

புயலிலே ஒரு தோணி - ப. சிங்காரம்   Tamil Review  Buy it here

விஷ்ணுபுரம் - ஜெயமோகன் 

கொற்றவை - ஜெயமோகன்

ஜே.ஜே. சில குறிப்புகள் - சுந்தர ராமசாமி

ஆழி சூழ் உலகு - ஜோ.டி.க்ரூஸ்

கூகை - சோ. தருமன்

என் பெயர் ராமசேஷன் - ஆதவன்

மோகமுள் - தி. ஜானகிராமன்

சாய்வு நாற்காலி - தோப்பில் முகமது மீரான்

18வது அட்சயக் கோடு - அசோகமித்திரன்

I have read கி.ராஜநாராயணன் (amusing story teller), நகுலன் (he requires a lot of hard work to read and is interesting but his நவீனன் டரிக் குறிப்பு didn't give a complete experience as a novel), நாஞ்சில் நாடன் (If I rate short story writers, he will undoubtedly be at the very top but not as a novelist), எஸ்.ராமகிருஷ்ணன் (only உபபாண்டவம் which didn't impress me much though it had some great moments), வண்ணநிலவன் (கடல் புரத்தில், கம்பா நதி, காலம் - all delightful short novels, was really hard to leave out his novels in the list) இரா.முருகன் (அரசூர் வம்சம் was a good read) before compiling this list.

I plan to read the older generation writers'  novels this year க.நா.சு (அவதூதர்), எம்.வி.வி. (காதுகள்) கரிச்சான் குஞ்சு (பசித்த மானுடம்) so may be this list will change. I haven't read சாரு நிவேதிதா, இமையம், கோபிகிருஷ்ணன் and many others. So, do you have a list to share?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

A short review of each of these 10 novels will be helpful to new readers chen..or links to your past reviews

Chenthil said...

This was a last minute post. Am travelling now. Will add the links tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I have read very few novels but ஷோபாசக்தி - கொரில்லா is my favorite so far

Krishnan said...

I have read works of Asokamitran, ThiJa, Sundara Ramasamy and Jeyamohan on your list and agree with your choice.

Nitpicker said...

I'd replace 'En Peyar Ramaseshan', which I think is grossly overrated, with 'Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural'. Other than that, I pretty much second your list.

phantom363 said...

May I please suggest P.A.Krishan's கலங்கிய நதி & புலினகர்கொன்ரை. You can google them as The Muddy River and Tigerclaw Tree - PAK wrote both English and Tamil. Another of his books, essays, அக்கிரகாரத்தில் பெரியார் is equally fantastic!!

Chenthil said...

Anon - Haven't read Shobha Sakthi. Will give him a try.

Krishnan - Thanks

Nitpicker - Many people think even among Adhavan's works, காகித மலர்கள் is better than En peyar Ramaseshan. However, for me Ramaseshan was like Catcher in the rye and hence I rate it higher.

Phantom363 - I have read PA Krishnan's புலி நகக் கொன்றை. It is a good book, but a top ten list is personal choice. If you are interested you can read my post http://chenthil.blogspot.in/2012/07/when-i-lied-to-novelist-pa-krishnan.html .

Mahesh said...

Wondering there's no place for Jayakanthan ?

Oru Veedu Oru Manidhan Oru ulagam ?

Chenthil said...

Mahesh - I haven't read Oru veedu oru manithan oru ulagam, but I found Gangai enge pogiral and other novels a bit of a drag. Found JK's voice preaching through the characters tiring.

Posting Load and Truck said...

Waiting for more updates :)

Unknown said...

Any list for this year?. I have been buying for the last 36 years except 93. Yet to go for this year