We love it when celebrities share their reading lists, giving us a glimpse into their TBRs and their minds. Ali Gul Pir recently shared his reading list as well as some new books he’d picked up, and we had to share it with you!
Sharing his reads on his Instagram story on Monday, the comedian told his followers about the three and a half books he’s read and the three new books he’d purchased.
Pakistan Lost: Ideas on the Idea of Pakistan by Shehzad Ghias
He’s currently reading Pakistan Lost: Ideas on the Idea of Pakistan by fellow comedian Shehzad Ghias. Though he called it a “very good book” that he’s almost finished reading, he didn’t say a lot about it.
According to the book’s Goodreads page, author Nadeem Farooq Paracha has described Pakistan Lost as “a pithy and precise study of Pakistan’s politics, polity, and its nationalism, this book explores the country’s tumultuous history with some refreshing new insights, and a plea to use history as a way for the nation to look and move forward in an inclusive, progressive, and self-respecting manner”.
The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer
Gul Pir said he has finished The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer, adding that this is a book for people from Karachi who like stories about southern Pakistan. “It’s not a crime mystery — it’s a slice of life type story,” he said, describing it as two to three parallel stories with a similar theme, such as that of loss.
The book’s own description provides more insight — “A vivid and intricate novel-in-stories, The Scatter Here Is Too Great explores the complicated lives of ordinary people whose fates unexpectedly converge after a deadly bomb blast at the Karachi train station: an old communist poet; his wealthy, middle-aged son; a young man caught in an unpleasant, dead-end job; a girl who spins engaging tales to conceal her heartbreak; and a grief-stricken writer, who struggles to make sense of this devastating tragedy.”
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee
Gul Pir described A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee as a murder mystery — his favourite genre — set in the Pre-Parition era, during the British Raj. A Scotland Yard policeman from England arrives in Calcutta and is investigating the murder of a British man, he said, as the Independence Movement swirls in the background.
Rating this a seven-and-a-half out of 10, the comedian said this was a good read. “You will be engaged,” he promised, adding that it’s nicely written.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Gul Pir described The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides as the best of the three. A New York Times bestseller, he said this book has a twist at the end that you wouldn’t be able to predict and that it keeps you engaged.
“It drags a bit, for about 30 to 40 pages, but that’s nothing compared to the whole book,” he said, calling it a good read.
The book is described on its Goodreads page as “a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband — and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive”.
He also shared the three books on his to-read list.
We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
The comedian’s search for the best murder mystery novels turned up We Are All Guilty Here and he seems pretty excited to read it.
Here’s the book’s description:
“Welcome to North Falls — a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think. Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites.
For Officer Emmy Clifton, it’s personal. She turned away when her best friend’s daughter needed help — and now she must bring her home. But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realises she never really knew them. Nobody did.
Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?“
Other Names for Love by Taymour Soomro
Gul Pir gave a very brief description of Other Names for Love by Taymour Soomro — “a South Asian story” — so here’s how it’s described on Goodreads:
“A charged, hypnotic debut novel about a boy’s life-changing summer in rural Pakistan: a story of fathers, sons, and the consequences of desire.”
Chaos: The Truth Behind the Manson Murders by Tom O Neill
The final book on his to-read list was a novel about the Manson murders — the murders of six people in Los Angeles in 1969 by the “Manson Family”, a cult led by Charles Manson.
Gul Pir said he heard the author speak on a podcast with Joe Rogan and decided the book seemed interesting.
The novel is described as a journalist’s 20-year obsession with the Manson murders leads to shocking new conspiracy theories about the FBI’s involvement in this fascinating re-evaluation of one of the most infamous cases in American history.
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