Arefa Tehsin’s 3 favorite reads in 2023
What did I love most about each book?
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This list is part of the best books of 2023.
We’ve asked 1,199 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.
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My favorite read in 2023…
Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent
By Pranay Lal
Why did I love this book?
Indica was gifted to my naturalist father by the author Pranay Lal. It took a long time to reach me. And was I happy to lay my paws on this utterly spectacular tome!
The scope of Indica, from the time earth’s day was 6 hours long to the evolution of gargantuan mammals to the arrival of sapiens on the bank of Indus, is breathtaking. While reading it, I could picture the vivacious Pranay stopping his car on a highway to check out a forgotten stone or explaining a virus as if it were a friend.
Although you won’t remember every nugget of knowledge, you’ll emerge an enriched and humbled person who knows 10 million years in evolution is a very short time and that 99% of the species that ever lived on earth are extinct today. Indica is not a book. It is a milestone.Explore this book
My 2nd favorite read in 2023…
Sálim Ali for Children: The Bird Man of India
By Zai Whitaker
Why did I love this book?
I met Sálim Ali sahib, the legend and paradigm of ornithology, as a tiny tot. My naturalist father had taken me to meet him at his home. The two things I remember from that visit are the roof-high shelves of books lining his study and the hard, orange toffee his secretary gave me.
Sálim Ali for Children is not just for children. It is for all of us. Zai Whitaker, the grandniece, who is a celebrated conservationist, has brought to the fore his less-known personal life as well as his times as a trailblazer.
As an author who has written several books for children on wildlife and nature, I feel this book is a must-have in schools and personal libraries. The book is an inspiration and adventure if you ever need one.Explore this book
My 3rd favorite read in 2023…
A Friend of the Earth
By T.C. Boyle
Why did I love this book?
My partner found this book covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs in an abandoned cottage on an island in Sri Lanka. I eyed him skeptically as he picked it up. Later, I started reading it only to champion his cause of saving a book…but what a find it turned out to be!
The year is 2025. A disillusioned, old “eco-terrorist” is managing a private zoo, and the ecological apocalypse is on his (flooded) doorstep. Boyle’s cutting satire, dark humor, surreal plot, and marvelous writing make it one of the most poignant works of fiction on climate change and the destruction of the wild.
What were we doing on that island? Well, that’s another story.Explore this book
Plus, check out my book…
Iora and the Quest of Five
By Arefa Tehsin
What is my book about?
Iora overhears sinister whispering coming from her well and is attacked by a strange creature. She knows her father is in mortal danger, but no one will listen.
She sneaks out to search the enchanted Wacky Wilderness for him, but Beetle isn’t about to let her go alone. Among the jungle denizens, they encounter wild animals, hidden tribes, secretive lands, and strange and magical creatures: some friendly and some not.
After finding one of the guiding angels of the jungle, the search for her father becomes a quest to save the jungle. They only have 17 days to find the other four forest Angels and the elusive Spirit of the Jungle. But the dark forces aren’t going to sit by and let that happen…
I read 30 books this year.
Arefa Tehsin 
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