Five books that changed Vikram Chandra

Vikram Chandra is the author of three highly acclaimed works of fiction, most recently Sacred Games, which won the 2006 Hutch Crossword Award, and the nonfiction book, Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty.

One of five books that changed him, as shared with the Sydney Morning Herald:

VANITY FAIR
William Makepeace Thackeray

Two young women - the amiable Amelia Sedley and the aptly named Becky Sharp - leave school to discover the world, and the reader gets an ebullient ride through the pageant of Regency England. I read Vanity Fair when I was in graduate school, and was dazzled by its colour and variety.

Read about the other books on the list. 

Vanity Fair also appears on Joanna Trollope's six favorite books list, Maddie Crum's top ten list of fictional characters who just might be psychopaths, Allegra Frazier's list of five of her favorite fictional gold diggers, John Mullan's list of ten of the most memorable governesses in literature, Stella Tillyard's list of favorite historical novels, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best fat men in literature and ten of the best pianos in literature, and Thomas Mallon's list.

Also see: Chandra's top ten computer books.

--Marshal Zeringue