Best books of 2011: Authors' pick

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Monetefiore
(Aatish Taseer is the author of Noon, Stranger to History and The Temple-Goers)

Sidin Vadukut's pick
Max Hastings' All Hell Let Loose: A splendid history of the Second World War that shows that there is much about the war we still don't know or completely understand.
John Julius Norwich's The Popes: A vast, funny, insightful and endlessly fascinating history of one of history's most enduring offices. A must read for anyone intrigued by human folly.
VS Ramachandran's The Tell-Tale Brain: VS Ramachandran takes you on a voyage of self-discovery, via the curious workings of the human brain. If you liked his TED talk, you will adore this book.
(Sidin Vadukut is the author of Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese and God Save the Dork)

Death in Mumbai by Meenal Baghael
The Telltale Brain by VS Ramachandran
India, A Portrait by Parick French
Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
(Manu Joseph is the author of Serious Men)

Madhuri Banerjee's pick
Ithaca by David Davidar: Incredible writer and person. The power of his prose shines way above every other author I've read. I look forward to every book of his.
Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi: Contemporary and yet draws from mythology. An intriguing book that is a page turner. Ashwin is an incredibly funny man in real life but writes amazingly serious stuff.
Rumi:The Big Red Book by Coleman Barks What's life without poetry. It makes us think and takes us away from mundane life.
Murakami: A recent discovery of this author has made me read a few of his books. He leaves me spellbound. Just when you think you know where the story is going he'll drop a bombshell. And the characters stay with you long after you've put down the book. Each and every one of them. Noon by Aatish Taseer: Coming from the background he does, one can't help but delve deeper into this work of fiction that seems like an autobiography. (Madhuri Banerjee is the author of Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas)

Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for simplifying the mathematics of the margins.
Three Women by Rabindranath Tagore for its dark, groping, and incredibly satisfying storytelling.
(Sonia Faleiro is the author of Beautiful Thing and The Girl)

Sarnath Banerjee: Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka (Sarnath Banerjee is the author of The Harappa Files, The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers and Corridor)

Beautiful Thing by Sonia Faleiro
Open City by Teju Cole (Patrick French is the author of India, A Portrait, The World is What It Is, and Liberty or Death)

Grasshopper's Run by Sidhartha Sarma, the book won the first children's book award on the Crossword awards.
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, Paro Anand says, "Although I loved 'Sea of Poppies' even more, this one was wonderful too."
(Paro Anand is the author of Pure Sequence and No Guns At My Son's Funeral.

Basharat Peer's pick The Beautiful and the Damned by Siddharth Deb
The Submission by Amy Waldman
(Basharat Peer is the author of Curfewed Night)

Samit Basu the author of Turbulence and The GameWorld trilogy picks Habibi by Craig Thompson
IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin

David Nicholls' One Day, she says, "bit sappy, but engaging"
(Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan is the author of 'You Are Here' and 'Confessions of a Listmaniac')

Ghosts by Daylight: A memoir of war and love by Janine Di Giovanni
Beautiful Thing by Sonia Faleiro
Goodbye Sarajevo by Hana Schofield and Atka Reid
(Rahul Pandita is the author of Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement)

The Wandering Falcon: Jamil Ahmad (He won the Shakti Bhatt first book prize at the age of 79)
Beautiful Thing: Sonia Faleiro (which is indeed a beautiful thing)
Feast Day of Fools: James Lee Burke
(Jeet Thayil is a poet and the author of Narcopolis)