And the books they loathed? Unsurprisingly, not everyone was willing to risk their necks. But here is a short list of those who dared and bared:
A push in the 'write' direction was all the prof offered his maid. It unlocked gritty, dark memories.
It's all about Lowe, a Brit who married a Haryanvi taxi-driver
Romila Thapar, Mukul Kesavan, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Gulzar, Shabana Azmi, Omar Abdullah, Manil Suri, Sushmita Sen, Shyam Benegal et al on what they read this year...
The verdict's out on Salman Rushdie's 'Fury'. And it's enough to hang the celebrated author.
Canadian writers milk their experiences to churn out books on the country
Borne along on the very personal voice of Urdu poetry, and now tossed about on a west wind
Why does India resist honest biographies? Because the idea of an overarching public space is absent.
There are no dearth of ego-inflating and self-puff hagiographies in the Indian book bazaar
Indira's biography rattles Sonia and loyalists, but they're hoping to kill the issue with neglect
A Rajput prince's diary on the Raj will see the light of the day, thanks to Llyod I. Rudolph and wife Susanne Hoeber
J.M. Coetzee and Jeffrey Moore won the coveted awards but Rushdie hogged the limelight
He would take his colour, brushes and canvas outside to paint and talk with his love. He would stand close to the window and paint, keeping an eye on his muse.
They say the violin mimics the human sound. In his case, it was that of love, of longing. He didn’t know any other way of loving.
Younger people do not have much progressive beliefs; a 2017 survey found that one-third of young people opposed inter-caste marriage.