24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Again, it's set in a place I can't profess to know much about. But this is a wonderfully charming if confusing account of life in India.

The old driver asked, 'What caste are you?'
'Halwai.'
'Sweet-makers,' the old driver said, shaking his head. 'That's what you people do. You make sweets. How can you learn to drive?' He pointed his hookah at the live coals. 'That's like getting coals to make ice for you. Mastering a car' - he moved the stick of an invisible gearbox - 'it's like taming a wild stallion - only a boy from the warrior castes can manage that. You need to have aggression in your blood. Muslims, Rajputs, Sikhs - they're fighters, they can become drivers. You think sweet-makers can last long in fourth gear?'
Coal was taught to make ice, starting the next morning at six. Three hundred rupees, plus a bonus, will do that. We practised in a taxi. Each time I made a mistake with the gears, he slapped me on the skull. 'Why don't you stick to sweets and tea?'

(See, this is why I'm hesitant to learn to drive...)