100+ Ruskin Bond Books: A comprehensive list of Bond’s books
Ruskin Bond is India’s beloved short story writer. Also nicknamed ‘The Writer on the Hill’, Bond’s light-hearted, chit-chatty writing enchants readers of every age, ethnicity, nationality and gender. He is also an award winning writer who finds stories in the commonest of everyday things and places.
I am not saying I have every published book by Bond on this exhaustive list of his books, because he continues to write books even today and some of his latest books might not be on this list. Also I do not claim to have read all of them. But I will try and update this list every year so readers find an easy and detailed reference to Ruskin Bond Books whenever they need a good dose of warm stories.
The Enchanting World of Ruskin Bond: Exploring the Life and Literary Legacy of India's Beloved Wordsmith
Step into the enchanting world of Ruskin Bond, one of India's most beloved wordsmiths, as we dive into his extraordinary life and explore his enduring literary legacy.
Renowned for his captivating storytelling and poignant narratives, Bond has mesmerized readers around the globe with his evocative tales set against the backdrop of the picturesque Indian landscape. Born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, Bond's love affair with words began at a young age, as he found solace in books and started writing his own stories.
With a career spanning over six decades, Bond has penned over a hundred books, including novels, short stories, and poems, enchanting readers of all ages with his lyrical prose and relatable characters.
Gifted with a keen eye for detail, Bond effortlessly weaves the essence of rural India into his works, transporting readers to the idyllic world nestled amidst the mountains and valleys. His works consistently evoke a sense of nostalgia and capture the simplicity and beauty of everyday life.
Join me on a journey to discover the magical realm created by Ruskin Bond - a literary treasure chest that continues to inspire, delight, and resonate with readers across generations.
Note: majority of his books are available for FREE on Kindle Unlimited Subscription by Amazon in India and those books that are paid (a handful few) are available for a very small fee.
Some of these books are also available for free on Audible.
Those that are free with the subscription I have marked with (KU) after the title to help my readers.
* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Ruskin Bond Books for Adults
Includes some of the best works of Bond including Time Stops at Shamli, Bus Stop, The Last Tiger, Angry River, The Blue Umbrella, Night of the Leopard and Tales of Fosterganj.
Autobiographical collection of stories themed on nature. Stories about trees, gardens. Birds and rivers that leave you feeling fulfilled and refreshed.
This is where Bond’s writing journey began, when he was only seventeen. It is also an award winning book. The story is about a boy Rusty, who is an orphan and finds himself enchanted by his Indian friends, Indian festivals and so many more aspects of Indian life.
The Writer on the Hill is a broad selection of Bond’s fiction and non-fiction, both popular and little-known. An accolade to one of the most liked and loved writers of India, The Writer on the Hill is also a portrayal of the quiet, unhurried life, lived at one’s own pace.
In this collection Bond reminisces olden days, about smaller towns, fewer people, lesser technology times, living simpler lives and days of pleasure and peace.
Find stories about his interesting neighbors, his wholesome breakfast routines, his irritating siesta visitors and fascinating stories during his travel to and from Mussoorie. Even his drivers were an intriguing lot and their stories were my favorite of this collection. Read More Here
Bond’s writing has always illustrated the nature in his vicinity. This book is especially for the nature lovers who cherish the mountains, rivers, sky and forests, fields and streams.
Fosterganj was a small town in a small town in the Doon valley. Bond lived there for a brief period but loved the quietness, the streams, the mountains and the modest cottages there.
Bond has had his fair share of love stories. And it is these memories and experiences that he weaves into charming stories through this book. Stories of romance, friendship and happenstance.
Tackling deep and universal themes of love, life, happiness, loss and grief this is a compilation of Bond’s best fiction and non-fiction stories.
The story of a man enslaved by his overpowering sex-drive that leads him down the path of self-destruction.
Bond’s love for plants, trees and nature in general is very well known. His belief that it is better to create that to destroy, rings true. So through this book he appeals to readers, plant at least one plant and watch it grow.
Eight stories with the shock of stunning anticlimax. These are my favorite kind of stories as it speaks of the author’s brilliance at writing and plotting and planning.
Those of us who’ve been privileged with the opportunity of travelling by train have always wondered about the numerous people travelling with us and their mysterious destinations and lives. It is this thought that Bond wittily builds stories around in this book.
Bond writes from his memories. Memories of his father and childhood in Jamnagar. Memories of living in Dehradun with his stepfather. Memories of living in Delhi with his mother and memories of going back to Mussoorie to his small cottage on the mountain for forty plus years.
Would you call Ruskin Bond successful? Well, he says a series of failures, has life has leads to a modicum of success. I love the introduction piece to this particular collection. It brings out the best of Bond.
17. Maharani
This book is about Bond’s friend "The Maharani". Her life and interactions with the author makes a major chunk of this book.
Another one of Bond’s nostalgic collection of stories of the hills he lived in most of his life. Landour is where lived, above Mussorie in the Garhwal Himalayas.
Ruskin Bond has enjoyed writing stories for 70 years. Bond summarizes – writing for me is the simplest and greatest pleasure. He writes for himself, not to please anyone. Enjoy these and many more experiences and realities of his writing journey that made him flourish, make a living from writing and write consistently for seven decades.
They say love is the best thing that can happen to you when young. Ruskin Bond too fell in love, in his words - made an ass of himself and then wrote about love and subsequently about his broken heart.
A collection of personal reflections and quotations themed around friendship that shall be helpful to readers in times of stress.
Light-hearted writing that has readers giggling many times is Bond’s writing forte. This collection specifically tickles in the right places with stories from big cities, stories about the monkey menace and so much more.
A collection of essays and poems from the India that does not make headlines. It is the India of goodwill, good humor, love and affection, acceptance, tolerance and reciprocation.
Insightful, inspiring, and deeply touching, It’s a Wonderful Life is another conquest from one of our most adored writers.
In this book, Ruskin Bond very expertly compiles some of his most valued and best-loved quotations and sayings with themes of life – nature, love, money, family, friendships and enemies .
This is Bond’s personal diaries that elaborates how he lives a life of simple means with harmony and in the close proximity of nature.
A novella that relays – a Mussoorie tale from WWII days, the tragic story of a friend’s death, a Punjabi family saga, the story of a man-eater, London stories and so many more.
Ruskin Bond enjoyed compiling this collection of funny stories, sketches and poems. Hope you do too.
Bond believes every writer must have a window or two in his writing place that looks out into nature and serves to inspire his writings.
What are the places that the locals of Fosterganj gather at and voice their opinions – Elections, Banks, and once it gets dark the pull of the place is its sense of quiet. Stories of bank, elections and nights at Fosterganj.
India is more than a land, Bond says, it is an atmosphere and this book is designed to give the reader a feel of India and recapture its magic in the old tales, Heroes, heroines, Gods and Goddesses, Epics and Sagas of this vast land.
An anthology of poems, quotes, essays and more that offer sage advice about life and finding and defining happiness in life.
Collection of funny stories by India’s most beloved author.
All of Bond’s books draw from his real life experiences so you may call them autobiographical but they are peppered with his vivid imagination. This book is more truth and less imagination written when he was a ripe old man but a young writer made young by his readers.
Other Noteworthy Books by Ruskin Bond for Adults
35. Our Trees Still Grow In Dehra
36. My Trees in the Himalayas
37. When the Clock Strikes Thirteen
38. Roads to Delhi
39. A Time for all Things: Collected Essays and Sketches
40. Delhi Is Not Far: A Novel
41. Bond Collection for Adults
42. The Rupa Book Of Travellers' Tales
43. No Man is an Island: Stories of Friendship and Bonding
45. White Clouds, Green Mountains
46. Small Towns, Big Stories
47. A Little Book of Beauty
48. Who Kissed Me in the Dark
49. Book of Humour
50. A Flight of Pigeons
51. Collected Short Stories
Ruskin Bond Books for Younger Readers
Children have so many multitude of characters and in this collection Bond tells stories of some unforgettable children. Through these he brings to life the freedom, happiness, innocence, wonder, mischief and privilege of being a child.
Bond says he wrote these stories during his good old bad days. He wasn’t making much money from his writing and scanning a few popular magazines and books he realized that many of them had cute and cuddly or wild and livid stories of animals. So he decided to write some himself.
Binya, a mountain girl has never seen the frivolities of the city. One day she finds a picnicking family and her eyes set upon their dainty blue umbrella. But her umbrella becomes a lesson to her and the readers. A delightfully simple story that is profound.
Every school going kid will appreciate this charming book. Bond was a quiet, shy boy in school who preferred the library more than the playing grounds.
The story of a small family on an island in the middle of the river. Sita, her grandparents, their goats and hens and a huge peepal tree were the inhabitants of the small island.
57. All Roads Lead to Ganga (KU)
In this travel memoir Ruskin Bond explores the villages along the majestic river Ganga. In it he also talks about his favorite trees, animals, and people.
Tall tales by Mehmoud, who before joining the Bonds’ kitchen worked for the great Jim Corbett, the wilderness explorer. The illustration in the book by Sunaina Coelho are as beautiful as the stories.
A selection of a hundred new stories and essays for children made by editors of Rupa Publishers. Get the best from the best.
Epics, legends, fairy tales and folk tales from around the world. Ancient creatures and weird characters that dazzle readers are the highlights of this collection. More on the lines of Jataka tales or Aesop’s fables or Akbar Birbal stories.
Another collection based on small-town India that talks about childhood and youth and its adventures and romances and Bond’s memories of the outdoors.
Rusty’s world is an enchanting world and children experience thorough entertainment in his stories. Rusty draws you into his world with his simply told encounters and enthralling characterization.
The narrator of this story lives in Dehradun with some unwelcome guests – a python, a monkey and a ghost. Add to it characters like Uncle Benji and Aunt Ruby and the reader is sorted for entertainment.
Discover the beauty of small-town India through Bond’s eyes. Narration of fresh incidences, personification of tigers and crows and so much more.
The story basically relays Granny’s trip to the town with Mani for glasses. With limited money, down pouring rain and encounters with mules and landslides will the seventy-year-old granny accomplish this journey?
The stories and novellas in this collection deal with the lighter and nostalgic side of life in the hill station and around it, where Bond has lived more than half of his life.
Are children the world over the same? Read this charming story collection and see that it’s true, as Bond brings to life a town in North India.
The Tiger is the national animal of India. This ever elusive cat has enraptured many. This book is a collection of Tiger stories. Quite a few by Ruskin Bond, while others are by Henry Asbury, Charles Kincaid, and Surendra Mohanty.
Bond believes it is wonderful to have the freedom to write about things that catch one’s fancy, whether it be daffodils, skulls, households, trees, ghosts or people.
A collection of character-driven stories. Includes travel stories of the woman on a railway platform, the boy on a bus stop, story about a neighbor’s wife, stories about trees and rivers and love.
In this collection Bond himself makes a selection of his greatest stories from his most famous works of fiction including The Room on the Roof, Tales of Fosterganj and twenty other stories.
Stories of bears, tigers, trees and pigeons, stories of love, thieves, daughters and ghosts. These stories are literally that – short and sweet.
Quite a thought-provoking story about an unexpected meeting with Kipling, the concerns surrounding his writings and casual chit-chat between the reformed writers.
Bond’s grandmother said – ‘Life may be short, but a smile is only a second’s effort.’ Following these suggestions through difficult or awkward phases in life has helped Ruskin Bond find himself.
Great Stories for Children is a mixture of short tales that excellently transports the little readers into the fascinating world of Tutu the monkey, a pet python, a haunted hill, a Himalayan bear and so many more endearing characters.
Due to feel nostalgia when remembering school days. This book means to revive those forgotten but cherished moments of innocence, friendship, mischief and discipline. A must read for school-goers.
This book is compiled of short stories which connects readers to nature.
Jungle stories about the leopard, elephants, tigers and more exciting encounters of the forests in the north of India.
Don’t we all love to hear stories from our grandparents of a life long-lived and forgotten? This collection has a similar grandmother telling stories of the past to her granddaughter.
Leopards keep turning up in Ruskin Bond’s life in the remote hills. And so do his story collections with leopards. He has even lost two of his dogs to leopards. Explore life in the hills with leopards through this collection.
A comic made of Ruskin Bond’s three favorite stories for children. The illustrations are done by acclaimed illustrator Priya Kurian.
A compilation of 16 heart-warming tales by Ruskin Bond that celebrate life vividly illustrated by Sumouli Dutta.
Stories Bond wrote when he was a kid himself. Stories that remain evergreen even today, when he is old and grey. Stories that Bond dreams of and that continue to enchant young readers even now.
Other Noteworthy Books by Ruskin Bond for Young Readers
86. The Cherry Tree
87. Crazy Times with Uncle Ken
88. The Hidden Pool
89. The Coral Tree
90. Bond Collection for Children
91. Hanuman to the Rescue
92. Rusty and the Leopard
93. Puffin Classics: Vagrants in the Valley
94. The Railway Gang
95. Hip-Hop Nature Boy and Other Poems
96. The Big Book of Animal Stories
Murder/Horror story Books by Ruskin Bond
Bond shares some strange and disturbing stories along with other famous strange stories that are very popular. Like ‘The Lodger’ by Stacy Marie Belloc Lowndes or ‘The Red Headed League’ by Arthur Canon Doyle and many more.
This collection brings together a few interesting mysteries. Ruskin Bond has always been a fan of Christie and Doyle and so he exercises his locked room mystery writing skills here. A very popular and fascinating book. Read More Here
Explore the mysterious side of Ruskin Bond wth this twisted, sometimes scary and sometimes humorous but altogether fantastic collection of stories that will make you sit up.
Bond believes stories are made in small towns. He says everythings about cities and twons may change but the mountains where he lives have never changed and they provide him the stories he writes, never affording him a writer’s block. Discover hwat he has to share about these beautiful Himalayan Mountains.
Immerse in a world of adventure and adrenaline pumping wonders with these tales.
Bond says, whenever he runs out of relatives he invents ghosts. Another collection of his favorite horror stories.
A collection of 15 horror classics, 3 by Ruskin Bond and others by some world-renowned writers like Wilkie Collins, Edgar Alan Poe, Amelia Edwards, Algernon Blackwood and many more.
Bond believes horror is a difficult genre to write for. Because the author has to come up with something new, original and terrifying every time. That is what this collection of night time horror stories is exactly.
Bond talks about skulls (of course) and all things haunted in this volume. Evil men and women, shape-shifting animals, haunted houses and strange trees. Get ready to be spooked.
This book is named so because it contains stories that were experienced or observed by British writers between the periods 1840 to 1940. Quite a fascinating collection that would make a good coffee table companion.
A collection of strange stories of strange houses and creatures by some of Bond’s favorite authors and writers and one story by Bond himself titled Gone Fishing.
Another of annotated story collection of phantoms, ghosts, haunted houses and vampires featuring stories of writers like Thomas Burke, Stevenson, Sylvia Green and Hewlett.
If you’ve enjoyed other stories of the paranormal realm by Bond earlier, you’d definitely find this collection spookier.
Hills in India are synonymous with ghosts. But not all ghosts Bond has met were dangerous or scary. Some of them were extremely friendly.
Other Noteworthy Horror story collections by Ruskin Bond
111. Susanna’s Seven Husbands
112. A Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings: Collected Stories of the Supernatural
113. When Darkness Falls and Other Stories
114. Wind on the Haunted Hill
115. Death under the Deodars
116. The Phantom Coach
And if you care for more such lists in the future, please subscribe to my newsletter below.
Happy reading!
Sign Up for more great content and Book Lists!
This post contains affiliate links. Read my Disclosure Policy.