A More Extensive Book List Of Indian Reading?

coconut wireless

I have just started a very interesting book "Maximum City" Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta. the author is an NRI journalist who writes about the city he was born in.

Would love to hear from anyone else who has read the book and recommendations for other good books, similar.. have read a lot of books on India so this could be a challenge for you out in cyberspace.

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traveling with aloha
the coconut wireless

Curryholic

Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri and Fine Balance, Family Matters and Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry are other great Bombay reads.

coconut wireless

Thanks the second book Being Indian: Inside the Real India by Pavan Varma sounds like one I'd be more interested in but couldn't find it on amazon. is it out yet. Can I buy it in India? probably -- I found he had another "Like That Only", which also sounds very interesting. the one I'm reading now is fascinating - would love to hear some comments if anyone out there is reading it or has read it.
aloha

shahashim

Not a huge fan of Bombay Max. I really like a few chapters, but I found the prostitute, gang, and beer bar bits--75% of the book--self-indulgent. Seems like he's just stroking some fetishes. Does he really need to leave New York to explore the motivation of hookers and thugs? When I lived in New York, I saw plenty of these folks--why not just talk to them?

Some sections are great, though. He really articulates the life of a Bombay outsider--from the ubiquitous response of "No, not possible" to not understanding how to find basic items like groceries. Also, I found his story about the Jain family riveting.

I would suggest cutting this book down from 600 pages to 150 by reading only reading the first chapter in Part 1, the first chapter in Part II, and all of Part III.

Fiction suggestions, the usual suspects: Rushdie, Naipaul, Mistry, Kipling, and Lahiri. Also, the Gita.

rangss

Just started to read River Dog by Mark Shand...

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...and I took the road less travelled.

coconut wireless

thanks for your suggestion

i am about half way through with Maximum City and I can't say I am too keen on it. The author left India in his teens for New York but after college wanted to go back to Mumbai to live but more importantly I think to write this book. He focuses on the dark side of the city (prostitution, mafia, corruption, etc.) and I find the book very negative. It has almost made me decide not to finish the book. I am not saying that there is no truth in what he is writing only that I would like to red something positive.
After he finishes the book he returns to New York where as a journalist the cover says he is based. Well, I think that tells you something right there.

traveling with aloha
the coconut wireless

rahulcal

A really brilliant book where scholarship does not overshadow readability !

GQwerty123

William Dalrymple- City of Djinns, Last Mogul, White Moguls

VS Naipul- India: A wounded civililzation, India: A million mutinies now (A personal favorite of mine)

Stanley Wolpert- India (Very academic and dense, but very informative)

Maximum City is a great book! I learned a whole lot about Bombay before arriving, and most of it came from this book as well as Million Mutinies Now by Naipul. It is a little fetishistic (is that even a word?), but still a great attempt to peel back the various layers that comprise this fascinating city.

Oh dear, many more I seem to be forgetting....

Salman Rushdie is overrated, in my opinion. I don't like him nor do I like his style of writing.



But for the most practical and useful information, good ole IndiaMike.com has been indespensible and completely amazing!!

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Livin' and Lovin' in Mumbai!

Lou Wilson

AN UPDATED VERSION SINCE FIRST POSTED
THANKS FOR ALL THE SUGGESTIONS * MARKS NEW ADDITIONS

A More Extensive Book List Of Indian Reading?
Here are a few books on India and neighboring countries. I have read a few and on my way to at least skimming all of them.
Please add to the list - I am sure there are many more out there that I would like to know of? Lou Wilson

TRAVEL TRUE STORIES
Chasing Rainbows in Chennai - The Madras Diaries - Traveller Tales from India - An exceptional non traveller travellers guide by Colin Todhunter
Masala Moments - a travel novel from India (modern) by Dorothee Lang
Himalayan Passage: Seven Months in the High Country of Tibet, Nepal, China, India and Pakistan (1987 Trip) by Jeremy Schmidt & Patrick Morrow

TRAVEL OVERLAND TRUE STORIES
A Season in Heaven: True Tales from the Road to Kathmandu Late 60's early 70's by David Tomory
Hand to Mouth to India in 1997/8 - Hitchhiking overland from England to India by Tom Thumb
Blue is the Colour of Heaven : A Journey into Afghanista by /Richard Loseby 2001
Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India (early 70's)- Rory MacLean

SPIRITUAL SEARCH TRUE AND NOVEL BASED
Tree That Fell to The West - Auto Biography of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Sri Lanka India spanning over 100 years fromlate 1800's to 1970's
A Search in Secret India - An historical true to life of one mans seach for God in India 30 -40's by Paul Brunton
Secret Path - by Paul Brunton
Autobiography of a Yogi Starting in 1920) Tales of Miraculous India by Paramahansa Yogananda
The Way of the White Clouds (1940's Pre Chinese) a great read by Lama Anagarika Govinda (A German I believe)
Be as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi by Sri Ramana Maharshi (Author), David Godman (Editor)
Razors' Edge Somerset Maugham
Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas by Robert Thurman & Tad Wise
Wisdom: 365 Thoughts from Indian Masters (Offerings for Humanity) by Danielle Follmi &, Olivier Follmi Coffee table book.
* Let's not forget Ghandi's writings (his autobiography "My experiments with truth", Satyagraha, and various compilations of his speeches & letters)


NON FICTION ACCOUNTS
A Man to Match His Mountains: Badshah Khan, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam. (Islams answer to Ghandi and they were friends) Great Great read.
Twenty Years in Tibet : Intimate and Personal Experiences of the Closed Land Among All Classes of Its People From the Highest to the Lowest - David Macdonald.
Twenty Years in Tibet : Intimate and Personal Experiences of the Closed Land Among All Classes of Its People From the Highest to the Lowest - David Macdonald.
The King of Nepal - High True Adventure of hashish smuggling through the Kingdom of Nepal 1970's by Joseph Pietri
A PORTRAIT OF BOMBAY'S UNDERWORLD by Kulamarva Balakrishna 1966 A scarce book. Was my 1st into into Bombay's underworld -
India Unveiled (Hardcover) Robert Arnett -Porttrait coffee table book of modern India
* City of Djinns (marvellous and accessible study of Delhi's multi-layered history) - William Dalrymple
* The Age of Kali (haven't read it yet but bought it at the Famous Bookstore in Deli) about India in general
* Mark Tully's books on India;
* Amartya Sen - The argumentative indian;
* India Unbound - Gurcharand Das
* India untouched - Abraham George - rural India
* The corporation that changed the world - Nick Robins - the history of the East India Company
* The hour of the goddess - Chitrita Banerji (May be fiction) ?
*Hullabaloo - in the Guava Orchard - Kiran Desai's

NOVELS (fiction) & Sagas
* Freedom at Midnight - Larry Collins,Dominique Lapierre
* Midnight's Children - Salman Rushidi
* A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
* An Equal Music (Romance) - Vikram Seth
* The God of Small Things - Arundati Roy
* An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire - Arundhati Roy
* The Gift of a Cow - Premchand (classic 1936)
* The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories by Premchand and David Rubin
* War Talk - Arundhati Roy
* The Chequebook and the Cruise Missile - Arundhati Roy and David Barsamian
* A Million Mutinies Now- VS Naipaul's India books
* Sacred Games ( a police drama set in Mumbai, and is about Bombay's only honest policeman) Vikram Chand
* Maximum City Suketu Mehta (very Interesting
* The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye (Epic Fiction)
* Maharanis:The live and times of 3 Generations of Indian Princess by Lucy Moore
* White Moghal-Love and Betrayal in 18th Century Indian by William Dayrmple.
* William Dayrmple - The Last Moghal, a weighty book
* The city of joy - Dominique Lapierre (Also a Movie)
* Devdas - SC Chattopadhyay
*The Raj Quartet - Paul Scott
* Staying On - - Paul Scott
* Fasting Feasting - Anita Desai

The Great Indian Novel - A convoluted story based on the Mahabharata time period by Shashi Tharoor
Far Eastern Tales - Somerset Maugham
India Treasures, and the sequel India Fortunes both historical sagas by Gary Worthington
Train to Pakistan - Based on the period of 1947 Partitioning of India by Khushwant Singh
The Tailor's Daughter - Novel of modern Goa By Ben Antao
Sacred Games - A modern day crime novel By Vikram Chandra
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry An intricate story of Indian society (India)
On A Goan Beach - Remegio Botelho. A Novel. 1994. An Indian expatraite returns to his roots and finds that his seaside village of Anjuna has grown into a hippie paradise. What follows is a story of drug-addicts, drug peddlers, drug-traffickers and unmarried love.....
Cracking India: A Novel (1947 Partitian of India) by Bapsi Sidhwa
India by Radhika Jha Olivier Follmi Hardcover coffee table book portrait of India.
The Sari Shop: A Novel by Rupa Bajwa
The British Commission to India: Historical Novel (1940's) by MN Pavithran
The Curse of Kali: Historical Drama Set in India A blood and guts historical romantic fiction oozing period charm, set in the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas by Audrey Blankenhagen
The Rhetoric of English India by Sara Suleri - Suleri explores the relation of colonial and postcolonial writers to the experience of India.
British Rule in India; a Historical Sketch - by Harriet Martineau
The Memory of Elephants: A Science Fiction Parsi Novel by Boman Desai
Savitri: A Tale of Ancient India by Aaron Shepard & Vera Rosenberry Illustrated Novel for Children 9 to 12 years. Story from The Mahabharata
Adventures of Feluda (India S.) by Satyajit Ray & Chitrita Banerji
Taj by Sandra Wilson (Historical Fiction)
The Twentieth Wife: A Novel (Historical Fiction) 16th - 17th Century India by Indu Sundaresan
The Feast of Roses: A Novel (Historical Fiction) 17th Century India by Indu Sundaresan
The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India by John Speed
Shantaram - A big, sprawling, beautifully written semi-autobiographical novel about the author's real-life experiences as he escapes prison in Australia, seeks refuge in Bombay by Gregory David Roberts I think this is the best book of its time. Very well written and has a way of explaining Indians (Bombay India - 80's)
Caravans - Mitchener Afganistan - Afganistan in a more peaceful time. 1955
Hussein - Novel Patrick O'Brian NW India Pakistan
The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason. A piano tuner goes to Burma from Europe to Burma by sea and overland to tune a piano in the jungle. Great read. Burma Mostly and India 1880's
Passage To India - Colonial times The classic but can be a bore.
Kite Runner - Very exciting - Afganistan 1970's
Anils Ghost - A little slow but tells the story of the conflict in Sri Lanka 1970's
Holy Cow - Have not read it but seems very popular in India at present ?

India Travel Writing Webring Hub Page - http://members.tripod.com/

woodlouse

hi lou
think you mean Anil's ghost! (Michael Ondaatje)

I think the other is something I might have left behind in a few Indian loos...

Lou Wilson

Anil's ghost! (Michael Ondaatje)
yes you are correct

kmalik

In non-fiction:
- Freedom at Midnight - Larry Collins,Dominique Lapierre.
In fiction: (authors)
- Salman Rushidi - particularly Midnight's Children
- Vikram Seth
- Arundati Roy
- From the classic cannon of Indian writing - Prem Chand.

anarkali

William Dalrymple:
- City of Djinns (marvellous and accessible study of Delhi's
multi-layered history)
- The Age of Kali (haven't read it yet but bought it at the Famous Bookstore in Deli) about India in general

Shashi Tharoor
Fantastic author whose books I've picked up at Shankar bookstall on Colaba Causeway particularly of interest
- The Great Indian Novel, a modern reimagining of the Mahabharata

Also try VS Naipaul's India books. I'm reading India: a Million Mutinies Now.

Fiction:
Vikram Chand - Sacred Games (have started it but it's a rollicking rollercoaster of a police drama set in Mumbai, and is about Bombay's only honest policeman)

Non-Fiction
Suketu Mehta - Maximum City (read it while in India. Like Dalrymple & Naipaul he meets key people representing facets of the city. Very interesting read)

decamped

Epic Fiction:
The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

ShirleyD

Non Fiction
Maharanis:The live and times of 3 Generations of Indian Princess by Lucy Moore
White Moghal-Love and Betrayal in 18th Century Indian by William Dayrmple.

I've just got the new book by W. Darymple The Last Moghal, a weighty book - but not started it yet!