Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Books on India

Today at Crossword (my favorite Bombay bookstore) I picked up India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. I realize that if I were actually living in Bombay I probably would never have read this book. We NRIs choose our own attachments to India, and mine is books. A majority of the books I read, whether fiction, non-fiction, contemporary or historical, tend to be related to India in some way.

I thought I would share some recent favorites -

Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

In Spite of the Gods - Edward Luce

The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh (yes, again)

Feel free to send me recommendations. Currently, I am especially interested in books on India written by Indians.

1 comment:

Rahil said...

There is obviously a long list, but my fav is Jhumpa Lahiri (although its more about life outside India). And if you want to read a VERY depressing book read Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. His Tales of Ferozeshahbad on the other hand is happier and just as good.

I just finished reading White Tiger. Great book. Made my drives to work have a completely different meaning.

I would also recommend picking up short stories by Tagore. And ever since my tour guide in Chandni Chowk couldn't stop quoting Ghalib, I am def going to go pick up one or two books by him.