Books for teenager visiting India?
Jun 16th, 2008 | 08:15 PM
#2
Joined: Feb 2003
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I think any of the books below would work. There is one book specifically about Mumbai, and a collection of short stories set in Mumbai. The non-fiction book is not something that a teenager may enjoy it, so I have put it on the “heavier” list as it is non-fiction and mostly about the corruption, etc in the city. The rest are fiction and non-fiction about India generally. Indian bookstores are treasure-trove of Indian authors wirting in English and other books at great prices, so I would encourage you to go to one while you are there. Hotel bookshops often have a very good selection.
Salman Rushdie, <i>Midnight’s Children</i>; history of the independence of India from Britian told as a fictional story. I think this should be read first.
Rohinton Mistry, <i>A Fine Balance; Tales from Firozha Baag</i>. He is a young Indian writer, I really enjoy him. I believe the first book was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK. <i>Tales from Firozha Bag</i> is a collection of short stories set in Mumbai, and may be interesting from that point, many of them are about the Parsi community, which again may be interesting.
Rudyard Kipling, <i>Plain Tales from the Hills; Kim; Jungle Book</i>; many other novels. Classic novels by the English author. Many are set in what is now Pakistan. Much of his writing I find politically incorrect today (“take up the white man’s burden”), so may make for some interesting conversations. (May be slightly more interesting for a boy.)
Rabindranath Tagore, <i>The Post Office</i>; any collection of his poems. He was primarily a poet, but wrote some novels, the Post Office is his best known and is wonderful. He is very beloved in India, esp in Calcutta/Bengal where he is from. If you can read and quote him, you will impress many Indians….
Lizzie Collingham, <i>Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors</i>. Part history book (India and world history), part cook book. You will never look at your food in quite the same way, I think. Ms. Collingham has also written a book on the British in India vis a vis the physical hardships they endured (called Imperial Bodies), which is pretty good, but the Curry book is better and more interesting.
Vikrem Seth, <i>A Suitable Boy</i>. This is one of my favorite books, but it is about 1,000 pages, so you have to be dedicated. Funny, sad, touching story about an Indian girl in 1960's India whose mother is determined to find her the right husband. This was on the US bestseller list in 1993.
Jan Morris/James Morris. Jan Morris is far and away my favorite travel writer. For a history of the British in India, try one or all of Jan Morris’ trilogy Pax Britannica. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress, which charts the progress of the empire from Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 to its peak in 1897. <i>Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire</i> describes the empire at the time of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. In the final part of the trilogy, <i>Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat</i>, she describes the decline of empire in the twentieth century up to Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Also try <i>The Spectacle of Empire</i> and <i>Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj</i>.
R.K. Narayan, <i>The English Teacher</i>; or any of his books, especially the 12 novels based in a fictional town he created called Malgudi. Funny and poignant. Sort of the Mark Twain of India.
Arundhati Roy,<i> God of Small Things</i>. Great book by a modern woman writer, set in South India so it may give you a little flavour I believe this was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK
William Dalrymple . He has written many very good books about his experiences in India. <i>City of Djinns, A Year in Delhi</i>,The White Mughals, <i> The Age of Kali</i>, <i>The Last Moghal</i> would all be good choices..
Eric Newby, <i>A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush; Slowly Down the Ganges</i>. The first is a hysterical and quite famous book about the author's misadventures in Pakistan. The second is a description of a trip along most of the Ganges river, very interesting.
Alexander Frater, <i>Chasing the Monsoon</i>. A great book if you will be in India around monsoon time, esp good for southern India. The author follows the monsoon from its initial breaking point in Kerala all the way up and thorough India. The book will give you an idea of how important the monsoon is to the culture and economy of India.
Some of the ones below may be a bit more adult and/or a bit heavier, but you and/or your teenager may enjoy them:
Suketu Mehta, <i>Maximum City</i>. This is a non-fiction acccont of life in Mumbai today. Scary but interesting. I am not totally sure it is something a 16-year old would get much out of. There is a good bit about organized crime and prostitution in it, but I am guessing a 16-year old could handle that.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, <i>Heat and Dust; Out of India; How I Became a Holy Mother</i> (the last is short stories and may be a good starting point.) Mrs. Jhabvala is a European who married an Indian and lived in India for 40 years. She is a great story teller and again you will gain an insight into Indian life and culture. She has written many other books, the first two novels are my favorite and the latter is a great collection of short stories about life in India. (She also is the screenwriter for most Merchant-Ivory films, i.e Room with a View, etc.)
MM Kaye, <i>The Far Pavilions</i>. Great love story between a Hindu princess and a British soldier set in a Rajasthan-like kingdom in the foot-hills of the Himalayas in late 19th century. She has written several other books, this is my favorite about India. (May be better for a girl, is a major love story.)
E.M. Foster, <i>Passage to India</i>. Classic book about the clash between mores of the British Raj and Indians in early to mid 19th century India. He has written many other novels and short stories on various parts of the world. IMO one of his finest books is <i>The Razor's Edge</i>, and part of its plot based in India.
Paul Scott, <i>The Raj Quartet</i>. Again, one of my favorite books, but it is in 4 volumes so it is not for everyone. The first volume would be good if that is all you want to commit to the whole quartet. It is the story of an English family living in a hill station in north Indian before and during WWII. You will learn a lot about the British rule in India, good and bad.
Non-Fiction
V.S. Naipaul, <i>India A Wounded Civilization; Among the Believers</i>. A brilliant thinker and writer, he poses questions about Indian life and culture as well as the worlds major religions and their role in modern culture.
Gayatri Devi, <i>A Princess Remembers</i>. This is the autobiography of the third and favorite wife of the late Maharajah of Jaipur. She was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. When Jackie Kennedy went to India in 1961 or so, she stayed with the Princess and in the pictures, <i>Jackie</i> looks dowdy compared to her. She was from a royal family in east India. This may be more interesting to a girl.
Anita Desai, <i>Fasting Feasting; Baumgartner's Bombay, others</i>. Ms Desai has written several books and short stories on different aspects of life in a modernizing India. I especially enjoyed Fasting Feasting, but I think any of her books would be interesting.
<i>Travellers' Tales Guides: India</i>. This company prints books which are excerpts of writings by many authors on the particular country. This book is a nice broad overview of authors' observations of India over the centuries. Travellers' Guides does similar books for most countries in Asia.
You might want to get some books on living in India, I find that the "Culture Shock!” series of books is quite helpful and that the <i>"Culture Shock!” India"</i> books gives a fairly comprehensive and in my view accurate picture of culture and customs in India. The books are part of the Culture Shock series of books published by Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company. You can buy them on line from Amazon or your local bookstore can order it for you. The Indian one may be particularly helpful to understanding India better. Some of the authors mentioned above may also be helpful, you may especially enjoy
Salman Rushdie, <i>Midnight’s Children</i>; history of the independence of India from Britian told as a fictional story. I think this should be read first.
Rohinton Mistry, <i>A Fine Balance; Tales from Firozha Baag</i>. He is a young Indian writer, I really enjoy him. I believe the first book was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK. <i>Tales from Firozha Bag</i> is a collection of short stories set in Mumbai, and may be interesting from that point, many of them are about the Parsi community, which again may be interesting.
Rudyard Kipling, <i>Plain Tales from the Hills; Kim; Jungle Book</i>; many other novels. Classic novels by the English author. Many are set in what is now Pakistan. Much of his writing I find politically incorrect today (“take up the white man’s burden”), so may make for some interesting conversations. (May be slightly more interesting for a boy.)
Rabindranath Tagore, <i>The Post Office</i>; any collection of his poems. He was primarily a poet, but wrote some novels, the Post Office is his best known and is wonderful. He is very beloved in India, esp in Calcutta/Bengal where he is from. If you can read and quote him, you will impress many Indians….
Lizzie Collingham, <i>Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors</i>. Part history book (India and world history), part cook book. You will never look at your food in quite the same way, I think. Ms. Collingham has also written a book on the British in India vis a vis the physical hardships they endured (called Imperial Bodies), which is pretty good, but the Curry book is better and more interesting.
Vikrem Seth, <i>A Suitable Boy</i>. This is one of my favorite books, but it is about 1,000 pages, so you have to be dedicated. Funny, sad, touching story about an Indian girl in 1960's India whose mother is determined to find her the right husband. This was on the US bestseller list in 1993.
Jan Morris/James Morris. Jan Morris is far and away my favorite travel writer. For a history of the British in India, try one or all of Jan Morris’ trilogy Pax Britannica. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress, which charts the progress of the empire from Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 to its peak in 1897. <i>Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire</i> describes the empire at the time of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. In the final part of the trilogy, <i>Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat</i>, she describes the decline of empire in the twentieth century up to Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Also try <i>The Spectacle of Empire</i> and <i>Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj</i>.
R.K. Narayan, <i>The English Teacher</i>; or any of his books, especially the 12 novels based in a fictional town he created called Malgudi. Funny and poignant. Sort of the Mark Twain of India.
Arundhati Roy,<i> God of Small Things</i>. Great book by a modern woman writer, set in South India so it may give you a little flavour I believe this was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK
William Dalrymple . He has written many very good books about his experiences in India. <i>City of Djinns, A Year in Delhi</i>,The White Mughals, <i> The Age of Kali</i>, <i>The Last Moghal</i> would all be good choices..
Eric Newby, <i>A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush; Slowly Down the Ganges</i>. The first is a hysterical and quite famous book about the author's misadventures in Pakistan. The second is a description of a trip along most of the Ganges river, very interesting.
Alexander Frater, <i>Chasing the Monsoon</i>. A great book if you will be in India around monsoon time, esp good for southern India. The author follows the monsoon from its initial breaking point in Kerala all the way up and thorough India. The book will give you an idea of how important the monsoon is to the culture and economy of India.
Some of the ones below may be a bit more adult and/or a bit heavier, but you and/or your teenager may enjoy them:
Suketu Mehta, <i>Maximum City</i>. This is a non-fiction acccont of life in Mumbai today. Scary but interesting. I am not totally sure it is something a 16-year old would get much out of. There is a good bit about organized crime and prostitution in it, but I am guessing a 16-year old could handle that.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, <i>Heat and Dust; Out of India; How I Became a Holy Mother</i> (the last is short stories and may be a good starting point.) Mrs. Jhabvala is a European who married an Indian and lived in India for 40 years. She is a great story teller and again you will gain an insight into Indian life and culture. She has written many other books, the first two novels are my favorite and the latter is a great collection of short stories about life in India. (She also is the screenwriter for most Merchant-Ivory films, i.e Room with a View, etc.)
MM Kaye, <i>The Far Pavilions</i>. Great love story between a Hindu princess and a British soldier set in a Rajasthan-like kingdom in the foot-hills of the Himalayas in late 19th century. She has written several other books, this is my favorite about India. (May be better for a girl, is a major love story.)
E.M. Foster, <i>Passage to India</i>. Classic book about the clash between mores of the British Raj and Indians in early to mid 19th century India. He has written many other novels and short stories on various parts of the world. IMO one of his finest books is <i>The Razor's Edge</i>, and part of its plot based in India.
Paul Scott, <i>The Raj Quartet</i>. Again, one of my favorite books, but it is in 4 volumes so it is not for everyone. The first volume would be good if that is all you want to commit to the whole quartet. It is the story of an English family living in a hill station in north Indian before and during WWII. You will learn a lot about the British rule in India, good and bad.
Non-Fiction
V.S. Naipaul, <i>India A Wounded Civilization; Among the Believers</i>. A brilliant thinker and writer, he poses questions about Indian life and culture as well as the worlds major religions and their role in modern culture.
Gayatri Devi, <i>A Princess Remembers</i>. This is the autobiography of the third and favorite wife of the late Maharajah of Jaipur. She was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. When Jackie Kennedy went to India in 1961 or so, she stayed with the Princess and in the pictures, <i>Jackie</i> looks dowdy compared to her. She was from a royal family in east India. This may be more interesting to a girl.
Anita Desai, <i>Fasting Feasting; Baumgartner's Bombay, others</i>. Ms Desai has written several books and short stories on different aspects of life in a modernizing India. I especially enjoyed Fasting Feasting, but I think any of her books would be interesting.
<i>Travellers' Tales Guides: India</i>. This company prints books which are excerpts of writings by many authors on the particular country. This book is a nice broad overview of authors' observations of India over the centuries. Travellers' Guides does similar books for most countries in Asia.
You might want to get some books on living in India, I find that the "Culture Shock!” series of books is quite helpful and that the <i>"Culture Shock!” India"</i> books gives a fairly comprehensive and in my view accurate picture of culture and customs in India. The books are part of the Culture Shock series of books published by Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company. You can buy them on line from Amazon or your local bookstore can order it for you. The Indian one may be particularly helpful to understanding India better. Some of the authors mentioned above may also be helpful, you may especially enjoy
