Reading List for India
 

In response to Craig's request on another thread, here are my favorite authors and books about India. If you can't find a book on line or in your bookstore, you will find most of them in bookshops in India so you can wait until you get there. Airports usually have a least one English-language bookshop, most hotels also have good bookstores, esp. the Sheraton in Delhi and the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur. You can usually find very good "coffee table" picture books in Indian book shops as well which make good souvenirs.

Fiction

Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children. A classic, it follows several Indian families starting with the date Indian gained its independence from Britain, at midnight in August 1947. You will learn a lot about Indian history and culture. Kind of like a Michener novel.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust; Out of India; How I Became a Holy Mother (the last is short stories.) 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, The Far Pavilions. 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.

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills; Kim; Jungle Book; many other novels. Classic novels by the English author. Many are set in what is now Pakistan, but still interesting as the country and people of Rajasthan are similar, expect for their religion.

R.K. Narayan, The English Teacher; or any of his books, especially the 12 novels based in a town he created called Malgudi. Funny and poignant.

Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance; Tales from Firozha Baag. 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.

Arundhati Roy, God of Small Things. Great book by a modern woman writer, set in South India so it may give you a little flavour of Sir Lanka. I believe this was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK

Rabindranath Tagore, The Post Office; 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?.

Vikrem Seth, A Suitable Boy. 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.

Paul Scott , The Raj Quartet. 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, India A Wounded Civilization; Among the Believers. 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, A Princess Remembers. 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, Jackie looks dowdy compared to her. She was from a royal family in east India. She led a very interesting life, met all kinds of leaders. It is really fun to read her book while in Jaipur, esp if you stay at the Rambagh Palace, which was her home. It is kind of startling to look up for your reading and imagine what the palace look like, where the women's quarter was, etc This book may not be available outside of India, but you can definitely but it in India, esp in Jaipur.

Mark Tully, No Full Stops in India; Heart of India. He was the BBC correspondent in India for about 20 years. Very interesting insight into Indian life and culture.

Anne Morrow, Maharajahs of India. This is from 1986 and may be out of print, again you may find it in Indian book shops. It gives fascinating details about the lives of the fabulously wealthy maharajas of India, who lost their power in and most of their wealth in 1974.

Elisabeth Bumiller, May you Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons. She is a former journalist with the Washington Post who lived in India for a few years. The book is a description of women's lives in India.

Wiliam Dalyrumple, City of Djinns, A Year in Delhi. Great stories about Delhi, he is a British travel writer.

This is great! Thanks, Cicerone.

OK was looking at my bookshelves last night and found a few more recommended books:

Eric Newby, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush; Slowly Down the Ganges. 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, Chasing the Monsoon. 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.

Anita Desai, Fasting Feasting; Baumgartner's Bombay, others. 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.

Travellers' Tales Guides: India. 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.

Jan Morris/James Morris. Jan Morris is far and away my favorite travel writer. I can?t quite believe I omitted her from the list yesterday. Her writing has actually influenced the way and where I travel. She wrote a short piece called "The Travelling Craft" which may change the way you travel as well. Books that you might find interesting about India are

Stones of Empire : The Buildings of the Raj 1983

The Spectacle of Empire : Style, Effect and the Pax Britannica

Except for Pax Britannia, I have read all her other work, and keep going back to her. "Spectacle of Empire" is a quite a long series (a trilogy I think) on British colonial history over the centuries, and does include India, so from that viewpoint it may be helpful to you. She has written books on many other places, her book on Hong Kong is excellent and a classic. (She wrote under James Morris until the early 1970s when she underwent a sex change, so you may find Spectacle of Empire" under James Morris.)

Jhumpa Lahri, Interpreter of Maladies; The Namesake. These books are not about India so much as there are about the Indian immigrant's experience in the US. Interesting to see how she interprets US culture. Very enjoyable books, but may not be so applicable to prepare for a trip to India. The Namesake is quite a moving book, IMO.

This is a wonderful list! I've read so many of them without even trying to concentrate on India.

Another of my all time favorites is Passage to India by E.M.Forester. Colonialism, race, religion, mysticism -- it's as fresh today as when it was written 80 years ago.

Wow, Cicerone, that is an impressive list. I would definately try to read a few of them. Do you have a list for China (probably harder to find English books)? Thanks.

It is a bit harder to find English books on China (esp fiction written by Chinese nationals), but there are many good ones. If you are going to Hong Kong, they have very good English book stores (Times Bookshops which have outlets all over Hong Kong Island, and the Hong Kong Book Centre, 25 Des Voeux Rd, Central are especially good) These bookstores have extensive Asian sections. That might be the best place to look for new titles as well.

The Good Earth (Pearl S Buck) and Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin) are classic books about China. The Art of War (Sun Tzu) is another classic written in something like the 15th century that has application even today. Going through my bookshelf, here are a few more suggestions:

Hong Kong, by Jan Morris. If you are going to Hong Kong, read this before any other book. I believe she has either updated or written another book which came out just about the time of the handover in 1997 (or reunification to be politically correct).

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang - fascinating story of the Soong family and the three sisters, all educated at Wesleyan College in the US in the early 1900's. One married Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, one married a Chinese finance minister.

Life and Death in Shanghai, by Nien Cheng - one woman's true story of life during the Cultural Revolution
The Soong Sisters, by Emily Hahn - also about the Soong sisters

Tai Pan, James Clavell. Almost a classic, thinly fictionalized story of the Jardine Fleming empire started in Hong Kong in the 19th century. His book about the Chiangi POW camp in Singapore during WWII is also excellent.

Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth, edited by Barbara Sue-White. This is a collection of letters and stories by others (Queen Victoria, Rudyard Kipling, WH Auden) which tells the history of the Hong Kong over several hundred years. Also has some interesting photos of old Hong Kong.

Myself a Mandarin, by A Coates. Amusing tales of a British magistrate working in Hong Kong.

On a Chinese Screen; The Painted Veil, by Somerset Maugham. The first is a collection of short stories about life as he encountered it in China in the 1930s. The other book opens in Hong Kong in the 1920s, the balance of the story takes place in a small Chinese village. Somerset Maugham has written extensively about SE Asia, you can find collections of his short stories in most bookshops. He focuses more on Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian islands.

Falling Leaves; Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah. Compelling autobiographies of a Chinese woman born into a wealthy family in Shanghai the 1930s who, being a girl, was unwanted.

Sterling Seagrave has written a number of non-fiction books about China and Asia which make very interesting reading. The Soong Dynasty and Dragon Lady are two very good ones.

Robert Elegant has written a number of fiction and non-fiction books on Hong Kong and Asia. His most popular fiction book is "Dynasty", he has also written a book called "Mandarin". I have not read either. I have read some of his non-fiction including "Pacific Destiny: Inside Asia Today" which I found very interesting and well-written, but might be dated at this point. You might search to see if he has updated it. He has also written a book called Last Year in Hong Kong which came out in 1997 and is presumably about the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC.

There is also a website which lists the above and other books on China, take a look at http://www.travelintelligence.net/ws...yplce_151.html

Finally, there is a series of books called "Culture Shock" on virtually every nation, including China. While not a guidebook, they are a very helpful description of culture and customs in each country.

Movies on China:
The Last Emperor
The Joy Luck Club
Raise the Red Lantern (Mandarin with English subtitles)
The Oilmaker's Wife (Mandarin, with English subtitles)
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (Mandarin, with English subtitles)

Great lists, I'm printing them.

Cicerone - do you know JR Ackerley - Hindoo Holiday? About a young Oxford or Cambridge graduate who takes a job as tutor/companion to a maharajah. Autobiographical, I believe, funny and touching.

It is the basis for the Merchant/Ivory short movie "Autobiography of a Princess," which you may also know.

I would add the La Pierre and Collins books to Cicerones non fiction list. Freedom at midnigt is one of the most insightful and comprehensive accounts of the events leading up to india's independence. City of Joy makes me cry yet be filled with hopefulness even when I reread it - it is a true story of livng among the slum dwellers in Calcutta.

Great list Cicerone, thanks.

Nearly finished Midnights Children which is completely absorbing and compelling, but would say that a basic knowledge of India and it's recent history is a big help.

Also agree with hobbes on the Lapierre/Collins books. Fantastic.

Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India by Lawrence James is a great work about this intriguing period of Indian history.

Balham to Bollywood by Chris England is a hilarious story of a British actor who starred in the Bollywood epic 'Lagaan'.

And something a bit different - Monsoon by Steve McCurry is a stunning collection of photographs taken during the monsson season in Africa, India, Indonesia and Australia. www.stevemccurry.com

Has anybody read 'The Great Hedge of India?' It sounds intruiging.

Jimmyjazz - thanks for the Balham to Bollywood reference, I am going to go out & look for it right now.

If you liked a story of a westerner acting in a Bollywood movie, I wonder if you know the movie Bollywood Calling. It is in English, about a down and out American actor who takes a job in an archetypal Bollywood movie.

Filmed mostly in India. Om Puri is in it. Hilarious and charming about the Bollywood film industry.

A second such film: Merchant & Ivory - Bombay Talkie - made in the 60s abaout Bollywood, with Shashi Kapoor at his most beautiful. Also in English, also a window into that subculture (Indian movie world).

Elizabeth - thanks for the movie tip.I'll try and check it out. Om Puri is fantastic - especially in East is East.

Hope you can find a copy of Balham to Bollywood, I know amazon do it. The film 'Lagaan' is also worth watching, if only for the gorgeous Gracy Singh and a lot of cricket.

Did you see Monsoon Wedding which is a very true to llife story of an upper middle class North indian wedding? Really rang true!

JimmyJazz - I just bought Balham to Bollywood, at the Strand bookstore in NY (used - 1/2 price) and I cna't wait to read it.

I saw Lagaan.

Bollywood Calling - if you really want to hunt it down - you probably have to go to an Indian video store, or buy it from Nehaflix or IndiaWeekly on the net.
Worth it if you think you'd like it.

Anyone want to talk Bollywood & Indian film, "I'm here for you." I've been renting & watching dvds off of all-time best lists - so mostly old ones.

Hobbes - haven't seen Monsoon Wedding yet, even though it was on tele a week ago! Have the soundtrack which is quite nice. I love the brass band bit - takes me back to being woken up at 6am by a wedding procession when I stayed in Delhi. Have seen Salaam Bombay which I think is made by the same people.

Elizabeth - Any other movies of that nature you could recommend? (i.e. more story, less spontaneous singing and dancing). Would also like to see more of Bipasha Basu and Gracy Singh films for no other reason than they are gorgeous.

Enjoy Balham to Bollywood. If you need any cricket rules explained, let me know.

These are wonderful suggestions. I would add one more, small book, written in 1954. "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya. This is old and I understand at one time was recommended to Peace Corps workers going to India. It does sensitize one to the culture that is seen in the lives and habits of older Indians or those in non-urban India.

Do you all understand Hindi movies or manage to get decent sub titles? Sholay, india's first block buster which still runs to packed movie theaters in india is IMO a MUST SEE and a great intro to Hindi movies. Other recent comedy cross over movies (all English) include Bollywood Hollywood, Hyderabad Calling (hilarious tho amateur production of an indian boy who goes back to india to encounter the arranged marriage system)

No I don't understand Hindi, except for the maybe 10 words I have "learned" from watching movies (the Englishwoman in Lagaan's learning speed is my personal ideal-her Hindi becomes beautiful and idiomatic in a couple of days).

dvds often have good subtitles, tho sadly often songs aren't subtitled. And exception is the great great great Guru Dutt movie, Kagaaz khe phool (maybe spelled wrong-ish) highly recommended by me as an eye-opener to the possibilities of the Indian musical movie.

Some older ones have challenging subtitles, but I think they are worth it. E.g. Jewel Thief. Watch it early in am when mind is fresh.

No-music comic classic - Jaane Bhi do Yaaro (Yaaron?) - Naseeruddin Khan AND Om Puri . More later.

Movies : The Guru, Bend it like Beckham, Hollywood Bollywood, Hyderabad Blues, Monsoon Wedding.
Gracy Singh - Minnabhai MBBS (is actually a hilarious movie in hindi, but i guess a lot of the humor will be lost in translation)
Bipasha - Jism

for some reason I could not find this, this morning!

I bought A PRINCESS REMEMBERS, while I was in India and thought it was great. It was especially interesting that the prince had several wives, and they all got along and there was no jealousy. But if the Prince looked at another woman, then they were all jealous!

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Regarding Movies: I cannot beleive no one mentioned the wonderful movie - Gandhi!

I want to thank you, Cicerone, for recommending A Princess Remembers. I was able to get it from my public library and have just begun reading it. Having recently visited India, I questioned how much power the maharajas had and how the British originally acquired their stronghold. This book explains it through the eyes of the granddaughter. Although the family lived in splendor, they were literally nothing more than puppets of the British. This is a fascinating study!

Another film (actually three) worth watching is the poignant trilogy, The World of Apu. It is set in India in the 50's. It takes Apu through one life cycle. Most libraries can order it for you, but be sure to order the DVD, because the titles are illegible on the video.

My favorite India filmed movie is Heat and Dust! it shows the British culture and the Indian too, and how they can collide.

ttt

great info, thank you.

I have read quite a few of the books on Cicerone's wonderful list. I bought 'A Princess Remember's' in India in 1991.

At the moment I am reading Vikram Seth's 'Two Lives' which I purchased just two weeks ago on my stopover at Singapore Airport.

I have very much enjoyed reading the list and have noted many of the titles which hopefully will be in my local library.

India and it's history is a never-ending and mysterious subject to read about. I also love my Lonely Planet book on India and I have a copy of 'A History of India' by John Keay.

I also enjoy books about China and I have a hard back copy of 'From Emperor to Citizen' the autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi that I actually purchased in the Forbidden City when I was in Beijing which makes it more of a treasure.

aussieR

How about any film documentaries on the history of India? Preferably something on ancient history or art or religion. Anything produced by the BBC, PBS, or something a bit more academic?

Thanks.

I've read many of the books on Cicerone's extensive list. I've actually just started A Suitable Boy ( I think its more like 1200 pages!)

Anyways, just thought of a book I read a while ago - Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald which hasn't been mentioned here. Its humorous, interesting and informative.

Thank you for some reminders of a few old favorites and many intriguing recommendations.

CHINA

Are there two books entitled WILD SWANS or did a cut-and-past mishap affect the description of this title?

I say this in genuine bewilderment because years ago I thought I saw a book about the Soong sisters entitled WILD SWANS. Yet Jung Chang's book, which I read a couple of years ago and which you cite here, is an autobiographical story of three generations of women in one family, not a three sisters account. The tag line in Cicerone's list sounds more like a description of Emily Hahn's book about the Soongs but there may indeed be two books entitled Wild Swans.

A couple of other titles to add to the China book list. Both are set in southwestern China, the first in Yunnan province and the second in Hunan province. Both are human interest stories and an absolute delight to read.

1. LEAVING MOTHER LAKE: a Girlhood at the Edge of the World by Yang Erche Namu and Christine Mathieu will introduce you to the Moso people, the "country of daughters," walking marriage, matrilineal society.

2. SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See will introduce you to nu shu -- secret women's writing.

INDIA

Yes, Arundhati Roy's book THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS was quite popular here in the US awhile back. I loved it.

A SUITABLE BOY has been sitting on my "To Read" pile for two years. This Harper Perennial edition has 1474 (count 'em) pages so I have been wary of it. Is it truly worthy of that time commitment in your opinion? Just looking for a little encouragement, I suppose.

Thanks again for very thoughtful lists.

topping

I am especially trying to find out if A SUITABLE BOY has vigorous champions.

Thank you.

A Suitable Boy is one of my FAvorite books of all Time!!!! it is a superb book to read to gain understanding to idnia! iT GOES fAST, do not worry about the numbers..

I also love love love, Rohinstn Mistry's a Fine Balance,. Beautiful and tragic..

I also love the writer, Geeta Mehta, anything she writes about India, for example snakes and Ladders, and a River Sutra..

Also love a new book, Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, about bombay!

And for a great travelogue..I love Holy cow by Sarah McDonald.

Thank you, thank you!

Your list and Cicerone's make a great resource.

Your welcome.
I also love the writer Willaim DAlrymple. He wrote a few great books, namely city of Dijinns and Age of kali!

For the backpacker scene, a great book is called Are u Experinced. It is by William Sutcliffe.

Oh, also Gita Mehta's karma Cola!

And don't forget anything by Salman Rushdie, specifically Midnight;s Children..

I also realy like Shashi Tharoor's book called Indian Unbound, and A.L. Basham wrote a great book called the Wonder that was India..

And of course, Gandhi, My Experients with truth..
namaste, happy reading..I have many more books i love about India, but these are what are comming to mind.

Best books about India:
1. Culture Shock: India - part of the Culture Shock series. Very practical stuff for staying there long-term.

2. Being India by Varma. Delves deep into the Indian psyche and says lots of unpopular stuff I've been saying for ages. I guess it took an Indian to say it in a manner people found acceptable.

3. Empire of the Soul by Paul W. Roberts. My personal favourite Indian travelogue - such great perceptions and laugh-out-loud hilarity at the same time.

Best books about India:
1. Culture Shock: India - part of the Culture Shock series. Very practical stuff for staying there long-term.

2. Being India by Varma. Delves deep into the Indian psyche and says lots of unpopular stuff I've been saying for ages. I guess it took an Indian to say it in a manner people found acceptable.

3. Empire of the Soul by Paul W. Roberts. My personal favourite Indian travelogue - such great perceptions and laugh-out-loud hilarity at the same time.

4. A Passage to India by EM Forster. Covers disturbing issues that have changed very little ("is it really possible to be friends with 'them'?" - this, from both sides of the fence).

5. Plain Tales from the Raj - the first oral history project on the survivors of the British Raj. A great, vernacular account of lives of the colonials.

Visit The India Diaries - www.sirensongs.blogspot.com

A month or so back, I read a very good review in the NY Times of a book on India by a young Indian author (not sure he was born there, but ethnic Indian). It's a non-fiction book on the history/contemporary politics/economics of India. I searched for it online in the NY Times site, but couldn't locate that review. Does anyone know about this book?

Are you talking about a book called Maximum City? This is about Mumbai mostly. I have not read it yet and can't recall the author's name, but I just left Mumbai and several people there were talking about it and recommnded it to me.

Bookmarking for reference as my husband and I think about different places around the world to relocate to! What a fabulous list -- thank you!

Cicerone, Maximum City sounds like an interesting read too, at least from the reviews.

I think this is the book I had in mind. Found the review on the NYTimes website. Temptations of the West:How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond by Pankaj Mishra

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/bo...eb&ei=5070