Does anyone knows some good novels about India? There are so many in the libary, I don't know which ones are good and whiche are rubish. Thanks a lot!
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Of course, taste in novels is personal, but I think the following books are fantastic, provide interesting insights into India, and are most definitely not rubbish: "The Moor's Last Sigh" by Salman Rushdie, "A Fine Balance" by Rohintin Mistry, "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy, "Passage to India" by E.M. Forster, anything and everything else by Salman Rushdie. I'm looking forward to seeing other people's suggestions on this topic as well.
there is a 3 part set and I know the first 2 have been written . The first is called GOA. I know a bit of History and really enjoyed reading these and hope the 3rd is out by now. very recent publications. enjoy,JJ
There are so many good ones..where do I start:
Midnight's children - Salman Rushdie
India - a million mutinies now - V S Naipaul,
Delhi Diary - Khushwant Singh
Karma Cola - Gita Mehta
The above are more of cotemporary writing and once in a
while morbid though of good quality.
this is fun ->
English August - Upmanya Chatterjee
If you can let me know what kind of novels you want to read,
it might be easier to recommend for me.
rgds
Suhas Dutta
http://www.delhigate.com
I just finished "Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road" by
Anthony Weller. The writer follows the Grand Trunk from
Calcutta through to the Kyber Pass. Interesting, and often
humourous observations which are reminacint of Paul Theroux,
but without the cynicism.
Here are some suggestions from an enthusiastic reader:
-Mistress of Spices (India and Indians living in America)
by Chitra Divakaruni
-Anything by author Khushwant Singh
-Passage to India by EM Forester
-Far Pavillions by MM Kaye
-In Light of India by Octavio Paz (history but reads like a
novel)
-Anything by Gita Mehta
Of course, you should really include City of Joy in the list too - a book with perspective.
Rohintin Mistry's 'Such a Long Journey' is great and not so
depressing as the excellent 'A Fine Balance'. Of course,
there's John Irving's 'Son of the Circus', which is a novel
situated in India, but doesn't pretend to be about India.
It's entertaining though.
John Irving: 'Son of the Circus', You really recognize India
in it...
Thomas
I suppose "Novel" translates to fiction, but if you'd like
a really interesting, well written and unbiased book on
India's recent history (recent as in 50 yrs. ago) try
reading "Freedom at Midnight" by Larry Collins & Dominique
Lapierre (The latter authored "City of Joy"). Very
revealing, even for an Indian.
Pradeep
Here are two more:
1)"India Gate" by Lacey Fosburgh
2)"Heat & Dust" by Ruth Prawler Jhabvala
Ruth Prawler Jhabvala has written more novels about
India,some of them excellent.
Heat & Dust was also turned into a movie.
But one of the best is John Irving's "son of a circus",
already mentioned twice above.John Irving has spent only a
short while in India but despite this he grasped it's
atmosphere
astonishingly well.
I have read a lot of travel writing about India and my
absolute favorite is the recently published "Empire of the
Soul: Some Journeys in India" by Paul William Roberts
Well, one of my all time favourite books is "A Suitable Boy"
by Vikram Seth....a huge sprawling book centered around a
middle-class family shortly after Independence. Funny and
fascinating. Whenever I go back to page through it again I
keep hoping Vikram would have magically added more.
Also: "Red Earth and Pouring Rain" by Vikram Chandra
"Raj" by Gita Mehta
"Baumgartner's Bombay" by Anita Desai (I believe)
"Junglee Girl" by Ginu Kamani
"Ice-Candy Man" (also known as "Cracking India") by Bapsi
Sidwa
But the best place to start would be with "Mirrorwork: 50
Years of Indian Writing" edited by Salman Rushdie. I'd say
that every fiction writer mentioned on this post is
included. It is really one of those completely delicious
anthologies. Published by Owl Books in the U.S.
You might try some novels of R.K. Narayanan(Swamy and
Friends, The English Teacher...) to get a flavour of South
Indian culture.
I would say something about the staggering literary history
of India and how one should read all the predecessors of
today's living authors to achieve a real grasp of the
tradition etc. etc. But the best book I have read on,
about, or taking place in India is A FINE BALANCE by
Rohinton Mistry. This book itself is staggering in its
humanity, realism, and wonder. If you could translate the
hopeless promise of mankind into words, this would be it.
I am not close to my bookshelf now but it holds so many rich
and diverse writings (novels/social criticism/poetry/etc)
that it would hard to make a best-of list... So, from the
ones mentioned here, I'll chime in for these:
-- A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry. One of the finest
novels I have ever read. It lingers on long after you have
choked on its final heart-wrenching pages. It holds all of
India in its pages.
-- Empire of the Soul - Paul William Roberts. An honest,
sometimes cynical, sometimes naive (IMO), account of a
westerner trying to explain India to himself.
-- The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy. New Indian
writing: Smart, funny, cosmopolitan, with no hang-ups or
hang-overs.
-- Anything by Geoffrey Moorhouse is very good, specially
his essays on Calcutta.
-- I personally find the writings on India by VS Naipaul to
be rather over-rated. You will find him everywhere,
specially in India, even if he is exceedingly judgemental on
the subcontinent.
For history try..Magic Mountains - Dane Kennedy
A compilation..traveller's Literary Companion (Indian
Subcontinent - Passport Books.
A Novel..Red Earth and Pouring Rain - Vikram Chandra
Travel..Slowly Down the Ganges - Eric Newby
Delhi: A Novel
by Khushwant Singh
An aging Delhi-ite tells stories about the chequered
and bloody history of Delhi as seen through its famous
inhabitants, while wasting his days with a hijda prostitute
and chatting up visiting Western women. Eventually he
himself is caught up in one of the horrific episodes of
Delhi's past.
An excellent read and a good if extremely opinionated
history lesson. No-one, whatever their religion or standing,
is spared criticism. The story of the poet Mir Taqi Mir is
particularly good.
By Frater. Real life adventure, hilarious, of actually
"chasing the monsoon' as it sweeps out of the Bay of Bengal
toward the hill stations. Great reading.
Most of the good books have been listed. I wholeheartedly
endorse Rushdie, The God of Small Things is great if you're
interested in South India, and English, August, if you can
get a copy. I would also add the excellent anthology of
Indian writing published by Penguin last year, edited by
Salman Rushdie. However, I must disagree with the
recommendation of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. She has a certain
utility as a screenwriter, but her novels are dreadful,
especially those set in India, and especially Heat and Dust
(A Backward Place, though, is probably worse).
Hi
Can I expect to find ATM machines in North-India ( i.e.
Manaly ) and in GOA area ?
Try a book called 'karma cola' for a good take on westerners
looking for peace and nirvana in india. It is my a woman
called Gita something starting with 'm' - Merha?? something
like that. And it is great - very ireverant. Enjoy
"A Suitable Boy" is great book but I can't remember the author's name. It's huge book dealing with a modern girl's search for "a suitable boy." It deals with Indian society, politics, and love for one in another caste. It weighs about three pounds in hardback and if memory serves me correctly, is about 1000 pages long. I couldn't put it down and read it in about five days. I've been longing for India ever since.
a backward place by jhabvala
the householders by ditto
get ready for battle by ditto
baumgartner's bombay by anita desai
(sri lanka) a change of skies by yasmine gooneratne
I'd recomend "Karma Cola" by Gita Mehta (along with half the
folk here), and also "Are You Experienced?" by someone
Sutcliffe. Both deal with the stupidity and naivety of most
western travellers.
here are a few books i have read that i enjoyed, written by
brits about india or by indians.
"Kim" - Rudyard Kipling(World's Classic, Oxford): its
written as a children's book but its pretty heady for kids
i'd say. its good bc it chronicals a young man's trip across
india (lots of specific sites, landmarks, cities). also
there is interesting critisism avaliable... ck out Edward
Said's book called "Orientalism" or "Culture and
Imperialism"
"Midnight's Children" -Salmond Rushdi...good book.
"Passage to India" -E.M. Forster(Harcourt Brace)...dont
judge a book by a movie. the books much better. it deals
with the relationships between Anglo-Indians and
Indians...stuff on caste system, religon, etc.
"Season of Migration to the North" -Tayeb Salih...this is an
interesting but strange one. its about a native Indian who
is schooled in England. fair warning, this one is out there
but short and well written.
good luck and happy reading :)
Try "IT'S ALL HERE NOW (ARE YOU?)", by Bhagavan Dass. More a
book on spirituality and the spiritual quest than anything
else, but it definitely gives an insiders look at an
interesting niche in Indian culutre during an interesting
time.
There are excellent reviews of books about India and by Indian authors on the IndoLink site:
www.IndoLink.com/Book/index.html
good to read...
MAY YOU BE THE MOTHER OF A HUNDRED SONS by Elisabeth Bumiller. Great reading about the women of India. I also recomend THIRD CLASS TICKET by Heather Wood. This is a book about Indians traveling around their country. The last book is TRAVELER'S TALES: INDIA. Essays by anyone and everyone traveling in India.
I just read only one book about India and it's " The God Of Small Things". I buy it from a bookshop in Delhi. It's cost only 360 rupees for the hardcover [ print in India ]. When I came back to Thailand and go to the bookshop in Bangkok I find the same book but print in America cost almost 1200 Bahts [ about 30 dollars ]. I think next time If I have a chance to go back to India again I will buy books as much as I can take them with me. It's good to start with this book eventhough my English is not quite good and I can't understand all of it but it make a lot of impression on me. I feel that reading this book is like playing jigsaw because of the way that the writer tell us her story [ the one that contains a lot of sub-stories for every characters ]. I think I will try others book that youguys reccommend in this section. May be " Kamar cola" or " son of the circus " . They both sound good.
The authors name is William Sutcliffe. The book deals with
stereotypical gap year students just travelling for the
sake of it, with the only intention being to fill in a few
lines on their CV, rather than really seeing India as a
beautiful, and vibrant country. Best bit - one of the
characters throws his LP out the bus window and shouts
"we're on holiday!".
My Favorites
A sutiable Boy - Vikram Seth
Passage To India - EM Forester
Mistress of Spice - Chitra D.
Far Pavillians - M.M. Kay
Midnights Children - Salman Rushdie
Heat and Dust - Ruth J.
City of Joy -
36 Chowngeeri Lane - cannot remember who by
The God of Small things - Arundhati Roy
Slowly Down The Ganges - Eric Newby
Like many above:
Rushdie - The Moors Last Sigh
Roy - The God of Small Things
Mehta - Karma Cola (non-fiction)
Seth - A Suitable Boy
Also:
Naipaul - Into the Heart of Darkness - Not a novel, more a
journey into ones own roots. Interesting for India (albeit
NOT positive) but also for his thoughts on the colonial
experience. Naipaul was born in Jamaica of India parents,
which is rather different from my own experience (NZ with
English father), so I was surprised at how strongly it
reasonated.
Shashi Tharoor - The Great Indian Novel - Bought this in
India a couple of years ago. Its a panoramic sweep of
Indian history, in a rather ironic/irreverential tone. I
enjoyed it.
Pico Iyer - Any travel books. Video Night in Kathmandu is
a good collection
For more on this subject, check out the SASIALIT mailing
list at http://is.rice.edu/~riddle/play/sasialit/
KARMA COLA by gita mehta-REALITY CHECK!also SNAKES AND
LADDERS by same author.
Read anything by Rabrindanath Tagore.....and a must is
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda...which
highlight India's true Treasures to the world.
by rudiard kipling.
when i came back from india the first time (since than i've
retuned twice more), i gave this book to my grandmother who
could not understand what was it that got into me in india.
after she read this book she understood a little better.
i bet you didn't expect so many bloody answers. -decided not to mention mine, but it's up there somewhere.
A fine balance -best one on india ive ever read.
Kipling wrote a couple of good novels about India, and I'm
sure they are still available.
I have recently read some of Love and Longing in Bombay
(short stories), by Vikram Chandra, and am currently reading
his novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain. It is quite good, and
very readable, and is set in both 19th century India and
20th century America. Its very funny in places, but ignore
the back cover- Chandra is not as good as Rushdie. If I
might also recommend Rushdie's Shame. it does not deal with
India, but Pakistan, but it is so beautiful, and anyone who
enjoyed Midnight's Children or Moor's Last Sigh will love
this too.
Until this subject came up, I didn't realize how many books
about India I've read. "A Goddess in the Stones" by Norman
Lewis made me want to board the next plane. "A River
Sutra" by Gita Mehta is lovely. And "The Invisibles: A
Tale of the Eunuchs of India" is pretty wierd but really
interesting. P.S. Can't convince my husband to go to
India, but we're going to come real close (finally) in 1999.
I'd recommend 'The Wonder That Was India' By A.L. Basham for
those who want to learn about the history of India.
A.L.Basham is a reputed prof. of Asian History from Univ. of
Canberra is regarded as an erudite scholar by many. I think
this is also one of those 'unbiased' books on history of
India.
I'm planning to go to India next year, for about 5 months. Could anyone tell me what safe places are to store luggage (hotels, stations, ...)? Is it possible to store more valuable items somewhere, like camera's etc? I don't feel like carrying my belongings everywhere for five months. Thanks.
My very favourite India book is "Karma Cola" by Gita Mehta.
It is really funny- easy to read- and a great satire of the
guru/ disciple relationship. It is a great book about the
hippie invasion of India during the 70's. Well worth a
read!
"A Fine Balance," by Rohinton Mistry, is my vote. I
developed a far greater understanding of India and how
things work there by reading it. I can't say enough about
it.
A very nice book about southern india:
Dervla Murphy:
On a shoestring to Coorg
I can't believe only one post has mentioned Rabindranath
Tagore! "The house and the world" is such a beautiful and
universal book ... I've read it at least five times ...
"Gora" is also excellent, although I didn't like it as much.
I've also enjoyed :
- Satyajit Ray : beside being a film director, he wrote
quite a few detective stories for kids : "Feluda stories"
are great fun, very amusing, naive and sweet.
- "Pather Panchali - Song of the road" by Banerji (a
classic, I suppose)
- My favorite - after Tagore, of course - is "The great
indian novel" (Shashi Tharoor, who also wrote "Show
business" an ironical story set in Bollywood)
- Amitav Ghosh : "The Calcutta chromosome" (a bit strange)
and "The Shadow lines"
- I don't think you can pass by the "Mahabharata" : Probably
the best book about India ... (for a start, a shortened
version will do!)
Is it possible to drive by car hired in Udaipur via
Ranakpur to Jaisalmer.Do you have to go via Jodphur
Is there a shorter way or do you think bus or train are
better options?
How long does it take by car ?
Thanks for all info.
by David Tomory is very interesting. subtitled "true tales from the road to Kathmandu" and deals with the mass exodus of freaks in the late 60s, early 70s. another one on the same subject is "Goa freaks" by Cleo Odzer. lots of good books mentioned above. Not mentioned is "into India" by John Keay. "Culture Shock India" is interesting (its by Gitanjali Kolanad). if youre interested in Ladakh, dont miss Helena Norberg-Hodge "Ancient futures, learning from Ladakh". a quite new one is Kiran Desais "Hullaballoo in the guava orchard" - its excellent
No Full Stops in India, by BBC Correspondent Mark Fuller
mark tully
~
an area of darkness, v s naipaul
by Gita Mehta
Where can I get a copy? I've been avidly scouring bookshops
in Leeds for about a week but no joy! Yesterday some poncey
Waterstones bloke couldn't spell the title and authors name
right for a search on his computer and accused me of taking
the piss!
I'm desperate for a copy. Please help!
REPEAT REQUEST FOR HELP.
MAYDAY MAYDAY IS ANYONE OUT THERE? CAN ANYONE HELP?
O my goody!!! I had never expect to get thφs many reactions
on my topic!!! Thank you all s≤ very much for all your
India-novel-know-how!!
My trip to India has been a little while ago allready, but
I keep on reading about the country to keep my memories
alive and to get the feeling that I'm there for a moment
again. And thanks to you all I have a huge source to chose
good novels from!! Thanks!!
The Wonder That Was India - A L Basham (a detailed work
dealing mostly with Hindu history)
A History of India Vols 1,2 - Romila Thapar, Percival Spear
(lighter, and spans Indian pre-history through colonial
rule)
'Mahabharata' - Hindu epic, and includes the 'Sri Bhagvad
Gita'. Easy to read is C Rajagopalachari.
Liberty or Death - Patrick French (very well written
book on Indian independence and Partition)
Return of the Aryans - Bhagwan S Gidwani (an interesting
novel about Aryan migration. I add it as a diversion.
I'm looking for a hotel in Bombay.
I'm gonna stay here for 3 nights, not too lowbudget.....
somewhere in 'the middle'.
Can someone recommend one ?
Thanks a lot,
Saskia
"In Custody" by Anita Desai is about a schoolteacher bored
with his lot in life who has the opportunity to interview a
reclusive legend of Urdu poetry. However, his idol does
not match his expectations. A very good read.
Thanlks for those overwhelming responses to repeated
requests for Karma Cola. Now, a mere few months laterI have
just finished reading it after ordering it from amazon.
Great book, but a hassle to track down. CHeers to all those
people who were so sodding helpful. I'll do the same for
you one day
if somebody missed these titles, then you need to check
these out
Malgudi Days - by RK Narayan
(fictional small town india, it's daily life and very
lovable characters) MUST READ.
The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur
(don't be mislead by the title, it is the tale of an indian
student in an american univ, but carries a lot of mannerisms
you can expect from indians, a very hilarious read)
Translated works of Munshi Premchand and Rabrindra Nath
Tagore.
Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh (an account of 1947
partition of india and pakistan)
Maneaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbett (excellent account of
wildlife of india in 'the raj' days)
After reading this site I went to my local library who do
keep a copy of Karma Cola. It is out on loan so I an
patiently waiting for it to be returned and looking forward
to a good read.
Hey,
Everyone keeps talking about Karma Cola, but I found "A
River Sutra" to be a more engaging, more moving read. It's
very short, you can finish it in a day or two, and has many
great moments in it. It's a novel, not non-fiction, but
highly recommended.
Also, "Midnights Children" is one of the best novels i've
ever read.
Ed
Read Bharati Mukherjee, novels and short stories.
thanks everybody, this was really usefull, thanks marij for
putting up the topic .
not mentioned yet are :
* The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott (4 books : the jewel in the
crown-a division of the spoils-the day of the scorpion- the
towers of silence(the best part)
* Plain tales from the hills by Kipling : short stories
* A search in secret india - paul brunton (about yogi's)
* Indian Odyssey - Christopher Portway ( around the
subcontinent by public transport)
* An indian summer - James Cameron
* India file : Trevor Fishlock
Read Mr. Dimok Explores the Myestries of India. It is
written by Edward Dimok who is a Prof Emeritus from the Univ
Of Chicago and a foremost scholar in South Asian studies.
It is hilarious and will conjure up images that you will
only see in India.
Read it and fall off your chair.
Read Mr. Dimok Explores the Myestries of India. It is
written by Edward Dimok who is a Prof Emeritus from the Univ
Of Chicago and a foremost scholar in South Asian studies.
It is hilarious and will conjure up images that you will
only see in India.
Read it and fall off your chair.
You can probably buy it off of Amazon.com.
If you really want to read some brilliant Indian Literature
you should read Tagore.
Books such as:
Binodini
Gora
The Postman
Short Stories.
Also read Rudyard Kiplings "Kim".
Finally, read some R.K. Narayan
Malgudi Days
The Guide.
Contemporary Indian Literature is great but you must see
where todays authors got their inspiration.
If you are interested in spiritual books let me know.