My fascination with India

[Dark Muse]

I have a fascination with Indian culture, and I love reading books that are set in India though I have not had the opportunity to read many, those I have, I really quite enjoyed. I loved Passage to India by Forester, and Kim by Kippiling. I took a class once about the history of India and read this wonderful autobiographical work called Punjabi Century and it traced the life of the author Parakash Tandon and we also had this anthology that was a collection of essays and poetry written by Indian writers which was quite interesting. As well right now in my Child Lit. Class we are reading a Young Adult book called Sold that is about the life of this girl who starts out in Nepal but ends up in India and I enjoyed Son of the Circus by Irving.

So I am interested in any recommendations on books about India and/or set in India, by both Indian and Non-Indian authors.

[oopsycandy]

The only thing I can remember reading that might be relevant is Vikram Seths A suitable boy.

I found it a bit difficult to get into but once I did I was thoroughly immersed and although this is a very long book it really didn't feel that way when I read it.

Hope this is useful :)

[curlyqlink]

I just finished reading V.M. Vassanji's The Assassin's Song and recommend it highly. It is the story of a boy who grows up in rural India, the eldest son of the priest of a shrine dedicated to a 13th-century Sufi holy man. The shrine has passed down through generations, and he's supposed to take it over in turn. But the modern, outside world calls (Sputnik and soccer...) and so it's a destiny he rejects. It's a fascinating and nuanced story, nicely balanced.

[Dark Muse]

Sounds very interesting curly I will keep that one in mind

[promtbr]

You will want to visit this place (these guys/gals are the experts, as a lot of the posters are translators, writers and bloggers of some notoriety):

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/general-discussion/1741-indian-literature.html

[Virgil]

We read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy as a lit net forum book club read not too long ago. It was an interesting book. You might want to see the discussion and evaluations here: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39278.

[mayneverhave]

Try V.S. Naipaul's Area of Darkness. Its a travelogue that chronicles the author (who is of Indian-Trinidadian descent) as he returns to India, largely with ambivalent feelings on the country's caste system and poverty.

[Dark Muse]

We read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy as a lit net forum book club read not too long ago. It was an interesting book. You might want to see the discussion and evaluations here: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39278.

That book is listed as one of the books I would like to read

[Madhuri]

Some of the books that I have read

Difficult Daughters -- Manju Kapoor
Chokher Bali -- Rabindranath Tagore
Umrao Jan Ada -- Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa
Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry

Pinjar -- Amrita Pritam ( I havent read it, but I have seen the movie; its set in the partition time)

[Wilde woman]

We read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy as a lit net forum book club read not too long ago. It was an interesting book.

I have to second this one.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Some members here seem to dislike this book, but I thought it was very interesting.

Also, Wife by Bharati Mukherjee. You've probably heard of it. It's about an Indian woman named Dimple who, after an arranged marriage, moves with her husband from Calcutta to NYC. Very moving.

[thomas212]

The first thing would be to go there if you have not yet.Reading is much better when you visited the place.I lived 2 years India,4 time 6 month,crossed it twice on a motobike(Emfield) and once with a Ambassador made comvertible.I love the country from the mountain to the sea,the people,the food,the smells even if at time it is a bit special.
I would not recomande Naipaul who seem to hate the place,i have still to read a book where he not complain about it.
Fine Balance and familly matter by Rohinton Mistry are great books,the first is terribly hopeless but quite true.
If you want a bit of atmosphere Paul Theroux with the great railway bazar,bring you across India with knowledgable and picturesque writing.You will trully feel like being there.
Anything by Mark Tully is good and very sensitive about India.
Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger is not as bad as people say.It as some good thing.The booker was just too heavy a burden for it.
The Impressionist, Hari Kunzru was bit strange and weird.
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts is not well written,very clumsy and boasting but one of the book that give an true account of India life in it's diversity.
Hope it help.

[thorn birds]

you might also want to consider some plays written by Indian authors. I would recommend both Mahesh Dattani & Mahashwetha Devi. Will let you know if anything else pops on my radar. On a different note, i have also enjoyed Amitav Ghosh's books, including most recently, Hungry Tides/The Hungry Tide (I forget the exact title).

[annatak]

I agree with A Fine Balance. I'd also add The Hero's Walk (Anita Rau Badani).

[Dark Muse]

Thanks for the suggestions Thomas, some sound quite interesting and I will keep such in mind.

Plays could be interesting I enjoy reading plays, they are just sometimes more difficult to find than books

[andave_ya]

Anything by Rabindranath Tagore! I LOVED the Gitanjali, which is poetry, and Home and the World which is a novel, but with lots of philosophy.

[Dark Muse]

I beleive some of Tagore's poetry, and perhaps some essays were in the anthology book we had to read for the Indian History class I took

[WICKES]

You can't beat Kipling. He is out of favour at the moment because of his enthusiasm for the British Empire- which is a shame, beacuse whatever else he thought or felt he clearly loved India more than Britain

[Pecksie]

Hey,

I recently bought a book of short stories by Lavanya Sankaran, 'The Red Carpet'. It was OK, I guess --- the best thing about it was that it provided some insight into the middle and upper classes in present-day India.

If you're interested in India, I would suggest you read some history books. I've bought one called 'White Mughals', by William Dalrymple, about Englishmen who 'went native' and took Indian wives in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I haven't read it yet, just browsed through it, but it looks very interesting. Will let you know when I come round to reading it :)

[thomas212]

You can't beat Kipling. He is out of favour at the moment because of his enthusiasm for the British Empire- which is a shame, beacuse whatever else he thought or felt he clearly loved India more than Britain

If you read nothing else,certainly.
Kipling is interesting for a period as EM Forster is,but India as an history and a life since the British colony(for some of us anyway).
Talking about this,The Oxford history of India by V A Smith is excellent and untertaining.

[prendrelemick]

Midnight's Children. by Salman Rushdie, a real delight that also charts the years after India's independence.

[mystery_spell]

I've only read Sister of my Heart by her, but Chitra Divakaruni is a wonderful author. I highly recommend Sister of my Heart and have no doubt that you'd enjoy some of her other novels as well.