I just added THE SARI SHOP to my bookshelve. It was an amazing, simply amazing book. Not an easy read, made me gasp a few times. But I read it shortly after I returned from a wedding there. It captures so much of the India I saw, all of it, good, all of it bad. Truly an amazing book.

WANTING MORE! Recommendations??

Holly
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com

Uhm... do you mean non-fiction or fiction? I can give you fiction, but I don't read that many non-fiction.

Well I can recommend

The Hungry Tide: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh - it's set in Sundabar. Amitav Ghosh is a good author, I've read two of his books and you sorta come away with a history lesson as well.

Also The Glass Palace: A Novel by the same author - set in Burma and India tracing the time between when Burma was colonised by the British to the end of WW2 and a bit beyond. Very good, I'd recommend that one above The Hungry Tide. Both are good though and I would like to read more of this author.

I haven't read this, but I've been recommended A Fine BalanceA Fine Balance by Rhohinton Minstry. It looks quite good reading through.

The Ladies Coupe was a great India book. A little bit chick-lit-esque, but fantastic.

Listening Now and The God of Small Things. Both a little sad but very good.

I second A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It was an amazing read, very touching and it made me grateful for so many things that I've taken for granted.

I've a few Indian books on my TBR that I'm aiming to read soon (ie. this month)...

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

One day I'm also going to read: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Nectar in a Sieve

I just happen to LOVE books about India. A fascinating culture & country (and I just happen to be engaged to an Indian).

A Fine Balance has to be one of the best books I have ever read. Beautiful, sad, complex and humorous. Rohinton Mistry is one of my favourite authors. I have read all his novels.

Other favourite books about India include The God of Small Things (some of the most beautiful prose) and A Suitable Boy (an epic!). I also really enjoyed The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

My next read about India has to be Midnight's Children (recently won best of the Bookers prize winners).

Would love to receive more recommendations!

Claire
(UK)

The glass palace I liked, but a book I enjoyed even more as:
Th house of blue mangoes By David Davidar. I enjoyed a lot the story and also the way it was written. Adored the title and the cover I had when reading it, nice blue.

The House of Blue Mangoes

Shantaram is fantastic.

Two Under the Indian Sun
by Jon Godden and Rumer Godden

A childhood in pre-partition India written by the writers Jan and Rumer Godden. Read it years ago and recently re-read it - good as it was the first time around. Highly recommended.

Edmund

I would recommend the short stories of Saadat Hassan Manto - the collection I read was called "Kingdom's End", but I don't believe it is in print anymore. Just taking a quick look on Amazon, I saw that there is this offering:

http://www.amazon.com/Another-lonely-voi...

Two non-fiction books I would recommend are The Last Jews of Kerala and Holy Warriors by Edna Fernandes (she is Goan - married to a pal of mine!) - really interesting stuff.

Finally - I'd recommend a film called Hyderabad Blues, about the homecoming of a young Indian fellow after 10 years in America. It is an amateur production - he got a lot of his pals to "star" in it, but it is very funny and gives a completely different glimpse of India - fun with friends, frank conversations about sex and marriage, family dynamics (e.g. every mother is a Jewish mother, stuffing her son with food). Some of the acting won't win Oscars, but it is a fun film nonetheless.

Oh, Vanessa, I adore Indian film! Thank you for the recommendation!

The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott is about the last few years of the raj and just afterwards. A series of four books its got adventure, romance, everything really. A wonderful read.

Midnight's Children. Its a story loosely tied in with Indian independence and partition. In my opinion, one of the very few readable Salman Rushdie books is marvellous. It won the Booker of Bookers prize and also the best all-time Booker prize. Once you start reading it, a bit like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's stories, you are instantly immersed in a completely-rounded different world. (If you enjoyed GGM's A Hundred Years of Solitude you will almost certainly love this too).

I love fiction set in India. There've been a lot of my favorite India books mentioned already. God of Small Things is an amazing book. Shantaram is an epicly huge novel. Midnight's Children may be the best book on Partition that I've read. Vikram Chandra has two massive novels that range all across India, Sacred Games: A Novel and Red Earth and Pouring Rain: A Novel, that are highly enjoyable. Someone mentioned Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake but I preferred her short stories in Interpreter of Maladies. Also, I don't know if anyone likes science fiction but I really enjoyed Ian McDonald's River of Gods, which was set in Mumbai.

I still have J.G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur in my to-read stack, but I hope to get to it soon. I've heard nothing but good about it.

I'd love some recommendations for further reading, too, if anyone has more suggestions.

A Suitable Boy - that's the massive tome isn't it? My dad has it though he never got around to finishing it. He doesn't have the patience for reading much these days I think. Anyway, I did read a bit and it seemed well written.

But... is it worth it? Don't want to get half way through and get bored.

The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic and The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayan might be good background reading. (The unabridged Mahabharata includes the Bhagavad Gita)

The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor -- I have no idea how/where I heard about this one.

Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa -- novel about the partition's effect on women, narrated by a 5-year-old girl.

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala -- Booker Prize Winner 1975, set in 1920's India.

May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons by Elisabeth Bumiller -- non-fiction

My Story: The Compelling Autobiography of the Most Controversial Indian Writer by Kamala Das

In Nampally Road, India - the class conflicts, the imperialist legacy, the sexism - is vividly drawn. This is politically-pointed fiction at its best. (From Independent Publisher as quoted on Amazon.com)

Rich Like Us by Nayantara Sahgal -- set in India after Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency, it details it's impact on 63-year old Rose and 38-year old Sonali.

A River Sutra by Gita Mehta explores India's history, religion, & mythology through a series of characters that interact with the owner of a rest house on the bank of the Narmada river.

The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri -- a layered story that follows the memories and visions of the dying protagonist, interweaving them with the interactions of his neighbors.

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster


Hmmm, maybe it's time for me to set up an "India" shelf...

It's already been mentioned but as one of my favorite books ever I have to recommend A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. Amazing story, amazing characters, all set against the backdrop of the "Emergency" in 1970's India.

I also have to add that Mistry is one of my favorite authors. He writes characters that you feel you've known all your life and that stay with you long after the story has ended.

ok so maybe stating the obvious???

Rudyard Kipling, E M Forster and Graham Greene wrote amazing novels about India under British rule.

The Heart of the Matter by Greene is fantastic. A Passage to India by Forster is great (but alittle wordy).

And what better way to explore India than Kim or The Jungle Books both by Kipling?

Liz - Loved both Heat and Dust and A Passage to India!

I would also recommend Midnight's Children, Shantaram, and Life of Pi.

Paul Mann writes a detective series that takes place in India, I believe the first one is Season of the Monsoon.

HOLY COW was great in its own way. I especially recommend reading it AFTER you travel to India. It has a lot more meaning to it! For sure!

Holly
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com

I really didn't care for Holy Cow as much as I thought I would. The author seemed to spend so much time complaining about her discomforts that I just grew tired of her.

Hi,

Another vote for A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. Also a great book from a couple of years ago is The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. It's set in the region called the Sundarbans, part of the Ganges Delta area. The authors description makes you feel like you are really visiting that magical area.The Hungry Tide: A Novel

Hey John, have you read Ghosh's latest novel? I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback...

I want to read THT again - I remember really liking it. I think it's Ghosh's style of writing that I like more then anything though.

Fiona, no Hungry Tide is the only one I've read so far but will look out for it and also The Glass Palace which was a popular read.

The Glass Palace is very good. In fact better I would say then The Hungry Tide. I'd recommend you read that as soon as possible. ;)

Ah, his latest novel isn't out in paperback until March. :(

Okay, don't say anything but I jsut didn't think of it....I am at page 144 or something of Kim by Kipling which is taking place in .....India, yep right. For now I like it.
Kim

I quite liked Kim. Granted it's mostly set in Lahore, which is now Pakistan, but the whole description of the Grand Trunk Road was so lush and detailed you can't help but fall in love with the people and the culture.

I thoroughly enjoyed Across the Lakes by Amal Chatterjee, but it may be difficult to get hold of a copy.

And for many many more books about India hit the explore tab near the top of the page, then choose "top shelves" and on the right side of that page there is a box for "search by shelf name". Type in India & it returns a huge list of books (495!) that users have shelved under "India".

Fiona, you could try this method for World War fiction, too. Although there's probably more variation in shelf names (WWI, WWII, World-War, or what have you), so it might not return as many books.

My favourites are The Cripple and His Talismens and A Passage to India.

Hey that's a good tip Liz thanks. *list piles up*

Always happy to assist others in obtaining ridiculously long TBR lists.

Yeah, maybe I should be cursing you rather then thanking you!

Sir V. S. Naipaul's An Area of Darkness - one of the best books I've ever read, and its follow-up, India: A Wounded Civilization. Books that are travelogues but also about the culture and religion and analyses of exactly what is right and what is not. The writing alone makes the books worth reading.

Richard, as luck would have it I found a copy of Across the Lakes last week in my local Oxfam store. Your review is great and I will be moving onto it soon.

Excellent, John. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses both by Indu Sundaresan. Both also having part of the story take place in Lahore. Historical fiction/romance about the Maygar(?) empire and the ruler directly before Shah Jehan (Taj Mahal builder).

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan is a children's book, maybe YA book, but has an interesting story about widowhood in India.

Well, it's the only book about India that I have read (at least as far as I can remember) but I recommend The God of Small Things because it touched me so deeply. It's so beautiful and fantastic. I would almost recommend it to everyone just because of it's amazing writing prose but there are also so many other interesting things - the complicated plot, the powerful and meaningful themes, the interesting characters and development and much much more.

But The God of Small Things can be pretty disturbing as a warning. I would also recommend it, but it is strange.

Yes, I agree about The God of Small Things. I connected to parts of it, especially the characterizations. But I felt it was too long and not well edited. And the ending is just devastating.

As others before, I would recommend "A Passage to India," which I read long ago, but has stayed with me. And right now I'm enjoying "Life of Pi" which starts out in India.

There is "Interpreter of Maladies" which is not about India per se (well, maybe one story), but remains one of my favorite books.

And lastly, "The Death of Vishnu," which has great, vibrant characters. But watch out for the ending there as well...

At the moment I'm reading The Piano Tuner: A Novel - only in the beginning but it's very good. It goes through India and into Burma. I'm enjoying it at the moment. It's about a piano tuner who is sent from England, on a comission to fix some army surgeon's piano in the Shan States. It's set during the 1880's during the time when England finally took poor old Burma over.