12 books to read in India
Blog: 99 + 1 countries - 15 August 2009
By: merja
1. White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga.
What: Corrupt, psychotic and wonderfully entertaining Bangalore businessman with a murderous past in Delhi writes nightly letters to the Chinese prime minister.
For whom: People who believe India is a country of ancient wisdom and spirituality.
An eye-opening 2008 Booker Prize winner. Thumbs up.
2. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
What: A mother of two has a steamy affair with an untouchable and everything goes down the drain. Features pedophilia, Indian communism, caste system terror and a heart breaking love story.
For whom: Strong gutted bookworms with a passion for poetic novels.
An enthralling yet demanding read. Booker Prize winner from 1997.
3. Are You Experienced? by William Sutcliffe
What: English backpacker gets stoned in Manali, laid in Goa and sick from a curry. Features every single cliché in India's backpacker scene, with the sex ashram story as a highlight.
For whom: For everyone traveling to India to find out who they really are.
A fun quick read. Highly recommended.
4. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
What: An orphaned daughter of an Indian cosmonaut moves in with her grandpa and faces the atrocities of the Nepalese uprising in Darjeeling in the mid-eighties.
For whom: Those who've been wondering how Heidi would have turned up had she been raised in the politically unstable Himalayas instead of the Swiss Alps.
Another great novel on modern India. Booker Prize winner from 2006.
5. Holy Cow, An Indian Adventure by Sarah MacDonald
What: A young Aussie woman travels around India and is oh so taken aback by the cruelty of current day India. Plot spoiler: In retrospect India turns out to be a fantastic life changing experience. Note, that this might also not be a spoiler as I could not be bothered to finish the stupid book.
For whom: Members of the baggy pants brigade who would just love to tell you how their two weeks in Arambol have completely reformed their outlook on life and that they are now thinking of getting a tribal tattoo.
A rubbish read. Listed here as a warning since it's still sold in every backpacker neighborhood in India.
6. Son of the Circus, by John Irving.
What: Emigrant doctor returns to Mumbai seeking the gene that causes achondroplasia dwarfism. Were else would one find appropriate dwarf subjects for study than in Indian circuses?
For whom: Bigoted John Irving fans who would like to see their literary hero fail when he takes his act away from his native Maine.
A New York Times bestseller. I do not understand why.
7. The yearbook of Indian Cosmopolitan magazine
What: Middle class Indian women struggle between tradition and modernity. Features refreshing articles on how to make your arranged marriage work and how to please your husband by serving him meat dishes (no beef of course).
For whom: Those wanting to time travel back to the age when it was still extravagant for married women to have jobs.
Even if you would never read Cosmopolitan, give the Indian version a try. It gives "bizarre" a whole new meaning.
8. Mahabharata written down by Ganesh, the elephant headed deity and dictated by Vyasa, considered to be an avatar of Vishnu, the All-Pervading essence of all beings.
What: A hindu epic. Features lots of gods and 1,8 million words. According to the Wikipedia roughly 10 times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined and roughly 5 times longer than Dante's Divine Comedy.
For whom: People desperate to look cool.
I liked the Bollywood version I saw.
9. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
What: A shipwrecked boy from Pondicherry sails the world on a life boat with a zoo and ends up alone with the tiger after the beast has eaten up all the rest of the animals.
For whom: People who drink Sprite. Impossible is nothing. Thirst is indeed a major issue if you are shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific.
An entertaining Booker Prize winner from 2002.
10. The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation: As Taught by S. N. Goenka by William Hart
What: A guide book to Vipassana meditation. Features lessons on how to be relieved from suffering through the practice of meditation.
For whom: People who don't know the meaning of the word "cynical". Popular among those who've just been divorced or fired.
A curious read.
11. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
What: Australian robber escapes from jail and finds himself living in a Bombay slum where he finally turns into good but still remains tough when needed.
For whom: All those romantics who in secret admire righteous criminals (as if they existed) and either a) enjoy reading long and boring pseudophilsophical dialogues or b) are practical enough to skip all those boring parts of the book and concentrate in the essential action.
A good read, anyway.
12: Ram Ram India by Nick Rossiter and Alex Thompson
What: Two English university graduates decide to cycle through India and leave preparations for those, who need to prepare. Everyone can ride a bike, eh?
For whom: Eternal optimists who need reassurance that planning is not essential. Travel planning perfectionists, who need proof, that planning is everything and lack of it destroys everything.
A Hilarious read.
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