Calling All Indiaphiles

devla Murphy wrote a wonderfull book about the coorg region, cant remember the title

also "Serpantine" a book about the criminal Charles Sobrajai

hmmm all good suggestions.. my 2 cents..

Vikram Chandra's Love and Longing in Bombay is a lovely collection of short stories about the city.
Loved Clive James's The Silver Castle which I read about 3 years back and can't for the life of me find another copy of.
For something light and easy there is of course Sarah McDonald's Holy Cow
The recent Booker Prize winner The Inheritance of Loss by kiran Desai is lovely

agree that Kim and Rohinton Mistry and Salman Rushdie's books are must haves.

That's a repeat post but here are mine:

Fiction:
Rushdie's Midnight Children (and East West (short stories), R. Mistry, A. Ghosh., V. Seth, A. Roy works are almost classics by now! they're all worth your time.
I also liked Anita Desai (mum of Kiran Desai): The clear light of the day
Anita Rau Badami: The Hero's walk. moving to tears!

try Shashi Tharoor too. he was a contender for the position of UN Secretary General and he's a great fiction and non fiction writer. in particular he wrote a history of Modern India inspired by the Mahabharata, The Great Indian Novel.
Also Jhumpa Lahiri.

non Fiction
The discovery of India, by nobody less than Nehru.
VS Naipaul: India, 1 million mutinees now. Not the easiest book if you don't know anything about India but a fascinating insight into the minds of people from all walks of life.
E. Bumiller: May you be the mother of a hundred sons. This one was recommended to me while I was researching about Indian women's position in Indian societies. It may seem a bit outdated at times but that's a very good read. And the author tells her own opinion, she doesn't not simply states fact.
A. Frater: Chasing the monsoon. Travel book. Very entertaining!

enjoy :) i'm sure you'll find gems along your way in Delhi, Bombay or Calcutta's bookshops ...

You might enjoy some of Rabindranath Tagore's poems.

India Unbound – Gucharan Dass
India Discovered - John Keay
Honorable Company - John Keay
Indian Summer - Alex von Tunzelmann's. Just released & highly recomended. I have a copy on order.
Golden Orioles - Trevalayn
The Jim Corbett Omnibus – Jim Corbett. 3 classics republished
My India – Jim Corbett
No full stops for India - India in slow motion - Mark Tully. Fantastic insights tarnished by authors unresolved issues.
William Dalrymple books as mentioned above
The 'Golden Goa' chapter - The Great Image - Maurice Collis

V. S. Naipaul is mentioned various times here, but only with regard to India, A Million Mutinies Now.

However, two earlier titles are of equal importance, if not more so:

An Area of Darkness (1964)
India : a Wounded Civilization (1977)

These were my introduction to India in the pre-internet era, and they were invaluable to me then, as they will be now to any future Indiaphile.

Also: I shall not hear the Nightingale, by Khushwant Singh.