This can also be called
The great Indian Book Hunt
(For every thing Indian must begin with “The great Indian”)
Sometime ago when I was planning on how to spend my vacation, in a moment of enhanced desi-ness I decided that I must conquer the Indian authors. I googled for a top list, and to my surprise other than the Ten best Books About India at the IndEco blog I was unable to find any list.
So dear readers, help me out, and put down your fave Indian books and authors, and if possible add a note on why it is good.
You are welcome to contribute titles in any language though English and Hindi would help me the most.
If you are a regional blogger i encourage you to run a similar collaboration and make a master list.
Here is my list
-
- RK Narayanan, conveys fantastically the Indian village/semi-urban life. His characters are easily identifiable in our neighborhood, are realistic yet have a fictional appeal.
- Premchand, genius. Need I say more.
- Vicram chanda’s Sacred Games. A good insight into the underworld of our own dear Bharat. May I compare it with the revered Godfather?
That’s it.
I know it is pitifully short list but the total number of Indian books I have read is also really small.
I have read Kiran desais “inheritance of loss” and found it quite a bore so if yo want to put it on the list, give GOOD reasons, and enlighten poor ol’ me.
hope this endeavor does not fall flat.
For those of you who need criterion.
- The book is by an Indian author
- The book is about India or Indians
- The book is written well, has good grammar
- Reads like a standard novel and not a Indianized ripoff of some other classic.
- Any genre, any language, in fact make that all genre all language.
- Look at the contributor’s before you and try not to repeat
- Mention Book and Author.
- Add yourrule here
ciao
schizo
35 responses so far ↓
1 Binny V A // Mar 6, 2007 at 8:08 am
The link on ‘Ten best Books About India’ is broken.
R. K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends
If non-fiction is allowed…
Freedom at Midnight
My Experiments with days
2 Schizo // Mar 6, 2007 at 9:14 am
Thanks binny, have fixed the link.
Malgudi days has been a great favorite of mine too.
Non fictionis allowed, though i would like books BY Indian authors (I am some what of a racist)
schizo
3 sulz // Mar 6, 2007 at 11:03 am
the only indian author that impressed me (i must say that i don’t read much by indian authors, or even chinese authors, despite being one) was rabindranath tagore’s the man from kabul. it’s a beautiful short story. read it here http://www.netvip.com/users/piaries/etagore.htm
4 minerva // Mar 6, 2007 at 11:23 am
not written by an indian, but looks at india in a way an person who grew up with english as his/her mother tongue and is proud to be indian, by which i mean does not go all derogatory and look down uponish on all things desi : shantaram by gregory david roberts. good read. he had me hooked the moment he described the slums.could have done with better editing, the philiosophical musings do not add to the plot but jus makes me want to skip it.
5 schizo // Mar 6, 2007 at 4:17 pm
hi Minerva, have read the book, nice read, some things he says. particularly about love, make agood read, i have friends who actually took those statements down:-)
blog on
schizo
6 Schizo // Mar 6, 2007 at 4:27 pm
hi sulz,
yep, tagore is definitely one of the worlds finest. the story is indeed lovely. I think a lot of us dont read much of our own authors, perhaps we arent patriotic enough:-)
schizo
7 minerva // Mar 6, 2007 at 9:08 pm
oh yeah…
one about love that says something like never try to make friends with an old flame? he puts it better.
strikes even more when one in bang in the middle of the death throes of a relationship.
vive la amour!
8 nelsonnium // Mar 7, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Chetan Bhagat Five Point Someone, and Kaavya’s HOMGWGKAGAL… The Title is too long and I can’t be bothered to type it out… Nice books, forget the plagiarism allegations about the latter… Just Read!
9 td // Mar 8, 2007 at 1:36 am
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta
Non-fiction and excellent.
10 DrJohnsonPhilip // Mar 8, 2007 at 8:45 pm
hi td, could you tell us what the book is about, i havent heard of this one
11 minerva // Mar 9, 2007 at 12:44 pm
i find it strange that no one has mentioned either salman rushdie or vikram seth yet… two of the authors who i think set off the interest in indians writing in english. would def recommend both midnight’s children and a suitable boy to anyone who hasnt read it so far.
esp v seth’s poems :
Sit, drink your coffee here; your work can wait awhile.
You’re twenty-six, and still have some life ahead.
No need for wit; just talk vacuities, and I’ll
Reciprocate in kind, or laugh at you instead.
The world is too opaque, distressing and profound.
This twenty minutes’ rendezvous will make my day:
To sit here in the sun, with grackles all around,
Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away.
Vikram Seth
read!
read
12 sukii // Mar 17, 2007 at 6:11 am
I’d say you should read THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by ARUNDHATI ROY…..
13 Anurag // Apr 17, 2007 at 4:15 pm
There are so many good ones. Thankfully Vikram Seth finally found a place. Even though set much before my time, I can identify the place and time he describes in A Suitable Boy.
I would like to mention Shashi Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel. Brilliant adaptation of the great Indian epic into modern India.
14 AJAY // Sep 25, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Must read SUMTHING OF A MOCKTALE by SOMA DAS. Really exciting and hillarious all through. Get insight of JNU campus. Publisher ” Shrishti”
15 Schizo // Sep 25, 2007 at 7:33 pm
hi ajay,
thanks for the suggestion
will look into the book
thanks, come by again.
cioa
schizo
16 Shailesh // Oct 27, 2007 at 10:06 am
hi recently read ’something of a mocktale’ (soma das). this surely is another fun-filled campus novel after five point someone (chetan bhagat) and above average (amitava bagchi).
these campus books are light, funny, have a good pace and one enjoys reading them without having to strain much. and the price of Rs 100 for the book doesnot burn a hole in the pocket (though above average is expensive some Rs 150 or 200).
what i like about these books are they are pretty frank and there are several instances in all these books which all of us can identify with…..be it campus politics, friendships and fights, small lies of everyday life that we all take help of, students making fun of teachers, teachers reading through students, love stories, etc. etc.
while all these books do have a specific campus backdrop (jnu or iits) but at an underlying level, i feel all of us would reflections of our campus days in the book.
17 Shailesh // Oct 27, 2007 at 10:09 am
what i meant was …..at an underlying level, i feel all of us would FIND reflections of our campus days in the book.
18 Komal // Nov 24, 2007 at 12:27 am
Being born in India and raised in America, I often feel trapped between my Indian and American culture. I can turn to books to help me understand and live vicariously the lives of all different Indian cultures. One fabulous book was “The Namesake” by Jumpha Lahiri. I was able to relate to Gogol and the book was very well written. The movie on the other hand was horrible.
“Sister of my Heart” and “Vines of Desire” by Chitra Devakurani were fabulous.
“Twentieth Wife” and “Feast of Roses” by Indu Sundaresan. I learned quite a bit about the Mughal Empire. Although these two books are fiction, Sundaresan incorporates a lot of real history which makes the story intriguing.
19 Shailesh // Dec 3, 2007 at 12:30 am
hi, i too loved jhumpa lahiri’s namesake, but i liked her first book on short-stories better (interpreter of maladies).
20 Ramdev // Dec 5, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Unable to open Ten best Books About India.
I have also come across a website for Indian books.It is quite a nice website.There are all kinds of books,catering to all age
groups
21 Piyush // Apr 3, 2008 at 9:29 am
Great job you guys are doing..!!! I thought I might add my two-penny-worth
We all seem to have forgotten the hilarious “English August” by Upmanyu Chatterjee about the youg IAS officer’s introduction to the ropes of Indian Beurocracy
Also worth recollection is the “Inscrutable Americans” by Anurag Mathur,about a indian village bloke who suddenly lands in the US for studies again hilarious and thought provoking at the same time
My regards
Piyush
22 Ankita // Jul 7, 2008 at 7:01 pm
A friend of mine gave me ‘If god was a Banker’ by Ravi Subramanian and ‘Trust me’ byRajashree from her little library and said they are good fictions and will help me bring back the passion for reading.Both these books have been selected for the Golden Quill Awards. I don’t know which author to vote for cause I like both thier writings. If you want to vote, here’s the link
http://www.indiaplaza.in/Goldenquillaward/
23 Reena Singh // Jul 7, 2008 at 7:06 pm
You mus include “Beyond the Newsroom” by Oswald Pereira, published in 2007, in your list of Indian authors.
24 Schizo // Jul 8, 2008 at 12:56 am
@ ankita, thanks, will chekc these books out and read them,
@reena could you tell us abit about the book? and thanks
read on
ciao
me
25 veeresh // Jul 11, 2008 at 10:03 am
which r the best books just like 5 point someone and one night @ call centre?????? plz suggest me…
26 Soumil // Jul 16, 2008 at 10:45 pm
If God Was a Banker, is a fab book. I read it through the night. Its been shortlisted for India Plaza Golden Quill Awards 2008
27 Kala // Jul 20, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Like many readers I also enjoyed Arundhati Roy’s ‘God of small things’, another book I couldn’t put down was Anita Nair’s ‘Ladies Coupe’. An insight into the lives of indian women and hoew their lives are mapped out by men and not fate. Being South Indian and living in the UK I am always looking out for books by South Indian authors to bring India to me.
28 sushumna // Aug 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Of all the Indian writers I have read recently, I loved Samit Basu , he’s funny, witty and completely irreverent. I also like Amitabha Bagchi. He’s crisp and concise. I found his book actually on Indiaplaza. Good reads.
29 dreamer // Aug 14, 2008 at 11:06 pm
the calcutta chromosome - amitav ghosh
the city of djinns - William Dalrymple . its not by an indian author but an amazing travelogue through delhi
and its so strange how satyajit ray and his adventures of feluda never found a place in the mentioned list so far
he is definitely an indian incarnation of sir arthur conan doyle
30 Noel Keymer // Sep 3, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hey,
Great to see someone “blogging” about Indian authors. The names Noel Keymer and I’ve just published two of my books recently. “Poison In The Tale” is a collection of 14 “poisonous” short stories. The second book, “Everything You Wanted to Know about Radio Jockeying… But Didnt Know Whom To Ask” lives up to its name! The books have been published by Magna Publishing and are avialable all over India. Would love to have your comments on them.
Cheers!
Noel Keymer
31 Schizo // Sep 4, 2008 at 12:46 am
wow, it amazes me how much talk this post is generating even so long after it was posted.
Mr. noel, would you consider sending over a review copy, to be featured on the blog ?:-)
blog on
ciao
schizo
32 Rini // Sep 8, 2008 at 4:04 pm
hey hi guys
thnx 2 all of u
i got sme good names of bks by indian authors…
looking frwrd 2 buying dm soon
33 Noel Keymer // Sep 13, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hey Schizo,
Would love to send you a copy. Which one would you like to review? Mail me your address at: rjnoelk@hotmail.com
Cheers!
Noel Keymer
34 rajeshwari // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I want to read writings of famous Indian writers in English and Hindi both on the net. Is there any website from where I can read those?
35 Sumit // Oct 7, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Can anyone give me a link for anything for you, ma’am to download as pdf or softcopy?
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