Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Lendable to any silklister who asks. Udhay One Of These Days, I will get a Round Tuit. Deepa. On 6/1/07, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Vardhini Shankar wrote: [ on 10:00 AM 5/30/2007 ] >A Tamil writer well worth reading is Asokamithran , if you can find >good translations of his novels or short stories. I have a bunch of translations of Jayakanthan's [1] work, by my uncle Dr. KS Subramanian. Lendable to any silklister who asks. Udhay [1] http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2208/stories/20050422000708500.htm -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Vardhini Shankar wrote: [ on 10:00 AM 5/30/2007 ] A Tamil writer well worth reading is Asokamithran , if you can find good translations of his novels or short stories. I have a bunch of translations of Jayakanthan's [1] work, by my uncle Dr. KS Subramanian. Lendable to any silklister who asks. Udhay [1] http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2208/stories/20050422000708500.htm -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
ashok _ wrote: [ on 08:09 PM 5/30/2007 ] there is an extremely funny description of the wife, and the circumstances of the marriage in the biographical book about naipaul "Sir Vidia's Shadow..." by naipaul's former protege...paul theroux This might be of interest: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/4794 Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
there is an extremely funny description of the wife, and the circumstances of the marriage in the biographical book about naipaul "Sir Vidia's Shadow..." by naipaul's former protege...paul theroux On 5/29/07, shiv sastry wrote: Must be true love because they do not seem to allow personal views and ideology to get in the way of their marriage. Naipaul is an astute observer and his descriptions are exquisite. His "Islam" series also makes good reading - "Among the Believers" and "Beyond Belief"
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
I got this link from him : http://firstandsecond.com/store/books/info/search.asp?styp=ath&stxt=Ashokamitran Vardhini - Original Message From: Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:38:06 PM Subject: Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books. Vardhini Shankar wrote [at 10:00 AM 5/30/2007] : >A Tamil writer well worth reading is Asokamithran , if you can find >good translations of his novels or short stories. I was told by a >friend that there is an excellent translation of his "padinettavadhu >atchakkodu" (18th parallel), available in English . I don't know who >the publisher is, though. I have BCC:d the person who translates Asokamitran's work on this message - he may respond with the required information. Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Vardhini Shankar wrote [at 10:00 AM 5/30/2007] : A Tamil writer well worth reading is Asokamithran , if you can find good translations of his novels or short stories. I was told by a friend that there is an excellent translation of his "padinettavadhu atchakkodu" (18th parallel), available in English . I don't know who the publisher is, though. I have BCC:d the person who translates Asokamitran's work on this message - he may respond with the required information. Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
A Tamil writer well worth reading is Asokamithran , if you can find good translations of his novels or short stories. I was told by a friend that there is an excellent translation of his "padinettavadhu atchakkodu" (18th parallel), available in English . I don't know who the publisher is, though. Vardhini - Original Message From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:52:59 PM Subject: Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books. Pavithra Sankaran [29/05/07 20:45 -0700]: >--- Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> About your translated indian lit - DO read ponniyin >> selvan, and AK mahadevan's >> translations of sangam era tamil poetry. > >Surely you mean AK Ramanujam? yes! my brains seem to be melting :(
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Pavithra Sankaran [29/05/07 20:45 -0700]: --- Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: About your translated indian lit - DO read ponniyin selvan, and AK mahadevan's translations of sangam era tamil poetry. Surely you mean AK Ramanujam? yes! my brains seem to be melting :(
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
--- Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > About your translated indian lit - DO read ponniyin > selvan, and AK mahadevan's > translations of sangam era tamil poetry. Surely you mean AK Ramanujam? Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Thaths wrote: > I did read some translated short stories of Kalki and they seemed > overly emotional. I do have a couple of volumes of Ponniyin Selvan in > translation lying around. Inertia has been too strong to overcome with > getting them started. I grew up counting Sir Walter Scott and RL Stevenson among my favorite authors. That kind of makes me appreciate Kalki a bit better. If you want hard edged modern prose he isnt the man for you -- Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9 email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 5/29/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: malgonkar was insipid. One VERY good guy you need to read is Sasthi Brata, if you can get any of his books at all. Fast paced prose (theres one called "My God Died Young" I think.. a young bong who drops out of college, and becomes a successful author via the delhi slums, a delhi newspaper circa pre-emergency indira gandhi, working class london and europe, where he goes before suddenly finding himself without any money at all, there's plenty of sex too, written as good sex should be written about) I will check him out. About your translated indian lit - DO read ponniyin selvan, and AK mahadevan's translations of sangam era tamil poetry. I did read some translated short stories of Kalki and they seemed overly emotional. I do have a couple of volumes of Ponniyin Selvan in translation lying around. Inertia has been too strong to overcome with getting them started. Thaths -- Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy. Marge: What's that? Homer: (pause) A dinosaur. -- Homer J. Simpson Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Thaths [29/05/07 15:07 -0700]: Frankly, I found most fiction writers in English in the pre-1980s boring. This includes the likes of Manohar Malgonkar. And I have not malgonkar was insipid. One VERY good guy you need to read is Sasthi Brata, if you can get any of his books at all. Fast paced prose (theres one called "My God Died Young" I think.. a young bong who drops out of college, and becomes a successful author via the delhi slums, a delhi newspaper circa pre-emergency indira gandhi, working class london and europe, where he goes before suddenly finding himself without any money at all, there's plenty of sex too, written as good sex should be written about) About your translated indian lit - DO read ponniyin selvan, and AK mahadevan's translations of sangam era tamil poetry.
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 5/28/07, Bharat Shetty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: http://indianeconomy.org/2006/06/18/ten-best-books-on-india/ My personal favorite writing about India: * R.K. Narayan. Especially _Swami and Friends_, _Bachelor of Arts_ or _The Talkative Man_. You being from Mysore MUST read him. And please pay a visit to the house he lived in on Yadavagiri. Till I read Narayan for the first time I never knew how simple prose can describe Indian scenes so beautifully. * Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. With Rushdie I found someone who could describe India in edgy modern prose. * Discovery of India by Nehru. However much people tend to blame him and his politics for the ills of India in the 70's and 80's, I think he was probably one of the best PMs young India could have had. Also recommend - a DVD of the TV show _Bharat ek Khoj_ that was based on Nehru's book. * Naipaul's India trilogy. In order. * William Dalrymple's travelogue * Khushwant Singh's columns for the Illustrated Weekly Frankly, I found most fiction writers in English in the pre-1980s boring. This includes the likes of Manohar Malgonkar. And I have not yet come across a good English translation of any Indian books. Unfortunately, my ability to read Tamil and Hindi are quite rudimentary and I am only exposed to Indian literature in local languages through their English translations. Thaths -- Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy. Marge: What's that? Homer: (pause) A dinosaur. -- Homer J. Simpson Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 5/29/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Tuesday 29 May 2007 9:24 pm, ashok _ wrote: > That writer is married to a pakistani ... Must be true love because they do not seem to allow personal views and ideology to get in the way of their marriage. Naipaul is an astute observer and his descriptions are exquisite. His "Islam" series also makes good reading - "Among the Believers" and "Beyond Belief" Naipaul, describing shit on the pavement in Mumbai writes of "..twists and butts and squirts of excrement.." which I believe is one of the best descriptions I have read of what I actually do see on pavements. He also has a very interesting description of a "South Indian" eating a meal off a leaf in a train. The description may be offensive to some if one does not put it in the context of the time he made the journey - but the description is accurate and exceedingly funny. He talks of the way in which the eater gathers up curds and rice into a ball in his fingers and pops the ball into his mouth as if to surprise the ball and catch it unawares. shiv Only a gastroenterologist would describe Naipaul's descriptions in the reverse order down the G I tract! I love R K Narayan's description(in Swami and Friends) of Swami's thoughts, when lost in the Mempi forests, about how his mother would serve the curds and rice on the leaf... Deepa. On 5/29/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Tuesday 29 May 2007 9:24 pm, ashok _ wrote: > That writer is married to a pakistani ... Must be true love because they do not seem to allow personal views and ideology to get in the way of their marriage. Naipaul is an astute observer and his descriptions are exquisite. His "Islam" series also makes good reading - "Among the Believers" and "Beyond Belief" Naipaul, describing shit on the pavement in Mumbai writes of "..twists and butts and squirts of excrement.." which I believe is one of the best descriptions I have read of what I actually do see on pavements. He also has a very interesting description of a "South Indian" eating a meal off a leaf in a train. The description may be offensive to some if one does not put it in the context of the time he made the journey - but the description is accurate and exceedingly funny. He talks of the way in which the eater gathers up curds and rice into a ball in his fingers and pops the ball into his mouth as if to surprise the ball and catch it unawares. shiv
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On Tuesday 29 May 2007 9:24 pm, ashok _ wrote: > That writer is married to a pakistani ... Must be true love because they do not seem to allow personal views and ideology to get in the way of their marriage. Naipaul is an astute observer and his descriptions are exquisite. His "Islam" series also makes good reading - "Among the Believers" and "Beyond Belief" Naipaul, describing shit on the pavement in Mumbai writes of "..twists and butts and squirts of excrement.." which I believe is one of the best descriptions I have read of what I actually do see on pavements. He also has a very interesting description of a "South Indian" eating a meal off a leaf in a train. The description may be offensive to some if one does not put it in the context of the time he made the journey - but the description is accurate and exceedingly funny. He talks of the way in which the eater gathers up curds and rice into a ball in his fingers and pops the ball into his mouth as if to surprise the ball and catch it unawares. shiv
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 5/29/07, ashok _ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: How could you ! That writer is married to a pakistani ... Heh! He _was_ invited as a special guest by the then-ruling BJP-led government in 2004 before they got trounced on their India Shining campaign. Thaths -- Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy. Marge: What's that? Homer: (pause) A dinosaur. -- Homer J. Simpson Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
How could you ! That writer is married to a pakistani ... On 5/29/07, shiv sastry wrote: I have not read ten books on India Naipaul's trilogy :"Area of darkness", "Wounded civilization" and "Million Mutinies"
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 5/29/07, Divya Sampath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I still recommend the book. Highly readable. YMMV, obviously. Cheers, Divya I'd agree. -Karra Sent from BlackBerry(r) on Airtel -Original Message- From: Kiran Jonnalagadda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 13:06:32 To:silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books. On 29-May-07, at 11:40 AM, Divya wrote: > - India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor Is Shashi Tharoor any good? His book's received a sound thrashing from Amazon's reviewers, who point out that Tharoor is unable to distinguish between his own life and the growth of the country. http://www.amazon.com/India-Midnight-Millennium-Shashi-Tharoor/dp/ 0060977531/ For example: > Well, Taroor got one thing right. When he says in the introduction > that this is a "personal account" rather than an objective attempt > at a modern history of India, that should have set the alarm bells > ringing. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is a very long book about India's > first 50 years of independent existence. The chapters are laid out > by theme: caste, politics, economics, religion, future prospects > and so on. > But in fact, every chapter covers the same topic: Shashi Taroor. > Shashi Taroor the country boy made good, Shashi Taroor the > precocious child sage, Shashi Taroor the intellectual with too much > insight to relate to his boorish countrymen. When you notice that > the book starts with an account of a 19 year-old Shashi's brief > meeting as a student reporter with Indira Gandhi, you know what's > coming. A 400-page monologue from a guy who's been so flattered as > a genius all his life that he's forgotten what it feels like to > have to LISTEN. The two most irritating manifestations of Taroor's > ego are the repetition (if he's proud of an idea he shows it off > again and again, re-wording it each time) and the occasional clever- > clever turns of phrase that sometimes even upstage little old India. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is twice too long. > But don't get me wrong. There's interesting material on economic > liberalisation, the Hindutva movement and political stagnation in > this book. You just have to read a lot of Shashi Taroor to find it. > Economics: > - India Unbound - Gurucharan Das With this, too, the reader is suggested similar caution. -- Sriram Karra Nashik
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
I have not read ten books on India Naipaul's trilogy :"Area of darkness", "Wounded civilization" and "Million Mutinies" Park's "Preventive and Social medicine" is one of the best books I have read on India though it is probably useless for the general reader "May you be the Mother of a Hundred sons" - Elisabeth Bumiller Kamala Subramaniam's "Mahabharatha" shiv On Tuesday 29 May 2007 9:23 am, Bharat Shetty wrote: > Hello all, > > I came across this post in The Indian Economy Blog. > > http://indianeconomy.org/2006/06/18/ten-best-books-on-india/ > > Being ignorant on these books so far, I intend to actually buy and read > over some of them, thereby improving my knowledge on our fabulous country. > Before I invest my precious Indian rupees over some of the books mentioned, > please do help me with insights, comments and suggestions regarding the > books mentioned in the list. The help will be much appreciated. > > Thanks in advance. > > Bharat Shetty | http://freeshell.in/~codo
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 ashok _ wrote: > I have heard some good things about a new book by Ramachandra Guha > called "India after Gandhi - the history of the worlds largest > democracy" ... Has anybody read it? > Aside from the fact that it is a heavy tome and thusly makes bad keep-on-chest-and-lazily-read book it is well written and structured. Although it does suffer from the same troubles books from Amartya Sen face - too many links sometimes make you wonder whether an online version would have been nicer (all hyperlinks etc..) :Sankarshan - -- You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGW+acXQZpNTcrCzMRAgQuAKC6xr8W1BF1sJg9kFj8OxBZECUsowCdEYTE ZQ1CqSWe9MMouprW02BiBJY= =AY23 -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
I have heard some good things about a new book by Ramachandra Guha called "India after Gandhi - the history of the worlds largest democracy" ... Has anybody read it? On 5/29/07, Divya Sampath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I still recommend the book. Highly readable. YMMV, obviously. Cheers Divya Sent from BlackBerry(r) on Airtel -Original Message- From: Kiran Jonnalagadda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 13:06:32 To:silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books. On 29-May-07, at 11:40 AM, Divya wrote: > - India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor Is Shashi Tharoor any good? His book's received a sound thrashing from Amazon's reviewers, who point out that Tharoor is unable to distinguish between his own life and the growth of the country. http://www.amazon.com/India-Midnight-Millennium-Shashi-Tharoor/dp/ 0060977531/ For example: > Well, Taroor got one thing right. When he says in the introduction > that this is a "personal account" rather than an objective attempt > at a modern history of India, that should have set the alarm bells > ringing. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is a very long book about India's > first 50 years of independent existence. The chapters are laid out > by theme: caste, politics, economics, religion, future prospects > and so on. > But in fact, every chapter covers the same topic: Shashi Taroor. > Shashi Taroor the country boy made good, Shashi Taroor the > precocious child sage, Shashi Taroor the intellectual with too much > insight to relate to his boorish countrymen. When you notice that > the book starts with an account of a 19 year-old Shashi's brief > meeting as a student reporter with Indira Gandhi, you know what's > coming. A 400-page monologue from a guy who's been so flattered as > a genius all his life that he's forgotten what it feels like to > have to LISTEN. The two most irritating manifestations of Taroor's > ego are the repetition (if he's proud of an idea he shows it off > again and again, re-wording it each time) and the occasional clever- > clever turns of phrase that sometimes even upstage little old India. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is twice too long. > But don't get me wrong. There's interesting material on economic > liberalisation, the Hindutva movement and political stagnation in > this book. You just have to read a lot of Shashi Taroor to find it. > Economics: > - India Unbound - Gurucharan Das With this, too, the reader is suggested similar caution.
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
I still recommend the book. Highly readable. YMMV, obviously. Cheers Divya Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel -Original Message- From: Kiran Jonnalagadda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 13:06:32 To:silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books. On 29-May-07, at 11:40 AM, Divya wrote: > - India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor Is Shashi Tharoor any good? His book's received a sound thrashing from Amazon's reviewers, who point out that Tharoor is unable to distinguish between his own life and the growth of the country. http://www.amazon.com/India-Midnight-Millennium-Shashi-Tharoor/dp/ 0060977531/ For example: > Well, Taroor got one thing right. When he says in the introduction > that this is a "personal account" rather than an objective attempt > at a modern history of India, that should have set the alarm bells > ringing. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is a very long book about India's > first 50 years of independent existence. The chapters are laid out > by theme: caste, politics, economics, religion, future prospects > and so on. > But in fact, every chapter covers the same topic: Shashi Taroor. > Shashi Taroor the country boy made good, Shashi Taroor the > precocious child sage, Shashi Taroor the intellectual with too much > insight to relate to his boorish countrymen. When you notice that > the book starts with an account of a 19 year-old Shashi's brief > meeting as a student reporter with Indira Gandhi, you know what's > coming. A 400-page monologue from a guy who's been so flattered as > a genius all his life that he's forgotten what it feels like to > have to LISTEN. The two most irritating manifestations of Taroor's > ego are the repetition (if he's proud of an idea he shows it off > again and again, re-wording it each time) and the occasional clever- > clever turns of phrase that sometimes even upstage little old India. > "From Midnight to the Millennium" is twice too long. > But don't get me wrong. There's interesting material on economic > liberalisation, the Hindutva movement and political stagnation in > this book. You just have to read a lot of Shashi Taroor to find it. > Economics: > - India Unbound - Gurucharan Das With this, too, the reader is suggested similar caution.
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 29-May-07, at 11:40 AM, Divya wrote: - India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor Is Shashi Tharoor any good? His book's received a sound thrashing from Amazon's reviewers, who point out that Tharoor is unable to distinguish between his own life and the growth of the country. http://www.amazon.com/India-Midnight-Millennium-Shashi-Tharoor/dp/ 0060977531/ For example: Well, Taroor got one thing right. When he says in the introduction that this is a "personal account" rather than an objective attempt at a modern history of India, that should have set the alarm bells ringing. "From Midnight to the Millennium" is a very long book about India's first 50 years of independent existence. The chapters are laid out by theme: caste, politics, economics, religion, future prospects and so on. But in fact, every chapter covers the same topic: Shashi Taroor. Shashi Taroor the country boy made good, Shashi Taroor the precocious child sage, Shashi Taroor the intellectual with too much insight to relate to his boorish countrymen. When you notice that the book starts with an account of a 19 year-old Shashi's brief meeting as a student reporter with Indira Gandhi, you know what's coming. A 400-page monologue from a guy who's been so flattered as a genius all his life that he's forgotten what it feels like to have to LISTEN. The two most irritating manifestations of Taroor's ego are the repetition (if he's proud of an idea he shows it off again and again, re-wording it each time) and the occasional clever- clever turns of phrase that sometimes even upstage little old India. "From Midnight to the Millennium" is twice too long. But don't get me wrong. There's interesting material on economic liberalisation, the Hindutva movement and political stagnation in this book. You just have to read a lot of Shashi Taroor to find it. Economics: - India Unbound - Gurucharan Das With this, too, the reader is suggested similar caution.
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Binand Sethumadhavan wrote: > On 29/05/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> There's the excellent novels > > Mulk Raj Anand's works? Untouchable etc.? Would you recommend him? > Yes, there are several others I'd recommend Ruskin Bond Mulk Raj Anand Munshi Premchand (in Hindi of course) -- Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9 email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
On 29/05/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: There's the excellent novels Mulk Raj Anand's works? Untouchable etc.? Would you recommend him? Binand
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
Divya wrote: > Fiction: > - The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor > - A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth > - Betrayal and Other Stories- Sivasankari (alas, her best Tamil novels are > not available in translation) > - Rich Like Us - Nayantara Sahgal Sivasankari hasn't impressed me as much as she should, in Tamil or English I'd suggest A.K.Mahadevan's poetry. Always impressive. And his translation of sangam era poetry is even better. Probably the best indian poet, ever. [There's a few others, such as Nissim Ezekiel..] There's the excellent novels by Kalki as well - Ponniyin Selvan in particular in a 6 volume english translation that retains the spirit and zest of the old tamil novel > - Ancient India - RC Majumdar Rajaji's Ramayana and Mahabharata too Nehru's "Discovery of India" is an all time favorite - the man was erudite, and could write, for all that his naive belief in russian style industrial socialism was enough to wreck india. srs
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
"Bharat Shetty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://indianeconomy.org/2006/06/18/ten-best-books-on-india/ Being ignorant on these books so far, I intend to actually buy and read over some of them, thereby improving my knowledge on our fabulous country. Before I invest my precious Indian rupees over some of the books mentioned, please do help me with insights, comments and suggestions regarding the books mentioned in the list. The help will be much appreciated. My personal recommendations for top 10 English language books on India (bear in mind that these recs are highly skewed toward books I actually choose to own) - based on content, coverage, and readability - divided by subject: Historical overview: - The Wonder That Was India - A.L.Basham (2 volumes) - India: a History - John Keay Modern India: Socio-politico-economic commentary: - The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity - Amartya Sen - India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor Economics: - India Unbound - Gurucharan Das - Development as Freedom - Amartya Sen (while the book is not entirely about India, there are remarkable insights into the Indian economy) Fiction: - The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor - A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - Betrayal and Other Stories- Sivasankari (alas, her best Tamil novels are not available in translation) - Rich Like Us - Nayantara Sahgal Additional recs: - anything by RK Narayan, particularly Malgudi Days - Ancient India - RC Majumdar - A Cultural History of India - ed. Al Basham - Also worth looking at: Sivasankari's project 'Knit India through Literature' - collects notable literature from Indian writers: includes translation, some analysis, and interviews. The multiple volumes are published by East West books in Chennai. cheers, Divya
Re: [silk] Indian Economy's list of best Indian books.
I have not read Pavan Verma's book 'the great indian middle class', but I have heard many good reviews about it from friends. Also picked up a copy of Bimal Jalan's 'India's Politics' yesterday. Looks good, have to start reading it! Cheers, Z --- Bharat Shetty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello all, > > I came across this post in The Indian Economy Blog. > > http://indianeconomy.org/2006/06/18/ten-best-books-on-india/ > > Being ignorant on these books so far, I intend to > actually buy and read over > some of them, thereby improving my knowledge on our > fabulous country. Before > I invest my precious Indian rupees over some of the > books mentioned, please > do help me with insights, comments and suggestions > regarding the books > mentioned in the list. The help will be much > appreciated. > > Thanks in advance. > > Bharat Shetty | http://freeshell.in/~codo > Zainab Bawa Mumbai www.xanga.com/citybytes Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
