Would also recommend (though not connected to India) "The people in the trees" - Hanya Yanagihara ...
ashok On 3 December 2014 at 00:12, harry <listmans...@gmail.com> wrote: > I can recommend this one, its not a work of fiction, neither is it a > paperback, its actually a coffee-table sort of book (but far more readable) > : > > > http://www.amazon.in/Handmade-India-Geographic-Encyclopedia-Handicrafts/dp/0789210479/ > > I had been looking for a book that documented all the handicrafts from > different parts of india in one place (with pictures). There are other > books too, but this one is far better than anything else out there. > > On 2 December 2014 at 04:17, Thaths <tha...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> For the sixth year[1] in a row, I am turning to silk listers for book >> recommendation >> this holiday season. >> >> What have you read over the last year that has left a mark on you? What >> are >> you eagerly looking forward to reading over the Christmas/NewYear's >> holidays? >> >> Past silk list recommendations have included such gems as: >> >> * Alice Albina's Empires of the Indus >> * Samanth Subramaniam's Following Fish >> * Sarnath Bannerjee's Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers >> * Devdutt Pattanaik's Myth=Mithya. >> * Nilanjana Roy's Wildings >> * Aman Sethi's A Free Man >> >> Books that are easy to get a hold of in India (and more difficult >> elsewhere) >> preferred (but not required). Fiction and non-fiction recommendations are >> equally welcome. >> >> The books that I enjoyed reading >> <https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/646599?shelf=read> the most this >> year: >> >> * The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher. Beautiful illustrations and >> great details about how a city (in this case, New York City) works. How is >> water brought to the city? What happens to the sewage? How were the >> Subways >> built? The book answers them all. >> >> * A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes by Sam Miller. As >> Sankarshan said in another thread, "More engaging than expected". >> >> * This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War by Samanth >> Subramaniam. Not as great as Following Fish, but quite fascinating anyway. >> A compassionate, beautifully written book about the War and it's aftermath >> in Sri Lanka. >> >> * Gandhi Before India by Ramachandra Guha. Simply one of the best >> biographies of Gandhi that I have read. Instead of deifying a man (who >> was worshipped in his own lifetime) like many biographies of Gandhi do, >> this book tries to explore how a mediocre student from a poor backwater >> ended up going to London to study barristry and thence to South Africa to >> practice Law, hang out with Left-leaning Jews, Vegetarians, Coolies and >> Quakers and hone his message of Abstinence and Non Violence. >> >> Thaths >> [1] Someone jumped the gun by starting the thread on Silk list in mid-nov >> last year, but I am going to count it anyway >> > >
