"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
