This was wonderful, Gayla. In answer to your question, here are some books set in India and/or by authors with roots there that I loved: The Namesake and The Lowlands (both by Jhumpa Lahiri), Inheritance of Loss and Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (both by Kiran Desai), White Tiger (Aravind Indiga).
Another amazing survey of ALL THE READING you do! While a bit dense, John Keay is an exceptional author who has written about India. It is a country with extremely large gaps in the written record and really many countries in one. I enjoyed India: A History. It is a challenging book but has given me a much better understanding of the regions of the country. This book is non-fiction but as I state, there are large gaps in the written history.
That sounds interesting, thanks for the recommendation Mark. I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I'll check this one out when I'm ready to read another NF book.
Thanks for your recommendation of the series by Joshi, which I would now like to read. I do enjoy immersing myself in another culture, particularly immigrant stories like Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, which someone mentioned. I also have enjoyed Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, by now almost a classic of the genre. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee’s story about the trauma and discrimination faced by Korean family that immigrates to Japan was a fascinating window into a clash of cultures I knew nothing about.
One more suggested addition to the immigrant literature genre that I just finished reading (actually listening to): Behind the Mountains, by Edwidge Danticat. It’s a gem of a tale told through a young Haitian girl’s diary about a Haitian family’s experience of moving to New York in 2000.
Ruth, thank you so much for these recommendations. I've read The Joy Luck Club but haven't read any of the others, although I've heard about both of them. I haven't heard about the Haitian book either, so that is going on my TBR too. For so many years, I only read books about things, places and people I knew something about and then a light switch flipped (not sure why) and now I love reading about places and cultures that I know little to nothing about. Thanks for being here and reading and commenting.
You're welcome, Gayla. And thanks so much for mentioning this idea of expanding our reading to include other places and cultures. I've really only started doing that more deliberately in recent years and am eager for more recommendations. Thanks again all that you're doing.
Oct 11, 2022·edited Oct 11, 2022Liked by Gayla Gray
I just wrote about this! I have a friend from India who recommended it me. She was actually visiting Jaipur and was sending me photos as I was reading it, so I had some great visualizations. The Pink Palace, with 1000 windows (which is still part hotel), looked amazing.
For novels set in India I highly recommend the Perveen Mistry series starting with The Widows Of Malabar Hill, then The Satapur Moonstone, then The Bombay Prince, all by Sujata Massey. Book 4 comes out next summer. Perveen is Bombay's first lady solicitor and the novels take place in the 1920's with some back story woven into the plots and lots of historic elements.
I haven't read any of Alka's books yet but having just finished the latest Perveen Mistry book am ready to dive into another story set in India so I just now added the audio version of The Henna Artist to my Libby account. Thanks for the nudge I needed. I look forward to reading this series.
Thanks for being here Susan. I've had The Widows of Malabar Hill on my TBR it seems like forever, maybe it's time to move it off of there and onto my kindle. I think I would really enjoy the series and I have time to catch up before the 4th one next year. Thank you for the nudge you gave me, I needed it. :)
I loved the first two books in this series, and look forward to reading the third. I had the great pleasure and honor of hosting Alka for one of our online author visits in 2021, and she was delightful. I was nervous (it was my first on-camera event), but she was so engaging and easy to talk with. she told us that she loves to visit with book groups who have read her book, and sometimes visits 2-3 groups a day via Zoom! I don't know of any other authors who are so accessible to their readers.
Wow, how exciting for you and your book club. I love it when authors want to engage with their readers. It makes the reading experience so much better for the reader. I wish more authors would do this. Thanks for reading.
This was wonderful, Gayla. In answer to your question, here are some books set in India and/or by authors with roots there that I loved: The Namesake and The Lowlands (both by Jhumpa Lahiri), Inheritance of Loss and Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (both by Kiran Desai), White Tiger (Aravind Indiga).
I've heard of Lahiri's books, but I haven't read any. I haven't heard of either of the Desai or Indigo books. Thanks for these recommendations.
Hi Gayla,
Another amazing survey of ALL THE READING you do! While a bit dense, John Keay is an exceptional author who has written about India. It is a country with extremely large gaps in the written record and really many countries in one. I enjoyed India: A History. It is a challenging book but has given me a much better understanding of the regions of the country. This book is non-fiction but as I state, there are large gaps in the written history.
That sounds interesting, thanks for the recommendation Mark. I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I'll check this one out when I'm ready to read another NF book.
I am now mixing in fiction a lot and enjoying the change. I expect it will become the rebirth of an old habit!
Awe, that's good to hear Mark. :)
Thanks for your recommendation of the series by Joshi, which I would now like to read. I do enjoy immersing myself in another culture, particularly immigrant stories like Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, which someone mentioned. I also have enjoyed Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, by now almost a classic of the genre. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee’s story about the trauma and discrimination faced by Korean family that immigrates to Japan was a fascinating window into a clash of cultures I knew nothing about.
One more suggested addition to the immigrant literature genre that I just finished reading (actually listening to): Behind the Mountains, by Edwidge Danticat. It’s a gem of a tale told through a young Haitian girl’s diary about a Haitian family’s experience of moving to New York in 2000.
Ruth, thank you so much for these recommendations. I've read The Joy Luck Club but haven't read any of the others, although I've heard about both of them. I haven't heard about the Haitian book either, so that is going on my TBR too. For so many years, I only read books about things, places and people I knew something about and then a light switch flipped (not sure why) and now I love reading about places and cultures that I know little to nothing about. Thanks for being here and reading and commenting.
You're welcome, Gayla. And thanks so much for mentioning this idea of expanding our reading to include other places and cultures. I've really only started doing that more deliberately in recent years and am eager for more recommendations. Thanks again all that you're doing.
I just wrote about this! I have a friend from India who recommended it me. She was actually visiting Jaipur and was sending me photos as I was reading it, so I had some great visualizations. The Pink Palace, with 1000 windows (which is still part hotel), looked amazing.
I haven't had a chanced to read your newsletter about this yet, but I will. Great minds think alike. lol
For novels set in India I highly recommend the Perveen Mistry series starting with The Widows Of Malabar Hill, then The Satapur Moonstone, then The Bombay Prince, all by Sujata Massey. Book 4 comes out next summer. Perveen is Bombay's first lady solicitor and the novels take place in the 1920's with some back story woven into the plots and lots of historic elements.
I haven't read any of Alka's books yet but having just finished the latest Perveen Mistry book am ready to dive into another story set in India so I just now added the audio version of The Henna Artist to my Libby account. Thanks for the nudge I needed. I look forward to reading this series.
Thanks for being here Susan. I've had The Widows of Malabar Hill on my TBR it seems like forever, maybe it's time to move it off of there and onto my kindle. I think I would really enjoy the series and I have time to catch up before the 4th one next year. Thank you for the nudge you gave me, I needed it. :)
I loved the first two books in this series, and look forward to reading the third. I had the great pleasure and honor of hosting Alka for one of our online author visits in 2021, and she was delightful. I was nervous (it was my first on-camera event), but she was so engaging and easy to talk with. she told us that she loves to visit with book groups who have read her book, and sometimes visits 2-3 groups a day via Zoom! I don't know of any other authors who are so accessible to their readers.
Wow, how exciting for you and your book club. I love it when authors want to engage with their readers. It makes the reading experience so much better for the reader. I wish more authors would do this. Thanks for reading.