Damn you, Udhay! I was hoping to finish a few more books before the end of the year to kick off our annual book recommendation thread.
Here are the best books I read in 2021: 1. Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj <https://www.amazon.com/Stones-Empire-Buildings-Jan-Morris/dp/0192114492/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stones+of+empire&qid=1632944097&sprefix=hot+cold&sr=8-1&x=0&y=0> : After Jan Morris' death last year I went on a Morris reading spree. Most books I read were of the travel genre, but this one was so good that I ended up buying a copy to add to my collection. The book is about building techniques, the hodgepodge architecture and the inventive styles (Indo Saracenic, for example) that were born in the Raj. Great photos to go with the text. Sadly, since the book came out some of these buildings have bitten dust. 2. Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company <https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Masters-Indian-Painting-Company/dp/1781301018/>: This book collects some of the beautiful paintings made by mughal miniature artists hired by East India Company men. 3. Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar: Apart from a few exceptions (Tharoor on Nehru, Guha on Gandhi) I am not a fan of biographies about famous Indians. Mostly because these biographies are overly deferential to the subject and bombastic. This book is one to add to the exceptions list. It is deeply researched, comprehensive and treats its subject as a complex human character with positives and negatives. I learned quite a bit from this book that I had not known about Ravi Shankar's life. Except for the last two chapters which were pretty hagiographical and acritical, I loved the rest of the book. (Side note: One reason it took me a while to finish this book is that, thanks to the magic of YouTube, I would read in the book about some early experimental collaboration of Shankar's and go find the recording on YouTube and spend hours off on a tangent.) 4. The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly: I liked the book for its writing craft. Beautiful blending of personal memoir, cooking, and natural history. 5. Tibet: A History (Sam Van Schaik) : Because of Tibet's proximity to India, and because of millenia-old (cultural, linguistic, scriptural, religious, economic) links between the countries I wanted to know more about Tibet's history that was not all in the realm of Padmasambhava and termas. This book did a really good job of being a primer to Tibetan history. 6. A Girl Is A Body of Water (Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi) - I am still not finished with this book yet, but it is one of those books where I savor every page as it transports me back to East Africa. Thaths On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 3:11 AM Vinayak Hegde via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > THE JCB longlist has some interesting fiction > https://twitter.com/scroll_in/status/1435082898772840448 > > Amongst the Scifi releases - the recently released Gollanz book looks nice > https://twitter.com/bookworm_Kris/status/1442503989128355845 > > -- Vinayak > > On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 2:46 PM Udhay Shankar N via Silklist > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > This list [1] seems like a good way to kickstart the annual Indian books > thread. What are your thoughts on this list, and additions you would make? > > > > Udhay > > > > > > [1] > https://www.gqindia.com/get-smart/content/gqs-best-indian-fiction-list-2021 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Silklist mailing list -- [email protected] > > Manage your membership here: > > https://lists.digeratus.in/postorius/lists/silklist.lists.digeratus.in/ > _______________________________________________ > Silklist mailing list -- [email protected] > Manage your membership here: > https://lists.digeratus.in/postorius/lists/silklist.lists.digeratus.in/ > -- Homer: Hey, what does this job pay? Carl: Nuthin'. Homer: D'oh! Carl: Unless you're crooked. Homer: Woo-hoo!
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