Thanks for those great recommendations, Shoba. Added them to my to read list, especially the Sheila Dhar book.
I have Desiraju's (RIP!) book on MS in my to read pile next to my bed. Will get to it one of these days. I didn't know there was an audio book version of Ponniyin Selvan on Spotify. Thanks for pointer! Sadly, the speed at which I can read Tamil (or Hindi) is quite slow. Having an audiobook is great. I could neve hope to read this book on my own. Speaking of Tamil classics, a friend of mine (I think a mutual friend of ours) alerted me to the availability of Thupparium Sambu books in Audible. My aunts and uncles used to read us these as bedtime stories when I was young.` Thaths On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 7:07 PM Shoba Narayan <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for this list Thaths. > > Always great to get personalized recommendations. > > If you like the music genre, I highly recommend Sheila Dhar’s Raga & Josh. > It is written from the point of view of a practitioner an observer. The > cream on top is that she is hilarious. There is a particular section where > she compares what Hindustani music sounds to a Carnatic person’s ears and > vice versa. It is rotfl level writing. > > The other music book is by Kumar Prasad Mukherji. I forget it’s name but > it’s on Hindustani music and more scholarly. > > Namita Devidayal‘s, the music room is excellent. > > Of course you must have read the books on MS. One by the late TJS George > who is the poet Jeet Thayil’s father— and my brother Shyam’s erstwhile > landlord. Shyam is on this list too. The other MS book is by the late > Keshav Desiraju. Both are well written and both leave one wanting for some > thing that one cannot articulate. I think the best writing on MS has been > in the moon, even those small essays in Ananda Vikatan. > > Gauhar Jaan biography by Vikram Sampath shows you a world that is new to a > South Indian like me. > > As for my reading recommendations, this year I am reading books on Jungian > psychotherapy. I recommend inner work by Robert Johnson, any of the books > of Marion Goodman and Marie Louis Von Franz. Also by James Ellis. > > I am listening to Ponniyin Selvan on Spotify. And Kannada stories also on > Spotify. > > Shoba > __________________________ > Shoba Narayan > www.shobanarayan.com > > On Sep 30, 2021, at 1:39 AM, Thaths via Silklist < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > 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! > _______________________________________________ > 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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