My fav (and possibly only?) Indian book this year was Club You to Death by the delightful Anuja Chauhan.
My greatest discovery--thanks to Udhay--this year was the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, which then sent me off on an Odyssey of space opera! Highly recommend Clean by James Hamblin Finally read Educated by Tara Westover and was quite spellbound. No one has described that book well--it's a shocker of a memoir about growing up poor, Mormon and uneducated. Read and much enjoyed Andy Weir's latest, Project Hail Mary, which was much better than the one about the moon. Also highly recommend this book of essays: How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/278227.How_We_Survived_Communism_and_Even_Laughed>, by Slavenka Drakulic, a Yoguslav woman writing about before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain And final recommendation would be The Beast: Riding the Rails and dodging Narcos with Immigrants <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262740-the-beast> Cordially, Ameya Nagarajan (she/her) <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ameyann> On Thu, 30 Sept 2021 at 22:12, Shoba Narayan via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > Problem with dictating emails. > > Sometimes words fall through the cracks. Or should I say go to outer > space. > > It is “in Tamil” not “in the moon.” > > I think the best writing on MS has been in the moon, even those small > essays in Ananda Vikatan. > > Shoba > __________________________ > Shoba Narayan > www.shobanarayan.com > > On Sep 30, 2021, at 9:07 PM, Thaths <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 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! > > _______________________________________________ > Silklist mailing list -- [email protected] > Manage your membership here: > https://lists.digeratus.in/postorius/lists/silklist.lists.digeratus.in/
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