Thank you. To this list, I would add the below. 1. Around the world in 80 birds <https://amzn.eu/d/gfOBKnz> by Mike Unwin: Beautifully illustrated and cover signature species from different parts of the world. Unlike in many books in this genre, there is an attempt to be non-Euro centric so African birds are also given good play. I also have others in this series which includes plants, flowers, and trees. But I don't dip into them as often.
2. The stories behind the yoga <https://amzn.eu/d/0y8joku> poses: Again Devika Menon has illustrated these beautifully and Raj Balkaran talks about the myths behind the poses. I loved this one because it connects back to yoga as a living embodiment of Indian culture and not an "exercise." 3. Birds and Birdsong <https://amzn.eu/d/2kp0sY6> by M. Krishnan: I am searching for the Tamil version of this but the English version that I got at Atta Galatta (slight nudge to go to the Koramangala and Church Street bookstores :) is fantastic. These are mostly essays. They have a set up. Krishnan sees a bird on a tree in his garden. It does something. And off he goes. The reason I like this book is that it is actually about a way of seeing-- nature and what is around us in a deeper way. 4. Ecoedu <https://ecoedu.in/shop/> publishes a fantastic series of books about Bangalore. Disclosure: they are friends but I don't think they are on this list. Karthik, one of India's finest naturalists, has written a book on spiders. T. S. Srinivas who marries his knowledge of Sanskrit with his love of plants has written two books on garden climbers and avenue trees (if you are interested in nature, this one, in my view, is better than late great and supposedly very funnyT.P.Issar's book on avenue trees which was written from an urban planning, historical point of view rather than a naturalist perspective). If you live in Bangalore, you need to own these books. 5. A history of the world in 100 species. Again, a book you can dip into time and time again. It's a bit dense. 6. Wine made simple <https://amzn.eu/d/eV8S9QI> by Aldo Somm. I dip into this book again and again because he breaks it down to questions about "if you like X wine" you can cultivate your palate to like "Y" wine. Many other hacks. 7. The Vendor of Sweets by RK Narayan. My brother, Shyam Sunder (who is on this list) and I grew up hearing our Dad talk about R.K. Narayan all the time. I feel that while The Guide won acclaim because of the movie, and Swami and Friends because it was the first, this one has the most hilarious description of an Indian "boy meets girl" scenario that I have ever read. The Painter of Signs is not as good, and My Days and My Dateless Diary are autobiographical. But all of Narayan's other books including his Mahabharata one are a terrific read. 8. A Poem a Day. This is not a book but a list that I subscribe to, this along with The Marginilian-- that many of you also know, I am sure. Love the book recommendation thread on Silk. Regards, Shoba -------------------------------------- https://shobanarayan.com/ On Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 10:04 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > Send Silklist mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Silklist digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread (Thaths) > 2. Re: 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread (Huda Masood) > 3. Re: 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread (Dave Long) > 4. Re: 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread (Ingrid Srinath) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2023 09:14:41 -0800 > From: Thaths <[email protected]> > To: Silklist - Intelligent Conversation <[email protected]> > Subject: [Silk] 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread > Message-ID: > < > cabilddyts_ideqd2skkjqvbtg7zg7xuofcnvuzdjh-1a3z8...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hoi! > > It is that time of the year to revive the almost-annual Silklist tradition > of sharing our book recommendations. I would love to hear your > recommendations. > > The books I loved reading in 2023 are: > > 1. Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack; What a delight to read. Jack paints the > sights, sounds and smells of India with prose. I especially enjoyed his > pieces (paeans?) on the Indian Railways, particularly the rapidly > disappearing (as he was writing these pieces) steam locomotive stock. > > 2. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories by > Amithav Ghosh: Colonization and Capitalism told through Papaver somniferum. > The beginning chapters are excellent. The last chapters become a little > repetitive. > > 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantasy novel about the > devil and his henchmen visiting Moscow during the Stalinist years. > > 4. Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki: Great second wave Japanese sci-fi. > I'm so glad I got to read this. > > 5. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: Scarily prescient book > written in the early 90's and set in the mid-2020s. I cannot believe how > much Butler got right about today. > > 6. The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre By Tim > Hannigan: Hannigan originally wanted to write travel books like the ones he > grew up reading since he was a teenager, but the gradual erosion of the > genre, and the critical questions being asked about the veracity of famous > travel writers meant that Hannigan had to re-do his plans. He ended up > writing this book - a travel book exploring not so much a region or a > country, but the whole field of travel writing and the critical discipline > of travel writing studies. If, like me, your bookshelf is filled with > travel books, you would love this book. Every year I read a book or two > which I love so much that I would even consider buying a few copies to give > to friends. This is one of those. > > 7. Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History By Lea Ypi: An > excellent book that manages to balance criticism of totalitarian communism > of Hodja against the painful fictions of neoliberalism. The painful > transition that Albanians experienced was only theoretical to me before. > Now it is embedded in my mind through the lives of this Ypi family. > > 8. The Trees By Percival Everett: Blaxploitation set in Trumpian times. > > 9. Victory City By Salman Rushdie: A return to old form for Rushdie. Unlike > some of his work of more recent vintage, this one was an easy (and very > entertaining) read. It is no Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses, but it > is on-par with Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The book is > purported academic tract about a newly discovered work of a South Indian > woman (Pampa Kampana) who lived for 250 years during, and whose life was > inextricably intertwined with that of, the Vijaynagar (literally, Victory > City) empire. > > 10. ?oku: The Inner Chambers By Fumi Yoshinaga: An interesting manga > series. Imagines a Tokugawa-era Japan where two thirds of men are dead from > a mysterious illness and gender roles are flipped. The Shogunate passes > down through Women and Men are kept as objects of desire and value. > > Thaths > -- > Homer: Hey, what does this job pay? > Carl: Nuthin'. > Homer: D'oh! > Carl: Unless you're crooked. > Homer: Woo-hoo! > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > https://mailman.panix.com/pipermail/silklist/attachments/20231119/ff71c3b4/attachment.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2023 18:34:30 +0100 > From: Huda Masood <[email protected]> > To: Intelligent conversation <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Silk] 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread > Message-ID: > <CAMbpj59Fjunf5Py-V3Z6PbHtPsz2ZcKk75= > [email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Thaths, > > As usual, your book recommendation emails evoke equal measure anticipation > and dread - my wallet feels so skinny afterwards but my soul so sated. > > Thank you for these. I?ll definitely be reading the one on travel writing! > > H. > > On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 at 18:15, Thaths via Silklist < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Hoi! > > > > It is that time of the year to revive the almost-annual Silklist > tradition > > of sharing our book recommendations. I would love to hear your > > recommendations. > > > > The books I loved reading in 2023 are: > > > > 1. Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack; What a delight to read. Jack paints the > > sights, sounds and smells of India with prose. I especially enjoyed his > > pieces (paeans?) on the Indian Railways, particularly the rapidly > > disappearing (as he was writing these pieces) steam locomotive stock. > > > > 2. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories > by > > Amithav Ghosh: Colonization and Capitalism told through Papaver > somniferum. > > The beginning chapters are excellent. The last chapters become a little > > repetitive. > > > > 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantasy novel about > the > > devil and his henchmen visiting Moscow during the Stalinist years. > > > > 4. Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki: Great second wave Japanese > sci-fi. > > I'm so glad I got to read this. > > > > 5. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: Scarily prescient book > > written in the early 90's and set in the mid-2020s. I cannot believe how > > much Butler got right about today. > > > > 6. The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre By Tim > > Hannigan: Hannigan originally wanted to write travel books like the ones > he > > grew up reading since he was a teenager, but the gradual erosion of the > > genre, and the critical questions being asked about the veracity of > famous > > travel writers meant that Hannigan had to re-do his plans. He ended up > > writing this book - a travel book exploring not so much a region or a > > country, but the whole field of travel writing and the critical > discipline > > of travel writing studies. If, like me, your bookshelf is filled with > > travel books, you would love this book. Every year I read a book or two > > which I love so much that I would even consider buying a few copies to > give > > to friends. This is one of those. > > > > 7. Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History By Lea Ypi: An > > excellent book that manages to balance criticism of totalitarian > communism > > of Hodja against the painful fictions of neoliberalism. The painful > > transition that Albanians experienced was only theoretical to me before. > > Now it is embedded in my mind through the lives of this Ypi family. > > > > 8. The Trees By Percival Everett: Blaxploitation set in Trumpian times. > > > > 9. Victory City By Salman Rushdie: A return to old form for Rushdie. > > Unlike some of his work of more recent vintage, this one was an easy (and > > very entertaining) read. It is no Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses, > > but it is on-par with Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The book > is > > purported academic tract about a newly discovered work of a South Indian > > woman (Pampa Kampana) who lived for 250 years during, and whose life was > > inextricably intertwined with that of, the Vijaynagar (literally, Victory > > City) empire. > > > > 10. ?oku: The Inner Chambers By Fumi Yoshinaga: An interesting manga > > series. Imagines a Tokugawa-era Japan where two thirds of men are dead > from > > a mysterious illness and gender roles are flipped. The Shogunate passes > > down through Women and Men are kept as objects of desire and value. > > > > Thaths > > -- > > 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] > > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > https://mailman.panix.com/pipermail/silklist/attachments/20231119/b39cab16/attachment.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2023 19:55:56 +0100 > From: Dave Long <[email protected]> > To: Intelligent conversation <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Silk] 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > > 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantasy novel about > the devil and his henchmen visiting Moscow during the Stalinist years. > > I've read many frame stories* but The Master and Margarita is fairly > unique in having a fantastical frame story surrounding a hard realpolitik > story within. > > -Dave > > * Russians do seem to love these; at least they seem to produce more frame > music videos than anglophones. > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:03:15 +0530 > From: Ingrid Srinath <[email protected]> > To: Intelligent conversation <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Silk] 2023 Silklist Book Recommendations Thread > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > > > On 19 Nov 2023, at 22:45, Thaths via Silklist < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > ? > > Hoi! > > > > It is that time of the year to revive the almost-annual Silklist > tradition of sharing our book recommendations. I would love to hear your > recommendations. > > > > The books I loved reading in 2023 are: > > > > 1. Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack; What a delight to read. Jack paints > the sights, sounds and smells of India with prose. I especially enjoyed his > pieces (paeans?) on the Indian Railways, particularly the rapidly > disappearing (as he was writing these pieces) steam locomotive stock. > > > > 2. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories > by Amithav Ghosh: Colonization and Capitalism told through Papaver > somniferum. The beginning chapters are excellent. The last chapters become > a little repetitive. > > > > 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: A fantasy novel about > the devil and his henchmen visiting Moscow during the Stalinist years. > > > > 4. Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki: Great second wave Japanese > sci-fi. I'm so glad I got to read this. > > > > 5. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: Scarily prescient book > written in the early 90's and set in the mid-2020s. I cannot believe how > much Butler got right about today. > > > > 6. The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre By Tim > Hannigan: Hannigan originally wanted to write travel books like the ones he > grew up reading since he was a teenager, but the gradual erosion of the > genre, and the critical questions being asked about the veracity of famous > travel writers meant that Hannigan had to re-do his plans. He ended up > writing this book - a travel book exploring not so much a region or a > country, but the whole field of travel writing and the critical discipline > of travel writing studies. If, like me, your bookshelf is filled with > travel books, you would love this book. Every year I read a book or two > which I love so much that I would even consider buying a few copies to give > to friends. This is one of those. > > > > 7. Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History By Lea Ypi: An > excellent book that manages to balance criticism of totalitarian communism > of Hodja against the painful fictions of neoliberalism. The painful > transition that Albanians experienced was only theoretical to me before. > Now it is embedded in my mind through the lives of this Ypi family. > > > > 8. The Trees By Percival Everett: Blaxploitation set in Trumpian times. > > > > 9. Victory City By Salman Rushdie: A return to old form for Rushdie. > Unlike some of his work of more recent vintage, this one was an easy (and > very entertaining) read. It is no Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses, > but it is on-par with Shame and Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The book is > purported academic tract about a newly discovered work of a South Indian > woman (Pampa Kampana) who lived for 250 years during, and whose life was > inextricably intertwined with that of, the Vijaynagar (literally, Victory > City) empire. > > > > 10. ?oku: The Inner Chambers By Fumi Yoshinaga: An interesting manga > series. Imagines a Tokugawa-era Japan where two thirds of men are dead from > a mysterious illness and gender roles are flipped. The Shogunate passes > down through Women and Men are kept as objects of desire and value. > > > > Thaths > > -- > > 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] > > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > > Seconding Smoke and Ashes. Adding Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and Nelson and > Winnie by Jonny Steinberg from my non-fiction list plus The Covenant of > Water by Abraham Verghese and Everything the Light Touches by Janice Pariat > from my fiction list for 2023. Reviews on Goodreads : > https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/132888 . > > Ingrid Srinath > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > https://mailman.panix.com/pipermail/silklist/attachments/20231120/faa0d10a/attachment.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Silklist Digest, Vol 11, Issue 5 > *************************************** >
-- Silklist mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist
