I loved "Trying to Grow" by Firdaus Kanga, a semi-autobiographical novel, when I read it. Haven't re-read it lately, but it was the first account I'd read of how a 'physically challenged' person feels...with a lot of humour.
Deepa. On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 11:56 PM, Shrabonti Bagchi <[email protected]> wrote: > I haven’t read Shantaram (something about the excessive hype put me off a > little bit) so can’t comment, but most people seem to love it. They also > love The Kite Runner though, so what do you know... > > The Hungry Tide is good, but Ghosh’s earlier works are better. The Shadow > Lines and The Calcutta Chromosome are brilliant. A few other suggestions: > > The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (really obvious one) > A Suitable Boy (even more obvious) > Anything by Jhumpa Lahiri > Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra > > Younger authors: > > Or The Day Seizes You by Rajorshi Chakraborti > Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta > Turbulence by Samit Basu (this is SF) > The Heat and Dust Project by Devapriya Roy and Saurav Jha > > Hope this helps! > > > > Connect: > > Twitter: @shrabonti > Instagram: @shrabonti > Phone: +91-9880536562 > > On Tue, 24 Oct 2017 at 5:33 PM John Sundman < John Sundman ( John Sundman < > [email protected]> ) > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Oct 24, 2017, at 3:43 AM, Shrabonti Bagchi < [email protected] > > > wrote: > > > > > > Having said that, I also think that the Indian literary novel in > English > > is going through a very low phase, and most IWE novels are either written > > with the college crowd in mind and are of iffy quality or are genre works > > (and genre writers do feature prominently at most events) > > > > As an American I confess to a profound ignorance of the Indian literary > > novel in English, but I did this year read The Hungry Tide, by Amitav > > Ghosh. > > > > I quite enjoyed it, although I thought the ending was much too contrived. > > > > I would appreciate suggestions on other books in this category that I can > > read to fill this lamentable hole in my education. > > > > Also, I wonder what, if anything, Silklisters think of “Shantaram,” by > > Gregory David Roberts, which has been an enormous worldwide hit in the > > Anglo world; I don’t know how it has fared in India. It’s a literary > novel > > set in India, but it’s by an Austrailian (who lived in India for a long > > time & is evidently fluent in 2 or more Indian languages.) I thought that > > book was a decidedly mixed bag. The great parts were really great and the > > awful parts were really awful. As it turns out, Joe Regal, the author’s > > American literary agent, who shaped the book and was instrumental in its > > success, is a close friend of mine. > > > > jrs > > > > > > > > > > > > >
