summer 2011 reading
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Summer
Books
From a princess in hiding to a murder in aboarding school and from an intimate portrait
of a nations remaking to harnessing ourpower to change the world, readers have a
exciting array of characters and plots to enjoythis summer. Whether it is the biography of
Subhas Chandra Bose or Mahatma Gandhi, oran examination of female culture in India, the
narratives aim to entertain and enthrall.The South Asian literary scene has always
been a colorful one, and this summer is noexception. There are at least a dozen books
that are definitely worth devouring. Here is abrief overview of the dynamic dozen.
Looking for an engrossing summer read?
From suspense to biography,
Visi Tilaklists 12 books with
distinct Indian themes
TheSummer
Dozen
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hortlisted for the 2003
Man Booker Prize for her
Brick Lane, Britain-
based Monica Ali fiction-
alizes the life of Diana,
Princess of Wales, had
she not died so tragically.
What would have happened to her,
where would she be living if she were
alive today these are the imaginings in
Untold Story.
This book launches on the anniver-
sary of Dianas 50th birthday. In this
story, a fictional princess, believing that
the establishment is plotting her assassi-
nation, fakes her own death and begins a
new life under an assumed identity.
After a period of intense upheaval, she
settles in a small Midwestern American
town and over a period of 10 years starts
believing that her life is finally her own.
A chance encounter with a member of
the paparazzi robs her of that certainty
and leads up to a very dramatic end.
Untold Story is Monica Alis fourth
novel and has resulted in intense contro-
versy in the United Kingdom. publi-
cation of this novel could seem as a
shoddy cash-in, but it is a thoughtful,
compassionate and utterly untrashy
piece of work. It is also, in the last third
especially, a suspenseful and gripping
read, the Financial Times notes.
Untold StoryMonica AliScribner, $25
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42 THE INDIAN AMERICAN May-June 2011
ts impossible, reading Bhattacharya, not to be
reminded of V. S. Naipaul, even if he werent
referred to several times throughout the story.
Naipaul defined the lonely, empty middle
ground occupied by the descendants of Indian
immigrants living in Africa and the Caribbean
who no longer belong to any nation, The New
York Times says.
This debut novel is the adventure story of a 26-year-old
Indian cricket reporter who has left Bombay to explore
Guyanas exotic landscape and people. Life as we know it, is a
living shrinking affair, and somewhere down the line I became
taken with the idea that man and his world should be renewed
on a daily basis. Thus begins this novel whose prose is filled
with local voices and culture.
In vigorous yet lyrical prose employing a pungent vernac-
ular, Bhattacharya describes Guyanas horrid heat and thun-
derous rain in sensuous detail. Bhattacharyas distinctive
voice, which incorporates both Guyanese and Indian dialects,
results in an authentic and sybaritic tale, a starred review in
Publishers Weekly says.
The Sly Company ofPeople Who Care
Rahul BhattacharyaFarrar Strauss Giroux, $26
et during the monsoon of 1974, Miss Timmins
School for Girls is an intense, irreverent love
story and a dark murder mystery. A debut novel
by Nayana Currimbhoy, who attended an all-girls
boarding school, it is set at the confluence of three
cultures the conservatism of the heroines mid-
dle-class Brahmin family, the colonial mindset of
the boarding school officials and the rock n roll, drugs and freelove culture of the 1970s.
Charulata Apte, the protagonist, arrives at Miss Timmins
School three weeks before her 21st birthday. By day, she shares
Shrewsbury biscuits and tea with the schools British missionar-
ies and teaches Shakespeare to a bunch of privileged Indian girls;
by night she finds herself drawn to the troubled and charismatic
Moira Prince, a colleague with secrets of her own, and her pot-
smoking hippie friends.
One monsoon night, a teacher is murdered and Charu is
implicated. Suddenly, her real education begins. The book is an
engaging read and a page-turner one that is sure to keep the
summer thrilling.
Miss Timmins Schoolfor GirlsNayana CurrimbhoyHarper Collins, $14.99
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44 THE INDIAN AMERICAN May-June 2011
y the time you read this, I will be flying overthe Atlantic on my way to India. You will
have woken up alone and found the dia-
mond ring I left on the bedside table and
beneath it, this stack of papers that you
now hold. But for the moment you are
sleeping peacefully. Even when I lean
down, touch my face to yours, and inhale your scent, you do
not stir. Watching you sleep my heart aches. I have done a
terrible thing. Thus begins the The Girl in the Garden.
This debut novel by Kamala Nair is the redemptive jour-
ney of a young woman, unsure of her engagement, who
revisits in memory the events of one scorching childhood
summer. Her beautiful yet troubled mother spirits her away
from her home in the United States, to an Indian villageuntouched by time, where she discovers in the jungle behind
her ancestral house, a spellbinding garden that harbors a
terrifying secret. Written in expressive prose, this novel has a
fairy-tale quality to it. It uncovers surreptitious events, yet is
culturally mystifying.
The Girl in the GardenKamala Nair
Grand Central Publishing, $24.99
n rich lyrical prose, Sarita Mandanna narrates this
sweeping saga. The story is set in the southern Indian
region of Coorg between the late 19th century and the
Second World War.
The novels heroine is Devi, a girl so willful that, at
age 10, she declares to her mother that she will marry
no one other than Machaiah, a handsome local hero and
famed tiger hunter. She has no idea that her lifelong friend, the
shy, sensitive Devanna Machaiahs younger cousin harbors
his own hopes of marrying her. And so Tiger Hills seems bound
for territory already well trod by Jane Austen and Jennifer
Aniston, The New York Times review notes.
Written very elegantly, Mandannas debut novel is a triangle
involving Devi, the first girl to be born into the Nachimada fami-ly; Devanna, a boy whose mother has died under tragic circum-
stances; and Machu, a handsome young man regarded as a local
hero for killing a tiger a near impossible feat.
The Independent sums it up fittingly, The up-and-down
intrigue that binds the longed-for daughter Devi, her childhood
sweetheart Devanna, and the intrepid tiger-slayer Machu, may
come from familiar stock. But this novels strength stems from its
close and colorful attention to place and epoch. Change and con-
flict shake the fragile equilibrium between the local coffee-grow-
ing dynasties and European settlers in these sumptuous highland
landscapes. Sarita Mandannas spectacular fusion of history and
romance makes for an aromatic blend.
Tiger HillsSarita MandannaGrand Central Publishing, $24.99
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May-June 2011 THE INDIAN AMERICAN 45
ccent neutralization and accent enhance-
ment courses abound in a country likeIndia where call center outsourcing is one
of the most lucrative fields for young grad-
uates. This new generation of twenty-
something Indians is the new face of India.
With this as the milieu, Bharati Mukherjee
presents Anjali Bose, a character who encapsulates a
moment in time.
Miss New India is the story of Anjalis rebirth. Born
into a traditional lower middle-class family in Gauripur, a
backwater town, she is faced with an unpleasant arranged
marriage. Armed with ambition, moxie and a gift for lan-
guage, she walks out of her parents home one night and
heads for Bangalore. She falls in love with an audacious and
ambitious crowd of young people who have learned to soundAmerican to get jobs as call center service agents, to quickly
outearn their parents. In this distinctly modern and urban
landscape, Anjali is able to confront her past and reinvent
herself. She is the epitome of Miss New India.
Miss New IndiaBharati Mukherjee
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25
ugata Bose is Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard
University. He is also the great grand nephew of Subhas
Chandra Bose, a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi and a
prominent Indian freedom fighter. Subhas Chandra Bosewas also a highly controversial personality who advocated
for armed resistance to end British rule in India and sought
to join forces with the Nazis and other militarist regimes at
war with Britain. He is presumed to have died Aug. 18, 1945, in a plane
crash in Taiwan, though evidence of his death has not been universally
accepted. In fact, there have been several conspiracy theories about his
death, and claims that he actually survived the crash but feigned his death.
Sugata Boses biography claims to solve the mystery surrounding the death
and end many of the controversies about Subhas Chandra Bose.
Whether it does that or not, this book is very fascinating not just for
those who love history and politics, but for anyone who loves to read an
illustrious story about a famous person.
His Majestys Opponent:Subhas Chandra Bose andIndias Struggle AgainstEmpireSugata BoseBelknap Press, $35
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ho does not want to be a superhero, or figure out how to
harness power to change the world? Even for those who
are not fans of self-help books, this one happens to be an
intriguing read. The father-son duo reveals seven princi-
ples for rising to our potential and discovering the super-
hero within: balance, transformation, power, compas-
sion, intuition, creativity and transcendence. Together
these offer the potential to improve our lives and the world around us.
Superheroes have been part of the worlds culture since long before
Superman and Spider-Man. In this remarkable book, the insightful Deepak
Chopra probes the amazing origin of superheroes dating back to Buddha and
Lord Shiva a reading experience not to be missed, says Stan Lee co-creator of
Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Avengers, Thor and The Hulk.
Some may laugh off the concept and find it hard to believe that they can
exploit their own latent superpowers, but others believe that each one of us has
at least one secret force that we have to discover and harness. That is what makes
each of us unique and special. Read, analyze and implement, and this book may
actually make you a superhero before the summer is out.
The Seven Spiritual Lawsof Superheroes:
Harnessing Our Power toChange the World
Deepak Chopra withGotham Chopra
HarperOne, $25.99
very Indian-American experiences a feeling of lost
identity. In Western society, ones Indian roots
are easier balanced in language than in reality. In
this book, Anand Giridharadas explores his own
past, narrating the story of his parents marriage
and emigration, his own choice to move back to
India and the resistance he felt as a latecomer to
the Indian party. Torn between his Indian roots and American
upbringing, his own transformation through this book is as com-
pelling and complex as his intimate portrait of a nations remak-ing.
Giridharadas, a journalist and columnist for the New York
Times and International Herald Tribune, depicts a country
gripped by powerful forces of transformation. Besides business,
foreign investment and global politics, he also scrutinizes individ-
uals seeking to reconcile old traditions and customs with new
ambitions and dreams. India Calling is a wonderfully written
book.
India Calling: AnIntimate Portrait of a
Nations RemakingAnand GiridharadasHenry Holt & Co., $25
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ow can we best understand the India of today? It
is the seventh-largest country geographically, the
second-most populous and the most populous
democracy in the world. Perhaps, we should look
to the people specifically some of those respon-
sible for the making of the modern state.
In Makers of Modern India, the first major
anthology of Indian social and political thought, Ramachandra Guha, an
established historian, brings together writings and speeches from 19 key
political figures of the 19th and 20th centuries to highlight the range and
diversity of ideas about the forming nation.
Guhas selection of writings includes a broad ideological spectrum lib-
eral, socialist, lower caste, feminist -- and also encompasses Indias diverse
linguistic cultures. He acknowledges the writers perspectives are sometimes
complementary and, more often, competitive, yet he manages to give a
coherent shape to the wide range of views assembled. He selects works from
well-known figures Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath
Tagore and lesser-known figures Raja Rammohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, E.V. Ramasamy and for each one, he includes passages that express
some of the writers central ideas as well a sense of their language and local
interests. Makers of Modern India begins with an extensive introduction
and includes biographical sketches of each figure and guides for further
reading. Guha is a learned historian whose writing and subject matter do
not fail to captivate.
Makers ofModern India
Ramachandra GuhaBelknap Press, $35
his is an incisive and witty memoir that explores
the female culture in India. It is a cultural exami-
nation that peels back the stereotypical image of
India as a land of call centers, yoginis and
Bollywood to reveal an ancient place where,
Miranda Kennedy claims, womens lives have
scarcely changed for centuries.
Sideways on a Scooter is a personal account of Kennedys
experiences during her time in India as a reporter for National
Public Radio. As she settles and builds a life for herself, she is
pulled closely into the lives of several Indian women, six of whom
play a key role in this memoir. Kennedy is immersed in their
lives and to an American whose cultural background of India is
next to nothing, most daily things seem very unique and differ-
ent.
This is not Eat, Pray, Love. This is someone who is looking,
experiencing, absorbing, analyzing and reporting. Looking at the
daily lives of Indian women from the perspective of an American,
especially one whose writing is masterful, makes for excellent
reading.
Sideways on a ScooterMiranda KennedyRandom House, $26
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hen Joseph Lelyveld decided to pen Mahatma
Gandhis biography, it is highly unlikely he
anticipated the outrage it has generated. In the
West, the book was well received, but in India,
many claimed it portrayed Gandhi as a bisexu-
al with a relationship with one of his disciples,the German-Jewish architect and bodybuilder
Hermann Kallenbach, a charge that Lelyveld insists is incorrect.
It is a responsible book, it is a sensitive book, it is a book that is
admiring of Gandhi and his struggle for social justice in India and
it's been turned into as if it is some kind of sensationalist potboiler.
It is not, he says.
Lelyveld was executive editor of the New York Times from 1994
to 2001. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author and a
frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. In his rigor-
ous biography of Gandhi, he offers an unexpected perspective one
that focuses more on the Mahatmas failures and vexations than his
triumphs.
Gandhis story is one of the most inspiring in history, and
Joseph Lelyveld proves himself equally inspiring in telling the story.This book is a brilliant and glittering match, brimming with well,
souls, Nicholas D. Kristof, columnist for the New York Times,
writes.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen describes the book as a deeply
insightful analysis of perhaps the most intriguing political leader of
our time. A marvelous book.
Though it is not a light read, it is a must-read
Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhiand His Struggle With IndiaJoseph LelyveldKnopf, $28.95
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