I lived in India for a number of years and this is a collection of books that have helped me understand the region more deeply. It is a collection of history, sociology, fiction, and non-fiction.
Understanding India and Southeast Asia Public
Créée par Sean Bala
-
Train To Pakistan de Khushwant Singh
“In the summer of 1947, when the creation of the state of Pakistan was formally announced, ten million people—Muslims and …
Sean Bala a dit : A novel written about eight years after the Partition of India and Pakistan, this books captures the sheer madness and mindless violence surrounding the largest mass movement of people in history.
-
Curry (A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors) de Lizzie Collingham
Curry serves up a delectable history of Indian cuisine, ranging from the imperial kitchen of the Mughal invader Babur to …
Sean Bala a dit : An AMAZING exploration of the development of Indian cuisine - the chapters on Chai blew my mind and is one of the best examinations of mercantilism, colonialism, and marketing you'll ever read.
-
A Tale of Four Dervishes de Mīr Amman Dihlavī
Originally composed in the fourteenth century and made popular in 1803 by Mir Amman's colloquial retelling, this wonderfully entertaining story …
Sean Bala a dit : A classic of Urdu literature in the style of "1001 Nights," this is a great demonstration of Indo-Islamic culture. Also really fun and entertaining!
-
From the Ruins of Empire de Pankaj Mishra
A little more than a century ago, as the Japanese navy annihilated the giant Russian one at the Battle of …
Sean Bala a dit : This book puts the anticolonial struggle in South Asia in a larger, pan-Asian context and shows the development of nationalism in response to colonialism. While it shows it politics a bit, it is a pretty masterful intellectual history and might make you interested in looking at other Asian histories
-
Nationalism de Rabindranath Tagore
4 étoiles
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize. Nationalism is based on lectures delivered by him …
Sean Bala a dit : Tagore was one of India's great artists and thinkers. An absolute polymath, this collection presents another view of nationalism generally and of Indian nationalism in particular. His conception, more rooted in a cosmopolitan cultural engagement with the world, is deeply relevant for today.
-
Environmentalism de Ramachandra Guha
3 étoiles
In this book Ramachandra Guha, an acclaimed historian of the environment, draws on many years of research in three continents. …
Sean Bala a dit : More of a work of Environmental history, I put it here because Guha, at least in some of the earlier chapters, places Indian thinkers in a global context and shows the impact of Indian environmental movements on the world. A bit of an esoteric choice - feel free to skip.
-
Sean Bala a dit : The first of Narayan's Malgudi novels, Swami and Friends is a classic comedy about the adventures of a young boy living in a small-town in South India. Really funny and touching. Great to pair with Ruskin Bond's "The Room on the Roof" for an Indian coming-of-age novel.
-
The Room on the Roof de Ruskin Bond
Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned, and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part …
Sean Bala a dit : The first novel from one of India's best-loved authors. An Anglo-Indian author who chose to stay in India, Bond's novel captures the feeling of growing up and finding home. Great to pair with "Swami and Friends."
-
Samskara de U.R. Ananthamurthy
4 étoiles
Made into a powerful, award-winning film in 1970, this important Kannada novel of the sixties has received widespread acclaim from …
Sean Bala a dit : A powerful novel written originally in Kannada from South India, the novel gives the reader a South Indian perspective on religion and culture. Deeply moving - the kind of book that burrows into your brain.
-
The Mahabharata de R.K. Narayan
5 étoiles
The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full …
Sean Bala a dit : One of the two foundational mythological epics of Indian civilization (the other is the Ramayana), the Mahabharata is the more complex, ambiguous work. It is the longest epic in world literature, this version is a well-done novelization in less than 200 pages.
