Picked up the January 2007 issue of Reader's Digest and happened to see an article titled 10 Great Indian Novels to Read This Year. The article has been written by Eunice De Souza the poet, novelist, editor and former professor. I remember interacting with Eunice over a few weeks at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1991. We were attending the Film Appreciation Course and it was fun to interact with her. More so as she is a Punekar who has shifted to Mumbai.
Here are the ten Indian novels Eunice recommends book lovers read this year:
(1) Londonstani by Gautam Malkani (2006)
(2) No God in Sight by Altaf Tyrewala (2005)
(3) Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar (1997)
(4) Afternoon Raag by Amit Chaudhuri (1993)
(5) Hangman's Journal by Shashi Warrier (2000)
(6) The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth (1986)
(7) All About H. Hatterr by G. V. Desani (1948)
(8) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
(9) The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh (2004)
(10) Everest Hotel by I Allan Seally.
So, how many of these have you read? I can hear some book lovers say "What, no Upamanyu Chatterjee/ Rohinton Mistry/ O.V. Vijayan?" But then you can't make everyone happy, can you?
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3 comments:
Incidentally I read one of the Tracey chevalier’s essay on lists and how it is a 21st century question. She posits that in the reading exercise, there are two parallel judgments on going together. One would be the value of the book and the other the experience of reading it. Although in themselves these entail a lot of variables that define the reader perception , I found it still a very sound model.
It explains how our reflections on change when we revisit it later in our lifetimes without , perhaps altering the core feeling of liking or disliking as such.
Do read , if you can lay your hands on it:
Its called: lying to the optician , reader or reading experience rated. Something like that.
From the list here I have only read : Roy and Seth. As I’ve mentioned before I liked Roy’s book immensely. Seth was boring when not fretting. I always found him bit hollow, To me all his identity as a writer comes from his content research. I am unable to imagine him as a person who has something intensely personal to say.
The rest of the names sounds Chinese to me? I had to been told about amitav ghosh quite a few times. I am terrified that he might vacuous , but I have decided to give it a go.
What about yourself dev? You haven’t shared your prejudices?
Also, I’m wondering about the list : these have been written over the last 50 years. The selection seems randomly personal. But why to be read only this year??
But if you insist on expressing my displeasure:
What No Kanthapura? No? Malgudi???
Hows that??
Cheers
thats me
Sunil
Hi Sunil... this obsession with lists can be quiet a dumbing down experience... I am alert to lists compiled by anyone of some eminence from the same field... for instance when Shyam Benegal comments on the best films of 2006 I give his words more weight than I would if it were a journalist who is only going by trade figures... Thanks for the info on the essay by Tracey Chevalier... Yes I missed R.K. Narayan in this list... Of the ten Eunice recommends I have read Roy and Desani... I would love to read something by Kiran Nagarkar (Incidentally I remember reading somewhere that Kiran, who writes in Marathi and English, is a member of the Indian jewish community like the late Nissim Ezekiel)
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