I had so much fun compiling April’s post about Russia (thank you for your feedback!), that I thought I’d create a reading list for my upcoming trip to India as well. In October, Simon and I are headed to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and Udaipur and though it’s six months away, I already have a countdown (love the Dreamdays app!). Below are the books I’m hoping to read before our autumn India adventure.
A Passage to India by E.M.Forster (remember loving it in high school, must reread!)
Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann
City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple
Love Jaipur, Rajasthan by Fiona Cauflield
(just ordered this beautiful guidebook on a friend’s recommendation! find more cities in the series here!)
A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur
East of the Sun: A Novel by Julia Gregson
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Daughter of Empire: My Life as a Mountbatten by Pamela Hicks
Midnight’s Children: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald
A Suitable Boy: A Novel by Vikram Seth
White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India by William Dalrymple
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta
The Palace of Illusions: A Novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj, $3
The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga
The God of Small Things: A Novel by Arundhati Roy
Two more to add on
Sophia Duleep Singh by Anita Anand fabulous! India/UK connection
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. A long one with a cult following.
Abby – So helpful! Thank you!
India has been on my list for ages! One of my best friends grew up there, maybe someday I can visit with her. I’m reading Padma Lakshmi’s “Love, Loss, and What We Ate” right now. There is a significant section about her early childhood and later summers growing up in India. Her descriptions of the food and cooking with her family are beautiful.
There’s also a mini series based on the Indian Summers book, you can find it on PBS passport and Amazon. I haven’t watched yet, but heard great things!
A Suitable Boy was amazing. Because it is thousands of pages long you may want you give up at parts it drags on, don’t. It was very well done and rewarding.
The author was supposed to write a follow-up called “A Suitable Girl”
Jessie – I have so much trouble watching PBS/Amazon things from Denmark. Must remedy this! And will order the Padma Lakshmi book–thanks so much for the tip!
Noelle – So good to know. I better get started!
Great list! I recommend watching the film The Lunchbox.
I’m reading the Lowland right now and loving it! Can’t wait to follow along xx
Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
I am headed to India in September for the first time — similar itinerary too, but we are spending a bit of time down south in Kerala as well. I ordered the Love Jaipur guidebook a few weeks ago and can’t put it down – will add a few of these to my summer reading, thank you for sharing!
I can recommend FionaCaufilds Love books they are fantastic. You have a great list read before you go. A Princess remembers is wonderful, I read this in the 80’s brilliant. I can’t wait o visit Jaipur and look forward to following it on Instagram