One of my absolute favorite
things to do is read, read and read some more. I would live in a bookstore, preferably
BusBoys & Poets’ 14th & V location, if
I could. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I got some serious
reading done since I’ve been in India. So far, I’ve read roughly 15+ books and
I really wanted to talk about them on my blog. I was supposed to start doing
this a LONG time ago, but you know how it goes – procrastination got the better
of me and I now have to find a way to tell you about these books without making
a ridiculously long blog post. In the interest of reader ease, I have opted to
put the books I’ve read into several categories to make it more manageable. I wouldn’t
say that I have written book reviews here, more of a stream of consciousness with
regard to some great books that I have had the chance to get into over the past
several months. I hope you see something you like :-)
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Part I: Books About India
There’s an African
proverb that I learned during my freshman year at Spelman College in our
African Diaspora and the World (ADW) course: “Until
lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the
hunters.” This quote kept running through my head as I read City of
Djinns. India has a deep and
sometimes very dark history – much of which I was ignorant to before coming here
and making a conscious effort to learn more about the nation in which I had
decided to spend nine months of my life. This book offers an excellent
historical overview of Delhi and much of what has shaped India – the good, the
bad and the ugly. The parts that interested me the most were those focused on
Partition and the intense, and often violet, splitting of a nation along religious
lines. Many of us think of India and our minds go straight to yoga and
elephants and the Taj Mahal – but there is so much more to this place and this
book tells a great story that helped me peel back some of the layers of this
country and deepen my appreciation for the opportunity to be here.
I picked this book up because it was
about India and the author had been recommended to us during our orientation in July. It
takes an interesting look at families and the role that food/eating plays in our relationships.
Focusing on the lives of Uma and her brother Arun, it is set in India for the
first part and in America for the second – examining the individual lives of
Uma and Arun respectively. Of particular interest to me was the focus put on
Uma as being unmarriageable and the light shed on her cousin who had everything
(i.e. beauty and a husband), but whose life ended quite tragically despite the
cards being dealt in her “favor”. Overall, it was a good read – I’m glad I picked
it up.
More books to come :-) Happy reading!!!!
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