Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Named Notable Book of 1955 by the American Library Association, this is the very moving story of a peasant woman in a primitive village in India whose whole life was a gallant and persistent battle to care for those she loved. "Comparable in many ways to Cry, the Beloved Country ...if anything...better." ( Saturday Evening Post )

The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India

by John Speed

India, 1657. When Maya, a graceful, young temple dancer with a mysterious past, is sold into slavery, she enters a world of intrigue, violence, and forbidden love. Bought by a Portuguese trader and sold as a concubine to the dissolute vizier of Bijapur, she embarks on a treacherous journey. In a caravan led by the dangerous settlement man Da Gama, she travels by elephant on the hostile road to Bijapur, joined by... (more)

The Guide: A Novel

by R. K. Narayan

Formerly India’s most corrupt tourist guide, Raju—just released from prison—seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju’s newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan’s most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country’s highest literary honor.

Kanthapura

by Raja Rao

Kanthapura has been described as one of the most satisfying of all modern Indian novels. Recognized as a major landmark of Indian fiction, it is the story of how the Gandhian struggle for independence comes to one small village in south India.

The House of Blue Mangoes: A Novel

by David Davidar

In 1899, in the south Indian village of Chevathar, Solomon Dorai is contemplating the imminent destruction of his world and everything he holds dear. As the thalaivar, or headman, of Chevathar, he seeks to preserve the village from both catastrophe and change, and the decisions he makes will mark his family for generations to come. A gripping family chronicle, TheHouse of Blue Mangoes spans nearly half a... (more)

The Indian Clerk: A Novel

by David Leavitt

The brilliant new novel from one of our most respected writers—his most ambitious and accessible to date . On a January morning in 1913, G. H. Hardy—eccentric, charismatic and, at thirty-seven, already considered the greatest British mathematician of his age—receives in the mail a mysterious envelope covered with Indian stamps. Inside he finds a rambling letter from a self-professed mathematical genius who... (more)

Karma and Other Stories (P.S.)

by Rishi Reddi

In this sparkling collection, award-winning writer Rishi Reddi weaves a multigenerational tapestry of interconnected lives, depicting members of an Indian American community struggling to balance the demands of tradition with the allure of Western life. In "Lord Krishna," a teenager is offended when his evangelical history teacher likens the Hindu deity to Satan, but ultimately forgives the teacher against his... (more)

Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man

by U. R. Anantha Murthy

Made into a powerful, award-winning film in 1970, this important Kannada novel of the sixties has received widespread acclaim from both critics and general readers since its first publication in 1965. As a religious novel about a decaying brahmin colony in the south Indian village of Karnataka, Samskara serves as an allegory rich in realistic detail, a contemporary reworking of ancient Hindu themes and myths, and... (more)

Climbing Chamundi Hill: 1001 Steps with a Storyteller and a Reluctant Pilgrim

Climbing Chamundi Hill: 1001 Steps with a Storyteller and a Reluctant Pilgrim

by Ariel Glucklich

At the top of the 1,001 steps up Chamundi Hill, deep in India, lies a twelfth-century temple that houses a golden statue of Chamundi, the Hindu goddess worshipped by the Maharajas. A popular tourist and pilgrimage site, Chamundi Hill honors this consort of Shiva who saved the citizens of the city of Mysore from the monstrous rule of their mythical demon-king. In Climbing Chamundi Hill , Ariel Glucklich takes the... (more)

Collected StoriesShashi Deshpande

Collected Stories

by Shashi Deshpande

Divining the Deccan

by Bill Aitken

In this book, Bill Aitken provides a fascinating and vibrant account of his travels through the Deccan. In examining the interplay between topography and theology, he reveals the region's cultural, religious, and economic history.

Hard to Swallow

by Mitchell Levene

Bored and unfulfilled, Max is drifting through India when he's offered the adventure of his life. But smuggling cannabis has risks, from rabid dogs to drug leaks. Not to mention sex. A hilarious cross between Midnight Express and The Beach.

The Toss of a Lemon

by Padma Viswanathan

The year of the marriage proposal, Sivakami is ten. She is neither tall nor short for her age, but she will not grow much more. Her shoulders are narrow but appear solid, as though the blades are fused to protect her heart from the back. She carries herself with an attractive stiffness: her shoulders straight and always aligned. She looks capable of bearing great burdens, not as though born to yoke but perhaps as... (more)

Cutting for Stone: A Novel

by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home. Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural... (more)

The Inner Courtyard Stories by Indian Women

Between the Assassinations

by Aravind Adiga

Welcome to Kittur, India. It's on India's southwestern coast, bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Kaliamma River to the south and east. It's blessed with rich soil and scenic beauty, and it's been around for centuries. Of its 193,432 residents, only 89 declare themselves to be without religion or caste. And if the characters in Between the Assassinations are any indication, Kittur is an extraordinary... (more)

Under the Banyan Tree (Penguin Modern Classics)

Under the Banyan Tree (Penguin Modern Classics)

by R. K. Narayan

This is an enchanting collection from India's foremost storyteller, rich in wry, warmly observed characters from every walk of Indian life - merchants, beggars, herdsmen, rogues - all of whose lives are microcosms of the human experience. Like Nambi in the title story, Narayan has the mesmeric ability to spellbind his audience. This he achieves with a masterful combination of economy and rhythm, creating haunting... (more)

Song of the Cuckoo Bird: A Novel

by Amulya Malladi

A sweeping epic set in southern India, where a group of outcasts create a family while holding tight to their dreams. Barely a month after she is promised in marriage, eleven-year-old orphan Kokila comes to Tella Meda, an ashram by the Bay of Bengal. Once there, she makes a courageous yet foolish choice that alters the fabric of her life: Instead of becoming a wife and mother, youthful passion drives Kokila to... (more)

The Rice Mother

by Rani Manicka

At the age of fourteen, Lakshmi leaves behind her childhood among the mango trees of Ceylon for married life across the ocean in Malaysia, and soon finds herself struggling to raise a family in a country that is, by turns, unyielding and amazing, brutal and beautiful. Giving birth to a child every year until she is nineteen, Lakshmi becomes a formidable matriarch, determined to secure a better life for... (more)

Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes

by Shoba Narayan

Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary weaves a fascinating food narrative that combines delectable Indian recipes with tales from her life, stories of her delightfully eccentric family, and musings about Indian culture. Narayan recounts her childhood in South India, her college days in America, her arranged marriage, and visits from her parents and in-laws to her home in New York City. Monsoon Diary is populated with... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: south india

by Kamala Markandaya

by John Speed

by R. K. Narayan

by Raja Rao

by David Davidar

by David Leavitt

by Rishi Reddi

by U. R. Anantha Murthy

by Ariel Glucklich

by Shashi Deshpande

by Bill Aitken

by Mitchell Levene

by Padma Viswanathan

by Abraham Verghese

by Aravind Adiga

by R. K. Narayan

by Amulya Malladi

by Rani Manicka

by Shoba Narayan