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Reading Suggestions
INDIA
SUGGESTED READING LIST
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| STANLEY WOLPERT |
India |
| This wonderfully literate introduction to India by the acknowledged master tackles religion and philosophy, art and culture, politics and the environment with clarity. |
| WILLIAM DALRYMPLE |
City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi |
| Dalrymple infectiously interweaves his own experiences over a year in Delhi with the art, architecture, history and literature of the city. |
| EDWARD LUCE |
In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India |
| Luce tackles the challenges and reality of the world's largest democracy with insight and balance in this portrait of a nation in transition. |
| ROBERT ARNETT |
India Unveiled |
| A celebration of the people, landscapes and traditional culture of India, organized regionally and featuring 268 beautiful color photographs. It's a revealing, insightful portrait of the country combining history, geography and travelogue. |
| ELISABETH BUMILLER |
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, A Journey Among the Women of India |
A wonderfully written and fascinating portrayal of Indian women from Bollywood stars to Indira Gandhi to prostitutes. It's an insightful portrait of the country as seen through the eyes of its women. Mughal
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| AMARTYA SEN |
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity |
| Lamont University Professor at Harvard and a Nobel prizewinner for economics, Sen celebrates India's diversity of religious beliefs, customs and democratic traditions in these provocative, erudite essays. |
| MOHANDAS K. GANDHI |
An Autobiography, Or the Story of My Experiments with Truth |
| There is no substitute for reading Gandhi in his own simple, direct prose. A highly recommended glimpse into the personality and life of this remarkable figure. |
| WILLIAM DALRYMPLE |
Nine Lives, In Search of the Sacred in Modern India |
| From Sufi dervish and Buddhist monk to outcast and temple worshiper: nine people, nine lives, all captured by Dalrymple (City of Djinns) as he journeys throughout India in search of remarkable individuals transformed by religion. |
| SALMAN RUSHDIE |
Midnight's Children |
| Crowned Best of the Booker in 2008, Rushdie's greatest novel is a madcap, comic take on the birth of modern India in all its splendid and unexpected manifestations. |
| ALLEN, CHARLES |
Plain Tales from the Raj |
| Anthology of reminiscences of India under British rule from Edwardian days to 1947- childhood memories, social life, “the daily round, the rains, hill holidays” etc. ST. MARTIN’S, 1976. |
| BOHM, ROBERT |
Notes on India |
| “Attractive and highly personal commentary on life and travel in India today...well worth discovering” SOUTH END PRESS, 1983. |
| DOWNS, HUGH |
Rhythms of a Himalayan Village. |
| GANDHI, INDIRA |
Eternal India |
| “A coffee table pictorial essay on India-- excellent pictures” |
| CARTER, LILLIAN |
Away from home |
Letter home from the President’s late mother written while she spent two years in India, the Peace Corps.
SIMON & schuster, 1977. |
| FISHLOCK, TREVOR |
GANDHI’S CHILDREN |
| “Vivid insights into the present-day country and its people... covers almost every imaginable topic- food, sex, education, sports, religion, medicine, money” and more. A compelling blend of history, social criticism, travel and commentary.” UNIVERSE, 1993. |
| MEHTA, VED |
PORTRAIT OF INDIA |
| By a correspondent for the New Yorker - “Immensely readable....sense of immersion in the sights, scents and sound of India...people from high and low walks of life.” |
| COLLINS & LAPIERRE |
Freedom at Midnight |
| “Insightful account” of the immediate events surrounding the independence of India in 1947-48, including interviews with Lord Mountbatten, those who murdered Gandhi. SIMON & SCHUSTER 1975 |
| WOLPERT, STANLEY |
A New History of India |
| FISCHER, LOUIS |
Gandhi |
| ROWLAND, BENJAMIN |
The Art & Architecture of India |
| MAHARAJA OF BARODA |
The Palaces of India |
| NARYANA, RK |
The Ramayan |
| COLLINS & LAPIERRE |
City of Joy |
| GUIDE BOOKS |
Insight Guide to India (an excellent overall book)
Insight Wildlife of India
CULTURE SHOCK- INDIA |
NEPAL
SUGGESTED READING LIST
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| GENERAL |
| APA PRODUCTIONS |
Insight Guide to Nepal (an excellent overall book) |
| BERNSTIEN,JEREMY |
The Wildest Dreams of Kew: A Profile of Nepal |
| HAGEN, TONI |
Nepal : The Kingdom of the Himalayas (Geo study by the first foreigner in Nepal) |
| HILLARY, EDMUND |
Schoolhouse in the Clouds |
| MATTHIESSEN, PETER |
The Snow Leapord |
| PEISSEL, MICHEL |
Tiger for Breakfast |
| RAJ, PRAKASH |
Kathmandu & the Kingdom of Nepal |
| WHEELER & EVERIST |
Nepal A Travel Survival Kit |
| HISTORY AND CULTURE |
| ANDERSON, MARY |
Festival of Nepal |
| FANTIN, MARIO |
Mani Rimdu Nepal (Buddhist festivals-Kumbu) |
| FISHER, MARGARET |
The Political History of Nepal |
| KIRKPATRICK, COL |
An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal |
| KRAMRISCH, STELLA |
The Art of Nepal |
| LALL,DESAR |
Nepalese Customs and Manners |
| STILLER, LUDWIG |
The Rise of the House of Gorkha |
| MOUNTAINS AND TREKKING |
| ARMINGTON, STAN |
Trekking in the Himalayas |
| BEZRUCHKA, STEPHEN |
A Guide to Trekking in Nepal |
| BONNINGTON, CHRIS |
Everest the Hard Way |
| HILLARY, EDMOND |
Nothing Venture, Nothing Win |
| SCHALLER, GEORGE |
Stones of Silence ( A naturalists survey) |
| ALSO RECOMMENDED IS CULTURE SHOCK NEPAL. |
BHUTAN
SUGGESTED READING LIST |
| GUIDEBOOKS |
| FOOTPRINT |
Bhutan |
| LONELY PLANET |
Bhutan |
| FODORS |
Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan |
| ODYSSEY GUIDE |
Bhutan |
| GENERAL |
| JOHN BERTHOLD |
Bhutan- The Land of Thunder Dragon |
| BLYTH & RUSS CARPENTER |
The Blessings of Bhutan |
| BARBARA CROSSETTE |
So Close to Heaven, The vanishing Buddhist kingdoms of the Himalayas |
| JAMIE ZEPPA |
Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A journey into Bhutan |
| KATIE HICKMAN |
Dreams of peaceful Dragon |
| CAROL INSKIPP |
BIRDS OF BHUTAN |
| A.K HELLUM |
A Painter’s Year in Forests of Bhutan |
| LARRY SNIDER |
A World Away |
TIBET
SUGGESTED READING LIST |
| GUIDEBOOKS |
| FOOTPRINT |
Tibet |
| LONELY PLANET |
Tibet |
| FODORS |
Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan |
| TRAVEL ADVENTURE GUIDE |
Tibet |
| BRADT TRAVEL GUIDE |
Tibet |
| GENERAL |
| HENRICH HARRER |
Seven Years in Tibet |
| PATRICK FRENCH |
Tibet: A personal history of a Lost Land |
| PETER HOPKIRK |
Trespassers on the Rooftop of the World: The race for Lhasa |
| MICHEL PEISSEL |
Tibet, The secret continent |
| IAN BAKER |
The Heart of the World: A journey to Tibet’s lost paradise |
| ALEXANDRA DAVID- NEEL |
Magic and Mystery in Tibet |
| MIRIAM MURCUTT & RICHARD STARKS |
Lost in Tibet: The Untold Story of Five American Airmen, a Doomed Plane, and the Will to Survive |
| ALEC LE SUEUR |
The Hotel on the Roof of the World: From Miss Tibet to Shangri LA |
| STEVE MC CURRY |
The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage |
| ISABEL LOSADA |
For Tibet, with Love |
| MICHEL PEISSEL |
Tibet: The Secret Continent |
| FOSCO MARIANI |
Secret Tibet |
| LARRY SNIDER |
A World Away |
| WILLIAM CHAPMAN |
The Face of Tibet |
SRI LANKA
SUGGESTED READING LIST
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| GUIDE BOOKS |
Insight Guide to Sri Lanka (an excellent overall book)
Lonely Planet
Fodor
CULTURE SHOCK-SRI LANKA (BEST) |
| BACKGROUND READING |
PLACES
by James Morris...travel essays
Harcourt 1973
Sri Lanka - A Survey by DeSilva, KM
University of California Press 1977
A History of Sri Lanka- De Silva KM
University of California Press 1981 |
| NOVELS |
Arthur S Clarke ...collection
The Spring of The Tiger- Victoria Holt
The Strode Venturer- Hammond Innes
Running in the Family- Michael Ondaatje |
CAMBODIA, VIETNAM, LAOS, MYANMAR AND THAILAND
SUGGESTED READING LIST
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| GUIDE BOOKS |
All-Asia Guide
Lonely Planet
Fodor
CULTURE SHOCK |
| BACKGROUND READING |
A History of South East Asia D.G.E Hall 1981
Concise History of East Asia C.P. Fitzgerald
Burma, A Profile Norman Bixler 1971
Peacocks and Pagodas, (Burma) Paul Edmonds
Anna and the King of Siam, Margaret Landon
Thailand: Land of the Free, James Basche
When the War Was over : Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, Elizabeth Becker
When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge, Chanrithy Him
Vietnam Now:A Reporter Returns,David Lamb
Stalking the Elephant Kings : In Search of Laos, Christopher Kremmer
Burma : The State of Myanmar, David I. Steinberg and David L. Steinberg |
| NOVELS |
The Gentleman in the Parlour- W. S. Maugham
The Bridge over the River Kwai- Pierre Boulle
Phay Vanneth: Dead or Alive, Vione Schow
Jouanah : A Hmong Cinderella, Jewell Reinhart Coburn and Anne Sibley O'Brien |
| OTHER |
The Cuisines of Southeast Asia : A Culinary |
| Journey Through Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines by Gwenda L. Hyman |
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