There is, in fact, WAS, a certain aversion when it came to Indian Author Books. At least for me, there was. Before you judge me, I will tell you why. Let me begin with the obvious.
Me reading Indian Author books started with Chetan Bhagat‘s Five Point Someone and I did like the book. I don’t know if I ‘d like the book if I read it now, but about 15 years ago, when it released, it sure did. However, his other books failed to make an impression on me, especially One night at the call center and 2 states. I haven’t read his other books and I don’t think I ever will.
During my college days, I used to hoard books like crazy, especially the used ones because that was what I could afford with my pocket money. So, I read things like Love @ Facebook, My love never faked- trust me I still love you (Yes, that’s the title!!), Ouch that ‘hearts’ and others. No, don’t even get me started.
So, it was only fair that I judged all the Indian author books as cliched romances with deliberate sex scenes for no apparent reason. I had sworn off Indian author books completely.
Things changed only about a decade ago when I (reluctantly at first) picked up Amish Tripathi‘s books – The Immortals of Meluha won me over. I eagerly waited for the release of the other books in the series and though the current ones – the Ramayana retelling isn’t as good as the Shiva Trilogy, I had slowly started changing my opinion about Indian authors.
You know how I love Chitra Banerjee’s rendition of Indian Epics! The Palace of Illusions is one of the best female-oriented books I have read to date. I am part of this amazing Book community called The Book Club through which I discovered many Indian authors, including Sundari Venkataram, Rubina Ramesh and Varsha Dixit. Their books always have a strong female protagonist and they never fail to bring to light some social issue or the other. Their characters are well-etched, and even if the books are light, breezy romances, you instantly fall in love with the impeccable language and writing.
I have always loved reading Khushwant Singh, Ruskin Bond and R.K.Narayan and having gotten around to meet Ruskin Bond at the bookstore in Mussoorie is one of my favorite memories.
Thanks to the JCB Prize for Literature, last year, I got to know so many more Indian author books including Poonachi (Read why I gave it a five-star review) and Jasmine Days ( another favorite read of 2019). Anita Nair was a pretty late discovery. On my trip to Kerala last week, I read ‘The Poison of Love’ and was simply mind blown. A short read, it was poetic and beautiful.
Sudha Murthy‘s books and her simplistic yet incredible storytelling won me over. Jhumpa Lahiri‘s books are also great! But I couldn’t get past the first few pages of Arundathi Roy and Salman Rushdie. Meh 😐
I know I haven’t covered any many amazing Indian authors and has touched only the tip of the iceberg. And with every Tom, Dick, and Harry coming up with autobiographies and fiction (That’s a dig at Shwetha Bachchan though) I don’t think I can cover them all here.
So, do let me know your favorite Indian Author books so that I could add your recommendations to my never-ending everlasting TBR and Amazon wishlist.
That’s all for now!
I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow too.
My theme for the A to Z Challenge this year is ‘Celebrating the Bibliophile in me’, where I would share the books, authors and fictional characters that I love, loathe and tolerate.
Ah, there could be more!
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Reema D'souza says
This is so relatable! The first few books by Indian authors that I read were cliched romances. I cringe when I even hear the titles now. But back in those days, there wasn’t a decent bookstore or library around my house. Most of the books that I read were either from my Dad’s old collection(most of which were too serious for a teenaged me) and books borrowed from friends. I also wanted to own a few books myself and these romances were the only ones available in the very few bookstores and that is how I ended up reading those!
Coming to the present day, I like Anuja Chauhan for her funny and witty writing. There is romance- but that is not the only highlight of her books. Sudha Murthy’s simple stories warm my heart. I read almost all her books in English because my college library had a lot of her work because she studied in the same college!
Reema D’souza recently posted…Irusu #AtoZChallenge #NaPoWriMo
Jagrut Vasavada says
This is truly amazing to talk about Indian authors. I would like to add Anuja Chauhan and Suketu Mehta here. I read Maximum City by Mr. Mehta and The House that BJ Built by Anuja ji.
Arti says
That’s quite a wonderful post, I got to know few good names I would love to read their books in future.. I guess people are also crazy for Durjoy Dutta and once I read a book by Ravindra Singh ‘i too had a love story’ and trust me, that book kept me crying for weeks. Maybe I won’t find it interesting today but it’s a good read
Soumya says
Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Banerjee and Anita Nair are my favorites!
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Sitharaam Jayakumar says
When I was young there were hardly any Indian English authors who were popular. When I was a kid we were fed with oodles of snobbery about the superior skills of English authors. Consequently, we believed that everything about Englishmen and Americans was superior. I started with Enid Blyton and never touched any Indian author till just like you, I read Five Point Something and enjoyed it. And even now I am not averse to Chetan Bhagat’s books, though his characters are repetitive he does manage to spin a reasonably entertaining yarn. But Historical fiction is something I really hate and I read a few of Amish’s books which I disliked intensely. I wrote some very stinging reviews also. But the books that I really loved was the Booker award-winning The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and I loved The God of Small Things too.
Varsh says
Chitra Devakaruni is simply brilliant and so is Anita Nair, although their writing styles are completely different. I read Sanjeev Sanyal’s The land of seven rivers just before I picked up The Immortals of Meluha. The fictional version didn’t impress me hence. Devdutt Pattnaik’s columns impress me but I’m yet to read his books. Thanks for introducing me to some new writers here. Will check out their books.
Manas Mukul says
I too started big time reading from five point someone. But to be honest the last ones are not of that international standard. But to his credit he brought english writing back in fashion. Some of the worthy ones are not getting enough credit. I still feel Indian english writing has a lot of way to go. Nostalgic post.
#ContemplationOfaJOker #Jokerophilia.
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Noor Anand Chawla says
Shalini I”ve loved and grown up on Indian authors or those of Indian origin. Giving a quick round-up of the names that I can remember- Shauna Singh Baldwin, Manju Kapur, Srividya Natarajan, Anuja Chauhan (even though her work is much lighter than the others), Anita Desai, to name a few.
Angie says
I cringe at the thought of CB books .. Just can’t pick anything of that sorts. Having said that, i have been extensively reading indian authors from last 2 years. My fav are Manu Joseph, Cyrus Mistry, Amitav Ghosh , Vikram seth etc. I think among the contemporary writing, i would hold theirs at the highest pedestal.
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Shalzmojo says
I am with you on the CB books and how I too derived the same conclusion about Indian authors. Infact its only now that I have started reading a few of them thanks to the HT Brunch reading challenge which prompts one to read 10 Indian authors.
I have a book club on FB ( Do join in – would love to have you over) and one of the first rules there is that no dicussing CB books- immediate ban and removal of that member!! Gawd I do hate his writing like no one else’s.
Arundhati roy was a fail for me too though I havent gotten into Salman Rushdie at all yet. Anita Nair failed to impress though I will give one more of her books a read before deciding. Jhumpa Lahiri is yet another one I am waiting to read.
Jasmine days has me intrigued and I am hoping to get it as a gift soon 😉
Sundari Venkatraman says
Hey, was excited to see my name along with other Indian authors. Thank you! ❤