In no apparent order here are 5 books everyone should try to read:
1) The God of Small Things - Incredible story of the bond between a sister and a brother, a mother and her children, and woman and a man. Bit shocking and taboo for the prudes out there, a la the whole hoopla author Arundhati Roy faced during some McCarthyian censorship trial in Kerala, India. I guess somebody forgot to tell those Indians that thousands of years ago ancestors wrote the Kama Sutra and temples contain some pretty exposed figures in some interesting positions. not to mention that whole 1 billion population thing. Don’t be scared, this isn’t some seedy sexually explicit book. Treasure it love it. Read it over again and wonder when Roy when write another novel.(so far she hasn’t)
2) Salman Rushdie’s the Moor’s Last Sigh and Midnight’s Children- So I grouped two books in one. Arrest me or keep on reading. Two great Rushdie books that are absolutely incredible. Pick one and if you don’t like it, put it down and start again when you’re of the right mind. Intense emotions of passion and wonderfully timed comedic rests make each book special. Both take liberal usage on India’s history to pepper the story; not a favorite writing technique of mine, but it’s acceptable in these works.This is not a book to read on the beach, on the bus, etc. A work to be absorbed and studied to enjoy it fully.
3) Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra - short stories that I read on a very very long trip. Reading one of the stories about a boy that has an angelic voice literally made me do a double take. I couldn’t believe what I had just read so I had to read it again, and again. It was only a page, but it demonstrated Mehta’s ability to engross and involve the reader in situations and characters. I’ve never heard much about her, Roy and Rushdie make the press more regularly with her protests and his escaping the fatwa and all, but Mehta’s collections of stories stand on their own.
4) Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies - short stories that have as much depth and character development as any novel. The situations placed before Indians and other civilizations are amazing. I love the story’This Blessed House’ which describes a newly wedded couple that moves into a house that is brimful with Christian paraphernalia. Great descriptions of food don’t hurt either…other than making mouths water.
5) Alice Sebold’s Lucky - only one non Southeast Asian made it on the list and Sebold definitely belongs on your list as well. Are you a woman, in college, have a daughter, sister etc? Well read this book. Sebold exploded on the scene this year with her fiction novel The Lovely Bones, the story of a young girl who was brutally raped and murdered that watches over her family, but Lucky blows that out of the water. Lucky is the true account of Sebold’s rape her freshman year at Syracuse University. Unfortunately, the process of judicial action and a college’s involvement with a rape victim has changed much. Read with wonder, awe, bewilderment, and warning - If I had to pick a must read book for anyone if would be this one. Graphic depiction of rape, you are forewarned.