Best South Asia Books of the 2000s

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The 2000s were a great decade for books related to South Asia in western publishing. Earlier it seemed that there was a very limited quota for South Asia related material in American publishing — but that’s ended.

I took some heat from readers for the narrowness of some of my earlier polls, so for these polls I decided to open up the voting with longer lists. I think a non-South Asian writer could potentially write as well about South Asian life as a desi, so I decided to open the lists up to non-desi writers who have made a mark, especially folks like William Dalrymple.

I also felt that it would be unfair to put new novelists, whose names might not yet be familiar to a lot of people, in contest with established Big Name authors. So I divided the fiction list into two — one for established writers (who were either not writing their first books in the 2000s, or whose first books were runaway successes), and one for “up and comers,” who did publish first novels in the 2000s. Doing it this way also allows me to point to a number of Sepia Mutiny reviews and Q&As that my co-bloggers and I have have done over the past few years.

Below I’ve put some comments, where I have something to say about a particular book. There are a few books on the polls I haven’t actually read — so I refrained from making any comments. There are also a few books I have read where I decided not to comment. However, even if there’s no comment below, the books might still be on the poll; my silence should not be taken as an attempt to influence the vote.

Finally, I’m sure I still missed many names that readers might find important, especially on the “up and comers” poll. Unfortunately the way this free poll service works, it’s not possible for me to go back and change a poll. However, I can always amend the text of the post itself if need be. Please mention other titles or authors in the comments.Kiran Desai Booker Prize Winner, 2006

As a look at the gap between high and low in Indian society today, this book hit a lot of really important notes — the alienation of the elites, the rise of local/regional militancies. It was also well-thought out and put together. Was it also rather derivative of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1998)? In my view, yes.

Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger Booker Prize, 2008

Readers may remember that I dissed this book, as not really presenting a believable protagonist. I still have to give it props, however: it has caused a lot of interesting debate about important subjects. And it’s led some of my American students at the university where I teach — often with little background on India — to write really insightful papers about the divide between the haves & have nots in the globalization/outsourcing/multinational capital era.

Jhumpa Lahiri, “Unaccustomed Earth” (2008) Sandhya’s review

Lahiri’s third book was more sober and grown-up than her first two books, but the writing was very fine. Since several of the stories involve mature married couples with kids, it resonated with me as a new parent myself. However, I wonder whether younger readers will find much to grab onto here.

Jhumpa Lahiri, “The Namesake” (2003)

This has become for me the ‘classic’ middle class second-generation (ABD) novel. Lahiri’s uses Gogol’s relationship to his names as a metaphor for the identity crises many second-generation South Asian American youth go through. The book seemed to get a little lost once Gogol got out of college, but as I read the first half I saw something that resonated with my own experience on practically every page.

Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies Shortlisted for Booker Prize, 2008

There’s no doubt that Amitav Ghosh is one of the great novelists of our era, and the 2000s was a great decade for him, with three impressive new novels published. Sea of Poppies is set in the 1830s, mainly in eastern India — Bihar and Calcutta. Ghosh’s ability to capture and recreate the maritime sailors’ pidgin, Anglo-Indian pidgin (spoken by settled whites in India), and ‘Babu’ English (spoken by Indians learning English) is often astonishing. It can also be hard to follow, which is why the American edition of the book has an extensive (and somewhat cryptic) glossary.

Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide, 2004

Though I greatly respect the historical research that went into both The Glass Palace and Sea of Poppies, The Hungry Tidei is probably my favorite book by Ghosh from the 2000s. Ghosh gets at the tension between environmentalism and conservationism in the Sunderbans — especially as it impacts tigers and aquatic life — and the need to protect the rights of human beings who are settled in the area. In contrast to the longer books Ghosh writes before and after this one, here the story is tightly constructed and limited in scope, making it an easier and simpler read.

Salman Rushdie, Enchantress of Florence

Rushdie published multiple novels in the 2000s, but The Enchantress of Florence was the only one I found I could really get into. While the historical research and cross-cultural juxtapositions Rushdie finds here are certainly intriguing, at some point the plot fell flat for me.

Indra Sinha, “Animal’s People” (2007)

SM Q&A with Sandhya SM Review by Sandhya

Mohsin Hamid, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” 2007 Shortlisted for the Booker Prize

Mohsin Hamid is one of the most impressive writers in the new wave of Pakistani writing in English. This book, modeled on Albert Camus’ existentialist classic, The Fall (La Chute in French) is written entirely in the second-person voice, as a monologue by an alienated Pakistani American banker, who left the U.S. after 9/11 to return to Pakistan. He is speaking to an American in a cafe in Lahore, who may or may not be there to assassinate the protagonist. Though some readers found the unusual approach of this novel gimmicky, I liked it. I also like the way Hamid maintains a sense of suspense all the way to the end of the story. Admittedly, it’s not really about “fundamentalism,” so much as it is about “anti-Americanism,” but didn’t bother me so much.

Mohsin Hamid, “Moth Smoke” (2000)

Hamid’s first novel, about an overly-indulged, drug-using slacker in globalization-era Lahore, is highly entertaining and irreverent. When I’ve taught it my students have all generally latched onto it, as it gives a very different picture of life in contemporary Pakistan than what they’ve come to expect.

Vikram Chandra, “Sacred Games” (2006)

Siddhartha’s preview

This was one of the most hyped Indian-English novels of the decade, and it certainly delivered — for those few readers who were actually willing to go along for the 900 page ride. Chandra’s novel was probably the peak of a broader, decade-long obsession, on the part of writers and filmmakers, with Bombay gangsters. Though nominally a story about a cop’s obsessive pursuit of a gangster, Sacred Games incorporated broad swathes of Indian history and religious themes as well. Did I enjoy the 500 or so pages of the novel I actually read? Yes, very much. Will I ever finish it? Hm, dunno.

Uday Prakash, “The Girl With the Golden Parachute” (Hindi)

It seemed important to include at least some South Asian writing in languages other than English. Unfortunately, most of the non-English language writing I know was written in earlier decades. However, one novel that was published in Hindi and translated into English in the 2000s was Uday Prakash’s “The Girl With the Golden Parasol” (HIndi: Chhatri Wali Larki). You can buy it in the U.S. from here.

NON-FICTION

Salman Rushdie, “Step Across This Line”, 2002

Though Rushdie hasn’t written a good novel in a little while, he is still a great essayist. This collection of essays has some memorable critiques of all forms of fundamentalist or backwards thinking, whether in South Asian religions (Hinduism, Islam), or in the west (the creationist movement in the U.S.).

Arundhati Roy, “Power Politics” (2002), “War Talk” (2003), “Listening to Grasshoppers” (2009)

I often differed with Arundhati Roy in the 2000s over specific policy issues, and it has seemed that she has grown more shrill over the course of the decade. But she remains the most recognizable voice on the Indian, anti-globalization left.

Ramachandra Guha, “India After Gandhi” (2007)

This book, a centrist account of India’s post-independence history focusing on a series of controversial & contested incidents, is clearly a major accomplishment, though certainly it has its critics. Some on the right felt that Guha was too sympathetic to Nehru. Critics of Indian nationalism, whether domestic or from Pakistan, felt that his pro-Nehru bias also led to a mis-characterization of Jinnah’s role.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City

One of the most damning accounts of post-invasion Iraq. A catalogue of mis-management, waste, and political group-think, which unfortunately led to human suffering on a massive scale. Look for this book to be talked about again once the Paul Greengrass/Matt Damon film based on it comes out.

Fareed Zakaria The Future of Freedom (2003), The Post-American World, 2008

Fareed Zakaria was everywhere this past decade — a major presence in television news and in print journalism. From a cautious support for the Iraq war, to full-throated support for Barack Obama in the 2008 elections, he clearly started to shift to the left once the after-effects of the Iraq war became clear. Obama was once photographed carrying a copy of “The Post-American World” on a plane flight.

“The Future of Freedom” is a very provocative collection of essays about the distinction between formal and substantive democracy. Formal democracies hold elections — but substantive democracies have checks and balances on power, and working civic, judicial, and economic institutions that protect the rights of citizens. A country like Iran might be called a “formal” democracy because of its parliamentary system, but not a substantive democracy. Zakaria is also critical of the idea that merely giving power to the people is productive — governments have to have the authority to actually make things happen, or you end up with a situation like California’s.

Suketu Mehta, “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found”

Anna’s post on Maximum City My post on Maximum City

This is a book that got a lot of attention when it came out, for just reason. I also think it inspired the script-writers of “Slumdog Millionaire” more than has been publicly acknowledged. The most revolutionary aspect of Mehta’s book is his ability to convince Bombay’s police, gangsters, politicians, filmmakers, and dance bar women to be extremely open with him. Exactly how he managed to do this is something I still find amazing; the main thing seems to be his willingness to simply refuse to intervene in the life he was attempting to document in this book. If the police were brutally torturing a suspect, he watched it but did not complain. Later, Mehta got into a spat with Vidhu Vinod Chopra over his portrayal of the director in the book; in fact, Mehta seemed to paint a relatively sympathetic portrait of VVC. Mehta is currently working on an equivalent book on New York City; I look forward to it.

Vikram Seth, “Two Lives” (2006)

My post on this book

Sudhir Venkatesh, Off the Books: The Underground Economy and the Urban Poor (2006), Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets (2008)

Abhi’s post on Sudhir Venkatesh

Anita Jain, Marrying Anita (2008)

Sepia Mutiny Q&A with Sandhya

Dinesh D’Souza, “The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and its Responsibility for 9/11” (2006)

Siddhartha’s skewering here

Biju Matthew, “Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City”

Abhi’s post

Amitava Kumar, “Bombay-London-New York” (2002), “Passport Photos” (2000), “Husband of a Fanatic” (2005)

Amitava Kumar has pioneered an intriguing style of creative non-fiction, often employing elements of memoir, journalism, and literary analysis together. I thought all three of the non-fiction books he published in the 2000s were wonderful.

Ali Eteraz, “Children of Dust” (2009)

Taz’s review here

BEST FIRST BOOK (Up and Comers!)

This gives us a chance to take a look at some of the many books that have been reviewed by SM bloggers over the past few years. It also seems like the right place to put one of our own, V.V. Ganeshananthan.

Incidentally, the list of books included on the poll could have easily been twice as long, with a wide range of new authors coming up. I tried to select books that I thought represented a range of tastes. I also wanted to include a few of the books recently published in India itself.

Preeta Samarasan, “Evening is the Whole Day”

My review of this book

Padma Viswanathan, “Toss of a Lemon”

Q&A with Sandhya Review by Sandhya

Tahmima Anam, “A Golden Age”

My review of this book

V.V. Ganeshananthan, “Love Marriage”

Sandhya’s Q&A

Karan Mahajan, “Family Planning” (2009)

Sandhya’s review here

Marina Budhos, “Ask Me No Questions”

Manish’s post

Nikita Lalwani, “Gifted” (2007)

My review here

Gautam Malkani, “Londonstani” (2006)

Sajit’s review

75 thoughts on “Best South Asia Books of the 2000s”

  2. If you had published this list before the holidays, I would have had an easy wishlist to give everyone. Can’t wait to check some of these folks out.

    Also putting a plug in to vote for Thrity Umrigar’s “Space Between Us”– one of the best fiction I’ve ever read about class issues in India.

  3. I am curious to know why you couldn’t finish Sacred Games. It’s certainly one of the easier reads in the doorstopper category.

  4. the main thing seems to be his willingness to simply refuse to intervene in the life he was attempting to document in this boo

    mmm, i think suketu mehta “intervened” a bit too much with mona lisa. enough that his wife felt the need to divorce him a year or two after the book.

    • Regarding Suketu Mehta, I have heard he intervened with a lot of women before he divorced. Such are our desi heros.

  6. Just to clarify: wasn’t trying to make a big deal out of “easy.” The Corrections was an easy read but felt like a waste of time. The Recognitions, which Franzen slagged off as “a book nobody finishes,” gave a few lumps to the brain, but was a much richer experience.

  8. I wanted to add the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini… then I remembered a big fight here once about whether or not Afghanistan counted as “South Asia”. Anyways, I personnally do count it and thought those books were both fantastic.

  9. As long as we are talking of “South Asia” that mythical land that straddles NYC/Philly/LA/SF/Parts-of-Chicago/about-a-dozen-depts-of-S.Asian-studies/history etc., we are probably looking at the right titles. But if we aren’t we must first tell ourselves that those of us who claim to speak about a real geographical region called South Asia have no idea that the people who live in countries of that region have long since abandoned the idea of South Asia. Indians first threw the term out because, being a land of a billion with about a trillion cultures, the term SA is a straitjacket in coffin. Pakistanis found that South Asia while it offered an umbrella of inclusion to start with, could never overcome the reality of numbers. Go to a “South Asian” gathering and even with all the let’s hand over everything to everybody else crowd, there will still be too many Indians. Instead they began to follow the lead of Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans who simply ignored the label and went on as if nothing had happened, producing a new vibrant literature. The Nepal communal commies (particularly Himal) bought into that South Asian moniker for some time, when it was great to dump on Sanskrit/Hinduism etc., But after the thuggish takeover of Nepal they found that Nepal too is like India filled with innumerable communities and presently became busy managing the dynamics of diversity. I am in India visiting these days, and have spent quite a bit of time in the bookstores. In India itself the NRI writers Bookers etc., are small beer. Indian readers spend their money on Indians writing for Indians, like a critical account of the self-help business, translation and cross-translation (English–>Indian language, Indian language classics<--->English, and Indian language<--->Indian language translations.

    The English translations of Kalki’s historicals, socials, and commentary are the rage. There are three new translations of Tamizh antiques – the Tirukkural, Tiruvacakam, Tiruppugazh written by some fresh minds that means we can throw away the trashy tortured translations of GU Pope. As usual the India’s most translated and popular author Kannada litteratauer SL Bhyrappa’s titles (20 titles, some translated into as many as 7 languages) are always sold out. Mukul Deva, a military veteran, has decided to double his royalty contribution (from Rs.5/book to Rs.10/book) to the Indian Army Welfare Fund, after the first two of his military thriller trilogy, Lashkar and Salim Must Die are being sold out by the boatload, and is off the phone after offers of unheard of sums for his third title in the trilogy and offers of options to write another trilogy. In the meanwhile he has decided to hold a writer’s workshop abroad for Indian writers. And yeah I did see some sorry looking copies of White Tiger – in the Great Bargains Here heap. And what is that book written by an Englishman about his experiences in India that is busting the charts – yet another travelogue? You guessed wrong.

    Martin Buckley’s An Indian Odyssey I feel that India is at a point of cultural crisis. I see that the English-speaking classes, the secular classes, are very patronising of religion, and there’s this notion that somehow to have the secular state, you can’t embrace Hinduism. Certainly, you shouldn’t persecute any minorities, but why this knee-jerk rejection of what is the richest, continuous, unbroken culture of its kind in the world? Hinduism is just a deep, deep well of wisdom and I hate to see the English-speaking sophisticates turn their back on it.

  10. I think a non-South Asian writer could potentially write as well about South Asian life as a desi, so I decided to open the lists up to non-desi writers who have made a mark, >especially folks like William Dalrymple. Please mention other titles or authors in the comments

    Don’t know where it stands on critical acclaim but here is another

    Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russel Rich

  11. I voted for ‘The Last Mughal’ by William Dalrymple. Fascinating read. The grandeur of Delhi, as Dalyrymple put it has no comparisons except maybe for Istanbul and Rome. Delhi lovers can of course read the book and weep. From South Asian authors I would also add India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha.

  12. Oops, he should be on the list. That was a really great book!

    yeah, i’d have thought so. i didn’t read the book, just a few of the short stories in it which had been published in the new yorker.

    thanks for your list, btw. it catalogues many books that i’ve been remiss about reading.

  13. i found kiran desai’s inheritance of loss absolutely unbearable! to my embarrassment, i recommended it to my book club before reading it and no one finished it besides me, and that was only because i felt i owed it to them to finish it. now that you mention the parallel to God of Small Things, i can see that inspiration but desai fell way short. none of the characters were developed properly – described ad nauseum, yes, but not really developed into believable people. /end rant

    for those who have read it, what did i miss? i really am curious – am i just dense? (quite possible)

  15. I’d add Mohammed Hanif’s novel “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” somewhere on your list. I thought the book’s premise was brilliant and the writing was strong and evocative.

  16. Shehla, actually Mohammed Hanif is on list #3. Very entertaining Pak “army brat” novel, at least for the first half. (Phew, at least I got that one!)

  17. iluveggs, I agree. I thought Inheritance of Loss was awful – or I just didn’t get it. I didn’t think too much of The Twentieth Wife either.

  18. Adiga’s Between the Assassinations was also quite good. I’d say better than White Tiger.

  20. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I am acquainted with many–but not all–of the people whose books I mention below.)

    Minal Hajratwala—I’d nominate Leaving India for that non-fiction list. Ditto Basharat Peer and his Curfewed Night, which is about Kashmir… Doubtless I am missing still others.

    Mary Anne Mohanraj, the book of linked short stories called Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins, 2005). I wonder if there ought to be a short story collection category? And Tania James’ Atlas of Unknowns for that first book list for sure… I haven’t yet read Cutting for Stone by Verghese, but I hear it’s tremendous; same goes for Rishi Reddi’s short story collection.

    Delhi Noir, from the good folk at Akashic. Delhi Noir contributor Meera Nair has a terrific story collection… Video.

    Romesh Gunesekera’s The Match is awesome, awesome, awesome.

    Poets? Playwrights? If other commenters have thoughts, I’d love to know them. I can think of several Sri Lankan/diasporic poets whose work I admire… Pireeni Sundaralingam & Ravi Shankar and others worked on an poetry anthology… in 2005, the Shyam Selvadurai-edited Storywallah came out. Anthology category? While we’re at it, I’d put Cinnamon Gardens on that novel list too. Hm, and Rakesh Satyal’s Blue Boy. And, and, and…

    What about a YA category? Selvadurai’s Swimming in the Monsoon Sea is great… I recently read Shine, Coconut Moon and Skunk Girl, both of which were terrific.

    As an aside, The Lovely Bones has a South Asian character; does it qualify? And, Amardeep, I remember that you reviewed one of my favorite books EVER EVER: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (did I mention EVER?). That book is always worth mentioning… and mentioning… and recommending some more.

    Apologies for commenting at such length… am on a deadline myself, else I would have piped up with a post! Thanks so much to Amardeep and others.

  21. great list! however, daniyal mueenuddin’s in other rooms is imho head and shoulders above most of the listed books. burnt shadows is another great book that deserves to be on any such list. the impressionist also probably belongs on that list. also, can we claim zadie smith?

  25. It is so pathetic to see that all the books are written in english.

    That’s not quite true — I do have Uday Prakash up there.

    If you have some Indian language suggestions, please mention them.

  26. I have to agree with # 2. My holiday gift giving would have been a lot easier if the books and movie polls had been blogged about earlier 😉

    Thank you so much Amardeep and Co. for doing this. This auntie enjoys reading your posts and appreciates your effort.

  27. will add more names later, but off the top of my head…

    Manju Kapur with 3 novels in the 2000’s to follow up “Difficult Daughters” (1998)… “A Married Woman” (2003), “Home” (2006), “The Immigrant” (2009)

    Siddhartha Deb’s novels which capture life in North Eastern India much better than Kiran Desai … “The point of return” “Surface” also published I think as ‘An Outline of the Republic”

    Amitava Kumar’s novel “Home Products” – at least the first half- brilliantly portrayed life in Bihar

    still, your list is great, thanks for the effort

  29. Thanks very much for the list, and for selecting “The Girl with the Golden Parasol” for one of the decade’s best. As the novel’s translator, I’m delighted to see Uday’s book get the attention it deserves. Happy New Year to all!

  30. This is good…it would be really great if you could also have a list of the same but for writers in local Indian-Pak languages as well

  31. Amarjeet as far as South Asian Writing in local languages can I suggest the following?

    Jugtu- By Sadhu Binning Almost anything by Shivcharan Jaggi Kussa Most things by Roop Dhillon

    I can only speak of Punjabi of course

  32. Martin Buckley’s quote has one poignant point for me only…putting English above existing is not necessarily a good idea or progressive..one can still read and write, and speak a local language and be secular…Literature needs to be secular

  33. Jyotsana has a valid point I think, having been over to India recently..their interests have no bearing upon what people reading in the west are interested in…

  34. fwiw, I know, you are right..seems for Sepiamutiny the sun rises in California and sets in Florida…English only

  35. However, I wonder whether younger readers will find much to grab onto here.

    Absolutely loved Unaccustomed Earth. Just read “Toss of a Lemon” after getting it for a birthday present this year. Didn’t like Reluctant Fundamentalist, but it definitely is an important book. Still have to read Eteraz’s book.

  36. Wanderer, fwiw, Nobody here has it in for desi languages. Not everyone can read desi scripts or has an up-to-date info on translated works.

    As for translations, for political reasons I would love to have such a list (Angrezi hegemony, etc.), or at least be sure and include a few titles on a centralized fiction list. But again I’ll need some help.

    Link

  37. Jyotsana has a valid point I think…their interests have no bearing upon what people reading in the west are interested in…

    who here implied otherwise? what is with this need to protest so loudly?

  38. Well talking abt lists of books here is one more by Atul Gwanade ( author of Better and Complications ) –

    The Checklist Manifesto How to Get Things Right

    In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.

  39. Argh, who cares what Indians in India are interested in? This site is written for an Indian audience in the West, not in India. Indians from India are completely alien to Indians from the West in many ways anyway and there is a lot of hostility and suspicion from the former directed at the latter. Why should Western-born desis be so accomodating?

  41. FYI Indians from the West care a lot more about Indian history and culture than even the middle class Indians in India…some of their so-called ‘traditions’ are just derived from the Victorian British…now we know that the British were truly succesful in colonizing us!

  43. Argh, who cares what Indians in India are interested in? This site is written for an Indian audience in the West, not in India.

    Metal M some care when there is a work written about India(ns) for an Indian audience in the West. Which is why it is important to know what the subjects of these works themselves think. Or else we can abandon all pretence and spin stuff out of thin air. Take this for instance. In Tamil Nadu the Julian New Year is celebrated at all community run kovils – although not at the big historical ones. Some kovils today sported toranams shaped in letters that read “Happy New Year”. Now the Julian New Year is a Christian occasion. But few know or care about it. There are New Year archanais, even abhishekams. There were prettier than usual kolams today, and last night the Chennai police had 12,000 cops on the streets and ensured an incident free New Year’s eve. There’s a story there somewhere. Make what you will out of it.

  44. Maybe, but what gets my goat is that Indians in India set themselves up as a sort of ‘authenticity police’ and NRI 2nd gens have to pass their arbitrary litmus test to be considered ‘authentic’ enough. I don’t mind commenters here who are living in India but many of them do not have an open mindset, they just come here to criticize us.

  45. I have read only a few of these books. But one good things about such lists is that you get to know what else you can read 🙂

    In the non-fiction I feel Gurcharan Das’ India Unbound is an amazing book just for General Knowledge sake! Nice posts.

  46. Sorry Amardeep. I do understand some of the things MM is saying..but to get into the mindset of the Indians ( and Pakistannis, Bangladeshis et al) one has to learn ones heritage language and try and help progress the literature in that to make those people open minded..by focusing on ENglish we are just affirming our views, but not changing theirs…

  47. Sorry, I have a knee-jerk response everytime I read “why don’t you kids speak your language anymore”…keep in mind that 2nd gens try, but Indian languages are hard…I guess also in the USA you don’t have foreign language education in schools, but I was studying 5 (!) languages in secondary school. The Indian mother tongue is not very high on the priority list then.

  48. I guess we are lucky in the UK…Punjabi is officially the second most spoken language and is taught in all asian areas ( ie in schools as an option), covering Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu too.

    I understand your point, but like a fellow 2nd generation Brit Rupinderpal Dhillon, taught himself in his 30s and then went onto write sci fi in his parents language shows..it can be done…

    All I was saying is the above list should alos include local language books also, but I undertand Amardeep’s point of view about that as well…and yours MM

  49. And here is some information on current ( last ten years) Bengali titles

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/nov/30/fiction

    Poetry 20 Minuter Jonyo Sumitra Mukhopadhyay by Arjun Bandopadhyay (Daur/2004) Martya by Arupratan Ghosh (Reff[5]/2005) Ratre Deko Na, Please by Indranil Ghosh( Natun Kabita/2005) Chalo Singlehand by Amitava Praharaj (Boikhorivashya/2006) Seeter Kofin theke utsarito Maniplant by Khalid Ahsan (September/2001) Mondo Loke o kather gora by Khalid Ahsan (January/2004) Tomake, pankourike by Khalid Ahsan (February/2008) Ghorebodoler Manchitro by Manirul Manir (December/2007) Rangeen Khame Kalo Asukh by Deb Maity (Brishtidin/2006) Haowa by Arup Ghosh Mayamay Ek Attahasi by Paramita Dash (Ababhas[6]) Tourism Barnamala[7] by Souptik Chakraborty (Open Secret/2007) Astadhatur Prithibi by Arindam Ray (Lalon/2007) Aganyta Ek Alokchitrir Atmajibani by Sandip Kumar (Monfakira[8]/2007) Jeanspori by Swagata Dasgupta (Prativas/2007) Mombati O Swapner Pratyabartan by Ripon Arya (?/2007) 39A/2 by Ripon Fio (Boikhorivashya/2008) Long Drive by Arupratan Ghosh (Open Secret/2008) Pizzabalok by Rohon Kuddus (Saptarshi/2008) Jatadur Boidha Boli by Animikh Patra(Saptarshi/2009) Shahor Hoye Jaak Anulekha by Somnath Ghosal (Abhijan/2009) Rakhas Janmer Kathamala by Tanmay Mandal (Kaurab[9]/2009) Jara Churi Hoye Gelo by Himadri Mukhopadhyay (Lalon/2009) Nevano Auditorium by Atanu Sinha (Lalon/2009) 21 Nambar Valo Thaka by Saibal Sarkar (Lalon/2009) Kukkuri O Tahar Premik by Swagata Dasgupta (Lalon/2009) Ola Ola by Kawshik (D.Com/2009) Lal Panshala by Swadesh Misra (D.Com/2009) Anantar Ghar-barhi Hati-ghorha O Ananya by Souva Chattopadhyay (D.Com/2009) 11 Liner Brishtike by Kaushik Bhowmick (D.Com/2009) Draghima:Clown by Nabendubikash Ray (D.Com/2009) Chena Unframe by Debanjan Das (Boikhorivashya/2009) Dwangsastup by Arupratan Ghosh (Natun Kabita/2009) Julyowala by Indranil Ghosh (Natun Kabita/2009) Highway by Anupam Mukhopadhyay[10] (Natun Kabita/2009)