Traveler's Reading List for India

There is a wealth of literature on India by both foreigners and Indian authors, so it can be hard to know where to start. Here are a few of my favorites. Please add your suggestions and personal favorites in the comment section!

1) Delhi: A Novel by Khuswant Singh

Khuswant Singh is one of India's most famous authors, and for good reason. Delhi: A Novel makes use of a myriad of different narrators to tell the history of India's capital. In one chapter you'll see the splendor of the Mughals from the point of view of a poor low-caste sweeper, and in the next chapter you'll see history from the point of view of an emperor enamored by natch girls (dancing girls). Delhi: A Novel is fiction, but each chapter proves to be an interesting and detailed history lesson.

Through the novel, the chapters told by different characters from history are interspersed with chapters told by a fictional narrator who is carrying on an affair with a kusra (transvestite). You may find Singh's style crude in parts, as he seems committed to shocking the prude Indian readership and bringing to light the complexities of sexual identity in the subcontinent.

2) The Age of Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters by William Dalrymple

Kali is the goddess of death and destruction, and according to Indian astrologers, the age of Kali (the Kali yug) is upon us. This volume by William Dalrymple is made up of travelogues from the author's travels in India and Pakistan that seem to show that we really are spiraling towards destruction. Join Dalrymple as he witnesses the worship of the bloodthirsty goddess, jaunts off to Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier Province, and investigates the cult of Sati Mata in Rajastan. Dalrymple brings us into close encounters with fast-food hating farmers as well as prominent politicians Imran Khan, Benazir Bhutto, and the Rajmata of Gwalior.

3) Freedom at Midnight by Dominque Lapierre & Larry Collins

Freedom at Midnight is one of the most exciting historical accounts I have ever read. Lapierre and Collins tell the story of India's independence and Partition so masterfully that you feel you are reading a Hollywood screenplay rather than the product of historical research. Read about India's struggle for independence and learn about the men who made it happen. Freedom at Midnight takes the reader directly to hushed conversations at Government House in Delhi, to the crowded third-class passenger trains ridden by Gandhi, and to the burning Punjab on the eve of Partition.

4) The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie's magical realism will suck you into the world of fictional Indian rock stars Ormus and Vina as narrated by their childhood friend Rai Merchant. The story starts with Vina being swallowed by an earthquake and then moves back in history to tell a story that traverses the globe. Not only is Rushdie an amazing storyteller, but the reader of The Ground Beneath Her Feet will gain more than a glimpse of culture and religion in the subcontinent.

5) Lonely Planet India

Finally, every traveler's must have in India is the Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet India is quite a large volume that is not easy to carry around, but you can buy smaller, more detailed volumes for different areas of India. The Delhi, Rajastan and Agra volume is perfect for traveling the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Jaipur, Agra), while you can also buy guides specific to Mumbai, Goa and other areas.

Whether you experience India through novels or you plan to set your feet down on Indian soil, it will surely be an unforgettable experience.