The Great Indian Novel - Books to
Come and Books Discussed
Contact: Jyotsna Raj
rajj@colorado.edu
303-447-8831
The Great Indian Novel
When: 4:30PM to 6PM on the second Thursday of the month.
Where: Boulder Public Library - Main Branch in the
Flatirons Conference Room unless otherwise noted.
Due to coronavirus uncertainties discussions may be remote using Zoom, so contact Jyotsna to be sure.
Read and discuss the work of contemporary Indian
authors who write in English.
These authors use English as their own language in
creative ways, which distinguishes
them from other South Asian authors, who are
typically read in translation.
January 9, 2025: The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi (400 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
December 12, 2024: The Mission House, by Carys Davies (272 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
November 14, 2024: Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan, by Ruby Lal (336 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
October 10, 2024: The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, by Pico Iyer (237 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
Note: Pico Iyer will discuss his book at 10:45AM September 14th at the
Jaipur Literature Festival.
September 12, 2024: Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones: A Memoir, by Priyanka Mattoo (304 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
August 8, 2024: Short Stories from Rabindranath Tagore: An Anthology, edited by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson -
The Conclusion (21 pages), The Raj Seal (15 pages), The Lost Jewels (19 pages), Purification (8 pages), The Parrot's Training (5 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
July 11, 2024: Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories, by Amitav Ghosh (416 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Flatirons Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
June 13, 2024: A Great Country, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (256 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's House with a remote Zoom option.
May 9, 2024: The Mussoorie Murders, by Divyaroop Bhatnagar (205 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's House with a remote Zoom option.
April 11, 2024: A River Sutra, by Gita Mehta (304 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's House with a remote Zoom option.
March 14, 2024: Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo (150 pages)
Note: Meeting remotely using Zoom.
February 8, 2024: Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, by Sam Miller (304 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's House with a remote Zoom option.
January 11, 2024: The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese (2nd half of 736 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
December 14, 2023: The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese (1st half of 736 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
November 9, 2023: They Called Us Exceptional, by Prachi Gupta (288 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
October 12, 2023: Independence, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (288 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
September 14, 2023: Murder Under a Red Moon, by Harini Nagendra (300 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
August 10, 2023: Tomb of Sand, by Geetanjali Shree (2nd half of 624 pages)
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell.
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
July 13, 2023: Tomb of Sand, by Geetanjali Shree (1st half of 624 pages)
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell.
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
May 11, 2023: The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff (352 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
April 13, 2023: Age of Vice, by Deepti Kapoor (548 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
March 16, 2023: Life is Hard, by Kieran Setiya (240 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
Note also: This is the third Thursday of the month.
February 9, 2023: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka (400 pages)
Note: Meeting remotely using Zoom.
January 12, 2023: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, by Dervla Murphy (254 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
December 15, 2022: The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories, by R.K. Narayan (320 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Main Library's Eldorado Meeting Room with a remote Zoom option.
Note also: This is the third Thursday of the month.
November 10, 2022: Earthspinner, by Anuradha Roy (213 pages)
Note: Meeting in the Arapahoe Conference Room with a remote Zoom option.
October 13, 2022: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, by Jamil Jan Kochai (288 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
September 8, 2022: Missed Translations, by Sopan Deb (272 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
August 11, 2022: Heat and Dust, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (190 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
July 14, 2022: Honor, by Thrity Umrigar (336 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
June 9, 2022: The Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru (2nd half of 642 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
May 19, 2022:
The Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru (1st half of 642 pages)
Note: Meeting on the third Thursday of the month at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
April 21, 2022: The Taste of Ginger, by Mansi Shah (303 pages)
Note: Meeting on the third Thursday of the month at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
March 10, 2022: The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, by Amitav Ghosh (336 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
February 10, 2022: The Startup Wife, by Tahmima Anam (304 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
January 13, 2022: Better to Have Gone, by Akash Kapur (344 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
December 9, 2021: The River, by Rumer Godden (204 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
November 11, 2021: A Golden Age, by Tahmima Anam (276 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
October 14, 2021: The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (385 pages)
Note: Here is the glossary from the end of the book.
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
September 9, 2021: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (second half of 608 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
August 12, 2021: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (first half of 608 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
July 8, 2021: The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing, by Sonia Faleiro (314 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
June 10, 2021: Gold Diggers, by Sanjena Sathian (352 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
May 13, 2021: Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar (368 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
April 8, 2021: Eat the Buddha, by Barbara Demick (352 pages)
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
March 11, 2021: The Nine Lives Of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State, by Declan Walsh (401 pages)
Note: Zoom meeting with Jyotsna.
February 11, 2021: The Far Field, by Madhuri Vijay (401 pages)
Note: Zoom meeting with Jyotsna.
January 14, 2021: A State of Freedom, by Neel Mukherjee
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
December 10, 2020: The Folded Earth, by Anuradha Roy
Note: Meeting at Jyotsna's with a remote Zoom option.
November 12, 2020: A Burning, by Megha Majumdar
Note: Meeting in Jyotsna's garden with a remote Zoom option.
October 8, 2020: Gun Island, by Amitav Ghosh
Note: Meeting in Jyotsna's garden with a remote Zoom option.
September 10, 2020: The Forest Of Enchantments, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Note: Meeting in Jyotsna's garden with a remote Zoom option.
August 13, 2020: Raag Darbari, by Shrilal Shukla
Note: Meeting in Jyotsna's garden with a remote Zoom option.
July 9, 2020: The Argumentative Indian, by Amartya Sen
Note: Meeting in Jyotsna's garden with a remote Zoom option.
June 11, 2020: Cuckold, by Kiran Nagarkar / Part 2
Note: Meeting remotely using Zoom.
March 12, 2020: Cuckold, by by Kiran Nagarkar / Part 1
February 13, 2020: The Anarchy, by William Dalrymple / Part 2
January 9, 2020: The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, by William Dalrymple / Part 1
December 12, 2019: The Secrets Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar
Note: This is a change from the originally scheduled Europe For A Bargain, by Aditi Mukherjee.
November 14, 2019: The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar
October 10, 2019: Girls Burn Brighter, by Shobhah Rao
September 12, 2019: The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges, by Aatish Taseer
August 8, 2019: Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World, by Snigdha Poonam
July 11, 2019: The Siege of Krishnapur, by J.G. Farrell (376 pages)
June 13, 2019: A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry (603 pages)
May 9, 2019: Temptations of The West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond, by Pankaj Mishra
April 4, 2019: If You See Me Don't Say Hi: Stories, by Neel Patel
Note: This meeting is a week earlier than usual to avoid conflicting with the Conference on World Affairs.
March 14, 2019: A Place for Us, by Fatima Farheen Mirza (438 pages)
Note: Here are some questions for discussion.
February 14, 2019: An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India, by V.S. Naipaul (369 pages)
December 13, 2018: Untouchable, by Mulk Raj Anand
November 08, 2018: Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie
October 11, 2018: A Life of Adventure and Delight, by Akhil Sharma
September 13, 2018: Selection Day, by Aravind Adiga
May 10, 2018: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy
April 5, 2018: The Year of the Runaways, by Sunjeev Sahota
Note: This meeting is a week earlier than usual to avoid conflicting with the Conference on World Affairs
and is being held in the George Reynolds Branch Conference Room instead of at the Main Library.
March 8, 2018: The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan, by Robert Kanigel
February 8, 2018: The Ramayana, by Elizabeth Seeger
January 11, 2018: Ghachar Ghochar, by Vivek Shanbhag (translated from Kannada by Srinath Perur)
December 14, 2017: Riot, by Shashi Tharoor
November 9, 2017: The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
October 12, 2017: The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma, by Ratika Kapur
September 7, 2017: In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology, edited by Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal
Note: This meeting is a week earlier than usual to avoid conflicting with the Jaipur Literature Festival.
May 11, 2017: The Jewel in the Crown, by Paul Scott
April 6, 2017: The Palace of Illusions, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Note: This meeting is a week earlier than usual to avoid conflicting with the Conference on World Affairs.
March 9, 2017: Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
February 9, 2017: The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
January 12, 2017: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, by Farahad Zama
December 8, 2016: An Indian Attachment, by Sarah Lloyd
November 10, 2016: The Sari Shop, by Rupa Bajwa
October 13, 2016: The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India's Young, by Somini Sengupta
September 8, 2016: Paro: Dreams of Passion, by Namita Gokhale
May 12, 2016: Flood of Fire, by Amitav Ghosh (second book of the Ibis Trilogy)
Note: Here is Ghosh's Chrestomathy, a glossary of sorts, for the Ibis Trilogy.
April 14, 2016: Tibetan Foothold, by Dervla Murphy
March 10, 2016: Brick Lane, by Monica Ali
February 11, 2016: The Five Sons of King Pandu: The Story of the Mahabharata, by Elizabeth Seeger
Adapted from the English translation of Kisari Mohan Ganguli.
January 14, 2016: Kanthapura, by Raja Rao
December 10, 2015: Tales From Firozsha Baag, by Rohinton Mistry
November 12, 2015: The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, by M.G.Vassanji
October 8, 2015: Staying On, by Paul Scott
September 10, 2015: The Lives of Others, by Neel Mukherjee
May 14, 2015: Family Life, by Akhil Sharma
April 2, 2015: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, by Mohsin Hamid
Note: This meeting is a week earlier than usual to avoid conflicting with the Conference on World Affairs.
March 12, 2015: Durga's Sword, by Joyce Lebra (author present)
February 12, 2015: The Middleman and Other Stories, by Bharati Mukherjee
January 8, 2015: In Custody, by Anita Desai
December 11, 2014: Bombay Stories, by Saadat Hasan Manto
November 13, 2014: Kingfishers Catch Fire, by Rumer Godden
October 9, 2014: A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster
September 11, 2014: Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, by Nirad C. Chaudhuri
May 8, 2014: Burnt Shadows, by Kamila Shamsie
April 3, 2014: The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri
March 13, 2014: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, by Katherine Boo
February 13, 2014: Bhowani Junction, by John Masters
January 9, 2014: Ramakrishna and His Disciples, by Christopher Isherwood
November 14, 2013: Eating India: An Odyssey into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices, by Chitrita Banerji
October 10, 2013: Zemindar, by Valerie Fitzgerald
September 12, 2013: The Last Mughal: the Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857, by William Dalrymple
May 9, 2013: Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, by Madhur Jaffrey
April 11, 2013: The Watch, by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
March 14, 2013: The Newlyweds, by Nell Freudenberger
February 14, 2013: Last Man in Tower, by Aravind Adiga
January 10, 2013: The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters, by William Dalrymple
December 13, 2012: Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
Note: Here is a reading guide.November 8, 2012: River of Smoke, by Amitav Ghosh (second book of the Ibis Trilogy)
Note: Here is Ghosh's Chrestomathy, a glossary of sorts, for the Ibis Trilogy.
October 11, 2012: The Princes, by Manohar Malgonkar
September 13, 2012: Two Under the Indian Sun, by Jon and Rumer Godden
May 10, 2012: Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India, by Pankaj Mishra
April 12, 2012: City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi, by William Dalrymple
March 8, 2012: An Atlas of Impossible Longing, by Anuradha Roy
February 9, 2012: Incantations and Other Stories, by Anjana Appachana
January 12, 2012: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
December 8, 2011: The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh
November 10, 2011: Amrita: Or to Whom She Will, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
October 13, 2011: Train to Pakistan, by Khushwant Singh
May 12, 2011: Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, by William Dalrymple
April 14, 2011: The House of Blue Mangoes, by David Davidar
Note: Here are notes, questions, and definitions for some of the Hindi and Tamil words.March 10, 2011: The Tiger Ladies: A Memoir of Kashmir, by Sudha Koul
February 10, 2011: Family Matters, by Rohinton Mistry
December 9, 2010: The Guide, by R.K. Narayan
November 18, 2010: Freedom at Midnight, by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
October 14, 2010: One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
September 8, 2010: Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh (first book of the Ibis Trilogy)
Note: Here is a reading guide.
May 13, 2010: Fire on the Mountain, by Anita Desai
April 15, 2010: The White Tiger, by
Aravind Adiga
March 18, 2010: In Other Rooms, Other
Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin
February 18, 2010: Unaccustomed Earth, by
Jhumpa Lahiri
December 17, 2009: Q & A, by Vikas
Swarup
November 19, 2009: The Hungry Tide, by
Amitav Ghosh
October 15, 2009: A Suitable Boy, by
Vikram Seth
May 7, 2009: Maximum City: Bombay Lost
and Found, by Suketu Mehta
April 9, 2009: The Inheritance of Loss,
by Kiran Desai
March 12, 2009: The Namesake, by Jhumpa
Lahiri
February 12, 2009: The God of Small
Things, by Arundhati Roy
January 8, 2009: A Fine Balance, by
Rohinton Mistry
November 13, 2008: The Shadow Lines, by
Amitav Ghosh
October 9, 2008: Midnight's Children, by
Salman Rushdie
[The first novel the group
discussed.]
To see group founder Jyotsna's favorites from this list:
http://www.sackett.net/FavoritesJyotsnaIndia.htm.
To see group member Bill's favorites from this list:
http://www.sackett.net/FavoritesBillIndia.htm.
This is http://www.sackett.net/GreatIndianNovel.htm.
Last Updated: December 15, 2024.