I think this is just because of where I live but I can’t find a lot of South Asian stories that aren’t philosophy, religious, or the jungle book. Don’t get me wrong, I love those books but I want to read our subcontinents greatest stories. I want to find books written by South Asians authors that are modern classics. Any genre works for me.
by Tacoaboutgames
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Have you read the Jaipur trilogy?
A Guardian and a Thief
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
– A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
– Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan
– The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam
– The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
– A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
– A Burning by Megha Majumdar
If you want the og of asian books you want the monkey king or romance of the 3 kingdoms.
In monkey king the gods are major characters in the story but it is not religion as a reason for war or anything. The squad leader is also a monk so it has a factor in the story but never overbearing. Mostly it is a kung fu epic every chapter another demon gets his ass kicked or the monkey king has gotten into trouble again.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Malgudi Days – RK Narayan
*The Garden or Evening Mists* and/or *The Gift of Rain* by Tan Twan Eng. Beautiful books about Malaysia ans SE Asia. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
My favorite books by Desi authors:
* Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh
* Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance
* Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India
* Saadat Hasan Manto’s Kingdom’s End and Other Stories
* R. K. Narayan’s The Guide