Biblio Files

It is time for summer shortlists. Ever wondered what the writers are reading? Here is a look at what some of them have bookmarked

It is time for summer shortlists. Ever wondered what the writers are reading? Here is a look at what some of them have bookmarked
DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN: I am reading James Salters Solo Faces,which is set in the French Alps and describes mountaineering there,a subject in which I am interested. His The Hunters is one of the finest books about flying that I know Salter flew F-86 Sabres in the Korean War but the book is much more than a war book,it is a work of art. The prose is plain,precise,lucid,effortless. These are guy subjects but not guy books are much too good for that. There is also the manuscript of William Dalrymples forthcoming Nine Lives,which he describes as a collection of non-fiction short stories. Im very glad to be getting a peek at the manuscript before the book comes out. And then there is Giuseppe di Lampedusas The Leopard,which describes a declining aristocracy,just as my book describes a declining feudal world a sunset book,as mine is. The author,who was the 11th Prince of Lampedusa,an island off the coast of Sicily,masterfully describes the compromises as well as the refusals to compromise that are characteristic of an anachronistic class. And Vasili Klyuchevskys biography Peter the Great,which seems apposite reading for those of us who are troubled observers of Pakistans present climate. Perhaps we need our own Peter. Heinrich Heine wrote at the end of the 19th century,The future smells of Russian leather,blood,and many whippings. I should advise our grandchildren to be born with very thick skins on their backs. This unfortunately is a prognosis that may apply to our part of the world,more than a hundred years later.

ARAVIND ADIGA: The best books I have read recently are Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates,Collected Poems by Allen Ginsberg and Collected Short Stories of Saul Bellow. Having heard good things about Sam Millers book on Delhi,Adventures in a Megacity,Im planning on buying it soon. I will certainly be buying the new edition of Khushwant Singhs collected works. When I see his old articles,Im reminded of my grandfather,who always had copies of the Illustrated Weekly of India in his law office in Mangalore. And,finally,Im hoping that someone will send me a manuscript of Soumya Bhattacharyas unpublished new novel.

AMIT CHAUDHURI: Im a member of the panel judging The Man Booker International Prize,2009. All the reading Im doing revolves around that. So Im reading authors as varied as Mahasweta Devi and Antonio Tabucchi,Mario Vargas Llosa and Joyce Carol Oates and many other nominated authors.

MOHAMMED HANIF: War and Peace: I read it during a summer in the 90s and I dont remember anything from that year anymore. Also,the new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is brilliant and the new Knopf edition looks like a gift-wrapped mithai ka dabba. Pal Bhar Ka Bahisht: Sarmad Sehbais new collection of Urdu poetry is inventive and very sexy. Some of his poems should be read from mosque loudspeakers across Pakistan. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard: Because sometimes I miss London and Ballard just died. Rait Par Lakirain Lines on the Sand by Mohammed Khalid Akhtar: a collection of reviews and literary parodies that has changed my perspective on a number of books. Also,back issues of the Punjabi lit magazine Pancham.

K. SATCHIDANANDAN: While in London as a guest at the London Book Fair,I visited Waterstones and London Review Bookshop and came back with a boxful of books that is going to be my summer fare. They are mostly poetry,as it is hardly available in most Indian bookshops: an anthology of contemporary Hebrew poetry selected and edited by Tsipi Keller that I am halfway through and will recommend to all lovers of good poetry; another anthology,Answering Back,edited by Carol Ann Duffy,in which the living poets reply to the poetry of the past,and new collections or selections of poems by Mahmoud Darwish,Jackie Kay,Stanley Moss,Mary Oliver,Les Murray,Francis Ponge,Miroslav Holub,Vitezslav Nezval,Jaan Kaplinski,Friedrich Holderlin,among others. The fiction includes Roberto Bolanos 2666,Jordi Cocas Under the Dust,Angela Carters Collected Stories and J.M.G. Le Clezios Terra Amata. Then there is Jeanette Wintersons Weight,the second in the Penguin series of Myths Retold,the first being Margaret Atwoods The Penelopiad,a retelling of Odyssey from Penelopes point of view that I had enjoyed thoroughly.

WILLIAM DALRYMPLE: Mimlu Sen is a dear friend and Ive been thanked in her book Baulsphere so I better get down to reading it now. Then there are Annie Dillards An American Childhood,Geoff Dyers Jeff in Venice,Death in Varanasi and Steve Colls The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. I was reading Jhumpa Lahiris Unaccustomed Earth,but didnt read some stories. I am looking forward to returning to it. Madame Blavatskys Baboon: A History of the Mystics,Mediums,and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America by Peter Washington is a very interesting book with a brilliant title. Ive heard good things about The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and am looking forward to it. I bought Patrick Frenchs biography of V.S. Naipaul The World is What It Is a long time ago and I still havent read it. Its a good thing that Patrick is a friend and he understands,but if I dont read it this summer,I doubt hes going to be understanding for that long.

TABISH KHAIR: I doubt I will read freshly-off-the-press stuff this summer; I am quite bored with much of recent literature,especially fiction. I have just finished Ian Almonds Two Faiths,One Banner: When Muslims Marched with Christians Across Europes Battlegrounds,which is recent and definitely worth reading. Apart from that,I have also finished Canadian Anne Carsons Eros The Bittersweet,which is not as recent but simply excellent. The rest is older. I am currently reading Roberto Bolaños A Distant Star,having just read translations of two of his other works with admiration,and Andre Gides The Immoralist,which somehow I had not read earlier. Next in line is a series of books on God and atheism,including one by Terry Eagleton and another by good old Bertrand Russell.

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BASHARAT PEER: I am reading the superb English translation of Tilism-e-Hoshruba by Musharraf Ali Farooqi,rereading all of Nirmal Vermas novels,and everything by Nayar Masood. No goras in my desi summer.

SARNATH BANERJEE: Summer is a good time to read. There are no pressures of the great outdoors,so it doesnt seem to be sinful to start reading in the morning and read through late afternoon and into night. After an extended working trip to Congo and Ethiopia,my current obsession is Africa: two non-fiction books that top the list are King Leopolds Ghost by Adam Hochschild which explores the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908,and In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz by Michela Wrong,more on the history of contemporary Congo. And I want to revisit Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. In fiction,I want to read The Fu-Manchu Omnibus by Sax Rohmer at one go. Summer afternoons will be with Inspector Rebus,the taciturn detective of Ian Rankin,and in the company of Kiriti Roy,the Bengali detective with a keen eye for forensic science,created by Niharanjan Gupta. Also looking forward to the new graphic novel by Parismita Singh and the debut novel of Chandrahas Chaudhuri.

MANJULA PADMANABHAN: Paul Theroux has been a favourite of mine for many years. Currently,Im reading an old book of his,The Happy Isles of Oceania. I read it once already as an audio cassette I like listening to audio books while walking but its the kind of book that demands a long slow read. Its very rich in detail,as the author moves around the Pacific,commenting on the islands and islanders he encounters. He shares his worst and best moments,his moods,his fears,his food,his observations. Ive been reading it intermittently for the past six months and as the journey draws to its end,I feel pleasurably weather-beaten,sun-burnt and far-travelled. Ive also read Geoffrey Dyers Jeff in Venice,Death in Varanasi and am still reading Githa Hariharans Fugitive Histories.