Thank you for your suggestions! I received over 20 responses to my request.
ORIGINAL POST:
I am looking for a book club selection and would like to do something with
an ethnic theme. I'd like to read something about or related to India or
the
Middle East would. Our club has about 35 members from a wide variety of
reading levels. We have focused on young adult literature but would like to
venture into adult novels for young adults. Does anyone have any
suggestions?
REPLYS
M.M. Kaye's books are good, mostly set in India:
The Far Pavilions
The Sun in the Morning
Death in the Andamans
Death in Kashmir
...many others
Haveli by Staples
Suzanne Fisher Staples books, Shabanu and the sequel, Haveli, are set in
Pakistan. I wouldn't really classify them as "adult", but they might work
for your group.
did you consider Caravans by Mitchner?
A Fine Balance by Minstry. This book is about India, and definitely would
adult literature. This is a great book...but might be a little more
challenging than what you are looking for.
I just finished reading Gloria Whelan's "Homeless Bird", the story of a 13
year old girl in India who must marry a sickly boy. I was mesmerized
(perhaps because I've always been fascinated with anything in or about
India), and couldn't put it down.
For background, please read "May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons', a
wonderful work about the life of women in India. It is infuriating, lovely,
heartbreaking and never boring.
Several months ago my (adult) book club read Rohinton Mistry's "A Fine
Balance", which I loved. Very sad ending, but, I think, a very good
portrait of India in the 1970s.
Born Confused_ by Tanuja Desai Hidier.
An excellent choice would be Canadian Yann Martel "Life of Pi". It won the
Booker this year. It features an East Indian protagonist, is set in India
and aboard a boat. I can't recommend it stronly enough. It is available in
trade paperback ($21.00 in Canada, no American price on my copy). Another
good book I am half way through is Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing.
Not a novel but a very accessible travelogue about Iran, definately
appealing to teens but written for adults. What Iranians say about America
is not what you think. (As a side note, apparently the "Ian" she travels
with is actually Yann Martel ... makes a nice tie-in if you do one and then
the other).
Two come to mind that are recent reads for me. Homeless Bird by Whelan
and Sister of My Heart by Divakaruni. Both are set in India and are
great reads for adults as well as teens. If I had to pick it think it
would be Sister of My Heart first:)
Homeless Bird by Whelan is very good and also Fire on the Mountain by Desai
is read at our school. Fire on the mountain is more adult, and I like that
more than Homeless Bird
I'm reading Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee. It is rather adult though it
reviewed well for YA's.
The following books is wonderful. It is 7 grade reading level and a YA
book. It might be to easy for your group.I've used it for 8th grade Lit.
class. There is a sequel to the book.
Shabanu: daugther of the wind by Suzanne Staples
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
What about Homeless Bird? It is about a girl who has an arranged marriage
at
a young age, only to be widowed and become penniless. It fits with middle
level, and since you said you have a variety of reading abilities, it might
work.
Either A Fine Balance or Family Matters, both by Rohinton Mistry.
I highly recommend Susanne Fisher Staples' _Shabanu_
and its sequel _Haveli_, both focusing on the life and
choices of the teenage Pakistani girl, Shabanu.
These are YA choices (middle or high school).
For older material (HS/adult, recommended as "Outstanding
Books for the College Bound," you might try _Nectar in a Sieve_ by K.
Markandaya.
The Raj Quartet (The Jewel in the Crown, etc.) by Paul Scott. Quartet
of novels that detail life in India before and after the Partition from
both Indian and British points of view.
Passage to India by Forster
Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott (series)
You might try "The God of Small Things" by Roy, although I am not sure if it
would be too advance for high schoo students. It is aby an Indian writer and
takes place there.
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