Himal Southasian
12 noteworthy books on Southasia reviewed by our contributors this year.
As the year ends with a flood of the inevitable, and somewhat oddly titled, ‘best books of the year’ lists, we have instead compiled our own recommendations which we hope will serve as a starting point for richer conversations on Southasia. These books raise questions that deserve wider debate and deeper reflection. Here are 12 noteworthy books reviewed by
Himal Southasian in 2020.
Vanni: A Family’s Struggle Through The Sri Lankan Conflict by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock
‘Vanni: A Family’s Struggle Through The Sri Lankan Conflict’ by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock. Penguin Books, October 2019.
Reading recommendations from a pandemic year
Poets and politicians, sportsmen and theatre personalities look back at 2020 through the books they read Updated: December 20, 2020 12:12:44 pm
Here are the books authors read this year. (Source: Getty Images)
Aruni Kashyap
writer
I think everyone in India should read Samit Basu’s Chosen Spirits (2020, Simon and Schuster) it is an urgent and topical book set in an India of the future, a work of speculative fiction. I don’t read a lot in this genre, but I think speculative fiction has the ability to
caution us.
I have long admired Moroccan-American writer Laila Lalami’s fiction but Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America (2020, Pantheon) is my first introduction to her nonfiction writing. Through a set of essays, Lalami talks about what it means to be a Muslim-American citizen, a naturalised American citizen; and how acceptance by the establishment comes with some conditions. Read