Bookless in Baghdad: Reflections on Writing and Writers

A great look inside the lives of India's elite leaders, as well as the literary life there, plus reflections on writing and writers from other countries ... Sashi Tharoor is an interesting eclectic writer, and world traveler, with a fascinating background. Born in London, educated in India and the U.S, and currently Under Secretary General,Communications and Public Information, at The United Nations ... His insightful essays, covering everything from growing up in India, world affairs, war, history, religion, globalization, death and destruction, to Hollywood and Bollywood....make a remarkable book that will interest readers of all nations.-- and it's an easy read. Highly recommended.

This book is a little like "Reading Lolita in Tehran" in that it offers a multitude of further reading ideas and insights into another culture, in this case mostly the culture of India, as influenced by its long history and British colonial period in particular. Numerous Indian writers are celebrated, especially Salman Rushdie, but so are the works of P. G. Wodehouse, Le Carre, Pushkin, Pablo Neruda, Hemingway, Orwell, and more. Don't miss the essays on illiteracy in America and the final essay celebrating the value of reading in a time of terrorism.

It's hard to easily categorize Bookless In Baghdad: Reflections On Writing And Writers: it's not a literary expose, it's not entirely a memoir/autobiography, and it's not entirely a cultural reflection on Iraq and India - yet, it's got elements of all the above. You'll receive more of an appreciation for literacy and reading learning what Iraqis go through just to get a book, and how selling their own books can make the difference between dinner or hunger. Tharoor examines his own childhood with books in India - and he reflects on the literary figures which that country reveres. Forty essays provide a range of insights on the literary world outside the West - and they're fascinating revelations.