Adil Najam
We at ATP like books. Over the last many months we have featured and discussed a number of books that relate to Pakistan in various ways.
I must confess that I had always hoped that we would talk more about books than we have. I hope we will be able to do so in the future. As a step towards that goal, we would like to invite our readers to share with us your suggestions of books on Pakistan that are worth reading.
This is not a popularity contest. We have no awards to give. We merely want to collate a list of books on Pakistan that people consider to be interesting reads. Specially those that you would consider recommending to others for whatever reason.
We have only two criteria:
- First, that the books you suggest must be about Pakistan, and significantly so. We, of course, realize that many Pakistanis read many books that are not about Pakistan, but the focus of this blog is not only on ‘All’ Things Pakistan, but also ‘Only’ things about Pakistan.
- Second, for the purpose of this first exercise please restrict your suggestions to books in the English language. This is a pragmatic, and not an ideological, criteria. The universe of books in Urdu is much larger – especially when one includes works of fiction and poetry – and hopefully we will have a separate exercise on those. For now, we wish to start small by focusing only on English language books.
The plan right now is to make this post and list a standing feature and to keep adding to it as readers share their suggestions and ideas. Hopefully this will be a useful service to those interested in Pakistan and Pakistaniat.
Haven’t gone through the complete comments, so don’t know if anyone mentioned already. Anyway, a book by Steve Coll is pretty authoritative on the Afghan war.
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0143 034669
One of the best books I read last year was Empires of the Indus by Alice Albinia. The author traveled all along the Indus, from the South near the Arabian Sea, all they way to the source in Tibet. It is a travelogue, but also recounts the ancient history of present day Pakistan along the way. It reminded me of another similar book I read a couple of years ago, called Where the Indus is Young, written by Dervla Murphy. Ms. Murphy walked to Baltistan with her six year old daughter (who rode on a pony) in the peak of winter, in the 1970s. I recommend both books to anyone interested in history and travel.
Other books on Pakistan read in the past year include the Deul by Tarik Ali; the Wish Maker by Ali Sethi; In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Moeenudin, and my favourite A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Muhammad Hanif. This last one was, in the words of one commentator, “unputdownable”.
For Three Cups of Tea fans, the sequel Stones into Schools is out. I am currently reading. Unlike most sequels, it hasn’t disappointed me so far.
On Pakistan History and Politics, my favorite book remains to be “Journey Into Disillusionment” By Sher Baz Mazari.
On Historical Fiction and Satire, I loved reading “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by M. Naeem and the three part series from “Thalassa Ali” – starting with “A Singular Hostage” & “A Beggar At The Gate”
Some great Biographies that I read:
(1) Little known but an excellent read “Unlikely Beginnings” by Gen. A. O. Mitha [no it is not a typical Pakistani General’s rant]
(2) “Mirror to the Blind” by Edhi/Tehmina Durrani – not the best written book but still deeply moving & motivating
(3) “My Feudal Lord” by Tehmina Durrani [scandalous but also insightful for its peek into the elite lifestyle]
On Fiction, my favorites are:
“Ice Candy Man” also titled “Cracking India” by Bapsi Sidhwa [setting 1947 Lahore]
“Moth Smoke” by Mohsin Hamid [setting Lahore]
“Trespassing” by Uzma Aslam Khan [setting Karachi]
On Sports, an excellent read is “Pundits from Pakistan” by Rahul Bhattacharya” [sports writes who travelled to Pakistan with the Indian Cricket Team]
Just finished reading “The Wishmaker” by Ali Sethi. Pretty good book, would recomend it to anyone, especially if you are a lahori.
Its a new book, and Ali Sethi is a really young, talented author. Good read.
Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid
A novel that provides excellent commentary on the political, economic and social situation in Pakistan at the time of the nuclear tests.