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SRI LANKA
More Books
Anil's Ghost
• Michael Ondaatje
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 320 PAGES
Ondaatje's novel follows the exploits of a forensic anthropologist, born in Sri Lanka but educated in America, who returns to her homeland to help uncover the truth behind a series of organized murders. Ondaatje, a Sri Lanka native and author of The English Patient, is a poet at heart and his book teems with scenes, moments and sensations described with what one can only call intense
(SRL10, $15.95) |
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Blooming in the Desert, Favorite Teachings of the Wildflower Monk Taungpulu Sayadaw
• Anne Teich
• Andrew Harvey
RELIGION •
1996 •
PAPER
• 90 PAGES
A collection of the straightforward teachings of the venerable Burmese monk Taungpulu Sayadaw, as recorded by Anne Teich (who also provides an overview of Buddhist practices and history). With a short introduction by Andrew Harvey. Like her mentor, Teich is a practitioner in the Theravada Forest tradition of Burma and Southeast Asia.
(BMA35, $11.95) |
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Buddhism, A Concise Introduction
• Huston Smith
• Philip Novak
RELIGION •
2004 •
PAPER
• 256 PAGES
This two-part primer, derived in part from Smith's bestselling World Religions focuses in the first half on Theravada Buddhism comparing South Asian and other traditions. The second part, written by Smith's student Philip Novak, looks at Buddhism in the west.
(ASA41, $12.99) |
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Buddhist Art and Architecture
• Robert Fisher
ART & ARCHITECTURE •
1993 •
PAPER
• 216 PAGES
A wide-ranging, illustrated survey of Buddhist art, architecture and iconography in the excellent World of Art series. It includes examples from throughout Asia.
(ASA30, $19.95) |
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The Holder of the World
• Bharati Mukherjee
LITERATURE •
1994 •
PAPER
• 304 PAGES
A daring novel of ideas, travel and history. Mukherjee interweaves the story of a modern American researcher with the travels of her 17th-century ancestor who roamed through Mughal India.
(IDA190, $15.00) |
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South Asia
• Sumit Ganguly
HISTORY •
2006 •
PAPER
• 256 PAGES
A scholarly history of modern South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Sumit Ganguly is the Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian cultures and civilizations and professor of political science at Indiana University.
(IDA308, $22.00) |
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Sri Lanka in the Modern Age
• Nira Wickramasignhe
HISTORY •
2006 •
HARD COVER
• 360 PAGES
A history of the people of Sri Lanka, rather than a history of the nation state, by a Professor in the Department of History and International Relations, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
(SRL25, $44.00) |
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Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue: Scenes from the Non-Christian World
• Paul Bowles
• Edmund White
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
2006 •
PAPER
• 192 PAGES
Bowles' classic collection of eight travel essays, originally published in the 1950s, mostly about people and life in North Africa. The globe-skipping essays also include a chapter on tea plantations in Sri Lanka ("Fish Traps and Private Business"), a riff on South American parrots ("All Parrots Speak"), his travels in India ("Notes Mailed at Nagercoil") and thoughts on traveling to Istanbul with a Moroccan ("A Man Must Not Be Very Moslem"). Most of the articles were originally published in Holiday -- and the essays are much brighter and more affectionate than Bowles' fiction. The title is from a poem by Edward Lear: "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve."
(MRC60, $13.99) |
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A Village in the Jungle
• Leonard Woolf
LITERATURE •
2006 •
PAPER
• 216 PAGES
A classic novel of colonial Ceylon by the Bloomsbury member and husband of Virginia Woolf, originally published in 1913.
(SRL16, $33.95) |
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When Memory Dies
• Ambalavaner Sivanandan
LITERATURE •
2008 •
PAPER
• 411 PAGES
A powerful, unsentimental look at a nation breaking apart into warring factions, this novel follows a Sri Lankan family over three generations, from 1920 through the 1980s, in the face of colonialism, poverty and sectarian violence.
(SRL28, $17.95) |
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Footprint Sri Lanka Handbook
• Edward Aves
GUIDEBOOK •
2003 •
PAPER
• 417 PAGES
A practical guide by the respected British publisher of the South American Handbook, this completely revised handbook is an excellent introduction to the geography, culture and history of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
(SRL06, $21.95) |
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A Woman's Asia
• Marybeth Bond
ANTHOLOGY •
2005 •
PAPER
• 310 PAGES
These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. Featuring selections from Jan Morris, Pamela Logan and Alison Wright.
(ASA49, $17.95) |
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Story-Wallah, Short Fiction from South Asian Writers
• Shyam Selvadurai
ANTHOLOGY •
2005 •
PAPER
• 448 PAGES
This fine anthology samples short fiction from South Asian authors including Salman Rushdie, Michael Ondaatje and Jhumpa Lahiri. The settings range from Australia, to colonial Trinidad and Sri Lanka. Selvadurai is the author of Funny Boy and Cinnamon Gardens, both set in his native Sri Lanka.
(ASA43, $14.00) |
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The Fountains of Paradise
• Arthur C. Clarke
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
This space odyssey, another classic by the master Arthur C. Clarke, is set at the Sigiriya monastery and involves an elevator all the way to space. Apparently, his idea was so compelling Clarke was invited to give the keynote address at a 2003 Los Alamos National Laboratory conference devoted to the idea.
(SRL14, $19.99) |
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Monkfish Moon
• Romesh Gunesekera
LITERATURE •
1996 •
HARD COVER
• 140 PAGES
These nine excellent short stories, all but one set in Sri Lanka, capture the spirit of the place. The author introduces us to a corpulent tycoon, an expatriate couple in London, and aristocrat turned communist, an anxious hotel clerk, and a middle-class maiden choosing between potential spouses; they all share the question "what's happened?" as Gunesekera forces them (and us) to deal with the reality of a nation embroiled in Tamil-Sinhala strife.
(SRL03, $16.95) |
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