There is a lot of waiting around in India. To keep ourselves occupied, Ant and I have started to carry around books with us. I had been reading a good bit before India, but lately, I've been tearing through my books like mad. I thought I'd enlighten people to what I amuse myself with all day. Here is the Claudia/PC reading list for the last 2-3 months:

Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter & THe Chamber of Secrets(both of these were recommended by Vicky McPhie in Inverness and she hooked me up with free copies so how could I say no??)

Vagabond - The title was intrigueing, but as I should have known, it sucked because it's a Bernard Cornwell novel.

Bonfire of the Vanities - I stole it from some hostel, what a shit read.

The Road to Omaha - Another crap read, though this time by Robert Ludlum.

Dr. No - Slightly more amusing, and a step up from my previous effort.

Thunderball - Same as above.

Here's where I started reading good stuff again because I found a decent used book shop in Stirling.

Dune - Loved it. I am trying and read more of the books on the BBC 100 Big Read list.

Little Women - Sappy, but on the 100 Big Read list. Also stolen from a hostel.

Eucalyptus - This was a SHIT book. I borrowed it from Kathy on the Intrepid tour, who also found it to be shit. I have never read a book that was so blatantly and obviously TRYING to be subtle. A painful read at best.

Big Chief Elizabeth - A really great book about the English attempts to colonize America during the reign of Elizabeth I. It talks about how messed up the English were in their thinking. THey would just ditch settlers in America and conviently forget about them when the price for supplies/ships became too high or it was an inconvenient time to sail. It also describes the initial contact the English had with the natives and how the natives didn't hate/distrust the newcomers until the English "accidentally" slaughtered the wrong tribe, and other "minor" breaches in courtesy. Very disturbing. Also included was a section on how tobacco was originally introduced to England as a medicinal herb.

Holy Cow by Sarah McDonald- A great read which I barely wanted to return to Shane, another Intrepid traveler. The author follows her boyfriend/husband to India so he can work for ABC in Delhi. He is barely ever around so she wanders India keeping herself amused. Her writing is still making me laugh because it was so dead on about the "spirituality" many people seek when they arrive here. She samples different religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judiasm, Zorastrianism, etc.) and takes a bit from each. Her comments on experiences and day to day dealings in India are balls on, and I can't wait to find another copy so I can re-read it and laugh some more.

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Herrer - A really beautiful book written by an Austrian who escapes a POW camp through the Himalayas in India during WWII. Eventually, he gets to Llasa, where he becomes the unlikely friend and informal tutor to the young Dalai Lama. I did have a hard time not imagining Heinrich as Brad Pitt, though I suppose there are worse people I could imagine.... :) Anyway, the book has made me want to go to Tibet proper (as opposed to the border regions I was in last year) really badly, even if what is left is only a pale shadow of what he saw.

My Land and My People by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama - While relaxing in deepville Rishikesh, books on the Dalai Lama were highly popular and I took the opportunity to read more about Tibet. This older memoir by the DL shows just how naive the Tibetans were in their quest for ridding themselves of Chinese occupation.

May You Be the Mother of 100 Sons - Whoa. Another eye opening read. THis book talks about the issues many urban and rural/village women face. Just a few of the horrifying topics include bride burning (when a girl doesn't bring enough dowry with her the husband and mother in-law conspire to kill her in a kitchen "accident" so he can remarry someone for more dowry money), sati (in particular a 1987 case where an 18 yo girl was burned on her husband of 8 months' pyre, and it was never determined if she did it willingly or was held down so her in-laws would not have to pay for her "upkeep"), female infantcide in rural villages compared with sex selective abortion in urban Bombay among the upper classes, dowry and the problems it causes, failed population control, as well as arranged marriages and widowhood. What a compelling book....

The Inscrutable Americans - A hysterical read after such a serious one. Gopal, a hick Indian from Jajau attends a college in Oklahoma for a year and comes prepared for American life after having views the all encompassing films of Deep Throat and Saturday Night Fever, as well as having read through Penthouse Letters.

Ladies' Coupe by Anita Nair - Another great book, this time about a 45 yr old unmarried woman's quest to see if a woman in India is complete without a man. She listens to 5 different women while on an overnight train in the ladies' coupe compartment.

Karma Cola by Gita Mehta - Wow, and I thought I was cynical about people coming to India to discover their spirituality. She goes through a million and one stories about different Westerns she has met who are doing crazy, stupid, and naive things to attain enlightenment. This book was almost too negative for me, but the author makes many good points about how Western minds can so easily misinterpret Eastern thought and vice versa. Also, it showed just how corrupt and money hungry so many sadhu/gurus are and how many westerners live in such pathetic conditions while in India because they get hooked on opium/heroin or other drugs.

I will keep updating the list as it grows on and on and on.....