The most recommended books about Mumbai

If you are interested in the history of the Indian stock market, then this book is a must-read for you. Written in an easy-to-understand language, the book will take you on an exciting journey from the early days of the Bombay Stock Exchange, narrating all major episodes and players with learnings that can help you to navigate in the Indian Stock Market.

I loved this book for three reasons. First, it is so well observed in terms of Indian and Mumbai city daily life and all the usual ups and downs that happen. Second, it features a female spy and one with a lot of sass and spunk, to be sure. I love the sincerity and honesty she shows in the book. Third, the main character, Samira Joshi, is exactly the kind of person you root for.

The book revolves around her dream to be a spy, her training at a spy school or institute, and the fact that her middle-class parents don’t support it. How does she overcome her challenges? His simple and captivating book is one you don’t want to miss.

Fresh language and appealing concepts make this YA debut novel a winner. 

I ordered the book because the author was described as intelligent, honest, and hopeful. She had to be hopeful; I knew that from experience. She waited 30 years for her story to receive widespread attention. Mine remained archived for 20. For both of us, society had to evolve enough to address the subject in a meaningful way. Like me, she reveals the stigmas and assumptions about the crime and its victims that make recovery such a challenge. 

Mehta’s propulsive, strangely entertaining nonfiction book takes us into subterranean Bombay—into the underworld gangs, the bar dancers, the pavement dwellers. Despite its oft-times grim subject matter, the book exudes an energy and excitement that is reflective of the maximum city itself. As someone who grew up in a genteel, middle-class household in Bombay and was not familiar with the world described by Mehta, this eye-opening book served as a guide to places I have never been and roads I have never traveled.

Glaeser argues that cities are man’s greatest achievement. Where else can you find the conditions where the progress we have made in urban society come together to provide the kinds of civilization that we have evolved through cultural and scientific progress that appear most clearly in large cities? Technology is key to the 21st-century city in Glaeser’s celebration that he calls the Triumph of the Cities, and this history is reflected in Hall’s book, which follows.

This is a wonderful rapid read, and it complements Jane Jacobs's book below. It brings Jane Jacob's book up to date, but this implies Jane’s book is old fashioned–it isn’t–it is just that her work is over 60 years old, and the examples pertain back to the 1950s and 1960s.

This novel oscillates between pre-independent times in India and the present. It is about Gowri, Lucy, and James, the terrible sacrifices they make, and how they affect their families in the present. I love Renita D’Silva’s descriptions of Indian culture and food, and the powerful emotions her stories trigger in me. A Daughter’s Courage is my favorite book of hers. The sacrifices and dialogues wrenched my heart, the revelation of family secrets astonished me, and the skilled narrative bound me from start to finish. A masterpiece.

Who among us as, as kids and not so kids, has not dreamt of running away from home? We all have, let’s be frank. 

But in Zai Whitaker’s Andamans Boy, Arif actually does it. Arif is sick and tired of the oppressive and shabby treatment by his aunt and uncle. He is also tired of life in a major city like Mumbai.

One night, he decides to run away, far far away to the deep south city of Chennai, from where he catches a boat to Andaman Islands. These islands are full of a large tribal population, and he quickly discovers nature of tribal society.

Full of frolic and fun, it also asks the fundamental question: what is development and how do we define the word “civilized”? 

Nothing has transported me to another time and place so well as Khan’s book this year. I saw him at Bristol CrimeFest, a lovely and humorous man who held the attention of an entire busy room with just a few words. Khan’s charisma led me to his book, and I am so thrilled I found it. 

It is about the first female police officer in Bombay, Persis, who is called into a mystery at the turning of New Year’s Eve, 1949.

The power of Khan’s book comes in his ability to use time to create tension, the feeling it’s running out too quickly, the voice of a great heroine and most of all, his descriptions that paint this world in vivid colours. Need an escape? Pick up this book!

This book takes place from 1916-1921 in Bombay and Calcutta, following the protagonist in an alternating timeline. The story that is set in the past is my favorite part of the book, when you get to see how the protagonist, a young Parsi woman, became who she is. I loved watching her first fall in love, then grapple with gender roles and expectations until the past timeline eventually catches up with the present-day mystery. The setting itself is fascinating and unusual, and the protagonist’s journey is particularly compelling.

This collection of short stories by another Parsi writer paints an affection and compassionate picture of the metropolis, as seen from the eyes of its motley crew of residents—a laundryman, a writer, a cab driver. Shroff’s generosity and love for his city come through in every story.

This book, with its powerful evocation of the city and its description of the minutia of everyday life, left me nostalgic and breathless for Bombay.