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Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
  • Author(s): Geoff Dyer
  • Location(s): Varanasi, Venice
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): Modern

This book is in 2 parts – the first part is set during the Biennale, journalist Jeff drinks and snorts his way in and out of social events, and has a short affair with Laura, an American gallery director....

The Romantics

The Romantics
  • Author(s): Pankaj Mishra
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): Late 1980s

The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to complete his education and take the civil service exam that will determine his future. But in this city redolent of timeworn customs, where pilgrims bathe in...

Kaleidoscope City: A Year in Varanasi

Kaleidoscope City: A Year in Varanasi
  • Author(s): Piers Moore Ede
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Travelogue, Autobiography/Memoirs
  • Era(s): early 2000s

Piers Moore Ede first fell in love with Varanasi when he passed through it on his way to Nepal. In the decade that followed, it continued to exert its pull on him and so he returned there to live...

Living Banaras: Hindu Religion in Cultural Context

Living Banaras: Hindu Religion in Cultural Context
  • Author(s): Bradley R Hertel, Cynthia Ann Humes
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Nonfiction
  • Era(s): 1990s

By focusing on contemporary popular religious traditions, the book represents a substantial contribution to the study of modern religious practices in Banaras, holy city of India. This book offers in-depth, ethnographic views of many contemporary popular religious practices that...

Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition

Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition
  • Author(s): Chetan Bhagat
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): early 2000s

Once upon a time, in small-town India, there lived two intelligent boys. One wanted to use his intelligence to make money. One wanted to use his intelligence to create a revolution. The problem was, they both loved the same...

River of Gods

River of Gods
  • Author(s): Ian McDonald
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): 2047

As Mother India approaches her centenary, nine people are going about their business a gangster, a cop, his wife, a politician, a stand-up comic, a set designer, a journalist, a scientist, and a dropout. And so is Aj the...

Sister India

Sister India
  • Author(s): Peggy Payne
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): early 2000s

The exotic and suspenseful New York Times Notable Book that tells the story of an eccentric guest-house keeper in Varanasi, India, and the passions evoked by her sacred city along the Ganges The Lonely Planet recommends the Saraswati Guest House,...

The Ascetic of Desire

The Ascetic of Desire
  • Author(s): Sudhir Kakar
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Biography, Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): 400 BCE–200 CE

The Kama Sutra is the most widely read treatise on sex ever written, though the man who chronicled all there was to experience between men and women remains, for the most part, a mystery. In The Ascetic of Desire,...

The Butcher of Benares

The Butcher of Benares
  • Author(s): Jakhar Mahendra
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Era(s): early 2000s

The shocking and brutal murder of a young American woman rips apart the peace of the ancient city of Benares. She is found to be a research scientist working with the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research...

The Monkey Bridge

The Monkey Bridge
  • Author(s): Fahimeh Amiri, Rafe Martin
  • Location(s): Varanasi
  • Genre(s): Children
  • Era(s): A long time ago

In the heart of Benares, on the banks of the river Ganges, stands a tree with fruit so perfect it can only be called treasure. How the tree got there is a tale of two rulers—one selfish and proud,...

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