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CONTEXTS BOOKS
Books In the reviews that follow, publishers are only listed for books published outside the UK and US. Most titles – including those that are out of print (o/p) – are a lot easier to come by in Nepal, and some will only be available there. Books marked with the ★ symbol are particularly recommended. TRAVELOGUE
Barbara Crossette So Close to Heaven. A survey of the “vanishing Buddhist kingdoms of the Himalayas”, including a chapter focusing on Nepal’s Tibetans, Bhotiyas and Newars. ★Harka Gurung Vignettes of Nepal (Sajha Prakashan, Nepal). This vivid travelogue, illuminated by a native’s insights, is one of the best books written by a Nepali in English about his country. ★Toni Hagen and Deepak Thapa Nepal: The Kingdom of the Himalaya. No person alive has seen as much of Nepal as Hagen, who literally surveyed the entire country in the 1950s. His groundbreaking book was first published in 1961, and revised in 1999. ★Peter Matthiessen The Snow Leopard. Matthiessen joins biologist George Schaller in a pilgrimage to Dolpo to track one of the world’s most elusive cats, and comes up with characteristically Zen insights and magnificent writing on landscape.
Dervla Murphy The Waiting Land (o/p). A personal account of working with Pokhara’s Tibetan refugees in 1965, written in the author’s usual entertaining and politically on-the-ball style. ★Charlie Pye-Smith Travels in Nepal (o/p). A curious and surprisingly successful cross between a travelogue and a progress report on aid projects. Mixes impressionistic writing with hard facts. Barbara J. Scot The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes from Nepal. An American woman crash-lands in the Nepali hills; the writing strikes a nice balance between observation and introspection. Eric Valli and Diane Summers Caravans of the Himalaya (o/p). A journey along the old Nepal–Tibet trade route, packaged for maximum armchair impact. The authors’ Hunting for Honey (o/p) also made a splash.
CULTURE AND ANTHROPOLOGY
John Burbank Culture Shock! Nepal (o/p). Sensitivity oral histories and photographs of women from all over training for tourists, with valuable insights into social Nepal, revealing not only the country’s amazing cultural mores, religion, caste and cross-cultural relations. diversity but also the universal trials of being a Nepali Broughton Coburn Nepali Aama: Life Lessons of a woman. Himalayan Woman (Adarsh Enterprises). Delightful study Robert I. Levy and Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya of an old Gurung woman in a village south of Pokhara. Told Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. A heavy anthropological study of in her own words, and includes photos. Monica Connell Against a Peacock Sky (o/p). Beautiful, Bhaktapur, but its thesis – that the city’s inhabitants impressionistic rendering of life among the matawaali collectively operate a sort of well-oiled cultural and (alcohol-drinking) Chhetris of Jumla District, capturing the spiritual machine – is fascinating. Kathryn S. March If Each Comes Halfway: Meeting subtleties of village life in Nepal. ★Hugh R. Downs Rhythms of a Himalayan Village (o/p). Tamang Women in Nepal. Compelling oral history collected An extraordinarily sensitive synthesis of black-and-white from highland, rural Tamang women, with accompanying photos, text and quotes, describing rituals and religion in a photographs. Rashmila Shakya and Scott Berry From Goddess to Solu village. ipi8hfBu+Fu1Tqp6g5eaALs= William P. Forbes The Glory of Nepal: A Mythological Mortal (Vajra, Nepal). Gripping window into the life of a Guidebook to the Kathmandu Valley (Vedic Books, India). A Kumari, as told by the ex-goddess herself. lively retelling of myths from the Nepal Mahatmya and ★ Mary Slusser Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the other medieval texts, linking them to modern-day locations. Kathmandu Valley (o/p). A gorgeous but exorbitant twoJim Goodman Guide to Enjoying Nepalese Festivals (o/p). All volume set, this is the definitive study of Newar culture and the arcane whys and wherefores of the Kathmandu Valley’s religion. David L. Snellgrove Himalayan Pilgrimage (o/p). A festivals: authoritative, though not very user-friendly. Eva Kipp Bending Bamboo, Changing Winds: Nepali classic travelogue/anthropological account of a trip Women Tell Their Life Stories (Pilgrims, Nepal). Powerful through northwestern Nepal in the 1950s.
