Monsoon Diary2023-08-01T14:35:50+05:30

Monsoon Diary

a memoir with recipes

Hardcover

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Paperback

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Australia edition

sadly out of print

Indian edition

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UK edition

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Dutch edition

sadly out of print

A fascinating food narrative

that combines delectable Indian recipes with tales from her life, stories of her delightfully eccentric family, and musings about Indian culture.

Good Reads, starred review.

An entirely enchanting look

at growing up in South India, in an exotic world populated by the flower woman, maamis, and the colorful and opinionated members of an extended Hindu family. Food and recipes are a powerful element in Shoba’s story—tokens of identity and a passport to freedom.

Nancy novgorod, editor in chief, travel+Leisure

I loved this book.

I was a big fan of Milk Lady of Bangalore, so I just bought this in paperback. I love Shoba's writing. It is engrossing and fun.

Rob Landerman, Good Reads

Reviews and articles

Monsoon Diary in Florida

Author Shoba Narayan stands as a shining example of the writers’ axiom: Write what you know. Her just-published first book, “Monsoon Diary: A Memoir With Recipes” (Villard, $22.95), recalls the Indian-born writer’s childhood, her struggle to convince her parents to send her to a U.S. college and her arranged marriage. Narayan will make two appearances in Fort Myers on Saturday to read from, and autograph copies of, her book.

Washington Post review.

"Monsoon Diary" is the first book she has written, but doubtless not the last. It is notable, by the way, not just for its own quite irresistible charm but also as the perfect companion piece to Mira Nair's exquisite movie "Monsoon Wedding."

New Yorker Book Currents section review of Monsoon Diary

In South India, as Shoba Narayan relates in her memoir Monsoon Diary (Villard), food is enriched by ritual importance, from the choru-unnal (the first meal of an infant) to the elaborate feast that commemorates a marriage. When she left Madras to attend school in the United States, Narayan craved bowls of yogurt and rice to ease her homesickness: “While the foreign flavors teased my palate, I needed Indian food to ground me.”

Little India Review

Hot Stuff Review of Monsoon Diary. By Hema Nair | November 5, 2003 Monsoon Diary A Memoir With Recipes by Shobha Narayan Villard [...]

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