Books about Bengali from Amazon.com

From the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written—that take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers.

In the stunning title story, Ruma, a young mother in a new city, is visited by her father, who carefully tends the earth of her garden, where he and his grandson form a special bond. But he’s harboring a secret from his daughter, a love affair he’s keeping all to himself. In “A Choice of Accommodations,” a husband’s attempt to turn an old friend’s wedding into a romantic getaway weekend with his wife takes a dark, revealing turn as the party lasts deep into the night. In “Only Goodness,” a sister eager to give her younger brother the perfect childhood she never had is overwhelmed by guilt, anguish, and anger when his alcoholism threatens her family. And in “Hema and Kaushik,” a trio of linked stories—a luminous, intensely compelling elegy of life, death, love, and fate—we follow the lives of a girl and boy who, one winter, share a house in Massachusetts. They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes painful paths, until destiny brings them together again years later in Rome.

Unaccustomed Earth is rich withJhumpa Lahiri’s signature gifts: exquisite prose, emotional wisdom, and subtle renderings of the most intricate workings of the heart and mind. It is a masterful, dazzling work of a writer at the peak of her powers.

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Price: $14.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Lina Ray has a knack for pairing up perfect couples as a professional matchmaker in San Francisco, but her well-meaning, highly traditional Indian family wants her to get married When her Auntie Kiki introduces Lina to the bachelor from hell at her sister's wedding in India, Lina panics and blurts out, "I'm engaged!" Because what's the harm in a little lie?

Who's sari now?

Lina scrambles to find a real fiancé because Auntie Kiki will be coming to America soon to approve the match. But date after disastrous date gets her no closer to her prince -- until an actual prince arrives on her doorstep. Lina hasn't been able to stop fantasizing about traditional but dashing Raja Prasad since she met him in India. In fact, her imaginary fiancé has begun to resemble him! Now Raja is in San Francisco and wants Lina to find a suitable bride for his brother. Though they live oceans apart, Lina longs to bridge the gap. But when her fantastic fib catches up with her, life is suddenly like a Bollywood flick gone horribly wrong. Lina may have an over-developed fantasy life, but she certainly never imagined things would turn out like this!.
Price: $7.13 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Sultana's Dream, first published in 1905 in a Madras English newspaper, is a witty feminist utopia-a tale of reverse purdah that posits a world in which men are confined indoors and women have taken over the public sphere, ending a war nonviolently and restoring health and beauty to the world.

"The Secluded Ones" is a selection of short sketches, first published in Bengali newspapers, illuminating the cruel and comic realities of life in purdah.

Suggested for course use in:
History
Indian Literature
South Asian Studies
Utopian Fiction
Women's Studies

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 - 1932) was a Bengali Muslim writer and feminist activist who founded the first Muslim girls' school in Calcutta in 1911..
Price: $4.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Ever asked for directions to the train station and ended up with a streetside ear cleaning, palm reading or root canal? With this phrasebook you'll preserve your dirty ears, unknown future and all your teet.

Get talking as you make your way around India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and take your best smile all the way.

Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.
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Price: $4.64 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Weaving history, myth, and current political realities, these three stories by noted Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi explore troubling motifs in contemporary Indian life through the figures and narratives of the indigenous tribes in India. Both delicate and violent, Devi's stories map the experiences of the "tribals" and tribal life under decolonization. Whether rendering themes of catastrophic ecological loss, the connections between local elites and international capitalism, or the role of gender in manifesting resistance in "The Hunt" and "Douloti the Bountiful," or the deftly wrought allegory of tribal agony in "Pterodactyl, Pirtha, and Puran Sahay," Ms. Devi always in turn links the specific fate of tribals in India to that of marginalized peoples everywhere.

Devi's texts are examined and amplified by Gayatri Spivak. Her essays explode the scope and impact of these stories, connecting the necessary "power lines" not only between local and international structures of power (patriarchy, nationalisms, late capitalism), but tracing them to the very door of the university.

While written for a general audience, Imaginary Maps will be particularly compelling for those interested in feminism, postcolonialism, and the fate of indigenous peoples..
Price: $29.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Teach Yourself makes learning Bengali easy

The languages spoken by the people in the India and Pakistan region are plentiful and diverse, just like their speakers Here Teach Yourself gives you the opportunity to one of these major southeastern Asian languages. Teach Yourself Bengali Complete Course allows you to study in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. It introduces you to practical themes, such as making travel arrangements, meeting someone new, shopping, and other every day activities. Includes two audio CDs with listening and speaking exercises.

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Price: $22.41 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $12.12 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs!

From Danish to Spanish, Swahili to Brazilian Portuguese, the languages of the world are brought within the reach of any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

• Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
• Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
• Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
• Practical vocabulary
• Regular and irregular verb tables
• Plenty of practice exercises and answers
• Bilingual glossary

The new editions also feature:

• Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
• Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
• Website suggestions to take language study further

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Price: $23.31 [Notify me when price goes down.]