Comments on: Essential reading – recommended books and movies of Bangladesh

By: Graham Double

Graham Double — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:20:14 +0000

I applaude you initiation of a film and book listing.

Shantaram is a fantastic book, but I think your enthusiasm for it has drawn it incorrectly into this listing. it is not about Bangladesh. Using the same criteria, why wouldn’t Slumdog Millionaire also be included? Maybe another listing for the subcontinent?

Some films to include:
Song of Freedom directed by Tareque Masudd & Catherine Masud and
Joy Jatra directed by Tauquir Ahmed
Both are about the 1971 war.

By: rk

rk — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:39:57 +0000

I think a better book on the Grameen Bank is The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank by David Bornstein. It is a little bit older, but I found it more interesting than the Yunus book. There was less about the internal workings of the Bank and more about life in the villages and how micro-credit helped bring change to the poor. (I read them a while back, I hope I am remembering correctly.)

Did you find The Hungry Tide around Dhaka?

Thanks for the recommendations!