Rating: 
Summary: Capital
Review: "City of Djinns" is an excellent account of a year spent in Delhi. William Dalrymple writes in a lively, often funny but always informative manner. The best travel writing manages to blend impressions of a country or place with descriptions of its people, as well as giving the reader a wider historical or social context. Dalrymple, being an historian, is skilled at the latter, yet he also has a keen eye for architecture and the oddities of the locals: he describes a variety of Dehli residents from International Backside Taxis and its drivers, his landlady, pigeon enthusiasts, hijras, through to partridge fights and more.I thought that Dalrymple is particularly good at placing the British influence on India in context. Like much of Delhi's past, the British presence (or at least the physical signs of it) seems to have been erased. For that which remains, such as Lutyens's buildings, Dalrymple puts their impact into a new perspective. "City of Djinns" is an affectionate book about Delhi and India, yet not an uncritical one. A lot is packed into 340 pages, and it's well worth the read. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Best
Review: "City of Djinns" is by far the best travel book I've ever read. It transcends the genre. It was given me by an historically minded Delhi-wallah, and he couldn't have offered a better volume. Mr. Dalrymple not only spent a year in Delhi, he spent centuries in the history of the 7 Delhis that have been built and lost. This is not a "go here, see this" sort of travel book. It is a "discover the wonder" book. Modern Delhi is a mess of a city, but Mr. Dalrymple takes us deeply beyond the mess into the wonder that exists and the magic that was. The incredible political and family history of Shah Jehan the founder of Delhi (Shahjehanabad)is the "Godfather" story of family members who would stop at nothing to win the empire. There is a severed head in this story that makes the horse's head in "The Godfather" look like child's play. This small portion of "City of Djinns" is worth the price of admission. I've spent a few months in Delhi, and this book would have made a better introduction than any of the usual guidebooks, as it is, it will make my return to the "City of Djinns" all the richer.
Rating:
Summary: Capital
Review: "City of Djinns" is an excellent account of a year spent in Delhi. William Dalrymple writes in a lively, often funny but always informative manner. The best travel writing manages to blend impressions of a country or place with descriptions of its people, as well as giving the reader a wider historical or social context. Dalrymple, being an historian, is skilled at the latter, yet he also has a keen eye for architecture and the oddities of the locals: he describes a variety of Dehli residents from International Backside Taxis and its drivers, his landlady, pigeon enthusiasts, hijras, through to partridge fights and more. I thought that Dalrymple is particularly good at placing the British influence on India in context. Like much of Delhi's past, the British presence (or at least the physical signs of it) seems to have been erased. For that which remains, such as Lutyens's buildings, Dalrymple puts their impact into a new perspective. "City of Djinns" is an affectionate book about Delhi and India, yet not an uncritical one. A lot is packed into 340 pages, and it's well worth the read. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Best
Review: "City of Djinns" is by far the best travel book I've ever read. It transcends the genre. It was given me by an historically minded Delhi-wallah, and he couldn't have offered a better volume. Mr. Dalrymple not only spent a year in Delhi, he spent centuries in the history of the 7 Delhis that have been built and lost. This is not a "go here, see this" sort of travel book. It is a "discover the wonder" book. Modern Delhi is a mess of a city, but Mr. Dalrymple takes us deeply beyond the mess into the wonder that exists and the magic that was. The incredible political and family history of Shah Jehan the founder of Delhi (Shahjehanabad)is the "Godfather" story of family members who would stop at nothing to win the empire. There is a severed head in this story that makes the horse's head in "The Godfather" look like child's play. This small portion of "City of Djinns" is worth the price of admission. I've spent a few months in Delhi, and this book would have made a better introduction than any of the usual guidebooks, as it is, it will make my return to the "City of Djinns" all the richer.
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Best
Review: "City of Djinns" is by far the best travel book I've ever read. It transcends the genre. It was given me by an historically minded Delhi-wallah, and he couldn't have offered a better volume. Mr. Dalrymple not only spent a year in Delhi, he spent centuries in the history of the 7 Delhis that have been built and lost. This is not a "go here, see this" sort of travel book. It is a "discover the wonder" book. Modern Delhi is a mess of a city, but Mr. Dalrymple takes us deeply beyond the mess into the wonder that exists and the magic that was. The incredible political and family history of Shah Jehan the founder of Delhi (Shahjehanabad)is the "Godfather" story of family members who would stop at nothing to win the empire. There is a severed head in this story that makes the horse's head in "The Godfather" look like child's play. This small portion of "City of Djinns" is worth the price of admission. I've spent a few months in Delhi, and this book would have made a better introduction than any of the usual guidebooks, as it is, it will make my return to the "City of Djinns" all the richer.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of hard work.........
Review: ..that's what William has put into this book. It is an excellent account of the year he spent in India with his wife. At the very outset of the book my admiration for William grew ten fold when I realized that to fully appreciate and highlight his experiences he had chosen to live as a paying guest in Delhi as opposed to finding more sequestered living quarters. But the book itself masterfully weaves in and out of the past and persent which both appear just as colorful through his eyes. I like the fact that he went out of his way to explore places that few Indians would visit and categorically dispell any myths that the world may have about such places (the eunach colony in Delhi). Lovely depection of India its people and its history........
Rating:
Summary: A lot of hard work.........
Review: ..that's what William has put into this book. It is an excellent account of the year he spent in India with his wife. At the very outset of the book my admiration for William grew ten fold when I realized that to fully appreciate and highlight his experiences he had chosen to live as a paying guest in Delhi as opposed to finding more sequestered living quarters. But the book itself masterfully weaves in and out of the past and persent which both appear just as colorful through his eyes. I like the fact that he went out of his way to explore places that few Indians would visit and categorically dispell any myths that the world may have about such places (the eunach colony in Delhi). Lovely depection of India its people and its history........
Rating:
Summary: Illuminating an ancient city full of Djinns - Recommend
Review: A Djinn is a spirit, not visible to the naked eye, and to see one in Delhi, India you have to cleans yourself from the natural world by fasting and prayer . In the ancient city of Delhi there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Djinns who serve to testify of both Delhi's glorious and hideous past. Delhi is one of the oldest cities in the world and for the past 3000 years has reincarnated itself. To uncover its culture and civilization takes the care and commitment of an archaeologist, or a journalist. William Dalrymple is an award winning journalist. In 1994 he was awarded the Cook Travel Award. In City of Djinns, William Dalrymple paints a vibrant portrait of Delhi past and present with colorful words. His journalistic research and unique writing skills call forth the spirits of both times past and present, illuminating for the reader the incredible history of this city. His humorous and provocative description of how he spent a year in Delhi, with his artistic wife Olivia, while he researched the city's history brings contemporary Delhi alive. True to life characters, like his authoritative spendthrift landlady, Mrs. Puri, or his slightly maniacal taxi drive Balvinder Singh, give his settings an unusual liveliness. Add India pigeon lovers, mystical healers, an enterprising group of transvestites (eunuchs), the baffling Indian bureaucracy, weddings, parties, funerals and religious holidays and "voila" you have an entertaining and informative travel/history book. If you are going to, or ever have been to Delhi, India you owe it to yourself to read City of Djinns. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the book-
Review: A friend suggested City of Jinns to me during my first visit to India. I fell in love with the book and with Dalrymple's style of writing. He ties together the history of India, the present and his own experience of culture in a very creative way. It helped me to laugh at my own western mindset and be more appreciate & respectful of the ways of the Indians.
Rating:
Summary: Don't go without it !
Review: A must-read for anyone travelling to Delhi, and a must-read for anyone interested in a superb blend of travel and historical writing. Dalrymple takes you to a magical place far beyond the smoggy, noisy modern city, and makes you wish you could stay there. Even if you never go to Delhi, City of Djinns will change the way you think of it forever.
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