Pure and simple - this book made me want to go to Delhi, India even more than I already did. The City of Djinns is a year in the life of William Dalrymple, who moves to Delhi with his new wife to look into the history of the city. The book has funny stories about all the interesting characters that the author meets throughout his stay. I enjoyed this book because while it dealt with the history of the city it was not a history book. I am not good at history - I forget the names and dates and get confused. But this had a mix of history as well as his own adventures. The City of Djinns was about many different types of people who live in India - Sikh, Hindus, Muslims etc and some background on how people lived in the past as well as now. I never realized how many things there were to see just in Delhi, let alone all of India.
Dalrymple tells some great stories about eunuchs, whirling dervishes, Hakim clinic doctors, Shah Jehan (he constructed the Taj Mahal) and many others. I really enjoyed this book because it looked at many different aspects of India and Indian culture. I think I will now have to seek out more travel writers!!
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