42 ratings | 3 reviews | avg rating:4.79

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Minal’s Bookshelves

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Dara

808 books | 942 friends

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305 books | 136 friends

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1,384 books | 22 friends

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Minal Hajratwala

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.minalhajratwala.com

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, History, Gay & Lesbian

Influences

The books on my "Top Shelf" are those I went back to again and again w ...more

Member Since

February 2009

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Minal Hajratwala is a writer, performer, poet, and queer activist based in San Francisco, where she was born before being whisked off to be raised in New Zealand and suburban Michigan. She is the author of Leaving India: My Family’s Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 2009). She spent seven years researching and writing the book, traveling the world to interview more than seventy-five members of her extended family. In 1999, her one-woman show, “Avatars: Gods for a New Millennium,” was commissioned by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 1999. She was an editor and reporter for eight years at the San Jose Mercury News, and was a National Arts Journalism Program fellow at Columbia University’s ...more

131 posts
Minal Hajratwala's Blog

Year-End Reading List

In March I joined Zócalo Public Square as an editor-at-large, and it’s been my privilege to commission many talented writers to share their thoughts with us during these strange times.

If you’re looking for great reads as you hibernate in these long nights, here’s a selection of essays that I can personally guarantee are awesome:

As we in the U.S. grappled with a bizarre election season, San

Combine Editions
Minal Hajratwala’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 412 ratings · 73 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents 3.95 avg rating — 251 ratings — published 2009 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Very Inside: An Anthology of Writings by Asian & Pacific Islander Lesbian and Bisexual Women by Sharon Lim-Hing (Editor), Lê Thi Diem Thúy, Svati Shah 4.35 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 1994 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How to Live on Other Planets: A Handbook for Aspiring Aliens by Joanne Merriam (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Dean Francis Alfar (Goodreads Author), Celia Lisset Alvarez (Goodreads Author) 4.13 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands by Ire'ne Lara Silva (Author, Editor), Dan Vera (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Juan Felipe Herrera (Introduction) 4.52 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Out! Stories From The New Queer India 3.64 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fiolet & Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulist Poetry by Stacey Balkun (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Catherine Moore (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Anna Weber (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.42 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Moon Fiji by Minal Hajratwala (Goodreads Author), David Stanley (Contributor) 4.38 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bettering American Poetry, Volume 2 by Amy King (Goodreads Author), Jayy Dodd (Editor), Camile Rankine (Editor) 4.57 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bountiful Instructions for Enlightenment 4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	TURNING WHEEL Summer/Fall 2008 - Special Anniversary Issue: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Minal’s Quotes

“I don't think there is such a thing as
an intelligent mega-rich
person.

For who with a fine mind can look
out upon this world and
hoard

what can nourish
a thousand
souls.”
― Kabir

49 likes

“They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretense, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew. Their bearing, which was simply the bearing of commonplace individuals going about their business in the assurance of perfect safety, was offensive to me like the outrageous flauntings of folly in the face of a danger it is unable to comprehend. I had no particular desire to enlighten them, but I had some difficulty in restraining myself from laughing in their faces, so full of stupid importance.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

tags: enlightenment, identity, knowledge

167 likes