Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet

A semiautobiographical book by and about a princess coming out of the tail end of India's princely system. It's mainly supposed to be about ayurvedic and natural health tips, and those abound, but I was mostly reading it for the fascinating insights into the community of women within the zenana, and a first-person look at the Indian community as it came out of the colonial era. The author more than once notes that this book is a little disorganized, but I'm okay with that. I wasn't reading it for the recipes (interesting as they were), so much as the the folklore and and historical aspects. It was beautifully written, eliciting strong emotions and sense sensations, as well as contrasting and rebutting Eurocentric beauty ideals and sociopolitical ideas. It was an illuminating look into the tail-end of an era, and the writer was so wonderfully friendly that I wish I could meet her and ask her questions.