Three Cups of Tea followup

I'm sitting on the lanai, overlooking the 8th hole of the Mauna Lani Golf Course and googling the history of Kashmir so that I can better understand Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie. I didn't choose Shalimar the Clown because it, like 3 Cups, is set in Kashmir, but because my niece recommended it. However, for those of you who are not quite ready to leave the world of Three Cups of Tea behind, try it. Rushdie's style is lush and poetic. I remember loving the last Rushdie novel we read in book club, and I think I am going to love this one too.

I have a Kashmir question for those of you who are history buffs. In my history googles, I've read that during partition, Pakistan wanted Kashmir to accede to its territory, because the Kashmiri population, although religiously diverse, was mostly Muslim. When the Prince of Kashmir resisted Pakistan, he sought support from Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten agreed to help on the condition that Kashmir would accede to Hindu India. Why would he do this? Doesn't this sound like a really stupid thing to do?

Books We've Read (listed by hostess)

1. Sam: Radio Drama, Fugitive Pieces, Disgraced, Stanley Park, Three Day Road, Cloudstreet, 
2. Pam: Poetry sharing, Middle March, The Piano Tuner, Deafening, Mr. Pip, The Mistress of Nothing
3. Kathy: About a Boy, Interpreter of Maladies, Portrait of a Lady, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Monkey Beach
   
4. Doreen: Skating to Antarctica, Fury, The Kite Runner, Italian Shoes, The Reluctant Fundamentalist
   
5. Sondra: The Poisonwood Bible, None to Accompany Me, Atonement, Crazed, Bloodletting and Other Miraculous Cures, The Hare with Amber Eyes
   
6. Wendy: The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Secret Life of Bees, Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
7. Amy Shah: A Hero's Walk, The Red Tent, The Life of Pi, Soul Mountain, Water for Elephants
8. Amy Hughes: Little Altars Everywhere, Isabel Gunn, The World and Other Places, The Big Over Easy, Widow of the South, The Help
9. Georgette: Larry's Party, The Great Gatsby, A Beautiful Mind, The Hours, Three Cups of Tea, When Will There Be Good News
10. Karen: The Forest Dweller, Away from Her (short stories), The Winter Vault
    
11. Rachel: Summer Reading sharing, Under Heaven
12. Cindy: Here is Where We Meet
13. Tamara: The Birth House, Headlong
14. Gerda:  Middlesex,The Book of Negroes
    
15. Natalie:  The Weird Sisters
16. Barb:
17. Jen:
18. Nobody -- Current Reading Report Out

Hosting Order

1. Karen
2. Rachel
3. Georgette
4. Pam
5. Doreen
6. Sondra
7. Sam (Honorary Member)
8. Nat
9. Barb
10. Cindy
11. Jen
12. Kathy
13. Tamara
14. Wendy
15. Gerda
16. Amy Shah
17. Carol 
18. Amy H.

Note:  This is the hosting order.  If you need to switch your turn (travel, illness, just don't want to do it when your turn comes up, etc)  and, thus, shift the order, it is YOUR job to find a book club member with which to switch. :o)