I have only read Midnight’s Children, which I loved, and is one of my favorite books, but I have heard his books are all kind of similar, and have gotten worse over the years.

The first of his books that I became aware of was The Satanic Verses (1988). I recall that the reviews were good but many of the reviewers enphasized that without a familiarity on the history of the region as a whole much of the book would be misunderstood or just not properly seen in context, so a primer was suggested, A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani.

I haven’t actually read any of his books but I’d really like to. I’ve heard him speak and I was pretty impressed by him. My reading list is so ridiculously long right now, though.