The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008) — Booker Prize-winning novel narrated by a driver from rural Rajasthan (Laxmangarh, near Jaipur) who murders his employer and flees to Bangalore. Essential reading for understanding the violence and aspiration beneath the surface of India's economic transformation, and for the bracingly unsentimental portrait of village life in the Shekhawati region.
City of Djinns by William Dalrymple (1993) — Though focused on Delhi rather than Jaipur, Dalrymple's account of a year spent in India's capital is the best general introduction to Mughal and Rajput history in northern India, and provides an essential context for understanding what you're seeing in Rajasthan's forts and palaces.
Jaipur Literature Festival: A History by William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale — A record of the festival that has transformed Jaipur into one of the world's most interesting literary cities, with accounts of the controversies, the speakers, and the peculiar atmosphere of an event where Oprah, Salman Rushdie, and a thousand local schoolchildren share the same lawn.
The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru (1946) — Written in Ahmednagar prison between 1942 and 1946, Nehru's meditation on Indian history and civilization includes vivid accounts of Rajasthan's role in the subcontinent's story. Essential background for anyone trying to understand the layers of history visible in Jaipur's monuments.