LOOK AT MY BOOK. LOOK AT IT. IT IS VERY NICE. I AM VERY IMPORTANT. 15 July 2013 at 07:30 I have been told that I need to promote my book so that people will know it exists and maybe some of them will pre-order it. My first inclination was to accomplish this by sitting […]
I can’t quite believe this . . .
The Story-Catcher has been long listed for the Crossword Book Awards! So what if the long list is loooong? If it needs votes, I’m banking on lots of people!
The Lost Years
When I first read Mary Higgins Clark, I remember how amazed I was. All Around the Town remains one of the most powerful books of all time in my memory. Yet, when I read this, there was the sense of something artificial. As craft, detective fiction shines. I enjoyed the intricacy of the narrative. Romance within a […]
Stormswift
Madeleine Brent, ah, Madeleine Brent. So many of your books are based on the same thing – an English girl in a foreign land, falling in love with an Englishman under impossible circumstances. How is it that I love them all? The power of the narrative just gripped me right through the book. A sense […]
Walkabout
Unbelievably moving. Two English children in the middle of the Australian desert – what are their chances of survival? But they come across a bush boy. A naked dark-skinned Aborigine. They cannot communicate to one another, but they have to because the ‘darkie’s’ attitude towards them is simple. He will not judge. Everyone is together […]
The Moneylender’s Daughter
I often shy away from thick books. I’m not quite sure why because I have read (more than once) and enjoyed (tremendously) books like Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Maybe, somehow, classics escape my prejudices. But books like The Moneylender’s Daughter ought to as well. As I began the book and got […]
Magical Mail
‘Dear Sir or Madam,My name is Thor. I would like to work for the council recycling department. I think I would be good at this as I have lightning for melting and a big hammer for those items that are difficult to crush. I have passed an exam in art and I am also a […]
The Poison Garden
I finally finished reading The Poison Garden only because I forced myself to. I turned page after deliberate page, skipping sections, skimming over larger sections and wondering who would read the book. And then, I had a rather startling thought. I understand where the inspiration comes from. I understand a fascination for plants and power […]
Ideas and Institutions in Medieval India
Paperback ISBN 978-81-250-5174-9 Hard cover ISBN 978-81-250-5175-6 Author: Dr. Radhika Seshan (Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pune) Publisher: Orient BlackSwan
The Harry Potter Phenomenon
“You must read Harry Potter,” a friend of mine told me when I was in the eighth standard. I glanced at the book lying on her desk and nodded. The book she was so impressed by was not yet available easily in India. A relative had given it to her and she was passing it on. I […]
The Great Gatsby
Is it fair to compare a book with a movie? Especially a book with such a strong narrative voice? I was a little put-off by the idea of Nick talking to the doctor. But then, that was one way of getting the narrative voice loud and clear, I guess. It was exactly like the book […]
The Life of Pi
I like to get involved when I watch a movie. I like to feel with the character, hold my breath during moments of anticipation and cry during moments of sadness and joy. That did not happen with The Life of Pi. Not because of the movie itself but because of the cinema hall. First of […]
Faerie Heart
Incredible. As a child, I did not like novels that were not divided into chapters. I have no idea why. The only exception was Mary Poppins. I somehow think this one would have been an exception too. What a visual treat! The imagination just blew me over. A coverlet and a bed made of insects’ […]
Désirée
Have you read Désirée by Anne-Marie Selinko? I read it when I was in school; I think it was the first really thick book I read.Yes, it came even before Gone with the Wind.I loved it so much that I read it again. And, I think, again.And then, I found an old, old copy of it […]
Oranges in No Man’s Land
I find that so may writers seem to have a compulsion to write long, complex, layered work. So many new books are thick paperbacks, full of things happening on every page. Oranges in No Man’s Land is not like that. Not at all. Elizabeth Laird manages to write a beautiful, heart-warming story in the course of […]
Book-Reading at Crossword, Mulund!
Blue Shoes and Happiness
A colleague of mine saw me reading the book and commented on how it looked like a children’s book. Many people don’t know yet that I spend more time reading children’s books than anything else – and am not ashamed of it. This one was delightful, as Alexander McCall Smith usually is. It’s the kind […]
A Doll’s House
I cannot believe that Ibsen changed the end of the end of A Doll’s House for its production in Germany! What happened to [t]hat slammed door [that] reverberated across the roof of the world? Ibsen agreed to make Nora go back to her children? Shocking! Almost as bad as Shaw making Eliza go to Mr. […]
Miss Julie
Outstanding. To create passion like this and alternate between expressed passion and subdued passion is incredible. Miss Julie – headstrong and confused – wavering between strength and weakness – is a work of art. You hate her and admire her. Above all, you pity her. Or maybe not above all. There’s no ‘above all’. It’s […]
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
Why does ‘easy to read’ somehow strike me as a slightly negative comment in the context of this book? Yet, I would not say I disliked the book. The gentle humour made me chuckle time and time again. The paradox of unbelievable believable characters was wonderful. Each character was more than just a character. The […]