book review Archives - Comfortably Numb

Book review: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

Basti log A trio of kids set out to solve the mystery of disappearing kids. This book has a slew of most impressive names blurbing about it, using words of high praise. And usually, that would be enough to make me somewhat suspicious. Not in this case, though. Anappara`s debut fiction more than deserves all…

Book review: Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

Gun Island, Amitav Ghosh, Penguin Hamish Hamilton Books A disclaimer is necessary: I am a huge fan of Ghosh, and positively devour each book of his with avid interest. But that in no way impinges on my statement that GUN ISLAND is a terrific read, packed with information, and that info is delivered so effortlessly,…

Book review: Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively

This is a book less about gardening methods, types of plants and the like, and more about literary characters and their gardens, imagined as well as real. Get out there and dig, weed, prune, plant, when stuck with whatever was being written, advises the author who apparently is very adept at both writing as well…

Book review: How I Became A Tree by Sumana Roy

So enjoyed what I term the Matryoshka Tree book, Sumana Roy`s HOW I BECAME A TREE (Aleph Books). The book, which focuses on tree-love, aims for that intersection between the spot a tree stands in and the spot a human stands in, and reveals the Matryoshka effect as it segues from tree story to tree…

Book review: Behind the Wall by Colin Thubron

Just when the first lockdown was enforced, I started on one of my fave travel writer Colin Thubron`s 1988 China travelogue, Behind the Wall. And I only just finished reading it. It`s not an easy book to read, and it`s even more difficult to review. Oh, Thubron is at the top of his game…

Book review: Memory of Light by Ruth Vanita

A poignant passion A febrile strand of melancholia runs through the story, adding heft to a tale rich with detail, feeling and emotion In corona times, along comes a book that is best read slowly, leisurely, a meditative reflection on a found, lost, then recaptured love. Sumptuously descriptive, this love story has stately Lucknow, the…

Book review: Revolutionary Ride by Lois Pryce

Revolutionary Ride by Lois Pryce. Hachette india. About halfway into this book, an account of the author`s foray into Iran in 2011 on her motorcycle, I realised the book was less travelogue and more a political account of modern-day Iran. However, I had no grouse with that because Pryce stays on-point all through, and the…

Book review: My Father`s Garden by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

And once in a rarish while, along comes a book, the contents of which are seamlessly compatible with its jacket pic. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar`s MY FATHER`S GARDEN (Speaking Tiger Books) is one such book. The reader`s eye is caught and held first by the sumptuous illustration on the cover. And once they start to read…

Book Review: Dara Shukoh, The Man Who Would Be King by Avik Chanda

A mystic’s misfortune Dara Shukoh’s vision for a just, tolerant, secular and humane India seems today as unrealised as his dream of becoming the king. A contemplative ‘what if’ nebula hangs over Avik Chanda’s gripping book on Dara Shukoh. Dara was Emperor Shah Jahan’s eldest, most favoured son and heir apparent. He, however, does not…

Book review: Aranyaka by Amruta Patil and Devdutt Pattanaik

The year is yet young but ARANYAKA (Tranquebar Books) is for me, the best read of 2020, so far. This wonderful 2019 collab by Amruta Patil and Devdutt Pattanaik (story and art by the former, based on concepts by the latter) pulls you into the heart of the forest from the very first page and…