Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

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,…

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Book review: This Land Is Our Land by Suketu Mehta

Meanwhile, migrants elsewhere….. Suketu Mehta`s THIS LAND IS OUR LAND is the intelligent combination of the personal, where Mehta talks of many members of his clan migrating to the US, and the professional, where he traces the troubled route of people braving some almost insurmountable odds to make a happy place for themselves in a…

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Book review: Whisper in the Wind by Venita Coelho

This book is a cracker of a Gothic tale even as the actual nature of the story comes wrapped in gauze. Is it a (tender) ghost story? Is it a (macabre) murder mystery? Is it a (richly) atmospheric thriller? Well,  simply put,  it`s all of these and  some. Love, betrayal, heartbreak,  revenge, intrigue; chatelaines and…

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Book review: Postscript by Cecilia Ahern

A measured  journey of picking up the pieces and carrying on Cecilia Ahern debuted with PS I Love You in 2004,  which went on to be No 1 on the bestseller lists in Ireland, the UK and across the pond, in the US too; win awards and get adapted into a movie with Hollywood stars…

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Book review: In Search of Heer by Manjul Bajaj

Having decided on a retelling of the fable of Heer and Ranjha, writer Manjul Bajaj has dipped her pen verily in a lyrical stream. Lushly packed with evocative descriptions of young men and old, of nubile girls and timorous old women, of men with evil on their mind, a swiftly flowing river, cattle both fine…

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Book review: The Sixth Finger by Malayatoor Ramakrishnan

 You would imagine that the origin story of a nascent godman would make for a compelling read. This, unfortunately, is not entirely the case here. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan`s protagonist Vedaraman is introduced to the reader as an urli  thief, when the young man is caught stealing the bronze vessel from a temple of all places. We…

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Book review: The Radiance of a Thousand Suns by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

Poignant memories A young Sikh woman in NYC tries to deal with the inheritance of particularly painful memories When the winds of independence blew in 1947, it carried within it a monster gale that wreaked damage on Punjab and its people. Thirty-seven years later, those marauding wind storms visited Punjabis yet again, this time in…

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Book review: Is There Still Sex in the City by Candace Bushnell

Chick-lit for older chicks? Here, relationships and ageing are more engaging than either sex or the city. With its standout title, Candace Bushnell`s memoir Is There Still Sex In The City? sets up some major expectations, of  beautifully made-up, expensively dressed young women dealing with the trials and tribulations of  love, sex and everything in…

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Book review: Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

QUICHOTTE by Salman Rushdie. Penguin Books India. I never ever thought it`d come to this. That, after a complete and total infatuation with the works of S. Rushdie that has lasted many  long years, I would actually find anything written by him tiresome. But the overly verbose Quichotte tired me out. Why, why,  why should…

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Book review: Animalia Indica, edited by Sumana Roy

ANIMALIA INDICA, The Finest Animal Stories in Indian Literature. Edited by Sumana Roy. Aleph Books. What a treat this book is! Opening with that absolute classic, Kipling`s Rikki- Tikki-Tavi, the imagery of which stays in the head well after the reader has finished the story, the book offers up a great melange of tales of…

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