Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: The Mistress of Bhatia House By Sujatha Massey

The woman of substance returns The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujatha Massey,  the newest book in the Perveen Mistry series,  is set in pre-Independence India, has a clutch of interesting female characters, and draws the reader into a world that is enjoyably brush-stroked as well as focussed at the same time. This book follows…

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Book review: Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

The many ways of dealing with grief Chetna Maroo`s Western Lane was on the Booker Prize 2023 longlist, then moved to the shortlist. This slim debut book, the story of a squash prodigy named Gopi and how her family of two sisters and a father cope with the enveloping sorrow of losing their mother and…

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Book review: The Fast and the Dead by Anuja Chauhan

Murders in the ooru Anuja Chauhan brings her deceptively mild-mannered sleuth ACP Bhavani Singh back with her second murder mystery, The Fast and the Dead. The book has everything fans of her work like and look for: enough red herrings, a whole slew of interesting people with enough motivation to make the cut as suspects,…

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Book review: Sakina`s Kiss by Vivek Shanbagh

SAKINA`S KISS by Vivek Shanbhag. Penguin Vintage Books. Shanbhag makes the reader work, asking  more questions than supplying  answers,  in Sakina`s Kiss. The story presents us with Venkataramana/ Venkatraman/Venkat, who seems to be your common or garden irascible old man. Until you realise he`s not that old. Until he gives vent to his political beliefs,…

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Book review: Red Sauce Brown Sauce by Felicity Cloake

RED SAUCE BROWN SAUCE by Felicity Cloake. Mudlark Books. The writer has us at the Pooh quote on breakfast right at the start of the book, and it`s a fun ride from there on. In 2019, Felicity Cloake released her One More Croissant for the Road, a delightful culinary travelogue of her tour de France,…

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Book review: Thorns in the Crown by Tanushree Podder

Three lives intersect in this sweeping saga.The trials and tribulations of those lives are mirrored in India’s struggle for independance. The main characters, Peter, Indraneel and Olivia are sharply drawn in this historical drama. They are very different people.Peter is an Anglo-Indian orphan.Escaping the terrible privations and abuse of a missionary school, his path crosses…

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li

A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS by Yiyun Li. Harper Perennial Books. Came across this gem of a book, a collection of short stories by Chinese author Yiyun Li, winner of the Guardian First Book Award in 2006. Eleven stories related in a reflective manner that throws an understanding, sympathetic light on life in contemporary…

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Book review: After the Messiah by Aakar Patel

In the aftermath Aakar Patel`s first attempt at fiction is interesting to say the least. This political fiction is premised on the sudden demise of a strongman leader, the Big Man,  and what happens in the vacuum left in his wake. This vacuum is primarily defined by utter confusion since the departed leader,  who had…

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Book review: Feeling Kerala, anthology edited by J Devika

Kerala Stories Contemporary really is the keyword here. The short stories in this anthology, translated by feminist historian and social researcher J Devika, deals with some of the issues that Kerala is grappling with today. In her foreword, Devika clarifies that neither were the writers for this collection picked from an exhaustive list nor does…

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Cat People edited by Devapriya Roy

CAT PEOPLE, edited by Devapriya Roy. Simon & Schuster Books. Such a delightful book, allowing cat people a close look at felines and the humans they live with, allowing non-cat people a glimpse into just what living with a feline brings out in the human character. Like any anthology, it`s a mixed bag, with some…

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