Book Reviews - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

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…

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…

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…

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…

Book review: A Step Away From Paradise by Thomas Shor

A Step Away From Paradise by Thomas Shor (Penguin Ananda Books) We have been taught from the earliest age to separate fact from fiction. We can read Alice in Wonderland, marvel at it yet know Wonderland doesn’t really exist. We suspend the line between fact and fiction, and we assume that is what Lewis Carroll…

Book review: The Swap by Shuma Raha

Love, sex and dhokha ‘Soon to be a major web series,’ a blurb announces on the cover of The Swap by Shuma Raha. Within a couple of chapters into the story, which deals with two couples whose lives get remarkably intertwined, the reader sees that the book would translate very well onto celluloid, offering an…

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…

Book review: Panjab by Amandeep Sandhu

I open my New Year account of book reviews with a book I read slowly, attentively, absorbing everything it had to give. Amandeep Sandhu`s PANJAB is many things to many readers. There are those like me, who was once familiar with the pinds and the jind of what Sandhu calls the outlier state (and you…

Book review: Perhaps Tomorrow by Pooranam Elayathamby with Richard Anderson

This stark tale, told absolutely without the slightest frill to embellish it, is basically a tale of triumph, of navigating one`s way through all the odds stacked in one`s path and coming through, banner held aloft. The `one` here is the co-narrator Pooranam Elayathamby alias Sandy. Born into a poor Sri Lankan Tamil household, any…