Book Reviews - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Songs of the Cauvery by Kalyanaraman Durgadas

The flow of life By the banks of the Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, a set of people try to make sense of their life and times. As the nineteenth century draws to a close and the twentieth appears on the horizon, India`s freedom struggle is fast gaining traction. This story is set in the…

Book review: Sepia Leaves and Interview with author Amandeep Sandhu

Sepia Leaves by Amandeep Sandhu. Rupa Publications. This book was written in 2008 but the topic, sadly, is one that never really goes out of date or loses its relevance. I say `sadly` because the subject matter here is one weighted with sorrow. Sandhu`s book is the account of an eight-year-old boy in Rourkela who…

Book review: Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks

An easy read Two by Two is the twentieth novel of bestselling author Sparks, and that`s no mean feat. As everyone on Planet Earth knows, Sparks made his name and fame with that romantic tear-jerker, The Notebook, and followed that up with many international bestsellers in the same genre, playing to strength, as it were….

Book review: Askew, a Short Biography of Bangalore by TJS George

Cry, the beloved city It is neither compulsory nor mandatory but I feel the need to make this admission: I am not an outsider. Though not of Kannada origin, I have been a resident of Bangalore/Bengaluru since the start of the 80s. That`s been over three decades, during which I have lived, worked, married, learned…

Book review: Bridget Jones`s Baby by Helen Fielding

This is more a brief take than review. Bridget Jones`s Baby The Diaries by Helen Fielding More of stir-crazy Bridge and her pals Shazzer, Tom, Miranda, Magda. More of the craziness. More of the longing. More of the torn betwixt still-the- cad Daniel Cleaver and the rod-up-his-arse Mark Darcy. A chucklesome read. There is, but…

Book review: Show Me A Mountain by Kerry Young

At the crossroads Show Me A Mountain is the final book in a trilogy written by Kerry Young over a period of thirteen years, but perfectly readable as a standalone story. Set in the Jamaica of the mid 1930-60s, it is a portrait in words of the life of Fay Wong, a portrait that takes…

Book review: The Book of Shiva by Ravi Shankar Etteth

The Book of Shiva by Ravi Shankar Etteth. A Harper Element publication. This then is a spiritual travelogue. You can, if you wish, make comparisons to Phaedrus` journey in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Or, at a long stretch, Alex Garland`s revelations in The Beach. Be that as it may, here we have…

Book review: Turtle Dove by Divya Dubey

Turtle Dove, A collection of Bizarre tales by Divya Dubey, Readomania Publications It is indeed a rare soul who does not pick up a book that promises to explore bizarre matters between its pages. Turtle Dove, Divya Dubey`s slim but interesting offering, takes us on a walk alongside the undertow of life, lets us…

Book review: The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

This is more a brief take than review. The Year Of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota. Picador India I used to pass the British High Commission building in New Delhi on my way to work, twice every day for three years, and see the long and winding queues, little clumps of stragglers sometimes squatting on…

Book review: The Glass Bead Curtain by Lakshmi Kannan

Feminine Grace Under Fire October 15, 2016 Written by Sheila Kumar Lakshmi Kannan’s debut novel in English charts the life of two remarkable women, Kalyani, a child bride, and Vishalakshi, a young widow in pre-Independence Madras. Both the women display admirable grace under pressure and at some point, the story becomes a celebration of woman power. Kannan deftly…