Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Kashmir by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

Hellfire in a heavenly valley With Kashmir, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar ends her moving Partition Trilogy. The first book Lahore dealt with the conflagration that flared up in the northwestern part of a then unified India at the time of Partition, and the many innocents that conflagration consumed, even as Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Lord…

Column: Widen your circle of friends

Widen that circle and you`ll be happier A couple of things I read recently has stayed with me. One is an Eli Shafak quote which goes like this: humans think they know with certainty where their being ends and someone else`s starts. With their roots tangled and caught up underground, linked to fungi and bacteria,…

Book review: The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. Broadway Books. Released in 2009. This book is delightful. The tagline reads: delicious adventures in the world`s most glorious – and perplexing – city. Which to the perceptive reader, makes it clear there`s no needless snark or sarcasm involved about being an American chef who relocated to…

Column: Let`s cut the ostriches some slack

Let`s cut the ostriches some slack You know the ostriches I`m talking about. The moment the topic turns to something deeper than if Dunki is a hit or if the southern part of the country is indeed having a mild winter, some people get an uncomfortable look on their faces. They shrug, they smile painfully….

Book review: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

A dirge for our times The political becomes the intensely personal in this brilliant book which has just won the Booker Prize for 2023. The dark allegorical story shows us a dystopian version of Ireland in the near future with a populist right-wing government at the helm. While set in Ireland, it reflects multiple political…

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…

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…

Feature: The Anita Nair Interview

` In many ways Borei Gowda echoes my thoughts and feelings` The one word to describe all three of Anita Nair`s Borei Gowda novels would be the Merriam-Webster word for this year: authentic. In Hot Stage, the cop goes about first uncovering homicides then solving whodunnit in the contemplative yet brisk and very authentic manner…

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,…

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,…