Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Books: The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

Threadbare, old and worn, yet priceless. This review is as much personal as professional. This falling-to-bits but very very precious copy of Charles Kingsley`s THE WATER BABIES, belonged to the name on the flyleaf shown in one of…

Book review: Stellar Signs by Manjari Prabhu

Stellar Signs byManjiri Prabhu (Jaico Books). I must admit I picked up the book with some amount of trepidation; me, I`m no fan of whodunits and I don`t repose too much confidence in astrology, either. And this is a book about Sonia Samarth, our desi Nancy Drew, who mixes sound common sense and sharp detection…

Book review: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel`s new collection of shorts is provocatively titled The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, (HarperCollins UK) and arguably the story by that name is the best read. There are ten stories, all of them full of what we know as Mantelisms…furniture is described as wilful, someone`s virginity is a wan one, someone leaving Jeddah is…

And Then One Day by Naseeruddin Shah

And Then One Day by Naseeruddin Shah (Penguin Publishers). In which the actor talks of the theatre gods, his surreal experience at a Jerzy Grotowski workshop in Wroclaw, his abiding insecurities, how he can never quite face down all his demons; fearlessly disses his fellow actors (flakes, he calls them once) directors and producers (mountebanks, he…

Book review: Brilliant by Roddy Doyle

Sorry but I have to fall back on the old one: Roddy Doyle`s fable for children Brilliant, is simply brilliant. Or brill, if you will have it. Recession has Ireland firmly in a throttlehold, and the people of Dublin have sunk into a recession-related depression. It`s a cold, clammy fog and almost everyone has gone…

Book review: The Mountain: My Time on Everest by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts

Not a new release but a gem I stumbled on. The book is titled The Mountain (Touchstone Publishers). It further clarifies: My Time On Everest. And then, just in case you were still floundering, there is a tagline that reads: The Irresistible Lure of the World`s Highest Peak. It is written jointly by mountaineer Ed…

Book review: The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

And once in a while, the reader needs to go back to her bookshelf, pick up an old favourite and slowly sink into the world inside those pages. The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing (Harper Perennial)was my pick for a TBT read. What a masterly depiction of human frailty. Within a few pages, the…

Book review: Maps for a Mortal Moon by Adil Jussawalla

Adil Jussawalla`s Maps for a Mortal Moon is, quite simply, a feast. The cover states that the book is a compilation of essays and entertainments. Well, every page lives up to that stated promise. I have this habit of reaching for the pen to note down notable lines when I am reviewing a book. Where…

Book review: The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer

Still and tranquil The Art of Stillness/Adventures in Going Nowhere/Pico Iyer/A TED Book And now the peripatetic traveler, the veteran travel writer, switches tracks and writes this eulogy about going nowhere. About sitting still, about being at peace with yourself and your surroundings. A totally irresistible concept, if you think about it. It`s an art…

Book review: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Penguin Publishers) Sometimes one comes to an absolute classic late in the day. And sometimes, that is quite the best way to come to a classic. You start to read, you settle into a deep absorbed quiet as the story takes you by the head, heart, the very bones. And…