essays - Comfortably Numb

Book review: Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie

Languages of Truth Essays 2003-2020. Of late, Salman Rushdie has been offering us long-winded, over-garrulous works of fiction, disappointing those of us who have long been fans of his writing. With LANGUAGES OF TRUTH, a collection of essays comprising various lectures, published articles, introductions to books and exhibition catalogues between 2003 and 2020, he redeems…

Book review: Why Don`t You Write Something I Might Read by Suresh Menon

Why Don`t You Write Something I Might Read? By Suresh Menon. Westland Context. There are two important reasons you should get this book asap and settle in for a jolly good read. One, it`s a Westland book, so, show them some book-love. Two, Suresh Menon is a gifted writer, as those of us who have…

Book review: Under Something of a Cloud by Dom Moraes

Just finished Under Something of a Cloud, (Speaking Tiger Books), a collection of travel essays from the fluid pen of the late Dom Moraes. These were the words that had me reaching out for my dictionary; some I knew but wanted to check their meaning once again: Appurtenances. Assever. Anfractuous. Enfiladed (by mist). Their hirpling…

Book review: Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna

Neat cute Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna (Penguin ) does that difficult to do thing: it sheds the baggage naturally accruing to a book written by a former starlet now star wife. What`s more, it sheds that weight while not repudiating a single fact of the author`s life and lifestyle. Meaning, it isn`t quite tales…

Book review: Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor

I’d been wanting to read this collection of essays about books and not much else, Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor, for a while now. Picked it up for a song at the one and only Blossoms store (in Bangalore) the other day, and I’m glad I did. Tharoor in my opinion, makes a better essayist than…

Book review: Bangalore Blue, An Anthology of Bangalore Tales

I was at my favourite treasure trove, the Eloor library, where the jacket of this book (artwork by Yusuf Arakkal) caught my eye. Bangalore Blue is its name and the lines at the bottom quaintly read: a bunch of nostalgic tales for and by true-blue Bangaloreans. Having been a townswoman since the Seventies, I consider myself a true-blue…

Books: Excerpts from History in a Glass : Wine Writing Edited by Ruth Reichl

From History in a Glass/Six Years of Wine Writing. Edited by Ruth Reichl. In a less topsy-turvy world than the one in which we happen to be living at present, the money which is now being spent on deadly armaments could be far better used on free champagne at 11 am for everybody every morning;…

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…