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Book review: The Oracle of Hate by Hamza Jalil Albasit

The anatomy of hate This story is an elegy for a city, Karachi, told through the prism of perspective of one family. An impressive debut work, it superbly melds the political and the personal, having its author, Hamza Jalil Albasit join the ranks of talented Pakistani writers who have made a name for themselves internationally….

Book review: Learning to Make Tea for One by Andaleeb Wajid

Growing with grief In the summer of 2021, as the second wave of Covid lashed the country, taking down so many people, tearing families asunder, Andaleeb Wajid, her husband Mansoor and her mother-in-law all contracted the virus. Andaleeb and her mother-in-law went into one hospital, her husband into another. Hospitalisation did not equal recovery in…

Book review: An Unholy Drought by Madhulika Liddle

Where history and embroidery come alive This story is as detailed, as intricate, as a naqsha for an elaborate tapestry. In a time of turbulence, drought and famine, a man nearing his end starts narrating the story of his family’s life. Through this narrative that spans generations, the sprawling saga of a family and the…

Book review: The Long Strider by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa

In the adventurer`s footsteps The late poet and novelist Dom Moraes was apparently much taken with the account of the adventures of a man named Thomas Coryate of Odcombe village in Somerset, an enthusiastic trekker known in those parts as the Long Strider. Coryate took a long walk from England to Jehangir`s court in India,…

Book review: The Kidnapping of Mark Twain by Anuradha Kumar

The mystery of the missing writer First, the good news. Indian detective fiction is alive, well, and flourishing. Period detective fiction, a sub-genre of the same, has seen some wonderful books being published, the period detail adding a special texture to the whole whodunit genre. The Kidnapping of Mark Twain traverses the same space. Set…

Book review: Mayadevi`s London Yatra by Bulbul Sharma

Human foibles, gently exposed The latest book from consummate storyteller Bulbul Sharma is a collection of old published tales and new stories. Here the story isn’t as much king as the characters are. Drawn up with an eye for delightful detail, each character — sweet, strong, eccentric, creepy — totally take over the story and…

Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life by Upamanyu Chatterjee

The quest for a higher spiritual purpose This story charts the spiritual journey of Lorenzo, who as the title states, is on a quest to find the meaning of life. The author says in his note at the start, ‘This is a true story. That is to say, like many true stories, it is a…

Book review: Chandni Chowk The Mughal City of Old Delhi by Swapna Liddle

CHANDNI CHOWK, The Mughal City of Old Delhi by Swapna Liddle. Speaking Tiger Books, out in 2017. In all the years I lived and worked in Delhi, the old parts of the city always had me in thrall, even as much of the new city repelled me. Now I live far away from Delhi but…

Book review: Digesting India by Zac O`Yeah

When food and literature mix….. Travel-writer Zac O`Yeah has travelled the length and breadth of India, stopping for double breakfasts, a handful of lunches, many a bottle of stuff that ranges from grog to branded liquor at many a pub or what passes for a pub in the hinterlands, as well as several dinners, all…

Book review: Cubbon Park by Roopa Pai

Cubbon Park The Green Heart of Bengaluru by Roopa Pai, Speaking Tiger Books. A neat, potted history of the 152-year-old park that is both geographically central to Bangalore and emotionally central to Bangaloreans. Pai eschews frills and furbelows to take up certain sections of the park`s history and lived-in present, the people and situations that…