There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
After the rather tepid last read of 2022, Frank Baker's The Twisted Tree, which ended on a disturbing note, I wanted to start 2023 with something much more cheerful. LO had borrowed this book from the library and I read it today. The book features some of the most well-known and loved authors of India: … Continue reading First Read of 2023: The Puffin Book of Funny Stories (2005)
This week in Top Ten Tuesdays hosted @That Artsy Reader Girl, we have been asked to name top ten (or more or less) new authors whom we discovered last year. Well, last year I read a host of new authors from those whom I made a special point to read like Reginald Hill and Shelley … Continue reading Top Ten (+4) Tuesdays: New Authors 2021
...the notion of love endures most things, even abuse.... Heliconia Lane is a peculiar patch of heaven at Valsolem, an unexplored and pristine beach of Goa. There are only three houses on that lane: Casa De Primavera or House of Spring where the Castelino family lives: Zabel and Filip with their son, Anton. The second … Continue reading Crime in India: Kiss of Salt by Smita Bhattacharya (2019)
More than any other kind of novel, I expect the Historical novel to have memorable characters. The past already provides events of great interest which the writer weaves into the plot but it is really the characters that make us care about their life and times.And this is where David Davidar's debut novel The House … Continue reading Literature of India: The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar
Though I love books of the vintage kind, occasionally I do read books published recently. Here are brief descriptions of three books that were published in the second decade of the current century.THE CASE OF THE MAN WHO DIED LAUGHING (2010)Vish Puri, India's most 'private' detective is the creation of author Tarquin Hall. In this, … Continue reading Three Twenty-First Century Novels
There was a time when India was a mass of Princely kingdoms who spent their time warring with each other, patronising the arts, looking (or not-looking) after their subjects, and doing other things that Royals are supposed to do.In Maharani, Ruskin Bond narrates the story of an aging former queen Neena or H.H as the … Continue reading Royalty in India: Maharani, and Almond Eyes Lotus Feet
I have successfully completed the South Asian 2013 Challenge which required one to read either books by South Asian writers or set in South Asia.Of the books read, one was in Hindi:Dhabba by Surender Mohan PathakTwo were translated into English,one from Urdu, the other from Bengali:The Last Musha'irah of Dehli by Mirza Farhatullah BaigArogyaniketan by … Continue reading Challenge Complete: South Asian 2013
The Partition of India in 1947 was one of the darkest hours in the history of the sub-continent. As communal forces gained strength and boundaries were re-drawn according to religion, tens of thousands of people found themselves on the wrong side of the borders. People had to leave behind their homes, families, friends, means of … Continue reading Being Sindhis in India: Rita Kothari’s The Burden of Refuge
Things were a little tough, a couple of years ago. Seeing me down in the dumps, a young cousin (who is majorly into Indian YA literature) gave me this book in order to cheer me up. Looking at his bright hopeful face, I did not have the heart to tell him that YA was simply … Continue reading Indian YA: Bombay Rains Bombay Girls
Convents, monasteries, dargahs, mathhs, are places separated from the world. The deceit and falsehood that is so abundant in the outside world, one thinks, will never be able to penetrate those hallowed walls. Unfortunately, it does not happen. Greed, lust, corruption, everything seeps in; the only thing is that there is a veil of secrecy … Continue reading Review: Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun by Sister Jesme
a hot cup of pleasure 