When Alison Bechdel wrote, 'Fun Home', a graphic novel about her closeted gay father and her relationship with him, it was received with great aplomb. Critics loved it and so did the regular readers. I read it last month and was in absolute love with it. At the end of the book, I wondered, What about Alisons mother? What about her point of view and her life? and the wonder...
01:57 PM, May 22, 2012
Do you believe in love at first sight? And does love at first sight happens because of collective circumstances that lead to it? 'The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight' is a book as the title says, quite what it is - love and the chances of it at first sight. When Hadley misses her flight to London by four minutes, she never expects to meet Oliver - someone...
01:51 PM, May 22, 2012
'Em and the Big Hoom' by Jerry Pinto may be positioned as a book about a mother's descent into madness, but at the core to me, it was the story of a family. Not dysfunctional as much as a family thrown together in a circumstance, who make the most of life while dealing with the way things turn out for them. Readers have speculated and critics have opinionated that the...
12:50 PM, May 07, 2012
Indian Literature is under-rated. I have always believed that most Indian writers (great ones at that) are often not spoken about or mentioned at all. Some great books are never discussed. That's a sad situation for a country that is so rich in literature - considering the number of languages stories are weaved in and then translated for the English reader's (like me) benefit, only not to be praised. One...
04:14 PM, May 02, 2012
Everyone who was a Swedish crime writer came to front after Stieg Larsson. Stieg's entry in the popular crime fiction stream through the highly popular Millennium Trilogy paved way for all of them. One of the writers being Jo Nesbo, for which I am glad and thankful. I have read all the Harry Hole (Nesbo's protagonist) novels and been thoroughly entertained by all of them. When I got the opportunity...
01:23 PM, Apr 24, 2012
We all have our literary heroes. Sometimes in the form of characters, which we have loved reading about and idolizing while reading or sometimes in the form of writers themselves, who bring stories and characters to life. For me, there are so many writers who have changed my life and the way I see things and the world around me and then there are those who stay on irrespective of...
02:06 PM, Apr 18, 2012
Have you ever wondered what would it be like if your mother disappeared one fine day? What would you go through if you were unable to locate her? What would you go through knowing that your mother has disappeared for good? 'Please Look after Mother' by Kyung-Sook Shin is about a mothers disappearance and written with great empathy and emotion. The mother has disappeared in a crowded Seoul subway station,...
01:55 PM, Apr 18, 2012
It is sometimes sad to know that readers (most of them) only remember Ismat Chughtai for 'Lihaaf' or 'The Quilt'. She has written a lot more and the 'more' is even more interesting than 'Lihaaf'. I remember the first time I was introduced to her works. I had turned twenty-three and my friend had taken me to watch a play, 'Manto Ismat Hazir Hain' produced by Motley, - which featured...
01:45 PM, Apr 18, 2012
I think I have had my share of chick-lit reading for this year. I am glad that it ended with, "Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake" by Preeti Shenoy. Preeti Shenoy writes with urgency - almost like she has to catch the next bus and will miss it, but it is that urgency that gives the book its much needed tone and pace. The plot is about starting...
05:56 PM, Apr 06, 2012
When I first started reading, 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers' by Katherine Boo, it didn't strike me as a different book. I mean I had read the similar story in Suketu Mehta's, 'Maximum City' (Honestly I didn't think much of it), though it was in brief. It was still more or less the same - Mumbai and its dichotomy (like every major cosmopolitan), its slums, its smells and sights and the...
05:45 PM, Mar 26, 2012
Roopa Farooki's new book is unlike anything else I have read by her earlier. Even the writing for that matter is different from her other books. 'The Flying Man' is about a man's life, lived through cities and countries and in various disguises, from where the title comes about. 'The Flying Man' did take me some time to get into, as it didn't start with the aplomb I thought it...
12:40 PM, Mar 10, 2012
Art imitates life and vice-versa they say. This could not be more true in the case of Hachette India's new release, 'Artist, Undone' by V Sanjay Kumar. I have never been able to understand art. I appreciate it a lot though. I can also distinguish between an MF Husain and a Bhupen Khakhar which I cannot say for most people, who claim to love art. Nonetheless, since this is a...
04:10 PM, Feb 21, 2012
Imagine this: 1656 Delhi. Muzaffar Jang - an aristocrat with friends in low places. He has just finished solving a case that involved two Englishmen and the Imperial Exchequer. All he wants to do is take it easy and here come more cases waiting for him to be solved. Muzaffar Jang also happens to be a detective - a part-time one but a detective nonetheless. The series of mysteries in...
12:53 PM, Feb 01, 2012
It isn't easy to write by mixing almost two genres together. It takes not only gumption but also some good writing skill. When I first started reading, 'The Reluctant Detective' I did not think much of it. I mean come to think of it, here is an almost bored housewife (well not really bored) and she has the habit of poking her nose in other people's affairs (but obviously -...
03:37 PM, Jan 31, 2012
'The Wednesday Soul' is nothing like you have read before. It is funny, sarcastic, doesn't try too hard, simply written, and a whole lot of afterlife. Yes! You heard that right. The book is about the afterlife, or as the tag line goes, "the afterlife, with sunglasses". The protagonist, Nyra Dubey, dies in the first chapter and thats where the story takes off. Nyra " the infamous vigilante, the Delhiite...
02:54 PM, Jan 31, 2012
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.
Disclaimer: Network18 Media & Investments Limited is proposing, subject to market conditions and other considerations, an offer of its equity shares on rights basis and has filed a Draft Letter of Offer with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The Draft Letter of Offer is available on the website of SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in and the websites of the Lead Managers at www.icicisecurities.com and www.rbs.in Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and are requested to refer to "Risk Factors" in the Draft Letter of Offer. The Equity Shares have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"), or any state securities laws in the United States and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, "U.S. persons" (as defined in Regulation S under the US Securities Act) except in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act and in accordance with any applicable U.S. state securities laws.
Disclaimer: TV18 Broadcast Limited is proposing, subject to market conditions and other considerations, an offer of its equity shares on rights basis and has filed a Draft Letter of Offer with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The Draft Letter of Offer is available on the website of SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in and the websites of the Lead Managers at www.icicisecurities.com and www.rbs.in Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and are requested to refer to "Risk Factors" in the Draft Letter of Offer. The Equity Shares have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"), or any state securities laws in the United States and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, "U.S. persons" (as defined in Regulation S under the US Securities Act) except in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act and in accordance with any applicable U.S. state securities laws.
