10 minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World #BookReview

Book: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange WorldAuthor: Elif Shafak After January’s reading spree February was a month for slowing down. Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds was the perfect pick for the purpose. One cannot open a Shafak and breeze through it. Her books are to be sampled and savoured at leisure. But …

Chai and a book with a dash of nostalgia #WordsMatter

It’s a wet wet day but I’m not complaining. I like this respite from the sun. Besides, when it rains, the balcony beckons, the tea tastes better and a book looks ever more inviting. Giving in to temptation, I drag out a bean bag, grab a cup of tea and pick up a book from …

Reading plan for 2019

Hola people and welcome to this brand new year. Reading-wise 2018 was a good year for me. I got through 36 books and am pretty happy with that. Normally I plan my reading meticulously but the end of 2018 was so chaotic on the home front that I was caught off guard without a reading …

In Search of the Self #BookBytes -2

For #BookBytes this week, I have here an excerpt from The Liberation of Sita by Volga. This short read, packs quite a feminist punch. In this passage Ahilya talks to Sita, telling her to find her own self. You means you, nothing else. You are not just the wife of Rama. There is something more …

Dear ______ ,

All day today I have struggled to write this letter. It’s not that I don't have anything to say, neither is it about being able to find the words to say what I have to. The trouble this time round is rather strange - I don’t know who I should be writing this letter to. …

Books and Memories

Books and reading formed a huge part of my childhood and for that I shall always be grateful. I had no clue then, that my stolen moments with this favourite hobby would one day offer me a second chance at a career. To our extreme good fortune our father was friends with the owner of …

The Reader

Craft class was in progress. Forty girls sat on either side of a long table bent diligently over their embroidery frames. At the head of the table sat Ms Mathew, The Dragon. That's what the students called her, for she breathed fire at the littlest opportunity. Did I say 40? Well, I meant 39, for the …

Why I Write – Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto – A Review

Why I write - Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto Edited and translated by Aakar Patel I’ve been putting off this review for quite a while now. Not because the book was a tough one to read but because it wasn’t my kind and I am not sure how to review it. One: This is a translation …

The ghost who walks

Remember Phantom, anyone? The great daddy of all superheros? If you’ve grown up in the India of the 80s you certainly would have encountered him in the pages of The Illustrated Weekly or the daily newspaper. You would know him as Vetaal in Hindi. Wiki tells me that at the peak of its popularity, the …

Rendezvous with Obelix

On Beat About the Book (BAB) blog today we have an interview with the most famous sidekick of all time - Obelix - the mustachioed, pigtailed loveable Gaul, best friend of Asterix. You may already know that when he was a baby he fell into a cauldron of magic potion giving him superhuman strength. That …