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The author with his significant other. (Image by arrangement)

Covid orphans: Climber pitches in with book

Aditya Gupta is a Delhi-based entrepreneur, founder of The Rug Republic and a trained mountaineer

25 May 2021 3:01 PM

The book starts with a conversation with Sivaraman, an active researcher on the construction of mridangam. (Image: Amazon)

Book Review | Monograph studies tone of mridangam

Mridangam, also called Naadha Vadhiyam and king of percussion instruments, has evolved over centuries

23 May 2021 11:29 AM

The novel brings out the paradox that the Tamil Tigers. (Photo: Goodreads)

Book Review | War fiction, which resembles fact

The story of induction into Sri Lanka and coping up with the fears of mines is narrated through conversations

23 May 2021 11:27 AM

Chetak was another heroic horse who succumbed to his battle wounds. (Image: Goodreads)

Book Review | Warm, fuzzy resumés of pets of royal heroes

In some cases, the bonds between pets and masters were so strong that even death could not separate them

23 May 2021 11:26 AM

Gandhi might have thought it was the universe whose position needed slight adjustment. (Image by arrangement)

Book Review | If only our netas read Gandhi, instead of making him a deity

With Covid fatalities soaring, we can hardly dispute the Mahatma’s opinion

23 May 2021 11:24 AM

What attracted attention, obviously, was his taking note of the upheaval caused by Mr Modi’s arrival in Delhi as Prime Minister, dealt with much panache in the first two chapters of the book under the attention-grabbing headings of “Bombard The Headquarters” and “Modi’s Metaphors”. — By Arrangement

Book Review | A clinical view of the exit of Delhi durbar, not an anti-Modi diatribe

Sanjay Baru’s book analyses the changing complexion of India’s diverse influence groups

09 May 2021 9:53 AM

Structurally, too, Ameera’s circumstances feel temporary compared to Feroza Begum’s lifelong entrapment; the latter is better synchronised with Lalarukh’s adventures. — By Arrangement

Book Review | The grandeur and myriad horrors of a Begum’s dastaan

Restless Ameera implores her dadi to tell stories about Feroza Begum, whose own restlessness had ruined her life

09 May 2021 9:52 AM

Patil is an idealist, a person who quit a well-paying information technology job to help save the world but her ideas of the things that constitute field research and conservation are similar to the ideas of bureaucrats and men with moustaches only in the most superficial way. — By Arrangement

Book Review | Laugh and also ponder what patriarchy might do next

The book is a delightful account by a beleaguered researcher to investigate impact of government’s agro-forestry policy in Gujarat

09 May 2021 9:50 AM

Among the six cautionary tales, the story that leaves a lasting impression, however, is not directly to do with sexual harassment. — DC Image

Book Review | Bunch of cautionary tales on sexist abuse

The key to resolving the crisis is shown to be lying with the victims, themselves

25 Apr 2021 9:52 AM

There are three qualities that Chauhan novels are famous for: a toe-curling romance, mostly between polar opposites; a larger story where said polar-opposites are required to rise up to a challenge. — DC Image

Book Review | B'bye chick lit, welcome cross-cultural crime fiction

Fate conspires to throw Bambi and Kashi together again — rekindling old sparks — when the club’s handsome Zumba instructor is found dead

25 Apr 2021 9:48 AM

Even the experimentation of biological weapons, which has been continuing under the policy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for decades, has resulted in a contamination of “more than the world”. — Image: Pentagon Press

Book Review | Worst version of China to world

Secondat has very well encapsulated a wide array of subjects, revealing much which is impactful for the Chinese public and the world

25 Apr 2021 9:45 AM

Among this year’s projects will be Hasan’s “Shillong: First City of India’s Northeast”, Jayaseelan Raj’s “The Egalitarian Paradox: Dalits and the State in Kerala”, M. Mohsin Alam Bhat’s “Constitutional Culture: Muslims and Popular Constitutionalism in India” and Sohini C’s “The Losers: A History of Women Runners, and Running, in India”. (Image: newindiafoundation.org)

11 scholars given fellowships by NIF to chronicle today’s India

The fellowships will support non-fiction publishing projects, covering trajectories marked by post-Independence India in various fields

18 Apr 2021 11:47 PM

One of the biggest achievements of this book is the lucid, non-judgmental manner in which Mahapatra debunks all the various swirls of misinformation around Covid-19 and its spread. — DC Image

Book Review: Urgent, cogent, matter-of-fact ready-reckoner on the C-virus

'Covid-19' does not just tackle the pandemic from scientific perspective but looks at historic, social and psychological angles as well

11 Apr 2021 8:34 AM

Mr B a history buff was actually interested in finding some traces of Alexander the Great's historic march from Macedonia to Pakistan over two thousand years ago while the crew was more interested less in history and more in the sights and sounds of contemporary Peshawar. — DC Image

Book Review: A decent sort of madness

The director's threat to leave Mr B and make his find his own way home, is answered by 'please do. I will walk home with the donkey'

11 Apr 2021 8:26 AM

Until a generation ago, there were two kinds of Muslims in India, the Communists and the conformists, Wahab says. — DC Image

Book Review: Onus on the moderate Muslim to reclaim Islam’s heterodox legacy

The predominant view about Sufism is that it exists outside Islam as a cult born out of the admixture of Hinduism with the Prophet’s faith

11 Apr 2021 8:15 AM

Banks worked mainly for R.D. Burman, (Banks terms him the “Mozart of India”) Laxmikant Pyarelal, then Bappi Lahiri, till around the early 1990s. — By arrangement

Chronicled, the incredible journey of India’s shy, wry jazz king

Born in 1941 in war-torn Calcutta, Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi was re named “Louiz” to fit into the anglicised world of nightclubs

28 Mar 2021 9:48 AM

Reading these stories feels like viewing a series of unrelated Polaroid photos: just as one visual starts to come into focus, the next photograph is presented, still not fully developed. — By arrangement

Cleverly imagined and deftly told, Sylvia wears pain lightly

Divided into two parts, the novel introduces several characters, all uniquely damaged, trying to make their way through the world

28 Mar 2021 9:40 AM

The author's reading of DR’s personality on the whole is accurate despite the scarcely concealed admiration of a gushing fan but the uncritical appreciation of the films made at Bombay Talkies owned by Himanshu Rai. — By arrangement

A well-researched but uncritical portrait of Bollywood’s ‘first lady’

Desai's reading of DR’s personality on the whole is accurate despite the scarcely concealed admiration of a gushing fan

28 Mar 2021 9:31 AM

Codenamed ‘Operation X’, the untold story of India’s covert naval war in East Pakistan in 1971was put together in a book with the same title by Captain M.N.R. Samant, one of IN’s hardcore professionals and Sandeep Unnithan, the journalist son of a naval officer, and it turned out to read like an unputdownable thriller.

Book Review | Navy’s 1971 covert exploits make for breathless reading

Conceived by a few hard core professional IN officers in 1971, Operation X was innovatively conceived and meticulously planned and executed

14 Mar 2021 4:46 AM

The core of the narrative revolves around Vavachan, a Dalit Pulayan converted to Christianity.

Book Review | Welcome to Kuttanad’s twisted and magical world

Hareesh’s novel, set in the first half of the last century, is a phantasmagorical journey through Kuttanad

14 Mar 2021 4:14 AM

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Farrukh Dhondy