Stretched out on my sofa, nursing a very painful torn meniscus that has seen me pull out of 2 marathons and one half marathon this winter season, guess what I’m reading? One of my Christmas presents from my sister. ”Fifty places to run before you die.” Talk about rubbing salt …
What a joy this biography is. An absolute delight to read and oh-so interesting to learn about a fascinating historical figure, about whom I was – admission time – hitherto woefully ignorant. The life of Farzana, known as Begum Samru, is a classic rags-to-riches story, told with verve and much …
This novel was a curious read for me. I am British, but I live full time and long term in India. The novel is about Brits – of Indian and Pakistani heritage – living in London. So it was a case of “my” Asian people living in “my” British town, …
Having just read “This United State”, moving straight to “Dragonfire” was another disturbing look at what could happen in the ambitious world of politics in which we live. What made this book even more fascinating is that it centres on a part of the world where I live, Asia, and …
Not quite sure how or why I’d never read any Colin Forbes before. Bit of (probably unnecessary) scene-setting before I start. This big, satisfying chunky novel was bought years ago, in a second hand bookshop in Johannesburg, when we lived there, and has travelled back to India with us, and …
Everyone needs a sister like mine. A voracious reader, Jane generously shares her books, her reading lists, her favourite authors, and has introduced me to many good reads over the years. Latest discovery, via kid sister, is Peter Lovesey, whom I am only just now discovering, decades after everyone else. …
What a fabulous book “A Rising Man” is. And what a prodigiously talented writer Mr. Mukherjee is. A murder mystery set in Calcutta in 1919, this is an absorbing page-turner from the very word go. From the first moment you meet the narrator, Captain Sam Wyndham and his endearing deputy, …
There are some books about India that are just so perfect that reading them is a total & utter joy. “The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra” is one such book. Vaseem Khan’s novel is an absolute delightful and is so, well, quintessentially Indian, in that it manages to combine gritty …
When and where you read a book should not be an influencing factor in your appreciation of it. Or should it? Reading Madhav Mathur’s intriguing novel “Dvarca” in India (where I live), during the worst days of demonetisation, when millions of people found themselves with no access to their own …
