What a pleasure to re-read a book after some 8 years and find it every bit as entertaining. My Delhi book club was bang on trend when we read this book in late 2008, and I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time. We all did, I seem to remember. In the …
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 …
My current politico-thriller writer of choice is Daniel Silva, creator of the Gabriel Allon series, which I have been rattling through at a cracking pace. The only trouble with a gripping series such as Mr. Silva’s books is that once started, you don’t pause for breath, nor (in my case) …
Alaa Al Aswany’s novel, “The Yacoubian Building” is an endearing tale of life in Cairo, in the period of political and religious turmoil during the first Gulf War. The famous, formerly elegant Yacoubian Building is now a tad run down, and home to a host of characters, some of whom …
A book that makes you think, makes you evaluate, makes you unsure of your own perceived views is a rare and precious thing. If you haven’t already read Amy Waldman’s utterly brilliant “The Submission”, then you have a serious intellectual treat in store.The book documents the deliberations and then the …
