Books

Poet of the Mundane

Shahnaz Habib

Amit Chaudhuri matches the glorious nothingness of Afternoon Raag at last with his beautiful new novel about a bookish young Bengali Everyman and his uncle in London

We Go Singing as We March

Sunanda K Datta-Ray

The joys and sorrows of the Indian soldier in the world theatre of war

Presidential Wings

Gunjeet Sra

A camera-wielding bureaucrat’s tribute to the birds of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Estate

The Big Bad Shah

Jai Arjun Singh

The memoir of Hindi cinema’s enfant terrible brings out in vivid colours the turbulent early years of an exceptional talent

All Over the Map

Shougat Dasgupta

A rich and capacious second novel spreads across Ireland, India and America, but turns into a fable when it doesn’t quite come together

Kathmandu, Mon Amour

Jug Suraiya

A compelling love song for the author’s adoptive home, a city of multiple paradoxes

The Return of Raja Rao

Rajni George

The reissue of the pioneer’s four classics brings to life his spiritual quest in all its vividness

Much Hullabaloo Over Halahala

Amitabh Kumar

Graphic novelist Appupen takes on consumerism in the third of his ambitious series. But is he part of the very system he is criticising?

‘I feel like the same person. The world has changed’

Rajni George

Ian McEwan returns in top form with The Children Act. The novelist talks about mortality, the news cycle and the future of Scotland

The international list

Rajni George

Japanese introverts, aircraft carriers, celebrity interviews, new dope on a legendary double agent, contemporary feminism 101, showgirls in 30s San Francisco, Spain after Franco and the Resistance