Books

Dazzled by Their Soul

Hartosh Singh Bal

Our politician poets such as Kapil Sibal are so in love with themselves that they believe every eructation of theirs deserves a readership. Our literary culture is more than happy to oblige

Power of Celibacy

Michael Edison Hayden

Joseph S Alter’s book studies masculinity in modern India and spans territories as distinct—if linked—as wrestling, exercise and saving semen

Dirty Rotten Murderers

Kavitha Rao

Modern crime fiction seems to have caught up with the perversity of real-life violence. Gone are the days when the little grey cells were all that was important to a racy read

The Indian criminal justice sytem is like the market for garbage, where innocence and guilt can be bought and sold like polyurethane bags. This is how Abdul, the main character of Katherine Boo’s book on living and dying in a Mumbai slum, makes sense of his tragic life. An extract

Think Difference

Aresh Shirali

An engaging book by a Nobel laureate that could leave the discerning reader even more so

The Peaceable Kingdom

Shruti Ravindran

Ironically enough, Steven Pinker’s peace theory is super controversial

Missing the Plot

Arshia Sattar

Kunal Basu’s talent as a novelist lies well hidden in the complex maze he wanders through in this new book

Don’t Say Goodbye Yet

Tabish Khair

Not after you made us wait 35 years. Not after this thrilling new collection of poems, subtle and intricate and so mature. Not just yet, Adil Jussawalla