Books

Rhythm and Blues

Rahul Pandita

Jeet Thayil is a fine poet, and you see his talent in Narcopolis. But this is performance poetry masquerading as a novel

A Murder Analysed, A City Revealed

Mohammed Hanif

Journalist Meenal Baghel manages to make a thrilling read of one of the most over-reported crimes of our times, widening its scope to offer a portrait

A Mixed-Up Mills & Boon

Annie Zaidi

The Harlequin formula is ‘hot boy falls for curvy girl and live fuzzily ever after’. Aastha Atray Banan’s attempt to bring in life after romance pops the glorious mirage that M&B entitles us to

Love, Sex Aur Maafi

Rosalyn D’Mello

In this 18th century erotic poem banned by the British, the courtesan Muddupalani gives us Radha, a feminist and sexual woman in rage over Krishna’s ‘betrayal’

Familiar Sorts

Trisha Gupta

In her latest collection of stories, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala writes of people you feel you already know. In her assured hands, that may not be a bad thing

The Return of the Legal Thriller

Saaz Aggarwal

After more than a decade of dull books, John Grisham strikes his original form again with a deeply satisfying read

Confessions of an Editor

Suresh Menon

Humour and honesty, Vinod Mehta knows, are a journalist’s biggest weapons. That’s why his memoirs work

Steve Jobs, the Enigma

Aresh Shirali

This book offers multiple ways of looking at Apple’s charismatic creator. Of these, expect the appreciative to outlast the gossipy

Prize Reads

Hartosh Singh Bal

This year’s Booker winner and last year’s winner of the Prix Goncourt have arrived simultaneously at Indian bookstores. Here are some good reasons to pick one over the other

Where the Gods Come to Die

Arshia Sattar

Byatt’s retelling of Ragnarok, with its references to environmental destruction and cyclical violence, reminds us that a great myth is always relevant