Books

The Invisibles

Katherine Boo

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

Bombay in His Veins

Suhit Kelkar

Kiran Nagarkar was watching movies to put off writing, but ended up writing a novel set in Bollywood

The Poetry of the Unsettled

Shruti Ravindran

A protagonist of great sensitivity and disaffection earns debut novelist Teju Cole formidable comparisons

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