Lounge

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

Sony Ericsson Live Walkman

Gagandeep Singh Sapra

The Walkman phone’s latest avatar. Not high on specs but as fast as the best

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

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer II

Gagandeep Singh Sapra

This is a watch you could take to the North Pole, but that’s not what makes it great

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