One of the best novels I have read in several years. Picked it up thanks to A good read podcast!! Strongly recommended. This less than 100 pages of novel will draw you deep into the book and will make you read it again and again for the sheer pleasure of reading such a well-crafted book!
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Cees Nooteboom’s The following story
November 17, 2019The cost of living by Deborah Levy
October 20, 2019A very good read. Short and very nicely written.
Sally Rooney’s Conversations with friends
May 5, 2019Enjoyed this novel too a lot! Strongly recommended. Here is a review from The New Yorker.
Big Bhishma in Madras: In search of the Mahabharata with Peter Brook
April 9, 2019A light and at times uneven read. Enjoyed reading it nonetheless!
A few recent reads
February 13, 2019The order of time by Carlos Rovelli is a must-read. I bought it since it made to the top 10 of the Physics World book list. I am glad I did. Thoroughly enjoyed — it is technical (physics), poetic and philosophical at the same time. Strongly recommended.
Achuvai Perinum by Arunn Narasimhan; this is the first fiction of his I read; enjoyed it.
An Ordinary Man’s Guide to Radicalism: Growing Up Muslim in India by Neyaz Farooquee is a good read too!
Origin of Idli
December 2, 2018This led KT Achaya, the eminent food historian, to suggest that the idli may have had a foreign origin. Achaya normally managed to suggest that almost all modern Indian food had its roots in South Indian dishes, references to which could be found in ancient Tamil literature. So, when he abandoned South India’s claims to having invented the idli, the world of food was a little taken aback.
When I told this Achaya theory to one of my friends from “deep” south, he advised me not to go around telling all the nonsensical things that I read in books to others!
T M Krishna’s Reshaping Art
June 6, 2018A very good read. It evokes strong responses and at times does make you uncomfortable. Whether you agree with Krishna or disagree, it is thought provoking throughout. The book is also a call for reforms — and, like all reforms, it both starts with the individual and pans out and starts with the society and reaches the “self”: Krishna has some interesting examples of the second kind based on the responses of participants and volunteers of the Urur Alcott Kuppam Vizha. Strongly recommended.
Vikram Sarabhai by Amrita Shah
April 29, 2018A very inspiring life indeed! The book is a good read; here is a review (with lots of spoliers).
How successful academic write
March 25, 2018Successful academics write; academic success is measured in terms of the writing that is produced. Helen Sword’s book Air & Light & Time & Space: How successful academics write is a very good read – for all the academics and those who have academic ambitions!
