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Fine web of
suspense
Deepika Gurdev
False Impression
by Jeffrey Archer.
Macmillan. Pages 385. £ 2.99.
It’s
not often that one gets an audience with a Lord—Lord Jeffrey
Archer to be precise. His reputation is legendary. I have been warned:
‘he has a temper’, ‘he can be nasty’—in short expect the
worst. The questions for the (for the TV interview I am meeting him for
in Singapore) are to be sent in advance and he won’t get into the bits
about his jail term.
Lawyer’s
take on quota
V. Eshwar Anand
Education: A Mission in
Jeopardy
by Dr M. P. Raju
Media House, Delhi
Pages 648, Rs 595
No
other issue has been as controversial as the issue of
reservations. This issue has been hogging the limelight ever since
Parliament enacted the Constitution First (Amendment) Act, 1951.
Integrated
view of madrasas
Priyanka Singh
Bastions of the Believers
by Yoginder Sikand.
Penguin. Pages 358. Rs 395.
It
isn’t surprising that with
terror attacks happening just about any and everywhere across the globe,
Islam has come to be misunderstood as a menacing religion with
intolerance to kafirs and anything to do with a broader, modern vision.
Dehra
beckons
Amarinder Sandhu
Doon on a Sunday
by David Keeling. Rupa.
Pages 174. Rs 95.
David
Keeling takes you on a whirlwind trip to Doon Valley, introducing
all his friends on the way. The reader gets to meet the fauji families,
Bobby Cash, Ruskin Bond, the Skinners, Nayantara Sehgal and many more.
Pilgrim’s
progress
Gagandeeep Ghuman
The Book of Buddha
by Arundhathi Subramaniam.
Penguin/Viking Books India.
Pages 142. Rs 225.
In
our troubled times of
religious fanaticism, unabashed consumerism and instant gratification,
Buddha’s teachings seem to be more relevant than ever and one wishes
the world would lend its ears to what the great sage had to say.
Turbulent
Asia in focus
Himmat Singh Gill
Asian Strategic and Military
Perspective
by R. S. N Singh.
Lancer Publishers and Distributors.
Pages 423. Rs 1,500.
Whereas
it is true that geographic, economic and political factors do
affect the foreign policy and security stance of any country, it is also
an unstated truth that it is the competence and calibre (or otherwise)
of the rulers or the leaders who govern the land, that also matters.
URDU REVIEW
Life and
longing
A.N. Wadehra
Dard-E-Bezubaan
by Kashmiri Lal Zakir.
Seemant Prakashan, New Delhi. Pages 406. Rs 350.
This
novel’s main protagonist is death. It is death, its impact or
its fear that shapes the actions of and relationsh0ips between various
characters. A skein of paradoxes lends bewildering complexities to human
relationships, which can range from meaningful to frustrating. Ajit
Khosla experiences the entire gamut of this phenomenon.
World
without manners
Aradhika
Talk to the Hand
by Lynne Truss.
Profile/Viva Books
Rs 295. Pages 214.
Talk
to the hand coz the face ain’t listening", says Lynne
Truss, whose book is a heartfelt appeal against "the utter bloody
rudeness of everyday life".
Bye
to Uncle Tom’s cabin
Andrew Buncombe
The
cabin’s oak beams are
still covered in bark and the cellar floor is still made of packed mud.
If this small building bristles with history, whose autobiography
inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s still controversial novel.
Confetti
Excess
baggage
S. Nihal Singh
Back of the book
What We Knew
by Eric Johnson and Karl-Heinz
Reuband
John Murray
Pages 435. £6.25
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