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A timeless tale
Humra Quraishi
The Middleman
By Sankar.
Translated by Arunava Sinha.
Penguin.
Pages 192. Rs 200.
Mani
Sankar Mukherji, popularly known as Sankar, is Bengal’s
reigning novelist whose works have moved a generation of book lovers.
But it’s this particular novel —The Middleman — which had
caught Satyajit Ray’s attention to such an extent that he’d gone
ahead and quipped, "I felt rampant corruption all around, and I
didn’t think there was any solution. I was only waiting for a story
that would give me an opportunity to show this."
Tumultuous
history of Punjab
Aradhika Sharma
The Long Walk Home
By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar.
HarperCollins.
Pages 272. Rs 295.
SoMe
things don’t change Anant, you are the son, Neymat tells her
brother as the three siblings (Anant, Neymat and Noor) gather to mourn
the death of their father, the protagonist of the story.
Captivating
spy thriller
Parbina Rashid
The Paris Enigma
By Pablo De Santis.
HarperCollins.
Pages 324. Rs 295.
FOR
the generations grown up, admiring James Hadley Chase’s debonair
detectives or watching gizmo-savvy James Bond on screen, Pablo De
Santis’ sleuth Sigmundo Salvatrio comes as quite an antithesis. The
name for one! No one would like the sound of "My Name is
Salvatrio, Sigmundo Salvatrio".
In
bits & pieces
Protocols of the Elders
of Sodom and Other Essays
By Tariq Ali.
Verso.
Pages 256. £12.99.
THIS
book is a collection of 36 mid-length articles written by Tariq Ali
over the past three decades. It contains book reviews, diary pieces
and even the transcripts of conversations between Ali and other
writers. It is not a "selected works".
Revolution
without a cause
Kavita Chauhan
Human Reason and its Enemies:
A Rigorous Critique of Postmodernism
By Sheryar Ookerjee.
Pormilla & Co., in association with
Bibliophile South Asia.
Pages 379. Rs 750.
A
strong belief in inherent
human rationality was the core of Enlightenment thought which reached
its zenith in the 18th century. New ideas focused on more freedom for
common people, self-governance, political and economic liberty.
Glimpse
into a murky world
Manju Joshi
A Thing Called Love in an
Utterly Rotten World
By Amitava Chaudhuri.
Frog Books.
Pages 63. Rs 125.
Amitava
Chaudhuri has penned over
50 poems and 15 short stories. A Thing Called Love is his debut
novel, which unfolds a tragic tale of a man who fails to maintain a
healthy balance between family and work.
Write
like a woman
Vijita Fernando
WOMEN
writers from across the globe have been making the headlines in recent
years. Just last month, Carol Anne Duffy was appointed Britain’s
Poet Laureate, the first woman ever to hold the royal post in its
341-year history.
Lifelong
love of a gifted singer
Eric R. Danton
TO
say that Louis P. Masur is a fan of Bruce Springsteen is just about
the epitome of understatement. Masur, the William R. Kenan Jr.
professor of American institutions and values at Trinity College, is
so taken with Springsteen’s work that he has merged his academic
research with his favourite artist.
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