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Unputdownable,
nifty narrative
Reviewed by Shalini
Rawat
Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul
Guesthouse
by Suraya Sadeed Virago Press.
Pages 280. Rs 375
First
the similarities: The title of the book sounds eerily similar to Azar
Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir In Books, where
lovers of English literature surreptitiously meet up, the plot where a
"now-well-settled-Afghan-immigrant-in-America-comes-home-to-recount-the-tale-of-humanitarian-
effort-in-the-war-ravaged-home-country" too resonates with Khaled
Hosseini's reason for picking up the pen for catharsis.
A
vivid portrait of a poet and his craft
Reviewed by Geetu
Vaid
I Swallowed the Moon: The
Poetry of Gulzar
by Saba Mahmood Bashir Harper Collins. Pages 243. Rs 399
A
poet is a magician who
conjures images and captures emotions with his words, and the mystery
of this art has baffled and intrigued many. I Swallowed the Moon, by
Saba Mahmood Bashir, is an attempt to decipher and decode the craft of
a poet; map the evolution and growth of this art; and trace the
genesis of his thought process.
Blend
of topicality and scholarship
Reviewed by Harbans
Singh
Frankly Speaking Essays and Opinions
by Raghuvendra Tanwar Hope India Publications. Pages 224.
Rs 150
The
book is a compilation of writings that appeared from time to time in
various daily newspapers of the region as a response to news, events
and opinions appearing in the newspapers. Often such responses are
made on the spur of the moment but not so in the case of Raghuvendra
Tanwar, whose academic training is all too evident in most of these
articulations.
Unexpected
end of formula
Reviewed by Parbina
Rashid
The Virtual and The Real A Wild Rose by Uzma Zafri Mahaveer
Publishers. Pages 263. Rs 150
Love
hurts. Not just emotionally but physically too. If anyone has doubts
that love, which germinates on Facebook, blossoms on WhatsApp and ends
in disaster, has the power to hurt anyone so much, then the answer is
‘yes’. Virtual or otherwise, love when it blossoms has that power.
Uzma Zafri, in her debut novel A Wild Rose, tells us one such story.
Starry
stories
Reviewed by Aradhika
Sharma
Faction by Khalid Mohamed
Om Books. Pages 293 Rs 395
The
book by 22 film personalities is the brainwave, and a good one, of
Khalid Mohamed, the eminent film journalist, writer and director of
movies like Zubeidaa, Mammo, Sardari Begum. These films are remarkable
for his sensitive exploration of strong woman characters. Faction, the
blending of fact and fiction, is a collection of short stories by
starry writers, with whom he has been in contact with.
Non
Fiction
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