Book
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Stories of survivorship, courage, and hope for a country that cares
A closer look into these stories reveal reasons why cancer continues to be dreaded—it is not just fear of the malady itself, but also the challenges of undergoing treatment through an overburdened healthcare system and its exorbitant costs.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A tale of existential crisis in the modern world
The plot sheds light on a privileged modern experience where time stands still, stopping the clock as the days and nights roll and go.
ESSAY / The ethics of ghostwriting in fiction
Ghostwriting is not new, and Millie Bobby Brown is not the first celebrity to hire a ghostwriter. But, soon after she published her book, she came under fire for using one.
Reflection / Nobody writes like Arundhati Roy
When a dear friend recommended The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, it took me one page to grow up.
ESSAY / The progressive depiction of women in ‘Devdas’
In some ways, Sharatchandra places the blame for Devdas's ensuing sorrow on his lack of courage, made all the more noticeable in comparison to Parbati's courage in breaking social norms despite the dire consequences it could have for her.
Essay / The unclassifiable “monsters” of Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’
Guillermo Del Toro’s stop-motion animation, Pinocchio (2022) is loosely based on Carlo Collodi’s novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883).
Book Review: Fiction / Western Lane: Grief unfolding on squash court
There is more squash in the book than most readers will take a liking to, but the game sometimes works as a metaphor for the bigger picture.
THE SHELF / 6 wonderful books to celebrate the Women in Translation month
‘Women in Translation’ is an all-inclusive, international project that aims to terminate the continual discrimination faced by non-English female authors, and gives them due recognition.
Book review: Nonfiction / Mood mirror
Whenever depression is depicted in pop culture, it is shown in some visible extreme, with blue-grey lighting, dark rooms, ashen faces peering out through rainy windows, bodies curled up in bed.
‘In Extreme Need of Guidance’: Afterword
'In Extreme Need of Guidance', the book being serialised here, captures the first 16 years of writer Sultana Nahar's life. This is the Afterword by the author.
Rabindranath’s song-lyrics in translation by Professor Fakrul Alam
Gitabitan: Selected Song-Lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore, containing over 300 Tagore song-lyrics translated into English, is now available for purchase in bookstores and on online websites.
I would rather stop coming here
'In Extreme Need of Guidance', the book being serialised here, captures the first 16 years of writer Sultana Nahar's life. "A Bomb Falls" is the 10th chapter in the book.
In Extreme Need of Guidance
On summer days when the sunlight falls through the trees it scatters into a play of light and shadows on the ground. My memories of Fareed are like that.
Yuval Noah Harari’s take on the history of humanity
About the history of the ancient people, Harari skilfully depicts the men and the women, nature, and the environment of prehistoric times, their patterns, and the characteristics of the rough life in the wild-mountainous region.
5 books exploring the found-family trope in fiction
A cast of strangers come together as a family based on their common experiences, situations, and relationships rather than their kinship or blood relations.
The Setting Sun: Dazai’s depiction of the dusk after the end of war
This novel would become eponymous for the death of a nation and its rebirth.
What to take away from Amanda Palmer's The Art of Asking
The Art Of Asking shows us how to create a close-knit family of friends and supporters by being honest
The great Padma story
Shorn of its sacred grandeur the Padma has embraced its secularised and earthier image with some muscularity, audacity and flair.
When readers write the book
This public typewriter experiment was also a personal experience for him as he first fell in love with typewriters when he came across his grandfather’s 1930s Smith Corona. As a struggling writer at that time, this machine was what made writing to him a joyous experience.
