review
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / A paean to storytelling
Following the trails of Imaginary Homelands (Penguin Books, 1992) and Step Across The Line (Modern Library, 2003), comprising essays written and lectures given by Salman Rushdie between 2003-2020, Languages of Truth is Rushdie’s third collection of nonfiction works and is as a delectable read as its predecessors if not more.
Review: Literary Magazine / The new speculative literary magazine on the block
Veering off from stories for a bit, Fahim Anzoom Rumman’s “The Secret” was a breath of fresh air. The piece seemed to be a cross between a poem and the kind of fable your grandparents would tell you as a kid to get you to fall asleep.
Shamim Reza creates new frontiers with his new poetry collection
Over the last 30 years, he has received multiple national and international literary awards for his work. He is, currently, the vice-president of PEN International, Bangladesh chapter.
The pirates of Madagascar
In this posthumous effort, 'Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), Graeber posits, in characteristic fashion, that the Enlightenment would not have happened if not for the pirates around the Malagasy coast.
Jimin strips off all filters to reveal his true self in debut solo album "Face"
For a debut album, Jimin doesn’t struggle at all to establish the escape he aims for.
Miley Cyrus captures L.A. vibes in “Endless Summer Vacation”
Endless Summer Vacation seems to signal the end of Cyrus’ experimental era and establish herself in a sound that is unmistakably hers.
Journey through the centre of Cunk - A review of Cunk on Earth
The show essentially gives you a bite-sized glimpse into the history of Earth with Philomena Cunk, an ill-informed journalist.
#Events / Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) 2023: A must-have experience
Bangladeshi people love going to fairs, be it the Ekushey Book Fair, Baishakhi Mela, or the Dhaka International Trade fair taking place right at the peak of winter. Even record low temperatures this time around is no hindrance as people crowded the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre at Purbachal and became part of the quintessential trade fair experience. So how is the fair going this year? Let us find out.
FC Barcelona: A New Era portrays the club’s route to resurgence
The documentary is an attempt to regain the fans’ trust who have been frustrated with the club’s condition.
Hope over fate
Finding himself at the epicentre of the disaster, Abed realised that a large number of deaths (an estimated 500,000) in the “world’s deadliest known tropical cyclone” were not necessarily caused by the natural disaster.
Tales of a development sector doyen
The book doesn’t only become a memoir of the writer’s life as a development worker, but also a tribute to the late Sir Abed and his magnanimity as a human being and a visionary.
Love, fate, and age-old curses: 'The Book of Magic' by Alice Hoffman
The familial bond portrayed in the novel makes it easy to sympathise with the characters and they rarely seem woven in a piece of fiction; rather, their attributes are more lifelike and one may just find someone like Franny or Gillian Owens among their kith and kin.
Poetry review: Moon’s madness
Protiti’s poems are mostly ‘bare’ conversational musings exploring ‘selfhood, separation, exile, love and longing’.
The Café Rio inaugurated at Section 12, Mirpur
The Café Rio is a unique buffet restaurant in the capital that began its journey from a small food court located in Dhaka’s 60 feet area in 2016. Later in 2017, the restaurant was turned into a buffet restaurant, which became a popular destination for its 45 types of food items within Tk 500.
A guide to kalai ruti of Chapai Nawabganj: Recipe, accompaniments, and where to eat
If you are going to Chapai Nawabganj, you must try out kalai ruti. That's what everyone said when I was planning a trip there. And so, I did, and I didn't regret it. The question of regret comes from the premise that kalai ruti is, after all, a ruti. I mean, how magically delicious can ruti be? My expectations were not that high. With that almost arrogant low expectation, I tried out this Chapai Nawabganj specialty, but it left me pleasantly surprised.
High Tea Splendour at The Mumbai Express!
High tea parties have always looked fun and fascinating from the outside; I have been longing to experience one as such for ages. This is where ‘Mumbai Express’ came to my rescue, with not just any ordinary ‘high tea’ delicacy, but a full-fledged three course snack meal with a unique twist — ‘The Deshi High Tea!’
“Sundarer Taane Mongol Shotru”: Not just a passion project
Over the turn of pages, readers will realise how the Sundarbans have become a muse for the author from being just a mere passion project of documenting the lives of the region’s people.
What’s extraordinary about the ordinary?
In Pathak’s book we see instances of how the distinctive ordinary tendencies of everyday life are dipping and are capitalised under different industrial markets.
Book Lovers: A relief in the barren wasteland of rom-coms
Book Lovers treads a fine line between subversion and indulgence of the tropes of small-town romance and enemies-to-lovers.
