review
Book Review / JK Rowling’s 'The Running Grave': A souring tale that clumsily rolls downhill
Review of 'The Running Grave' (Sphere, 2023) by Robert Galbraith
Review / ‘Golden’ aptly marks Jungkook’s global pop stardom
The ever-beloved golden maknae (youngest in English) of BTS was the last member to have released his solo album titled, "Golden". Jungkook launched the sought-after album incorporating a total of 11 songs in the first week of November to astonishingly record-breaking rounds of acceptance.
Book Review: Poetry / ON THE WINGS OF POETRY: Flight of the Angsana Oriole
Last week it flew in, landing on my doorstep, and flapped open its wings released from its bubble wrapped cage. As the delivery man from Amazon Italy drove away, I regarded the poetry book in my hand.
Book Review: Nonfiction / ‘Shohoj Kothai Orthoniti’ A localised flavour of economics
Flipping the pages of a textbook often makes me feel like I’m trapped in the US. We studied economics from an American lens, using American textbooks,
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The Runaway Boy: A promise not delivered
The Runway Boy (Eka, 2020), written by Manoranjan Byapari and translated from Bangla by V Ramaswamy, delivers an accurate portrayal of postcolonial Bengal,
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Memoirs of our unsung heroes
Massacre, murder, torture, violence, bayonet, bloodshed, grenade, displacement, death—these words bring to mind a war scenario.
Reinventing the pujo feast
Everyone talks about food during pujo. More often than not, khichuri, polao, ilish, chingri and mangsho tends to land leading roles in these discussions with luchi, and cholar dal playing solid supporting roles. And of course, beyond all this there are sweets. Artful, creative, delicate, yet honest to god mishti. Sandesh, kamolabhog, chandrapuli, narkel naru… the list can go on.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Blood, rage and love on the verge of 1971
Reading Rahad Abir’s Bengal Hound, despite the novel being written in English, felt a lot like reading in Bangla. While no two languages can ever truly be compared, there is much to be said about seeing Bangla and Bangladesh through an English language lens.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Making a killing out of a killing
A visit to any bookshop today will attest to the reading public’s fascination with crime (and criminals).
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.
Did Pett Kata Shaw reinvent the Bangladeshi horror genre?
The genre has been woefully under-explored, until now.
