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Book Review: On Philosophising, Philosophers, Philosophy and New Vistas in Applied Philosophy, by Dr. Sharmila Jayant Virkar

A little bit of context before you begin reading this book review. I have recently enrolled for an MA in Philosophy at the University of Mumbai. Philosophy is something I have been getting interested in, over the past few years, as those of you who have been reading my blogs and Instagram posts would know. During the pandemic, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do next, and this is what I eventually came up with. It has been a challenge, getting back into academics as a student at this age, especially in a subject I have no academic background in. However, it has also been very exciting, especially thanks to my wonderful classmates (who, surprisingly, are of all age-groups, including some quite near my own) and my teachers, who have been very supportive and understanding. How well I will do is something that remains to be seen, but so far, I am enjoying this new journey and look forward to where it leads. Now that you know the background , you probably get an idea of how...

Book Review: Warlord of Ayodhya - Rebellion , by Shatrujeet Nath

Ayodhya is synonymous with Rama , which is why it is a pleasure to read a book about Ayodhya, where there is no Ram. The events of “Warlord of Ayodhya” occur in the city, when Rama is in exile. It is Bharat who is at the centre of this story, an unwilling character forced to play the lead. While he rules the kingdom with his brother’s sandals on the throne’s footrest, and remembers his brother’s words of advice to him, it is his father he seeks to emulate as king. After all, it is his father who has ruled the kingdom all those years. While Rama is the prince, the rightful heir, it is still Dashrath who is the ideal king in Bharat’s eyes. It is these subtleties that make Shatrujeet Nath’s newest book a riveting read.

Book Review: 1400 Bananas, 76 Towns, and 1 Million People, by Samir Nazareth

Samir Nazareth hails from Nagpur . The city is famous for oranges, but beyond that, it is the geographical center of India. Yet, as he traverses the coastal regions, there are few who know where it is, or even in which state. Samir himself is on an exploratory journey. He has quit his job, and is spending months on the road, his aim to explore as much of the coastal regions as he can, on a limited budget.

Book Review: All Aboard, by Kiran Manral

It has been a long time since I have written a book review , and, as the gap grows, it gets all the more difficult. This review is an attempt to break that jinx and get back to talking about books, which are, what I love the most!

Book Review: Kurukshetra by Krishna Udayasankar

“ Give me the present, Acharya. In return, I will give you the future.” …… “I don’t care what you write or do not write, or how you wish to record all that has come to pass. I will neither thwart you nor question your wisdom in presenting and interpreting matters to your convenience. You will determine how the story of the Kurus, of this entire realm will be remembered. It will not matter whether there is war, and if there is one, who wins or loses, who rules as Emperor and who dies on the battlefield without honour or dishonour, as the situation may be. Your place in history, the place of your progeny is secure for millennia to come. Is that not power over the future? ” So says Govinda to the Vyasa , on page 93 of Krishna Udayasankar’s Book 3 of the Aryavarta Chronicles – Kurukshetra. These words struck me when I first read them, and then, after I finished the book, they remained with me, as the defining point of not just the book, but most of history and mythology ...

Book Review: The Guardians of the Halahala; The Vikramaditya Trilogy, Book 1

I am posting a book review on the blog after quite a long time. This book was sent to me for review by the author, whose Karachi Deception I reviewed earlier, and though I read it at once, the review took some time to write, due to various personal commitments. I am, sort-of rusty with my reviews now, so I just hope I have done justice to the book!

Book Review: The Shadow Throne by Aroon Raman

It has been months since I have written a book review, and the reason is that I have been so caught up with personal stuff, that I have hardly been able to read anything new, or write reviews of books I have already read. The pile of books on my shelf has been growing, and I am now making an honest effort to catch up with them. Here is the first in the lot I read sometime back, but wasn’t able to write a review of… The Shadow Throne by Aroon Raman .

Book Review : India A to Z, An Alphabetical Tour of Incredible India

A for Aadhar, B for Bazaar , C for Cricket, D for Dabbawala… and so on… goes this version of the alphabet – a very identifiably Indian version. India A to Z: An alphabetical tour of Incredible India, compiled by Veena Sheshadri and Vidya Mani, for Puffin Books, with illustrations by Sony Bhaskaran and cartoons by Greystroke manages to put forth a huge amount of information, combining it with a good dose of humour and titbits of fun facts.

Book Review: Aisle Be Damned by Rishi Piparaiya

Rishi Piparaiya, in his book, ‘Aisle Be Damned’, quotes Paul Theroux – “There is not much to say about most airplane journeys. Anything remarkable must be disastrous, so you define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you’re grateful.”

Book Review: Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore, Translated by Radha Chakravarty

‘Choker Bali’ was written by Rabindranath Tagore as a serial in the periodical Bangadarshan from 1902 to 1903. In 1903, it was published as a book. In its preface, Tagore wrote “The literature of the new age seeks not to narrate a sequence of events, but to reveal the secrets of the heart. Such is the narrative mode of Choker Bali.” Reading these words today , a hundred and ten years after they were first written, I wondered if I am qualified to review a book by an author such as Tagore, and above all, such a path-breaking novel like this one, even if it is only a translation. However, having taken up this unenviable task, all I can do is put forth my thoughts on the book, and leave you to judge me, as well as the book for yourselves.

Book Review: Beyond Pipes and Dreams, The life of Vitthal Balkrishna Gandhi, by Leena Gandhi Tewari

Beyond pipes and dreams is the story of Vitthal Balkrishna Gandhi, authored by his granddaughter, Leena Gandhi Tewari. Image courtesy: Flipkart.com

Book Review: Rough Passage to the Bodhi Tree, by Shiv K. Kumar

The story of the Buddha normally begins with the story of his birth… sometimes even before, with the omens which heralded the birth of a great soul. Shiv K. Kumar, however begins his story of the Buddha with Siddhartha choosing to participate in an open competition to win the hand of the princess Yashodhara. In doing so, he makes it quite clear that he wants us to see Siddhartha, not just as someone destined for greatness, to forget for a moment that we already know of his journey to enlightenment, and see him as a human, confused by what he sees around him, yet not hesitating to do what he thinks is right.

Book Review: Kaurava by Krishna Udayasankar

What makes a book good? Is it the story? Is it the author? Is it the language, the usage of words? Most of us will agree that it is a combination of the three that makes a book what it is. When the story is one you know well, you expect the retelling to be brilliant, which puts the onus on the author. Krishna Udayasankar’s Aryavarta Chronicles series, as we know by now (or at least those of us who have read the first – Govinda – know) is her rendition of the Mahabharata. When I began reading ‘ Govinda’ , I wondered how she would treat a much retold story, and if you have read my review , you would know that she succeeded in surprising me. Image Courtesy: http://govindashauri.blogspot.in

Book Review: Asura, by Anand Neelakantan

Taking a break from the festival posts, here is a book review instead, for you, while I gather more Navaratri - related material to post! I had high hopes from ‘Asura’ – Tale of the vanquished - The story of Ravana and his people , by Anand Neelakantan. After all, how often is it that we get to read the other side of an epic? I should have been warned by the title – or rather, the long explanation to the title. The book is just the same, a long, rambling monologue, which brings little new or interesting to the fore.

Book Review: Arjuna by Anuja Chandramouli

Arjuna, in the Mahabharata, is described as the Nara to Krishna’s Narayana. In the entire epic, if Krishna is the one who wields the strings, albeit behind the scenes, it is Arjuna who is in the forefront of the story. It is he who is the most loved among the Pandavas, and it is his story Anuja Chandramouli seeks to relate, in her book by the same name.

Book Review: Journey to Ithaca by Anita Desai

Ithaca , in Homer’s Odyssey, is the home of Odysseus. In the modern world, Ithaca is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece. Ithaca is also the title of a poem written in 1911 by Constantine P. Cavafy in Greek, , inspired by the Homeric return journey of Odysseus to his home island, as depicted in the Odyssey. The poem is a long one, but here are some excerpts…..

Book Review: Boomtown by Aditya Mukherjee

‘ Boomtown’ is the first novel of Aditya Mukherjee. Its cover, illustrated by Jezreel Nathan, is the perfect foil to the story – of an idea born in the bylanes of Old Delhi, taking its root from recipes zealously guarded and faithfully adhered to for years, and the journey which leads to its fruition in the towering high rises which make up Gurgaon.

Book Review: The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo

“Soon, the first snow will come. And then he will appear again. And when the snow has gone… …he will have taken someone else.” So goes the blurb of “The Snowman” by Jo Nesbo….chilling enough to evoke interest in an author I hadn’t even heard of before, and so well suited to the title that I wondered if that was the reason the cover didn’t have a snowman at all.

Book Review: A Matter of Rats - A short biography of Patna, by Amitava Kumar

“Rats have burrowed under the railway tracks in Patna. As citizens of a literal underworld, I imagine the rats inhabiting a spreading web of small safe houses and getaway streets. We could choose to call it a city under the city, or if that is too sophisticated a description for one of the two entities, then let’s just call it a dense warren of subterranean burrows.”

Interviewed!!!!

Life , all of a sudden, seems to be throwing things at me, one after the other. Thankfully, amidst all the sudden upheavals and tensions, some at least seem to be good... the silver lining so to speak. Among these have been publications and offers, only some of which have worked out, but at least they offer some hope... The latest among these good things is that I have been interviewed!!! Yes!! This is my first, so you can imagine how excited and upbeat I am! The interesting thing is that I have been interviewed, not as a travel blogger, but as a book reviewer! What is surprising about it is that of the 700 odd posts on my blog, barely 30 are book reviews, and they have invited the least number of comments so far. I have often wondered why it is so, especially when I get emails from people saying they like my book reviews and that they are thinking of picking up the books I have recommended. Under such circumstances, it feels great to be accepted and picked out as a bo...