Book Rack

Othappu The secret of the other side
Sarah Joseph, Translated by Valson Thampu

Oxford, 2010, pp 286, 395
It is the first Malayalam novel of its kind about a journey of a woman’s yearning for a true understanding of spirituality and her own sexuality. The novel is a powerful indictment of the hypocrisy that plagues Christianity in many parts of the subcontinent.




The emissary
Aniruddha Bahal

Fourth Estate, 2010, pp 456, 699
Set in Greece in the time of Alexander the great, this novel is a wonderful patchwork of intrigue, betrayal,
violence and military skullduggery in a distant world, epic in proportion and quite unputownable.

The absent state
Insurgency as an excuse for misgovernance

Neelesh Misra and Rahul Pandita
Hachette, 2010, pp 272, 495
Incisive reportage, which is revelatory and moving makes this a work of great significance for those who want to make sense of the tumult of our times.

Luka and the fire of life
Salman Rushdie

Random House, 2010, pp 216, 499
The story is about the journey of a 12 year old boy named Luka in the city of Kahani in the land of Alifbay to get the fire of life for his almost dying father. Lyrical, rich with word-play, and with the narrative tension of the classic quest stories.

Atiya’s Journeys
Siobhan Lambert-Hurley and Sunil Sharma

Oxford, 2010, pp 307, 550
This is an account of Atiya Fyzee an extraordinary woman traveller, writer, reformer and a culture icon of her times. It is a fascinating book of a Muslim woman’s kaleidoscopic view of the multicultural ethos of Edwardian Britain.

Hampi
Subhadra Sen Gupta and Clare Arni

Niyogi Books, 2010, pp 262, 995
Hampi is one of the greatest heritage sites in India. There is an exquisite collection of monuments that lie scattered across a picturesque landscape in the medivial city of Vijaynagar. This is a book with exquisite pictures depicting the glory of this world heritage site.

Mind blogs 1.0
Christina Daniels, Nirmala Govinarajan and Zahid H Javali

Write Wing Media, 2010, pp 171, 250
This is a collection of heartfelt ramblings from three Bangalore writers who go off-track and find themselves, laugh, cry, reach out and savour those small, many times unnoticed moments in this book.

COORG Land of Beauty and Valour
P T Bopanna

Prism, 2010, pp 120, 280
This book guides you through the land of Coorg along with practical hints on  how to explore this picturesque land. It consists of essays by some of Coorg’s well known writers.



Reading Lolita in Tehran
Azar Nafisi

Harper Collins, 2010, pp 343, 299
This is a rare glimpse of women’s lives in revolutionary Iran. In late 90s, Azar Nafisi and seven young women, her former students, met every Thursday to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. Their personal stories intertwine with those they were reading Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby and Lolita.