Vikram Betal (The 24 Riddles and the Origin of Betal) Sooriyakumar Sivakumaran 2017 pp. 58 The legendary tale of Vikram and Betal captured my imagination as a child. Despite having seen the televised series, I have never got the answers right. I liked the moral fibre,wisdom being imparted through the stories. I also love the…
Namak Swadanusar Nikhil Sachan 2017 Westland pp. 160 Namak Swadanusar is a collection of short stories that revolve around the most common theme that I read : Life. In the initial few stories, I was wondering why I picked up this book. I know why I picked it up: I was craving Hindi. It is…
The Unceremonious Revenge Arpit Shrivastava 2018 Half Baked Beans The Unceremonious Revenge is a fictional account of the trials and tribulations of a college drop out. The female lead falls for the young, responsible gentleman who is a victim of circumstance, having had to shoulder family responsibilities at a young age, at the cost of…
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 1957 Random House pp. 1168 Atlas Shrugged is a popular work of fiction by Ayn Rand. The plot describes the struggle of railroad business tycoon Dagny Taggart and her lover, and steal business leader, Hank Rearden in working with efficiency in a fast crumbing American economy. The two work hard in…
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Marie Kondo 2011 Vermillion pp. 248 In this book Kondo summarises her method of tidying around the house. She claims that this can have far reaching impact on how you live your life. I don’t dispute her claim that a more organised lifestyle at home is going to have…
The Magic of the Lost Temple Sudha Murty 2015 Penguin pp. 203 There are few Indian writers who I have come across who write stories for children that are so engaging that you can’t put them down even as an adult. I loved Sudha Murty’s writing and I can understand why the nine year old…
The Unknown Indians (People who Quietly Explored the World) Subhadra Sen Gupta 2016 Rupa pp. 83 This is the first time that I have come across Gupta’s writings and I am left wondering why. Maybe because I have long stopped spending time in sections carrying books for children. When we think of books for children,…
My Husband and Other Animals Janaki Lenin 2012 Westland pp. 282 The book is a collection of anecdotes based on her life experiences with, well, her husband and other animals. I had never imagined living in harmony with nature would be like this. And although it sounds charming, I don’t think I have the courage…
Coma Robin Cook 1977 Little Brown pp. 306 Coma is a medical thriller about a series of patients going mysteriously into coma. It is one of Cook’s earlier books and his passion for pursuing socially relevant issues in the practice of medicine is clear in the book. When otherwise perfectly healthy people, admitted for routine…
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Edwin A. Abbott 1884 Seeley & Co. The novella is written from the perspective of a fictional character, a Square, living in a Flatland a land of only two dimensions. The story is a satire on the Victorian culture and the social structure therein. However, it is also a…
