I had never heard of Henning Mankell but I had heard, and even seen a couple of episodes, of Wallander. I couldn’t take the glacial pace, and the perpetually pissed looking Kenneth Brannagh after two or three episodes so I didn’t go further. But when I began reading “The Man from Beijing” I was immediately...

Here I am with my book review of 2018, as promised, and I couldn’t have got a better book to begin with than Katherine Arden’s “The Bear and the Nightingale.” I am not one for fantasy or science fiction but I have promised myself that I will move beyond my beloved go-to’s like literary fiction....

I enjoy stories set in WWII and particularly those that are based on real events. Pam Jenoff’s “The Orphan’s Tale” immediately tempted me for the same reasons when Lisa offered it to me for a book review. There was friendship, romance, history. It couldn’t go that wrong, I thought. The story revolves around Noa and...

Yesterday, I started this short online course named Literature and Mental Health from the University of Warwick featuring prominent figures like Sir Ian McKellan and Stephen Fry. One of the introductory questions that is addressed to the reader is, ‘why do you read?’ It set me thinking and led to this post. I have always...

The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart It’s been ages since I wrote a book review. Save for the teeny two sentences on Goodreads, I haven’t been doing much writing recently. Probably because I have been drunk on life in a good and bad way. Highs and lows one after the other have kept me distracted....

I have one copy of Helen Maryles Shankman’s brilliant book of collected stories named “They Were Like Family To Me” to giveaway! All you have to do is comment on this post with the name of one book that has left an imprint in your memory and why. I will pick one lucky winner who...

I am on a racism roll since the past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong. Last week, I finished reading Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah, the day before yesterday I saw the movie American History X, and today I wrapped up The Monster’s Daughter by Michelle Pretorius, a racing historical thriller. All of them were wonderfully wrought,...

I love animals. I had a rabbit and some goldfish earlier, and now I have a dog. I find animals to be great companions, and such a comfort when you are down. So, when Lisa at TLC Book Tours asked me if I could review Lynne Hugo’s Remember My Beauties, a short but intense novel...

Someone once asked me what exactly I looked for in a book. It was a difficult question to answer because a book can have so many aspects I like and yet not end up liking it on the whole. At the time, I said that the story is one of the things that really matters...

Being an Indian, I have a lot of things that I can relate to in Ireland. The tricolor flag and the fight for freedom from the British being two of them. Naturally, I was thrilled when I was offered an advance copy of Marita Conlon-McKenna’s Rebel Sisters by TLC Book Tours to review (thanks for that!)....