Krishnadevaraya is a familiar name. I remember some of the battles he fought from history class in school. I’ve marvelled at the lofty gopurams he built in Hampi. But who was Krishnadevaraya, the man? Ra.Ki. Rangarajan tells us in “I, Krishnadevaraya”, a novel written in the first-person. I had never come across such a narrative...

Costanza Casati’s Babylonia transports us to the 9th century BC, to the kingdom of Assyria where we meet the legendary figure of Semiramis. The story opens in the village of Mari, where Semiramis, abandoned as a child, grows up under the harsh guardianship of Simmas, a shepherd. Subjected to cruelty and derision from her adoptive...

I first came upon the story of Muziris and its disappearance in Sethu’s novel ‘The Saga of Muziris’. Since then, this once-magnificent port town that sank without a trace has captivated me. So when I noticed Hamish Morjaria’s ‘The Curse of Muziris’ I wasted no time in reading it. Spread a little over 400 pages,...

I was absolutely mesmerized by Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles, and it was with great expectation that I picked up Circe, a book that has been wowing most readers since its release. The story follows the rise of Circe, daughter of Helios, the sun god, from a mere nymph to being a powerful sorceress....

It had been a while since I read a graphic novel, and I was really looking forward to reading a good one when I saw Michigan: On the Trail of a War Bride by Julien Frey on NetGalley. Thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for sending me the ARC! The book recounts two stories at...

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 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,...