Published by Penguin Press, 2020, 259 pages. “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” Vesta, a woman in her 70s, has recently been widowed. After her husband’s death, she sells her house and buys an isolated cabin near a lake across the country, …
Author: suroor alikhan
I have always been an avid reader. I read across genres and try and find books by writers from countries around the world. One of the things I love is talking to fellow readers about books!
Manhattan Beach: Jennifer Egan
Published by Scribner, 2017, 448 pages. New York, 1934. Eddie takes his 11-year-old daughter Anna to a meeting with Dexter Styles, a gangster who has married the daughter of a well-known New York senator. As they drive up to Styles’s house by the beach, Anna notices that her father is nervous, something that is unusual …
The Snow Leopard: Peter Matthiessen
Published by Vintage and Penguin, 1979, 312 pages. I read The Snow Leopard when I was in my early 20s, and I loved it enough to put it on my list of 10 favourite books—where it has stayed since then. Published in 1978, The Snow Leopard is a classic, blending travel and philosophy. Peter Matthiessen …
A Case of Exploding Mangoes: Mohammed Hanif
Published by Vintage Books / Random House, 2008, 323 pages. A plane is parked on a runway, and a group of men is walking towards it. They include General Zia ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan; Arnold Raphael, the American Ambassador to Pakistan; and General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s …
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Moving Easily Among Different Genres: An Interview with Jerry Pinto
Photo: Jerry Pinto Jerry Pinto is an Indian poet, writer and translator. His first novel, Em and the Big Hoom, won several awards, including The Hindu Literary Prize, the Sahitya Akademy Award, Crossword Book Award (Fiction) and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes (Fiction). His biography of the Bollywood actress, Helen: The Life and Times of an …
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Suraiya Hasan Bose—Weaving a Legacy: Radhika Singh
Published by Tarapress, 2019, 176 pages. Suraiya Hasan Bose—Weaving a Legacy: Radhika Singh “Suraiya Hasan Bose is a name inscribed into the craft map of Andhra Pradesh. It speaks of a lifetime of passion and commitment to the cause of handloom from pre-Independence India to the present day.” This book pays tribute to Suraiya Hasan …
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Shuggie Bain: Douglas Stuart
Published by Picador, 2020, 448 pages. Shuggie Bain is a compelling story about addiction and its fallout, set in the working-class community in Glasgow. Shuggie Bain’s mother Agnes is an alcoholic. Shuggie’s father Big Shug, a taxi driver, is Agnes’s second husband. She has two children, Catherine and Leek, from her first husband. Agnes and …
Flights: Olga Tokarczuk
Translated from Polish by Jennifer CroftPublished by Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2018, 416 pages. Original version published in 2007. “Clearly I did not inherit whatever gene it is that makes it so that when you linger in a place you start to put down roots. I’ve tried, a number of times but my roots have always been …
Lifting the Veil: Selected Writings of Ismat Chugtai
Selected and translated from Urdu by M. Asaduddin with additional translations by Ralph RussellPublished by Penguin, 2001, 261 pages. “In my stories, I’ve put down everything with objectivity. Now, if people find them obscene, let them go to hell. It’s my belief that experiences can never be obscene if they are based on authentic realities …
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Travels through Switzerland: An Interview with Diccon Bewes
Photo: Diccon Bewes Diccon Bewes is a writer who was born in the UK but has lived in Switzerland for many years, and is now a Swiss citizen. His books include Slow Train to Switzerland, where he retraces the journey of Jemima Morrell who was part of Thomas Cook’s first tour of the country in …
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