Magic Moments

  ·         Publisher ‏ : ‎  Penguin (6 February 2023); Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd. ·         Language ‏ : ‎  English ·         Hardcover ‏ : ‎  296 pages ·         Buy At         : Amazon   Book Blurb: Old Basar Mal remembers his love and homeland that he lost in Sindh, Pakistan during the Partition. A young graduate gets into an imaginary relationship with a girl at a yellow window. The Mumbai land mafia is after Basar Mal and his library. A chatty book cover relates the plight of books. A silent Mangan's ma washes and feeds a plastic doll she thinks is her son. Poignantly written by Geet Chaturvedi, a major Hindi writer, and beautifully translated by Anita Gopalan, Simsim is a struggle between memory, imagination, and reality- an exquisitely crafted book that fuses...

I first heard of this novel in a BooksOnToast show on their YouTube channel. And I'm so glad I did.  Spanning four generations of Tagore (Thakur) family in Bengal, from 1823 to 1902, this book is a very unique experience. It is especially the life stories of the daughters-in-law and the daughters of the Tagore family - their world and their perspectives.  There's the din and bustle of a joint family household, where the everyday chores are an elaborate affair, and I could relate to it all. A palatial mansion which was home to the little child brides from their pre teen years till their death. They almost lived their entire lives here. Difficult to imagine. Aruna Chakravarti brings alive the era, the inception of the Brahmos, the new religion, the changing laws of the land, and the various members of the Tagore family who influenced the Bengali culture and tradition a great deal with their written word. Satyendranath who wrote plays to be enacted for the public, Swarnakumari wh...

  I have long been fascinated with Shillong. Rather Meghalaya as a whole. Introduced to it through Janice Pariat’s books – ‘Nine Chambered Heart’ , ‘Boats on Land’ , and ‘Everything the Light Touches’ . In her stories it seems a far-off land, deep in culture, myths and folklores, where people speak such a different tongue. The oral tradition of storytelling there has long enchanted me, of how mountains came to be, those fireside narrations and gatherings in winter nights. I long to visit the rolling hills, the forests, the sacred groves, the clean waters of Dawki river, the idyllic villages, and the numerous roadside waterfalls in the state. Through ‘Name Place Animal Thing’ I was introduced to how the childhood and the school life of a teenage girl looks like in Shillong. The author, Daribha Lyndem, has put the tale so simplistically, like a collection of memories from days past. And recently through numerous blogs by Cheryl Rhyn, I was again fascinated by so many local tales...

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  As the name suggests, it is a spin off from the Jane Austen world of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the protagonist being Mary, the Bennet sister who got the least pages dedicated to her in the book. While Jane and Elizabeth were the stars in the original story, our author here imagines the world from Mary’s perspective. We get a glimpse of her childhood, the events of marriages and ball rooms from her eyes, her ambitions in life and her potential romantic encounters. Mary as a character is fully developed in this book, which is such a joy to read. Perfect Jane Austen vibes. Mary spends her days unnoticed, hidden from limelight, seldom receiving appreciation for her talent in piano or her scholarly pursuits. She lives a rather lonely existence. I identify my younger self – timid teenage self with Mary. Awkward and shy in social settings, may not really come across as the smart one with interesting conversations to offer in social gatherings. Dressing plain and unflattering clothes, so ...

  The Yogi Witch By Zorian Cross   Publisher - ‎   HarperCollins India (20 June 2023) Language - ‎   English Paperback -   352 pages Genre – Fantasy Buy At - Amazon   Book Blurb: GoodReads: Raised by a trio of witches, Jai Gill invites us on a journey of magic, mystery, and mayhem - all while teaching yoga during the day and slaying demons at night. As Jai begins the journey of not only embracing his magical legacy, but also making peace with his sexuality, his magical life is shattered when he falls in love with the boy next door; the man who's destined for a life steeped in evil. Love is, after all, a curse for all witches! Myths become real and the mundane becomes enchanting, as Jai and his witchy family remove the veil that separates reality and fantasy, all enjoying endless cups of lavender tea and sinfully delicious goodies that are magically removed of all guilt. Amazon: By day, Jai Gill teaches yoga, reads tarot and, like m...

  A Strange and Sublime Address By Amit Chaudhuri   Book Blurb: From GoodReads: Sandeep is an only child living in a Bombay high-rise and in this book makes two long visits to his extended family in Calcutta. This novel tells the story of the atmosphere in the small house where they live. Chaudhuri writes precisely and carefully trying to capture in the rhythms of his prose the faded happiness of things, the strange, pure remembered moments. From Amazon: It features a Bengali boy who spends his school holidays at his uncle’s home in Calcutta. Heatwaves, thunderstorms, mealtimes, prayer-sessions, shopping expeditions and family visits create a shifting background to the shaping of people’s lives. Delicate, nuanced, full of exquisite detail, Strange and Sublime Address is a small masterpiece. The book also includes nine short stories about the city.   My Review: “Pieces of boal fish, cooked in turmeric, red chilli paste, onions and garlic, lay in red, ...

Early this year I think I discovered The Storygraph – a website, quite a competitor of GoodReads, for logging books read, shelfing them, and jotting down private thoughts and reviews. It has this amazing feature of stats, that calculates not just books read, but rather pages finished, from books we somehow ‘Did Not Finish’. The data scientist in me loves these stats. Sharing a few here. I love fiction. So, most of my reads this year have been fiction. And I love print, but boresome household tasks demand audiobooks. So Storytel and Audible are my go-to apps for listening to audiobooks while morning walks, cooking in the kitchen, arranging things around the house or just lazing around on the couch. I am loving this chart for Genres. Quite an eclectic mix. Makes me so happy. The one thing that I wanted to do this year for my reading goals, was to read several new authors. I wish that feature was also there in The StoryGraph. I read for the first time this year Balli Kaur Jaswal , Arefa T...