Page 86 - Book Reviews
NPAs are everybody's problem
Vivek Kaul's Bad Money: Inside the NPA Mess and How it Threatens the Indian Banking System provides the answer and I am wiser years after having taken the loan
 "NPAs are everybody's problem")
The evolution of 'Homo Puppy'
Written by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, Humankind argues that we've been trained to be more biased towards the innate "evil" character in humans
 "The evolution of 'Homo Puppy'")
Classics & other favourites
Without boring you with what I bought, let me share the three books I've enjoyed reading since then
Lehman & poetic justice
When theatres went dark in March, good plays were left dangling early in their runs
 "Lehman & poetic justice")
Drumming on discrimination
Caste is, in fact, a structural problem
 "Drumming on discrimination")
'There and Back' review: A history of famous travellers and their sojourns
Stewart Gordon has made skilful use of his protagonists' memoirs, letters and travelogues
 "'There and Back' review: A history of famous travellers and their sojourns")
Love, loss and pandemics
Cromwell insists the rules of families' self-quarantining apply to everyone
A Pakistani in Bangladesh
This book is a great addition to the already rich literature on 1971 and its aftereffects
 "A Pakistani in Bangladesh")
Gains in translation
Before 1914, there was no proper copyright legislation in India
Portrait of 'The Portrait'
Ms Jordan has drilled down, though, and brings new information about this unconventional first lady to the surface
 "Portrait of 'The Portrait'")
Dinyar Patel's book, Naoroji, fills a gap in major historical scholarship
Historical scholarship has been so preoccupied with the later nationalists - Gandhi, Patel, Nehru, Bose et al - that it has neglected, or been indifferent to, the individual who started it all.
 "Dinyar Patel's book, Naoroji, fills a gap in major historical scholarship")
The treasure of comfort reads
The ideal re-reading ritual should be of a book just smart enough to not irritate you, just deep enough to keep you engaged
Before the Emergency
Political developments as have unfolded in independent India have often been seen as an outcome of policy shifts in an earlier period
 "Before the Emergency")
Period piece pleasures
There are several novelists who have set their detective stories in this period when the freedom movement was taking roots in India
Between deer and running dogs
Book review of The Deer and the Dragon: Southeast Asia and China in the 21st Century
 "Between deer and running dogs")
The art of travel reading
The market for travelogues in the West is well established. In India it's still struggling because 99 per cent of those who travel can't write or even know what good travel writing is
Rohinton Mistry's 1995 novel captured the grand tragedies of Emergency
A Fine Balance is also a ludicrous sketch of a nation, its grand tragedies and political misadventures, specifically during the Emergency of 1975, which was declared 45 years ago on June 25
 "Rohinton Mistry's 1995 novel captured the grand tragedies of Emergency")
Timeless stories in Bangla literature
As a school student, this writer experienced Rabindranath Tagore's masterly art of story-telling while reading The Holiday or The Homecoming as part of the curriculum
Big Tech is watching you
Ms Faroohar looks at how BT has taken over our lives, and the manipulative and malign aspects of its influence on society
 "Big Tech is watching you")
Marquez between fact and fiction
The book is factual and takes much narrative licence with facts
 "Marquez between fact and fiction")