Book Reading

The Ghosts of Indian Small Towns: Ruskin Bond's journey through time

Ruskin Bond's reflective essays revisit vanished small-town India, blending nostalgia, memory, humour, and the quiet ghosts of changing landscapes

Chapal Rani: A poignant portrait of gender and exclusion in folk theatre

Through the story of a female impersonator in theatres, this book offers a commentary on how queerness exists around us in different shapes, forms, words, and feeling

River Traveller: Hazarika brings alive the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra ecosystem

Mr Hazarika's book will appeal to environmentalists, historians, diplomats, anthropologists, political scientists, bureaucrats, and activists as well as readers who enjoy reading travelogues

London Falling: Deception and a death without answers in a gilded city

How a teenager in London crafted a double life as the son of a Russian oligarch, and paid for it with his life under suspicious circumstances

The Good Reporter: Rural women's stories, uninterrupted amid media clutter

In a crowded media world, a women-led newsroom offers a refreshing breather

Japan's imperial hubris holds a dire warning for a violent century

As new empires pursue old ambitions and borders become bargaining chips, this anti-war treatise reminds us how history repeats itself through humanity's amnesia

China Under Xi Jinping: Caution gives way to control, nationalism, ambition

The book provides a one-stop access point for information and analysis on China under Mr Xi

James McDougall's 'Worlds of Islam' celebrates rich heritage and diversity

One recurring theme that unites this book is Sufism

Our 'screenified' future: How screens turned people into performers online

The book is at its strongest when Garber gets hyperspecific, forcing the reader to wrestle with the fact that the far-reaching power of the screen has touched all parts of life

Test Cricket: Tim Wigmore's masterly history of the game and empire

A sweeping review of Tim Wigmore's Test Cricket: A History, exploring how empire, race, class and politics shaped the game's longest format

The Rules That Make Us: Anthropology meets corporate strategy in this book

This book offers a fascinating look at the intersection of big business and the humanities, offering a glimpse into a unique career, though it can sometimes feel self-promoting

Reimagining Government: Handy AI guide for govt, but falls short on detail

While the book is written obviously for policymakers in the United States, it can actually pretty well be used by most governments in both developed nations and fast-developing nations like India

Sramcbled wrods: Real reason why your brain can still read jumbled text

We can often read scrambled words, but not because the order of letters doesn't matter. It's because our brains are remarkably good at making sense of imperfect information

Rasputin: Beevor's nuanced account of the Romanovs debunks mystic's myth

Antony Beevor's book casts a cool academic eye on this controversial faith healer, arguing that despite the mystique, Rasputin's influence on the fall of the Romanovs has been exaggerated

Under Grey Smoggy Skies reveals India's urban homelessness problem

Invisible to most, Harsh Mander's latest book peels back the layers of injustice and neglect that the urban homeless experience in our cities

Polar Wars: Arctic tensions overshadow climate urgency and cooperation

Polar War reflects the current reality of security considerations overwhelming all others, including the threat of climate change

What went wrong: A stark reappraisal of Israel's political trajectory

In his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong?, Bartov reflects on what has happened in the two and a half years since that episode

First Bite: A journey through urban India's diverse breakfast cultures

Priyadarshini Chatterjee's First Bite explores India's urban breakfasts, blending food, history, and culture into a rich ethnography of everyday life

Slowing down to save the planet: A manifesto for mindful living

With themes such as slow food, slow health, slow fashion, slow work, and slow democracy, this book offer practical actions for a more mindful daily life

The Robe and the Sword: Why Buddhism needs protection from polarised monks

A sharp, accessible account of how religion and power intertwine in Asia, examining Buddhist extremism without losing sight of faith's deeper values