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WEEKLY BOOK COLUMN
A selection of handpicked books for a new week of reading.
BOOK REVIEWS
1. Roman Stories, by Jhumpa Lahiri. Translated from the Italian by the author with Todd Portnowitz. Penguin Hamish Hamilton.
In Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of short stories, Rome lies beyond the fabled la dolce vita
2. Sakina’s Kiss, by Vivek Shanbhag. Translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur. Penguin Random House India.
How dated ideas of masculinity are suffocating the great Indian family
3. Study for Obedience, by Sarah Bernstein. Granta Books.
A richly-written novel warns against turning a person into an ‘outsider’
4. I’m a Fan, by Sheena Patel. Granta.
Novel about modern dating and online influencer culture is an uncomfortable, heady read.
5. Truth, Untruth, by Mahasweta Devi. Translated from the Bangla by Anjum Katyal. Seagull Books.
Mahasweta Devi’s novel about a pregnant maid’s death is as comedic as it is morbid.
6. Mother Muse Quintet, by Naveen Kishore. Speaking Tiger Books.
Naveen Kishore’s new book of poetry offers lyrical gratitude to memories.
7. The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises, by Shehan Karunatilaka. Hachette.
2022 Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka is as witty and imaginative as ever in his new short stories.
8. Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout. Penguin Random House.
Booker Prize 2022 nominee ‘Oh William!’ wonders what remains of a marriage after it has ended.
9. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence, by Shrayana Bhattacharya. HarperCollins India.
How an actor inspired my search for intimacy and acceptance.
10. Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. Granta.
A wondrous, evocative novel about witnessing humanity from space
INTERVIEWS
1. Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. ‘The win makes time more precious.’
2. Damon Galgut, winner of 2021 Booker Prize. ‘I simply write what I have experienced, what I know.’
3. Shehan Karunatilaka, winner of 2022 Booker Prize. ‘I thought I was writing history, I did not realise I was commenting on Sri Lanka’s current affairs.’
4. Hernan Diaz, 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction. ‘I am a profoundly profane writer.’
5. Paul Lynch, winner of 2023 Booker Prize. ‘Prophet Song is a lament for what we are and what we do.’
6. Georgi Gospodinov, winner of 2023 International Booker Prize. ‘I’d like to write only my best novels’.
7. Banu Mushtaq, winning author of 2025 International Booker Prize. ‘The inner emotions of legal practice serve as raw, real-life material for my writing.’
8. Deepa Bhasthi, winning translator of 2025 International Booker Prize. ‘With an accent’: How Deepa Bhasthi translated International Booker Prize-winner Heart Lamp.
9. Children’s writer Ruskin Bond. ‘I am writing limericks and the other day I had a lollipop after seventy years.’
10. Publisher David Davidar of Aleph Book Company. ‘The future of Indian literature is in very good hands.’
8. Publisher Minakshi Thakur of Westland. ‘Multi-platform publishing is the future.’
9. Poet, translator, and author Jerry Pinto. ‘Your dysfunctional family is the source of all your stories.’
10. Published Mehr F Husain of ZUKA Books, Pakistan. ‘I was standing in a wasteland.’
11. Translator Anton Hur. ‘The match between a translator and a writer is alchemical. It’s like being married.’
12. Translator, editor, and publisher Rahul Soni. ‘I find the constraints of the original text liberating to work with.’
13. Purnima Rao, director of Free Libraries Network. ‘Look at reading from a rights perspective.’
BEYOND BOOKS
- Bilingual talks, multilingual music – and castles: Scenes from Jaipur Literature Festival in Spain.
- I’ve read 103 books since January last year, 51 of which were by women. What do these books say?
- Indian-American mother-son musician duo on how the murder of George Floyd inspired their new album.
- How cartoonists made Bengal laugh and challenged the status quo in the years after Independence.
- ‘He experimented with Kannada theatre like no one else’: A podcast series remembers Girish Karnad.
- ‘Being alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely’: Preet Chandi on travelling solo to the South Pole.
- ‘Everybody’s tired of negativity’: The Mughal Era Mandir project showcases Old Delhi’s temples.
- ‘The arts need the youth’: Why two Kolkata-based entrepreneurs are hosting Bengal’s first Biennale
SAYARI DEBNATH 