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Book Review: Analog/Virtual: And Other Simulations of Your Future

Book Review: Analog/Virtual: And Other Simulations of Your Future

Bell Corp declares that civilization is free from discrimination.A universal system of Merit determines an individual’s worth to society.We are a Meritocratic Technarchy.We are the future of the human race.– from the Bell Charter on Human RightsFrom Analog/Virtual: And Other Simulations of Your Future This is a review that is long overdue. I’d been wanting to read this book ever since it…

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Book Review: This Is How You Lose The Time War

Book Review: This Is How You Lose The Time War

I wanted to be seen.She sees her and breaks like a wave.From This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone It feels a bit disrespectful to attempt a review of This is How You Lose The Time War. Better people than me have done so, in far more beautiful words than I can ever manage (like this excellent piece by Jake Casella Brookins in The Ancillary Review). Yet, it is a…

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Book Review: Chosen Spirits

Book Review: Chosen Spirits

“The only crime was nonconformity, and conformity was a fast shifting, ever-angry chimera that must be constantly fed…”

From Chosen Spirits by Samit Basu

It has taken me too long to review this book, mostly because it left me so unsettled, I was at a loss for words.

When I say unsettled, I don’t necessarily mean it in a negative sense. It didn’t make me feel “depressed” or defeated, but it…

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Book Review: Eating Wasps

Book Review: Eating Wasps

“Ghosts and writers are more alike than you think. We can be what you want us to be. We can hear your thoughts even if you don’t tell us. We can read the silences and shape your stories as if they happened to us. And I was both: a ghost and a writer,”

Eating Waspsmade me a book adulterer. I’m a serial monogamist when it comes to books –never picking up a book without finishing the one I am…

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Book Review: Celebrate Holi With Me!

Book Review: Celebrate Holi With Me!

“We celebrate Holi At the beginning of Spring, This is the Festival of Colors Oh! the joy that it will bring!” It’s that time of the year again, when the season is starting to turn. Nature is stirring back to life after the long sleep of winter, and the year is renewed. Hindus in India celebrate the coming of spring with Holi, which is popularly known as the festival of colours. In 2016, I had…

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Mini Reviews: Aarohi and Just Another Day

Mini Reviews: Aarohi and Just Another Day

I first came to know of Anupama Dalmia and Piyusha Vir, through Women’s Web, an India based e-magazine. Following them on social media, I became aware that they both have recently released works of short fiction. As I’ve always admired their work, I knew I had to read these books. Aarohi Relevant to current realities, Aarohi by Anupama Dalmia is a short story that is both heartwrenching and…

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Book Review: The Windfall

Book Review: The Windfall

“To Gurgaon, Bindu,” Mr. Jha said while closing the windows. “Our new lives await. And for the ride, six CDs in our CD player await. Put some Kenny G on.” I read The Windfall, and watched the movie Hindi Medium, very close in time to each other. It is because of this temporal proximity, and their similarity in some aspects, that the two are inextricably linked in my head. Delhi and its…

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Book Review: Crossing Lines

When I first the synopsis for Sulari Gentill’s Crossing Lines, I was both reluctant and eager. Reluctant, because of the complex plot and metafictional nature of the narrative. Eager, because I instinctively knew that if the writer has truly pulled it off, then this is will be a brilliant read. I am glad I chose to read it, because Sulari Gentill has pulled it off, and how!…

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Book Review: Murder in Montego Bay

Okay, I confess, I picked this book because I enjoy watching Death in Paradise. However, it was not because I expected it to be just like the show, but because I wanted a different perspective on the same setting, with a focus on crime solving. From the book synopsis, it was clear that this would be a less rose-tinted view on life in paradise,  and this book delivered on that expectation, and…

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Book Review: Bombay Fever

“It was finally here. Bombay Fever. The drug-resistant super-disease that public health experts in India had been dreading for decades.  Now they had to deal with its full, brutal, relentless force.” Bombay, or Mumbai, if you prefer, is home for me. It is the city where I was born, and where I’ve spent the majority of my life. It is a city that is constantly on the move; constantly changing. But…

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Book Review: All Inclusive

Reading diversely involves going off the beaten track to find books that one would not usually read. In the case of All Inclusive, the book, or rather the author, found me. I will admit that I was unsure if I would enjoy this book, because I do not usually read books with much sexual content. Even genre-wise, the book seemed to be a bit all over the place. In the end however, I ended up liking…

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Book Review: God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems

Book Review: God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems

All my life I have devoured mystery novels–the genre is like air to me. I love stepping into the shoes of the detective, tracking down clues, making connections and trying to solve the mystery before I get to the end (for the record, I have an excellent track record–very few endings surprise me anymore!). Ishara Deen’s debut, God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems,is a worthy addition to the…

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From the Wordsmith’s Mouth: A Q&A with Shoumi Sen

From the Wordsmith’s Mouth: A Q&A with Shoumi Sen

Last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing a delightful book for toddlers- Celebrate Durga Puja With Me! by Shoumi Sen. This year, on Durgashtami, (Durga = An Indian Goddess; Ashtami=8th day), it is my privilege to share an interview with the author. About Shoumi Sen: Shoumi Sen is a Strategy, Sales and Marketing professional at a leading global energy management company. She studied engineering…

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Book Review : The Demon Hunter of Chottanikkara

Book Review : The Demon Hunter of Chottanikkara

“And so she had trained for many years in the art of combat, had learnt the many ways to fight evil. To the gifts she had been given at birth, such as the ability to understand the speech of demons, and even birds and animals, and communicate with them, she added the deadly art of fighting with weapons. When the demons came now, she no longer merely watched like the defenceless child she had once…

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Book Review: Immortal

“As the world had changed, so had its morals. I, however, chose to remain the man I’d been.” As many of you know by now I have a fascination with books in which female archaeologists solve mysteries. It was on the hunt for another such book that I came across Immortal by Krishna Udayasankar. The protagonist isn’t a woman, but it promised me my dose of history, with a dash of mythology. I really…

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Book Review: Sunvault - Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation

Book Review: Sunvault – Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation

Speculative fiction, SFF, in particular is increasingly becoming concerned with issues like climate change and sustainability. Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation is a brand new anthology by Upper Rubber Boot, which consists of short fiction, poetry and artwork centered around these themes. As Andrew Dincher says in his Foreword to the book, “solarpunk, a new movement in SF that…

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Book Review: Girl in Snow

Book Review: Girl in Snow

Danya Kukafka’s debut Girl in Snow is a deceptive book. It looks like a psychological thriller, and sounds, at least going by the description, like a psychological thriller. But unfortunately, it doesn’t read like one. Lucinda, a teenager in a small-town Colorado, is found murdered on a playground carousel. There is no dearth of suspects for the investigating officer, Russel (Russ), to choose…