From November 16, 2006  to November 22, 2006

Empowerment Is Expansion Of Freedom Of Choice

This week's reading list, recommended by D. MURALI, comprises books that examine initiatives by women to empower themselves, the scourge of female genital mutilation, and the struggles of mothers to be reunited with their children.

Caste In Pebbles

Bama has material no feted, overrated Indian English author will ever be able to imagine. Yet, it's frittered away with casual, plotless outlines.

You Can't Bank By This River

India is changing. By 2050, over half of Indians will live in cities. Of these, nearly 350-400 million will live in slums. Relentless urbanisation and a booming economy mean that housing the poor in our new megacities is one of India’s most critical . . .

Eden, After The Fall

An innocent betrayal of a childhood friend's trust and the memory of shame when Pak troops surrendered at Dacca haunt this novel.

In Defence Of Secularism

Examines the claims of religion as a magisterium in the domain of knowledge and in public sphere.

Kerala's Linguistic Minorities

Kerala's linguistic minorities are, by and large, invisible but they have made a distinct contribution to the region's culture and have an assured place in its history. In the book under review, Paul Manalil documents the traditions of these communities.

Novel With A Rural Ethos

The short stories of Mogalli Ganesh have received wide acclaim for their deep insight into village life. This first novel of the author gives an account of an undivided family of landowners in a Malnad village for a period of three generations . . .

Tamil Worship Traditions

In this book the author has made a sincere attempt to trace the various aspects of worship prevalent among the Tamils.

Champion Of Women's Rights

An insightful biography of the first woman to study law at Oxford and pursue the legal profession in India.

Revolutionary Artist

It was the decade before Independence — the most poignant years in recent Indian history.

Liberation Theology

The author has in this work covered in a masterly way the entire philosophy of Visishtadvaita as presented by great preceptors like Ramanuja, Sudarsana Suri and Vedanta Desika. Vaishnavism, as a religious system, has a hoary past.

Chill Factor Missing

Murder in winter. That’s the theme. And it’s a thriller. But the author takes a lot of time to manufacture goosebumps. PJ Tracy — the mother-daughter writing team of PJ and Traci Lambrecht — appears to be more interested in giving weather forecasts . . .

Eyecatchers

`THE most important food in Indian kitchens is Yoghurt or `curds' that is associated with cultural, social and religious practices.

Last But Not Least

No critic has been so brutally accurate in depicting the essence of Tagore’s poetic persona as Tagore himself.

Castles In The Air

This book exemplifies the typical middle-class Indian dream of sending their sons to the US. Random events connect and control the lives of three immigrants in the Silicon Valley.

Saying It Simply

As V S Naipul said about R K Narayan: “His people can eat off leaves on a floor in a slum tenement, hang their upper clothes on a coat stand, do all that in correct English— there is no strangeness, no false comedy, no distance…”, R Vijayaraghavan’s . .

Cook Book

This is as much a book for the new cook as well as the quick cook. Simple, with easy-to-follow instructions, this cookbook is bound to be a boon for anyone who needs to dish up a quick, nutritious meal in a jiffy.

Saga In A Coffee Cup

In The Devil That Danced On The Water (2004), a stirring memoir about her family, particularly her dissident father, in Sierra Leone, Aminatta Forna writes how she lived in a world of “parallel realities” as a child.

Noteless Days

Marjane Satrapi’s three graphic novels so far have been intensely personal. In Persepolis and Persepolis 2, she recounted her Tehran childhood and adolescence in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Kiran Desai, Too Busy To Rest On Her Laurels

When Kiran Desai became the youngest woman ever to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, she made a lot of people happy.

When All The Stars Came Out To Play

With huge posters, pop corn packets filled with Bollywood statistics and fan letters folded in envelopes, this coffee table book is a visual treat, as well as a great read.

Poems In Action

Vivek Narayanan's reading from his debut poetry collection took the audience through a dramatic trip of experiences.

Print Pick

Diana's faithful butler remembers, celebrates and captures her vivacity and love for life.

Poems In Action

Vivek Narayanan's reading from his debut poetry collection took the audience through a dramatic trip of experiences.

Charm And Cure

Diogo Mesana Fernandes's book on Master Hypnotist Abbe Faria.

Watch The Market Grow

The English language book market has an upside and downside in India. The upside is that of all the English-speaking countries in Asia and Africa (with the possible exception of South Africa), India is the only one where English language books sell . . .

Thrilling Heights

ALiberator bomber pilot from Australia, Flight Officer Bob Millar, was in one of the 20 Liberators that took off from Foggia on October 12, 1944 and flew a near-suicidal mission to Domodossola in northern Italy to drop supplies to the Italian . . .

Democracy Subverted

Emergency, declared in 1975 by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, still remains the darkest blot in the history of Indian democracy.

The Great Masters

Kumar Prasad Mukherji’s excellent account of “the colourful musical atmosphere of a dying feudal age” is informed by “deep nostalgia” for a golden age of Hindustani music he shared with a generation of highly sophisticated listeners, performers . . .

Trial Of Empire

The British Empire has recently become the subject of celebration. As Britain’s position in the global economy plummets, and as Britain in political terms is reduced to no more than a lackey of whoever rules in Washington, there arises the need to . . .

All In One

Nineteen novels spread over a period of 31 years.

Print Pick

In The High-Performance Entrepreneur, Subroto Bagchi, co-founder and chief operating officer of MindTree Consulting, draws upon his own highly successful experience to offer guidance from the idea stage to the IPO level.

The Making Of A Rebel

Maitreyi Pushpa talks about "Alma Kabutari" to AMRITA TALWAR . . . .

Books Of Every Colour

Down an energy drink before you head towards the Bangalore Book Fair. There are 300 stalls to browse through.

Delisting Demystified

Sulzer India wants to delist from stock exchanges. And only days ago, Blue Dart's delisting effort ran aground after DHL decided not to buy shares from the former's shareholders because the discovered price exceeded expectations.

On Dubya, Don And Condylitis

White House thinks this book should be on the fiction list—an amazing turnaround for a former insider.

That Boy From The Ridge

It is what the trade calls a vanity publication. There is no price tag, a sure indicator that this is a PR job meant for distribution at Diwali in place of nuts and raisins.  

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