Published 2022 | Fiction A boy caught between the real and an ‘alternate reality’, ‘Out of the Woods’ by Neikehienuo Mepfhu-o takes a look at the struggles that mental health illnesses bring with them – for the person and their immediate family members. During a recent trip to Nagaland, I decided to pick up a book or two written by…
If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver was released in 1979; it is written in postmodernist narrative and takes readers through a whole spectrum of sensations as they read the 10 stories woven together in this masterpiece. Highly recommended! Italo Calvino | Italian publication 1979 | English transl. 1981 | Postmodernist novel Not…
Am I the only one who – at least at some point of time in life and at least once – has been in awe of the friendship between two literary characters and wished hard for that ‘cool friendship just like in that novel’? Shipping friendships in books you’re reading or have read is something every bookaholic can identify with.…
Audrey Niffenegger | Published 2003 Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They get married. They live happily ever after. Only, the boy meets the girl again. And again. And again. No, not in the conventional sense of the word. And not different girls. Henry meets Clare for the first time when she is six, and he’s thirty-six. But, he’s…
Samar Yazbek | 2015 | Autobiography, Literary non-fiction I purchased this book while ambling through a book fair sometime towards the end of 2018. But I didn’t get around to reading it until I pulled it out recently to give to my father in law. He didn’t read it. But I started it. It took me a long time to…
Betty Smith | 1943 | Semi-Autobiographical, Fiction I picked this one up because a. I had heard a lot about it. It is heralded as a modern American classic (and it deserves to be) b. The edition was remarkably pretty. I have a weakness for beautiful looking books. This one was a Reader’s Digest Special Edition, hard bound with the…
Harry Farthing | 2014 | Fiction, Thriller, Mystery A gripping tale, told tightly from beginning to end, without any relief or deviation. The author’s writing style is grim, almost martial in its speed. I’ve always been fascinated by the upper reaches of the Himalayas. To me, they are placed on Earth to remind us that we are nowhere close to…