SBR: The Agony and the Ecstasy — a novel based on Michelangelo’s life- was another novel that was picked up in the anticipation of our Italy trip, although I read it only after coming back. The timing wasn’t bad though. After…

SBR: Dusklands’ language is beautiful to the extent that it can be hard to read sometimes. But the darkness explored through the themes of imperialism, war, and adventurous exploration in the two stories of the book has the ability to send a chill…

SBR: The English Patient is another one of those award-winning books that didn’t work for me. The film of poetic, dreamy writing never allows you to penetrate into the characters. And since there was an Indian character in it, I…

SBR: Arunava Sinha is a terrific and prolific translator of Bengali literature. So if there is a translation of Bengali stories done by him, I guess you have to pick it up. The stories are from various…

SBR: We are talking about the first three novels of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin. My fantasy reading before this is limited to A Song of Ice and…

SBR: Three Daughters is interesting in the beginning. Set at the turn of 20th century in a Christian village near Jerusalem, it takes you to a time and culture you may not know much about (remember, this is pre-Israel). But as a…

SBR: I wanted to read a nice love story and since modern romance novels don’t seem to work for me, I ended up resorting to this 19th-century book at the recommendation of a friend. And North and South was a nice, entertaining read…

Holy cow! Orlando is supposed to be the most accessible work of Virginia Woolf. I guess I can’t read her. I suppose it was the fabled stream of…