Ghachar Ghochar (2015) by Vivek Shanbhag is the second book of Kannada fiction that I’ve read in translation (the first was the much older Indira Bai (1899) by Gulvadi Venkata Rao, a social novel with much to recommend, but one I didn’t end up reviewing when I read it) and I found this one to…
Book Review: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis #Narniathon21
Opening with the same words as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy…, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951) picks up exactly a year after the events of the first book. The four Pevensie children are at a railway station at…
Shelf Control #170: The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell
Wednesday, the 26th of January, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what…
Book Review: The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for a review copy of the book. In The Family Chao, author Lan Samantha Chang gives us a retelling of The Brothers Karamazov but by setting it amongst a Chinese-American immigrant family, she weaves in further complexities of discrimination and prejudice and also of identity and belonging. Leo…
Book Review: Charles Dickens: Places and Objects of Interest by Paul Kendall
My thanks to Pen &Sword and NetGalley for a review copy of the book. Charles Dickens: Places and Objects of Interest acquaints us with different places and objects associated with Charles Dickens at different points in his life (childhood to his death) from homes he lived in to hotels he stayed at or places where…
Book Review: The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
Set in snowy London, with hints of people walking out of graves and of three coffins, links to Transylvania, two murders committed by an invisible person, and a solution I didn’t see coming at all, John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man made for an enjoyable read, especially in this season. Our story, the sixth book…
Shelf Control #169: Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer
Wednesday, the 19th of January, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what…
Book Review: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
My thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Nina de Gramont weaves a rather interesting and very readable tale in The Christie Affair but while I enjoyed reading it a lot, I had some reservations which have prevented me from rating it as high as I might have otherwise.…
Book Review: The Maid by Nita Prose
My thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. I’ve seen nothing but the highest praise for Nita Prose's The Maid, and having finally read it, I found that all of it was well deserved. It not only lived up to its promise but more. The book was compelling,…
Shelf Control #168: Flyaway by Desmond Bagley
Wednesday, the 12th of January, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what…
Literary Potpourri 