My thanks to Yale University Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Tumultuous is perhaps one word we might use to describe the world around us today, and one face of this is the citizens’ protests we are witnessing in numerous countries—West or East, ‘developed’ or ‘developing’. Looking at these protests, against,…
Book Review: Of Sunshine and Bedbugs by Isaac Babel and translated by Boris Dralyuk
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Isaac Babel (1894–1940) was not an author I knew or had come across earlier but when this volume of Essential Stories appeared from Pushkin Press, I decided to (somewhat blindly) give it a try. Babel was an author, journalist, and translator…
Book Review: A Taste for Killing by Sarah Hawkswood
My thanks to Allison & Busby and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. A Taste for Killing is Book 10 in the Bradecote and Catchpoll series of medieval mysteries by Sarah Hawkswood, and the second book that I read in this series, having come across it and enjoyed book 9 very much last…
Book Review: Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
My thanks to Harper Collins/The Borough Press for an invitation to read this book via NetGalley. When I first read the description of this book in my mail—the story of a lawyer who meets an old college roommate who involves her in a shady business, it didn’t really sound my type, but since I was…
Book Review: The Flying Sikh by Stephen Barker
My thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. ‘The Flying Sikh’ is an epithet we in India usually associate with athlete Milkha Singh, who won both Asian Games and Commonwealth golds, but this book is about a different ‘Flying Sikh’, the only Sikh airman to serve in the…
Book Review: Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
My thanks to Duckworth Books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Black Butterflies is a beautiful, powerful, heart-wrenching, and haunting story of a city torn by war, and of its people, coping not only with the adversities of daily living, but also the helplessness and heartbreak of seeing the city they love…
Book Review: The Cat and the Pendulum by Mandy Morton
My thanks to Farrago Books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. The Cat and the Pendulum is a whimsical and delightful mystery by Mandy Morton brimming with puns, food, and fun but also a solid mystery (in fact, two … no, make that three) at its core. This is book 10 in…
Book Review: Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read by Rebecca Alexandra Simon
My thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Anne Bonny and Mary Read may not have been the only female pirates who operated in what is known as the Golden Age of Piracy (1650–1730; dates debated), but they were amongst the best known. From inspiring ballads and having…
Book Review: Murder at Claridge’s by Jim Eldridge
My thanks to Allison & Busby and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Murder at Claridge’s is the third of the historical Hotel Mysteries series by Jim Eldridge and the second that I’m reading and reviewing (I also read and enjoyed book 2, Murder at the Savoy, last year). The series is a…
Review: The Living Mountain by Amitav Ghosh
My thanks to Harper Collins India and NetGalley for a review copy of this story. The Living Mountains: A Fable of Our Times by Amitav Ghosh is a short work, less than novella length, which explores a range of themes including colonialism and the attendant exploitation of people and resources, devaluing of traditional knowledge, de-sacralisation…
Literary Potpourri 