Reviews & Musings

Namrata reviews Salma’s short story collection, The Curse: Short Stories translated by N Kalyan Raman (Speaking Tiger, 2020) emphasizing how the plausibility of these stories remains intact across the globe. Publisher: Speaking Tiger  Year of Publishing: October 2020  ISBN-13: 978-9389958874  Price: INR 350/- 

Namrata reviews S.L. Bhyrappa’s Brink (Translated by R. Ranganath Prasad and published by Niyogi Books, 2020) calling it a much-needed reminder in today’s times when mental health is still spoken about in a hush-hush manner.  Translated by R. Ranganath Prasad from a popular Kannada novel ‘Anchu‘ originally written by S.L. Bhyrappa, Brink is a story that touches a raw nerve with the reader in various ways. It talks about mental health and relationships with a rare poignancy all throughout its narrative.  Considered to be one of the foremost writers in Kannada literature, Bhyrappa has been honoured with many awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Daatu in 1975 and Saraswati Samman of K.K. Birla Foundation for Mandra in 2010. His novels have been translated into almost all Indian languages. Previously R. Ranganath Prasad worked for a public sector bank and later resigned from his job to pursue his interest in literature and translations. Initiated to metrical versification, he has

Image Source: Amazon.in ISBN: 978-8194874157 Genre: Fiction, Mythological fiction, Legends Publisher: Aleph Book Company (10 December 2020)   Price: INR 999/- About the Book One of India’s greatest epics, The Kathasaritsagara is thought to have been compiled around 1070 CE by Somadeva Bhatt, during the reign of Raja Ananta of the Lohara dynasty of Kashmir. Even though this extraordinary work is one of the longest creations in Indian and world literature, it is considered to be only a small part of an even longer work called Brihatkatha, composed by Gunadhya in a lost language known as Paisachi. Somadeva collected and retold the stories of The Kathasaritsagara in Sanskrit to entertain Raja Ananta’s wife, Suryavati. This masterpiece is foundational for many of India’s best-loved folk tale traditions, such as Vetala Pachisi and Panchatantra, and it has influenced many of the world’s best-known classics, including One Thousand and One Nights, The Decameron, and The Canterbury Tales.  In

  Namrata reviews Raza Mir’s Murder at Mushaira (Aleph Book Company, 2021) and calls it a thrilling murder mystery with the charm of the bygone era woven intricately in it.  Murder at Mushaira as the name suggests is a historical thriller, where the legendary poet Ghalib turns into a sleuth and solves this murder mystery. Set in 1857, when Bahadur Shah Zafar ruled on Delhi, this book is infused with drama, mystery, history, poetry ( sher-o-shayari ) and humour. Author Raza Mir has brought together his love and passion for history and Urdu poetry in this book. As is evident from his previous works, Ghalib: A Thousand Desires, The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry, and the co-author of Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Progressive Urdu Poetry, Mir is a perfect aficionado on this subject to weave a tale around it. Read the full review on Kitaab .