Books

While Hill does address many aspects of facial recognition and how Clearview AI is still planning to go ahead with its business plans, there are few instances of what can be done about it.

Book review: In 'Kill the Lawyers', slick, sly and sleep-deprived lawyers win the day

Shishir Vayttaden conjures the world of Big Law in this caustically witty book, telling stories of Bombay Boardroom and their victories big and small

Book review | Dr Rajeev Kurapati’s 'The Book of Body Positivity' is informative and uplifting

'The Book of Body Positivity: How We Got It All Wrong and What We Can Do about It' uses an empowering tone, assuring readers that obesity should not be reduced to a personal failure. It is caused by multiple factors.

‘Dom women are not expected to be enterprising or entrepreneurial’: Radhika Iyengar on writing ‘Fire on the Ganges’

In her non-fiction book on Varanasi's corpse-burner Dom community, 'Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras', debutante author-journalist Radhika Iyengar demonstrates how caste-heteropatriarchy controls who gets to have a choice in the life they lead.

‘Courting India’ | British Academy Book Prize-winning author Nandini Das ‘wanted to give marginalised voices their due attention’

Courting India is an intriguing non-fiction account of the English entry into the subcontinent, taking cues from the first English ambassador in India, Thomas Roe.

Durjoy Datta: ‘I write between screaming, dirty diapers and paint being thrown across the room’

The bestselling author and screenwriter analyses his success, joys of fatherhood, his writing process and how he deals with self-doubt.

7 writers of ghost stories in India to read to ring in Halloween 2023

On Halloween, here’s a look at some of the best writers of ghost stories from India.

Short stories of diaspora dilemma: Nishanth Injam’s The Best Possible Experience is a collection of extracts on the emotional price of relocation

According to government data, an average of 618 Indians renounces their citizenship every day. Injam’s stories are a moving reminder that their choice has difficult personal consequences. Given the statistics, immigrant literature will grow. This well-crafted collection stands out in its candidness and maturity.

Book review | Mad Sisters of Esi: Tashan Mehta’s fantasy novel on the world of whales is wryly funny

In terms of methodology, Mehta’s second novel has much in common with the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, while its fragmentary nature and adroit usage of scientific language recalls science fiction masters Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

How the love for murder mysteries created the Indian historical crime novel

In these holidays, take your own trip into India's past with these charming historic whodunits.

Yoga Institute director Hansaji Yogendra on Hindi translation of her book & tips on healthy living

Life has thrown many challenges at the Yoga Institute director and popular YouTuber, including the loss of a son. But the 76-year-old, who recently launched the Hindi version of her book, takes everything in her stride.

Navina Najat Haidar: ‘Gandhian architect Laurie Baker adapted the jali to modern buildings, keeping in mind the issues of climate, environment and sustainability’

Art historian Navina Najat Haidar, the Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah curator in charge of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, talks about her new book 'Jali: Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture'.

Manoranjan Byapari: ‘I never set out to become a Dalit writer, it’s a label stamped on my work’

His life journey is no less than a movie in itself, marked by suffering and grit, his lifelong fight against caste and for the marginalised, and his rise to a life of literature. The three-time JCB prize-listed author on how one’s weakness can become their biggest strength.

World Tourism Day 2023: 10 travel books that will take you around the world

On World Tourism Day, September 27, here are classics, comic travelogues, guide books and more that will transport you to every corner of the globe. No plane ticket required.

Book review | 2023 Booker Prize-Longlisted Martin MacInnes’ In Ascension’s singular achievement is inexhaustibility

MacInnes doesn’t endorse the term ‘climate-change novel’ as his book is increasingly getting referred to as. The novel is difficult to categorise into any genre for multiple reasons.

Book review | 2023 Booker Prize-Longlisted The Bee Sting by Paul Murray is a spellbinding tale of an Irish family in free fall

Set in an Irish town, 'The Bee Sting' is about a family of four, and a saga of decisions that turn out badly.

How can India achieve 8% growth? Motilal Oswal Financial Services' Nikhil Gupta's new book has answers

In 'The Eight Per Cent Solution: A Strategy for India’s Growth', Gupta addresses the lack of attention towards finances of the household sector and the unlisted corporate sector. One of the surest ways to incentivise companies to align with national objectives is to link the latter with higher profits, he says.

2023 JCB Prize for Literature longlist: Past favourites, internationally acclaimed authors, and debutants

The longlist for the sixth edition of the Prize features four translations, three debut novels and marks the return of authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan, whose works have been previously longlisted twice for the Prize, and of previously longlisted author Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar as a translator.

Book review | Barbara Kingsolver's 'Demon Copperfield' is a coming-of-age story of an orphan boy named Daemon

Kingsolver's Dickensian story captures the slice of life in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia through her child narrator who grows up amid poverty, addiction, and, sometimes, people's kindness.

How to choose a novel in a bookshop

Books offer clues to their contents before you read their first lines. Deciphering them can help you decide whether they’re worth picking up.

Author Lindsay Pereira: ‘We continue to pay the price for what happened at the Babri Masjid’

After his critically-acclaimed debut novel 'Gods and Ends', the journalist’s second book 'The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao' retells the story of Ramayana, set against a riot-torn Mumbai.

Book review: Facts after facts, Valmiki Faleiro's new book aims at a complete story of Goa's liberation

India is turning 76 on August 15. Goa, however, was freed later. In his new book 'Goa 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration' author Valmiki Faleiro goes back 62 years to retrace the events that led to Goa’s Liberation on December 19, 1961.

Book review | Ann Patchett’s ‘Tom Lake’ is as warm as the winter sun

Patchett’s long-standing style swings between the poles of inimitability and intimacy. She makes sure that her readers turn each page with the feeling of having earned something.

Friendship Day 2023: 9 books about friendship by Indian authors

You won't be able to put down these books that celebrate the bond of friendship. Share them with your bestie.

Book review | 'Faf Through Fire': The fascinating autobiography of former South African captain

Faf Du Plessis' autobiography isn’t just a chronicling of his journey as a cricketer, but is a brutally honest and revealing tale of his insecurities.

Book review | In ‘Smoke and Ashes’, Amitav Ghosh connects the dots between opium, China and the world today

Author Amitav Ghosh’s new book, based on the rigorous research that informed his Ibis Trilogy, is a genre-bending cautionary tale about bullish globalisation.

Book review | Tom Hanks’ debut novel is middling at best

In ‘The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece’, Hanks gives even minor characters grand introductions and wraps the proceedings with footnotes.

International Yoga Day 2023: Venture capitalist Rizwan Virk retells yogi Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography

Like Steve Jobs and George Harrison did, Rizwan Virk keeps revisiting Paramahansa Yogananda 'Autobiography'. Virk, whose new book 'Wisdom of a Yogi' is a retelling of 'Autobiography', believes that worldly duties can be part of one's Zen path to clarity.

Pride Month | Ruth Vanita: ‘It is a gift to be born in India, I’d like to be reborn in India’

The writer of same-sex love much before it became the talk of the town, Ruth Vanita speaks about her works and highlights the importance of the right for queer people to get married.

World Environment Day 2023 | This climate & nature investor’s book makes a case for regenerative, not extractive, economy

Oxford-educated investor Siddarth Shrikanth presents a business-oriented case for nature in his new book 'The Case for Nature: The Other Planetary Crisis'.

Pakistan’s Shahbaz Taseer’s memoir offers a glimpse into a painful personal ordeal & the factional mujahideen world

'Lost to the World', the first-person account of one of Pakistan’s most high-profile and dreadful kidnapping victims, the businessman son of assassinated Punjab (Pakistan) governor Salman Taseer, Shahbaz Taseer, who was tortured in captivity for over four years, is nothing short of a celluloid drama.

A Kerala story | ‘If it could be Thajudheen, it could also be you’: Author Shevlin Sebastian

In his new book, ‘The Stolen Necklace’, veteran journalist Shevlin Sebastian tells the real-life story of VK Thajudheen, wrongfully incarcerated for 54 days in 2018 for an alleged necklace theft, mistaken for a thief based on a CCTV image. He lost everything and is still fighting for justice.

British fantasy writer Samantha Shannon: ‘Novelists can be unintentional oracles’

Samantha Shannon, who recently released 'A Day of Fallen Night', the prequel to her 2019 work 'The Priory of the Orange Tree', speaks about the making of the novel, qualities she looks for in a fantasy novel, and the problem with the 'strong woman' trope.

Book review | A new translation shows the relevance of Odia legend Gopinath Mohanty's short stories today

Translated by Sudeshna Mohanty and Sudhansu Mohanty, the anthology 'Oblivion and Other Stories' is a reminder of the rich legacy of writing in Indian languages waiting to be translated.

Book review | ‘The Chippendales Murders’ or how not to get away with murder

K Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca's 'The Chippendales Murders' is several leagues ahead of its screen adaptation by Robert Siegel and offers an unintended message on the ills of greed.

Mr Solicitor General, here are 5 books to read this Lesbian Visibility Week, to grasp queer matters

As the world follows the same-sex marriage proceedings at the Supreme Court, here is a list of recommended reading in the ongoing Lesbian Visibility Week (April 24-30): five recently published books that spotlight stories of queer women.

Book review | Boria Majumdar’s ‘Sachin@50’ is an effusive celebration of the maestro, not a critical biography

This book will also strike a chord with readers who are not cricket enthusiasts but are curious about why Sachin Tendulkar gets all the adulation that comes his way, not only for sports but also his conduct off the pitch.

Book review | 'Exprovement' lucidly lays out ways of radical, exponential improvement

The case studies in Hersh Haladker and Raghunath Mashelkar’s new book 'Exprovement: Exponential Improvement Through Converging Parallels', on radical, paradigm-shifting problem-solving, will be of interest to mid-career professionals.

Book review | 'Meow Meow': Mumbai’s drug queen gets a new life in Srinath Rao’s incredible account

Former crime journalist Srinath Rao’s non-fiction book 'Meow Meow: The Incredible True Story of Baby Patankar' stamps its class, narrative cohesion, and journalistic rigour early on.

Book review | Jeff Smoot’s ‘All and Nothing’ climbs into the thrilling and perilous world of free soloing

In 'All and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing', veteran American climber Jeff Smoot tries to understand this form of climbing and what motivates folks from his community to embrace the risks associated with it.