NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 22, 2012
"Alternately sad, defiant, carefree and understated, this journey into a world hidden in plain sight is well worth taking."
A journalist ingratiates himself with a band of day laborers on the mean streets of Delhi, India.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
"This book will appeal to the spiritually minded."
Billed as a "teaching novel," this book uses examples from the lives of mystics of diverse traditions to pose questions about the origins, significance and reach of consciousness.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 18, 2012
"Aspects of a spy novel, a writer's autobiography and a victim's affidavit pulsing with resentment and fear combine to reveal a man's dawning awareness of the primacy of freedom."
The frightening, illuminating and disturbing memoir by the author of
The Satanic Verses, the book that provoked a death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: April 12, 2012
"Lyrical, poignant and pensive; challenging for its abundant Indian-isms ("She told only one girak that she was leaving, a pocket maar who always smoked at her station.") but also for its moral bleakness."
A tightly packed saga, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, of drug-ruled lives in the back streets of Mumbai, which longtime resident (and former addict) Thayil insists on calling Bombay.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: Dec. 6, 2011
"A deft exploration of the limits people place on themselves by trying to cling to the past."
The three protagonists in this trio of novellas struggle with fulfilling their desires while life in modern India speeds past them.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 25, 2011
"A bell-clear exposé of corporate greed and governmental malfeasance that should—if there is any justice in the world—provoke a furious backlash in the name of human dignity."
In a well-documented indictment, investigative journalist Roy (Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy, 2009, etc.) presents the case against the Indian government's murderous policies toward the country's tribal population.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: Oct. 5, 2011
Ghosh sets the second volume of his Ibis trilogy in 1838, appropriately enough, because at heart he's a 19th-century novelist with a sweeping vision of character and culture.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 2011
"Adiga nails the culture of corruption. How exciting to watch a writer come into his own, surpassing the achievement of his first novel."
Two strong-willed men, a developer and a holdout, propel this gripping second novel about real estate, greed and community in Mumbai (Bombay), India; Adiga won the Man Booker prize for his debut (
The White Tiger, 2008).
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: April 26, 2011
"A refreshingly clear, well-structured argument against the standard approach to poverty, this book, while intended for academics and those working on the ground, should provide an essential wake-up call for any reader."
Highly decorated economists Banerjee and Duflo (Economics/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) relay 15 years of research into a smart, engaging investigation of global poverty—and why we're failing to eliminate it.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 11, 2011
"Despite some minor flaws, Ramachandran produces an exhilarating and at times funny text that invites discussion and experimentation."
Ramachandran (Psychology and Neurosciences/Univ. of California, San Diego;
A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness, 2005, etc.) sets his sights on explaining the neuroscience that underlies characteristics he considers unique to humans beings.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 19, 2010
"A work more narrative than reflective, but Naipaul's prose remains smooth, subtle, often silvery."
In this minor but engaging work, the Nobel Prize winner (
Magic Seeds, 2004, etc.) examines the supernatural and religious beliefs he discovered in six African nations.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 4, 2008
"A cautionary volume that stresses the need to educate, treat and create jobs."
Grim text and photographs depict an India very different from the booming economic superpower-in-training of contemporary myth.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: April 4, 2008
"An eye for detail, ear for dialogue and command of family dynamics distinguish this uncommonly rich collection."
Lahiri (
The Namesake, 2003, etc.) extends her mastery of the short-story format in a collection that has a novel's thematic cohesion, narrative momentum and depth of character.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: April 26, 2006
"Excellent stuff. Let's have Chatterjee's other novels, please."
A slacker seeks career success and sexual fulfillment in Chatterjee's 1988 first novel, since proclaimed a contemporary Indian classic.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2005
"Another triumph for one of the most versatile and engaging of all contemporary writers."
The Indian-born poet (
The Golden Gate, 1986) and novelist (
A Suitable Boy, 1993) extends his already impressive range with this replete family memoir.
Read full book review >
