Aug, 2022 – City of Djinns – A Year in Delhi – William Dalrymple
BG 2 – Book Review – August 2022 City of Djinns – a Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple William Dalrymple peels back the layers of Delhi’s history, in a what can be called part travelogue part memoir. The book goes back in time, from the 1984 riots, to Indraprastha, the mythical city of the […]
June, 2022 – Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line – Deepa Anaparra
Book Group 1 had a zoom meeting to discuss the author’s debut and widely praised book on June 30th 2022. Deepa Anaparra has worked in Mumbai and Delhi as a journalist and has mainly covered the poor neighbourhoods where people live in constant fear of bulldozers destroying their tin roofed shacks and corrupt police officers […]
June, 2022 – Between Clay and Dust by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Book Group 2 Shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, Between Clay and Dust is a moving and beautifully told story of a wrestling champion and a courtesan with a prestigious past struggling to hold onto the world they once knew amidst the eruptions of history in the aftermath of Partition between India and Pakistan. […]
May, 2022 – Map of Salt and Stars – Jennifer Zeyn Joukhandar
Every now and again there comes a book that fills you with Hope and makes you believe in humankind. Jennifer Zenyab Joukhandar’s Map of Salt and Stars is one such novel. A beautiful, lyrical debut novel that evokes much thought and discussion on the very serious issue of the Syrian Refugees and their displacement from […]
April, 2022 – How to Pronounce Knife – Souvankham Thammavongsa
Book Group 1 How to Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa is an award-winning book of short stories, written by the daughter of Lao refugees to Canada. This story collection centers on characters and their children struggling to make their way in unfamiliar territory, shuttling between different languages, cultures, and values. The more you read […]
April, 2022 – Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 – Cho Nam-Joo
Kim Ji-young is the main character of this novel, and we follow her throughout her life and how she got to be the way she is in the modern era. She was born in an uneventful household, but there was blatant favouritism in the house towards the youngest son. We follow Kim’s life, from childhood, […]
March, 2022 – Travels in a Dervish Cloak – Isambard Wilkinson
BG 1, March Book Review Travels in a Dervish Cloak by Isambard Wilkinson Travels in a Dervish Cloak is not strictly a travel book per se. The “dervish cloak” of the title is Pakistan itself—a fraying patchwork garment, in a phrase borrowed from Lahore’s patron saint, Data Ganj Bakhsh. The “travels”, meanwhile, are less a […]
March, 2022 – The Runaways – Fatima Bhutto
BG 2 March 2022 Review The Runaways by Fatima Bhutto Fatima Bhutto – it’s a famous name, and also a name marked with sagas in South Asian history. She says, “In a way, violence is always described in stark black and white terms and I wanted to think about it in a different way. How […]
Feb – 2022 – Burnt Sugar – Avni Doshi
BG 2 review – February 2022 Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi ‘Burnt Sugar’ is a story of love and hate, betrayal, forgiveness, and revenge. A story not between lovers – between a mother and daughter. Tara, the mother, was neglected and careless. In her youth, Tara was wild. Antara, the daughter, becomes her unwilling but […]
Feb -2022 – The Architect’s Apprentice – Elif Shafak
Bookgroup 1 – February 2022 Review The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak Set in the mid 16th century in Istanbul, Turkish author Elif Shafak spins an epic tale that stretches over half a century, beginning with the arrival of twelve year old Jahan and a white elephant by the name of Chota. Chota has been […]