Tag Archives: Penguin Books

Title: Silent House
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, Penguin
ISBN: 978-0-670-08559-0
Genre: Literary Fiction, Translation
Pages: 334
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5
Not everyone I have met who like reading, like Orhan Pamuk. They say they cannot get into his books. Of course. It is true. One needs a lot of patience and time on hand to be able to read and appreciate a Pamuk. The first time I started on was with, “My Name is Red” and it took me two rereads to be able to understand the intricacies…

Title: Overseas
Author: Beatriz Williams
Publisher: Putnam Adult
ISBN: 978-0399157646
Genre: Adult Fiction
Pages: 464
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
I do not read romance novels, so I was a bit hesitant to read, “Overseas” by Beatriz Williams. It was touted as a romance novel, and let me tell you, that that is a misconception when it comes to this one. It is very different from the genre and the change is refreshing.
“Overseas” is a love-story. That I have to agree, however it is different and when I say that,…

Title: The Gods of Gotham
Author: Lyndsay Faye
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books
ISBN: 978-0399158377
Genre: Thriller, Crime Fiction
Pages: 432
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
It is not easy to write a good thriller and a crime novel. All the elements need to be in place – the setting, the place, the characters and the crime but of course. Everything to the finest detail – after all nothing can go amiss in such type of a genre. This is what Lyndsay Faye has effortlessly achieved in her book, “The Gods of…

Title: The Storm at the Door
Author: Stefan Merrill Block
Publisher: Faber and Faber UK
ISBN: 978-0571269594
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5
Stefan Merrill Block’s, “The Storm at the Door” speaks of illness, mental illness at that. He combines his family facts and fiction to give readers a book that sometimes makes you stop in your tracks and think about it. The Storm at the Door is astonishingly original and quite compelling. Block has taken his maternal grandparents’ lives and blended fact with fiction – often…

Title: The Habit of LoveAuthor: Namita GokhalePublisher: Penguin IndiaISBN: 978-0-143-41772-9Genre: Short StoriesPages: 184Source: PublisherRating: 4/5
The Habit of Love by Namita Gokhale is a collection of thirteen stories that reflect and internalize the lives of women. Of course one cannot generalize anything basis these stories, however yes they provide the necessary framework needed to understand the environment around us. Some women do not belong to the present, some are parts of today and now and some are just wanderers.
Namita Gokhale speaks to you through her characters and stories. She…

Title: HomesickAuthor: Roshi FernandoPublisher: BloomsburyISBN: 978-1408826362Genre: Literary FictionPages: 200Source: PublisherRating: 4/5
When I first started reading, “Homesick” by Roshi Fernando, it came to be like any other book of displaced families and forgotten voices. Of the second generation and third generations, wanting to search themselves and what they stand for. However, though the book did run on these lines, it had a different voice to it.
Homesick is a book of many layers and each layer has a unique and original voice. When I say layers, I but obviously mean…

Title: Narcopolis Author: Jeet Thayil Publisher: Faber and Faber, Penguin Books ISBN: 978-0571283071Genre: Literary FictionPages: 304 Source: Publisher Rating: 4/5
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil is a book that doesn’t leave you till you have finished it. It is not only a disturbing read, but also highly intense. It captures all elements of Bombay, who is coincidentally the hero or heroine of the story, which is what I loved the most about the novel. Bombay is the protagonist as it always is – harsh, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, sometimes cunning and…

Title: Chanel: An Intimate Life Author: Lisa Chaney Publisher: Fig Tree, Penguin Group, Penguin Books ISBN: 978-1-905-49036-3Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography Pages: 496Source: Publisher Rating: 4/5
One icon that instantly comes to my mind is “Coco Chanel” and it is not because of the laurels. It is because of the life she led. So when I received a detailed biography of Chanel’s life, I jumped at it and finished it in a matter of two days. Prior to this I had seen the movie based on her life, “Coco Chanel” starring Shirley…

Title: Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi Author: Steve Inskeep Publisher: Penguin Viking ISBN: 9780670086078Genre: Non-Fiction Pages: 284Source: Publisher Rating: 5/5
Instant City chronicles the life of Karachi – of a city in Pakistan that seems to be the only metropolis and yet the dichotomy lies in it being so backward at times, that even its people fail to recognize it. Karachi has been transformed a lot since the India-Pakistan partition and in many ways that most people fail to see. Steve Inskeep brilliantly writes and captures the essence…

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCEVoices from the Partition of IndiaWritten by Urvashi ButaliaPublished by Penguin Books
Reviewed by sandhya.
Urvashi Butalia, the writer, has impressive credentials. Along with Ritu Menon, she set up Kali for Women, the first feminist press in India, in 1984, and later, Zubaan Books. Born to in Ambala, India, to parents who were refugees from West Punjab, now in Pakistan, she grew up hearing stories of  the Partition, which tore apart the Indian subcontinent at the time of its freedom from British rule.…