Culture

In the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy, Pamela Aidan attempts to provide insight into the thoughts and feelings of this enigmatic romantic lead of English literature. During the many rereads of Pride & Prejudice, as much as I enjoyed the goings on of the Bennet household, I often felt shortchanged in my understanding of Mr. Darcy. His reclusiveness adds both to his arrogance and enigma. We only hear of his good deeds from his friends and employees, but…

Thanks to Orca Publishers and NetGalley for sending me an ARC.  Being from India, I have been consciously exploring children’s literature that I can expose to my American-born son. The beautiful cover of this book caught my eye – and this book was exactly what I was looking for. About Grandmother School Grandmother School is written by Rina Singh, a Canadian writer famous for other children’s books on Indian culture. As the name suggests, this…

What’s Palace of Illusions about? In the Palace of Illusions, Banerjee takes on Indian epic Mahabharata, and weaves an imaginative novel around it’s most maligned & suffering female character, Draupadi. A story so powerful that it has transcended thousands of years, the Mahabharata is a timeless epic. Relevant and revered, every Indian is as familiar with its broad construct as the western world is with the Bible. It takes courage to mess around with something…

When Death Comes To Pemberley was released, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. A promising fiction crossover from one of my favorite modern mystery writers wading into popular period literature. I saw it was curious to see how PD James spun off a murder mystery from the most popular romantic classic of the 19th century – Pride & Prejudice. It’s said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Still, I am…

Every once in a while, I like to immerse myself in a proper British mystery novel. And where else to turn to but to the Queen of Crime and her favorite detective, Hercule Poirot. The Mystery of the Blue Train begins with the introduction of distantly related characters, each with their own nuances, dark secrets, and ambitions. The tone for murder is set early. Also, if you have read enough of Agatha Christie, at least…

If I were to describe Taare Zameen Par in one line, I’d  say – A movie that takes you back to your childhood days and makes you question society’s insistence on being the best. Aamir Khan’s directorial debut TZP is the story of a dyslexic boy struggling for his identity. Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) is a misfit in a world enamoured by grades, ranks and trophies. Labelled a loser by his teachers, friends and classmates; he finds…

I am not the first reviewer to compare Rules of Civility to The Great Gatsby. Both are period dramas set in the glamorous worlds of high society of New York with a doomed romance at their center. It’s probably literary blasphemy to say so, but I found Rules of Civility infinitely preferable. I never did have any patience for the story of the purposeless life of the bored rich and their poor life choices. Maybe…

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is one of those books that does really well on the book blogger circuit. It’s literary enough to catch a more discerning reader and sufficiently romantic to appeal to a more casual purveyor of books. The Plot Based in post-war Britain, this is a story of the friendship of three twenty-somethings – Penelope, Charlotte, and Henry. And that is just one layer of the story. Eva Rice transports the…