This book was published in 2019 when John Le Carré was 88 years old. One can only hope to be in such great mental form at his age. It appears there’s nothing like writing a spy novel to keep your brain sharp. Agent Running in the Field is not Le Carré’s best novel: but then, Le Carré at his best is very good indeed. This … Continue reading John le Carré “Agent Running in the Field” – book review
It’s a melancholy collection: full of reminiscences and nostalgic reflection Continue reading Louise Glück “Faithful and Virtuous Night”- book review
This was certainly not a typical year. I get really annoyed by the assumption that “You have staid in a lot this year and therefore you have time to read all the books”. I didn’t have time to read all the books. I had time to nervously panic and stress play Tetris. I didn’t use my newly found free time to read. In fact, I’m not … Continue reading 2020 – year in books
The final installment of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy is a thick volume. Continue reading Hilary Mantel’s “The Mirror and the Light” – book review
Hunger Games is one of those few instances where I did not insist on reading the book before I saw the film. Continue reading Suzanne Collins “The Hunger Games” trilogy – book review
When I reached for Storr’s book The Science of Storytelling, I hoped to find a scientific exploration of the way storytelling affects our brains. Continue reading Will Storr’s “The Science of Storytelling” – book review
The phrase “surveillance capitalism” has been appearing in the newspapers recently as a way of describing the business practice of Google and Facebook. The phrase was coined by Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Captialism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of AI. The book begins with a definition of surveillance capitalism Sur-veil-lance Cap-i-tal-ism, n. A new economic order that … Continue reading Shoshana Zuboff “The Age of Surveillance Captialism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of AI” – book review
I devoured this book in one gulp as I would a box of chocolates. It is a collection of Nora Ephron’s personal essays, just the sort of length so that one can read it in a single afternoon. Continue reading Nora Ephron’s “I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman” – book review
Rather than providing a matter-of-fact account of what she has done and when, Hurston mixes together fiction to create an origin story for herself. That said, the book was first published in 1942, and it shows many signs of its time. Continue reading Zora Neale Hurston “Dust tracks on a road”- book review
Naturally I was very excited to find that Joseph Conrad visited Mauritius too – and that he wrote about it. Continue reading Joseph Conrad’s “A Smile of Fortune”- book review
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