book review
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Taking folk melodies of Bangladesh to the world
Folk Melody of Bangladesh: An Anthology of Bangladesh Folk Music in Standard Notation is a music anthology that compiles 204 carefully chosen folk songs of Bangladesh that date from the 16th century.
BOOK REVIEW: GRAPHIC NOVEL / Down the rabbit hole of science and art
The city of Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic, was once the breeding hotspot of the 20th century’s greatest writers, scientists, scholars, and activists.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Sad men behaving badly
In January 2023, I was sitting in the crowd, listening in on a panel at the 10th and possibly the final edition of the Dhaka Lit Fest. Sheikh Hasina had already been in power for almost 15 years, and it felt like the sun would never set on Awami League, at least not in my lifetime.
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Unravelling Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Nexus’
Review of ‘Nexus’ (Random House, 2024)
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / For the ‘Twilight’ fan who grew up
I was a Twilight girl.
TRIBUTE / Story of an ‘Unaccompanied Minor’: A tribute to Matthew Perry
It's almost as if Matthew Perry was destined to write this book.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Of dewdrops and grit
‘Shabnam’ is a dewdrop in Persian. Shabnam (1960) is the name of Syed Mujtaba Ali’s passionate love story that stretches beyond the history of nearly a century ago.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A tale of forgetting and remembrance
Being an ardent admirer of K-pop culture, I wonder why I was hitherto unaware of this gem of a book, One Left by Kim Soom, and the excruciatingly painful truth it delineates.
BOOK REVIEW: NON-FICTION / An exploration of the history and panoply of Indian Subcontinental cuisine
Review of ‘Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes from Muslim South Asia’ (Picador India, 2023) edited by Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Tarana Husain Khan, and Claire Chambers
Agonies of the downtrodden
Anasru Ishwar written by Kazi Labonno is an impressive work of fiction, shedding light on the deepest gloom pervading the remotest corner of society.
Time-travelling through London and Tehran
The London Bookshop Affair and The Stationery Shop of Tehran are veritable time-travel portals. They offer a deep look at the political mishaps of the times
Navigating Dhaka’s urban labyrinth
A review of ‘Spatial Justice, Contested Governance And Livelihood Challenges In Bangladesh’ (Routledge, 2024) by Lutfun Nahar Lata
Balancing the act of oneness and being one with oneself
Kiriti Sengupta is an award-winning poet, translator, editor, and publisher based in New Delhi, India. Oneness is his latest collection of poems. The seemingly unassuming thin volume does not prepare readers for the multi-sensory experience that is in store for them as they open the book. Even before one’s mind and eyes get used to reading, the poet jolts readers as he writes “I rived my eyes / for inditing poems. / Would you reckon them / by their length?”
Riding the early years of motherhood through ‘Soldier Sailor’
While reading it, one might feel that they are reading a mother’s confessions while she takes care of her son.
'Thrice born': The journey of Bangladeshi literature in English
Bangladeshi Literature in English: Critical Essays and Interviews, edited by Mohammad A. Quayum and Md. Mahmudul Hasan, focuses on critical essays on Bangladeshi literature in English—both from Bangladesh and its diasporas (US, UK, and Australia).
Sufism and the emergence of Bengal’s syncretic culture
Review of ‘Needle at the Bottom of the Sea: Bengali Tales from the Land of the Eighteen Tides’ (University of California Press, 2023) translated by Tony K. Stewart
Selected poems of Shamim Reza: An overview
Review of 'Shamim Reza: Selected Poems' (ULAB Press, 2023)
A “knockout” debut from Rita Bullwinkel
The eight girls in Headshot clearly hope to escape the chaos of their lives in the ring.
'Prophet Song': Full of sound, fury, and significance
The 309-page-long dystopian novel is an oppressive account of Eilish who tries to keep her family from falling apart as everything around her crumbles.