nonfiction
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: NONFICTION / Navigating Dhaka’s urban labyrinth
A review of ‘Spatial Justice, Contested Governance And Livelihood Challenges In Bangladesh’ (Routledge, 2024) by Lutfun Nahar Lata
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / An enigma amongst nations
In Alex Christofi’s newly published fascinating book—Cypria: A Journey to the Heart of the Mediterranean—we get a deep close-range look at one of world civilisation’s interesting hotspots that has long swayed between the cross-currents of the rise and fall of the great monotheisms.
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / (Re)visit to the alleys of contestation, narratives, and memories that the Partition left behind
The book discusses the lack of sensitivity among policymakers in acknowledging the distinct socio-cultural differences and linguistic and community identities of the refugees that often got merged. It explores how different categories of refugees received different treatments.
THE SHELF / 6 Books to add to your summer reading list
As summer rolls around and our lifestyle changes to adjust to the heat, so do a lot of our books! So here are a few books that might make a good addition to this year’s summer reading list.
THE SHELF / 5 short books you can read and finish on Eid day
Here is a list of 5 short and swift books for fellow bookworms (people who would much rather stay in than socialise) to nestle in with on this Eid day.
THE SHELF / 5 of your favourite iftar items as books
The youthful adventurers in the story spare no effort in unravelling a mystery that proves as elusive as the unyielding strands of jilapi, while also exploring deeper, sweeter themes such as friendship.
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / A peripatetic poet’s pleasing musings
The title of this book suggests that it is based in Bengal but it really meanders deftly across time and space, more often than not in “mazy motion”.
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / The ‘new oil’ transforming the world
Chip War, a highly praised book written by Chris Miller who teaches International history at Tuft University’s Fletcher School, USA, is a New York Times bestseller.
War still rages on
We might never know how it feels when your whole existence is denied or the loss of homeland, but we can get a little glimpse of their suffering.
The sound of Dhaka city
Once on a particularly smothering hot day, on a CNG ride to work, I was stuck in the most heinous traffic for over two hours. Over the yelling drivers, honking cars, and incessant cursing over why the CNGs were trying to overtake the expensive cars, I was listening to my usual cycle of songs. As coincidence would have it, David Gilmour in his seraphic voice posed the question: “So, so you think you can tell/ Heaven from hell?”
Of love, longing, and music that make us
My mother’s house is beside a lake that separates the rich and mighty of the city from a little isle of people who work for them.
What you call your own
As an Anglophone writer in Bangladesh, I’ve frequently faced the rather inane question of why I write in English.
A modern love story in translation
I became an ardent admirer of Amrita Pritam, the maverick Punjabi author, an outspoken critic of the Indian patriarchy and discriminating social practices, three decades back in New York when I was putting together an anthology of world feminist poems in Bangla translation.
The records of resilience
Much of the reminiscences in The Murti Boys encompass the grittiness of staving off the Pakistanis with little weaponry and a great deal of quick thinking.
Navigating the maze of nutrition myths
Unlike online influencers and their various outright claims of right and wrong, Dr Wolrich’s approach is grey.
The new speculative literary magazine on the block
Veering off from stories for a bit, Fahim Anzoom Rumman’s “The Secret” was a breath of fresh air. The piece seemed to be a cross between a poem and the kind of fable your grandparents would tell you as a kid to get you to fall asleep.
Mood mirror
Whenever depression is depicted in pop culture, it is shown in some visible extreme, with blue-grey lighting, dark rooms, ashen faces peering out through rainy windows, bodies curled up in bed.
6 wonderful books to celebrate the Women in Translation month
‘Women in Translation’ is an all-inclusive, international project that aims to terminate the continual discrimination faced by non-English female authors, and gives them due recognition.