wishlist

Our Must-Reads List for April

Our wishlist of books for April is diverse as always; from an account of the rise and fall of the Pahalvis of Iran, to the life and times of Sabira Merchant, and from the genius of Nikola Tesla to stories and struggles of Northeast India. For good measure, there’s also a really short history of the mysterious, enigmatic Soviet Union, and a 12,000 mile journey around the Arctic Circle. Here’s a quick look at the books we want to read in April this year.  

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  • Not Just a Walk in the Park

    Long roadtrips are great – we love those so much. We often dream of saddling up on a BMW R1250GS and riding off into the sunset. Or, for the times we crave air-conditioned comfort and when a motorcycle just won’t do, we think of the Mahindra Thar, which has a rugged charm that’s all its…

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  • ‘Sci-Fi turning into a ground for political commentary is not a recent phenomenon’

    Based in Calcutta, Sayan Chattopadhyay is a PhD scholar at Adamas University, with a rather unusual set of research areas, including science-fiction, dystopian studies, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies and posthumanism. One of his recent papers on the politics behind superhero costumes has been selected for presentation at an international conference by the University of New…

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  • Book Review: Raw Umber – A Memoir

    ‘Some of the boxes had never been opened. The viscous oil colours dried up and hardened, and the tight caps were difficult to unscrew. Raw Umber, Gamboge, Cobalt Blue, Scarlet Lake, Ultramarine…,’ says Sara Rai, speaking of the tubes of paint her father – of whom she writes at length and with great affection –…

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  • Big Billion Startup: In Conversation with Mihir Dalal

    A seasoned business journalist, Mihir has worked with CNBC TV 18, Reuters News and Mint, and has written extensively on startups and ecommerce companies. His first book, Big Billion Startup, which charted the rise of India’s own ecommerce behemoth, was a smash hit when it was released in 2019. The book won prestigious awards, including…

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Anglo-Indian Stories: The Books You Must Read

Risen from our colonial past, the Anglo-Indian community in India is unique in many ways, and an invaluable part of modern India. For those who may be interested in learning more about their culture and their way of life, here are some books that are a brilliant read.

My Life With Books: Arunima Mazumdar

Delhi-based Arunima is a marketing and communications specialist with over 15 years of experience across journalism, publishing and digital advertising. Currently a senior account director with Moe’s Art, she has…

Slogan Murugan: In Conversation with Gopal MS

Based in Mumbai, Gopal MS is an advertising professional (hence the ‘Slogan’ in ‘Slogan Murugan’) and also a street photographer who captures the vibrancy and diversity of Mumbai on his…

The Art and Science of Reading: An Essay

Vinay Varma is a senior management consultant with focus on strategy, planning, processes and systems. He has previously worked in the areas of strategic planning, business development, corporate communications, IT…

The 9 Best Books for Japanophiles

Japan is one of the most fascinating countries on the planet. There is an otherworldliness about it that’s strangely intriguing. The culture, the customs, the traditions, the people – in…

Bad Medicine: The 7 Books That Took On Big Pharma

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. And that sure seems to be the case in the world of medicine. Over the last two decades, the pharma industry has earned significant disrepute for the dark, dubious ways in which it sometimes functions. Pharma companies (especially those that manufacture generic drugs), many of which have often…

Heavy Metal: In Conversation with Ameer Shahul

A green crusader, emerging technology advocate, public policy leader and now an author, Ameer Shahul has shaken things up with his book, Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal. It is an important piece of work, a deeply-researched investigative account of Hindustan Unilever’s role in perpetrating a massive ecological/environmental disaster in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu.One…

My Life With Books: Vaishali Dinakaran

One of the best motorsports journalists India has ever seen, Vaishali worked for Autocar India, Business Standard Motoring and Overdrive, when she was based in Mumbai. She’s now based in Berlin and we caught up with her for a quick chat about her work in journalism, her love for motorsports, and her favourite books and authors.

Our Must-Reads List for March

We’ll admit, our reading wishlist for March is a bit ‘heavy,’ with Pico Iyer introspecting on a life spent traipsing around the world, Ashoka Mody reflecting on how everything went…

In Conversation with Jitendra Dixit

Author of Bombay After Ayodhya: A City in Flux, which was released in December last year, Jitendra Dixit has worked in television journalism for almost 25 years. A broadcast journalist…

Tamal Bandyopadhyay: A Roller Coaster Ride

One of the most respected business journalists in India, Tamal has worked with Business Standard, Financial Express, Mint and The Economic Times. He has written seven bestselling books on banking…

Travels in Africa: The 7 Books to Read

Once known as the dark continent and still seen as a ‘difficult’ place by some, Africa is the world’s second-largest continent, with 20% of the Earth’s land area and a…

Must-Read Books on Hindustani Classical Music

Calcutta-based Rebanta Gupta, who loves Hindustani classical music, presents his essential reading list for fans of this particularly fascinating genre of music. My cousin Sharanya seems to have always harboured…

On the Hippie Trail – Part I

For most of us, the word ‘hippie’ is associated with images from the 1960s-70s, of Westerners – long-haired white men and women – clad in semi-tattered psychedelic clothing, smoking weed, chilling out on the beaches of Goa, dancing to their own beat and generally not giving a damn. An article from the July 7, 1967…

Tales From Silicon Valley: Must-Read Tech-Biz Books

Cutting-edge tech that sometimes has the power to transform lives (in good ways and bad), billions of dollars earned or lost in what seems the blink of an eye and unique, and strong-willed characters who have unshakeable belief in what they’re doing and who’ll often do anything at all to get what they want. That’s…

Cityscapes: Memorable Books on Indian Cities

From Bombay to Banaras and Lucknow to Ludhiana, Indian cities are full of interesting characters and remarkable stories. Here’s our list of some great books that talk about various Indian…

Vox Populi: Decline of the Library

In the age of the Internet, in a world where Google seems to have all the answers, do people still have library memberships? Do they still go to libraries? Is…

Smita Khanna: The Publisher’s Perspective

With an MA in Women’s Studies, Singapore-based Smita is a literary agent with Jacaranda Literary Agency. She has earlier worked with the Times of India, Rupa Publications and Dorling Kindersely…

In Conversation With M Rajshekhar

With an MA from the University of Sussex, UK, Rajshekhar is a senior journalist who has, over the last 25 years, worked with Business Standard, BW Businessworld, The Economic Times…

Talking Audiobooks with Deepika Arun

Based in Chennai, Deepika Arun has a B.Tech in bioengineering and biomedical engineering, is a huge Potterhead, a podcast producer with Spotify, and audiobook narrator for Storytel and Audible. She…

In Conversation With Chitra Narayanan

Based in Delhi, Chitra is an editorial consultant for The Hindu Business Line. She has earlier worked with leading newspapers and magazines, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, Times Internet,…

Reading By Design: Professor G.V. Sreekumar

G.V. Sreekumar is Professor and former Head of IDC School of Design at IIT Bombay and his specialisations include Typography, Calligraphy, Publication Design, Information Graphics, Design Pedagogy, and Visual Semantics.…

‘Today, guided publishing has taken a front seat’

Deepthy P. Nair, founder of The Alcove Publishers, talks about how her company tries to do things differently, the kind of books that work best these days, the self-publishing phenomenon, and the changes taking place in the publishing industry.

My Life With Books: Sachin Rao

Based in London, Sachin is a commercial features Editor at Guardian News & Media. One of the best writers/editors in the business, he has worked in the UK since the…

My Life With Books: Srinivas Krishnan

A legend in his own lifetime, Mumbai-based Srinivas has been an automotive person in the communications business or a communications person in the automotive business all along – advertising, journalism,…

My Life With Books: Marco D’Souza

Based in Gurgaon, Marco is a career journalist who jumped to corporate communications and now works for Google. A consummate geek and a fan of eBooks and the Kindle Paperwhite,…

My Life With Books: Dhirender Nirwani

Based in Goa, Dhirender is a former digital media specialist and was country manager at IBM. He now works at CraftGully, which he co-founded in 2012. Dhirender is an avid…

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