))
We're Indians and we read uncontrollably. Not just the starred "serious" books that are reviewed in the papers, but comics, thrillers, self-help books, campus romances, travel, and whatever seems interesting. How come the papers don't cover what we really want? Bookasur is a book review and discussion podcast where P. S. Nissim, a writer and professional book critic, talks about the full broad variety of books we like, from a true desi perspective. From Stephen King to Sholay, from Tagore to ...
…
continue reading
What does one learn from years of reviewing books? And what does one make of a book that defies easy reviewing? Easy, this reviewer picks up the book and goes deeper into it, and then talks of what distinguishes a book reader from a reviewer - along with some rants about the never-ending pressure to keep up. This is episode #25 of Bookasur, talking…
…
continue reading
Murder comes in many flavours, and so does the murder mystery. In this episode, we talk about the various ingredients that go into making a successful mystery story - and we pick up one such Indian experiment that follows the template but breaks new ground. And then, we pick up a classic of the genre and talk about its sly self-referential nature. …
…
continue reading
Two literary superstars, one in Gujarati, one in Hindi. Their short stories won them lakhs of followers. Both deserve more attention than they got outside their language readers. But thanks to translations, there are now chances for us to explore these stories. This is episode #23 of Bookasur, talking about Virgina Woolf, literary magazines, a new …
…
continue reading
Writers spend years researching and understanding the settings of their books - and when this is done right, the book really shines. This is an aspect that doesn’t get the respect it deserves in Indian genre fiction. In this episode we talk of two books that bring out their respective milieus - modern Mumbai through a cop’s eyes, and Mughal-era Del…
…
continue reading
We’re seeing more books in English that depart - and expand - the western/European/Christian canon of fiction that feels very narrow in today’s day and age. This is especially true for fantastic fiction, and today we talk of two books that stretch the boundaries to India and Africa, and show just how the fantastic fits in with a new set of values -…
…
continue reading
Let’s make it clear: Not all novels about childhood are for kids - even the pleasant ones. But reading about our golden childhood years in our adulthood gives us satisfaction like perhaps nothing else. In this episode, we talk about two books that recapture those years and make us nostalgic for a time, a place, and a certain light of day. This is e…
…
continue reading
We had World Translation Day last week. So, this time we pick up two books, both translated, both from Malayalam, both literary fiction, both by the same publishing house, published within a couple of months of each other, and talk about how different they are. Hey, if there’s so much variety just between these two, think of what other wonders are …
…
continue reading
Short stories are an enjoyment all their own. And especially when we want to explore a genre, or see multiple facets of a writer’s work, they’re the way to go. Genre and Weird fiction has been the ground for exploration of this form - today let’s talk of two books that give you a flavour that long form fiction just cannot. This is episode #18 of Bo…
…
continue reading
Remember when we had all the time in the world to read, as kids, but never found books that were about us? Now that we don’t have the time, we have publishers in India really going for it, publishing cool kids’ stuff left and right. Let’s pick up two of these new breed of kids-oriented non-fiction books that show us India through fresh eyes. This i…
…
continue reading
Office jobs don’t feature in fiction quite as much as we’d like to, perhaps because it isn’t cool to be good at our job and just earn money, maybe? But today we’re picking up two books that riff off aspects of the office experience and take them in very different directions. Good fiction comes from our own lives, always. This is episode #16 of Book…
…
continue reading
Those who don’t read History are condemned to read WhatsApp forwards. On the occasion of Independence Day, let’s talk about how to approach our our past, and how to make sense of it. Today we discuss two books that recreate that past out of multiple sources, and give us a baseline to build on. This is episode #15 of Bookasur, talking about a legend…
…
continue reading
Crazy times. Crazy enough, in fact, that it felt strange to want to just talk about random stuff. But, prompted by questions from a few friends, that's what I did in this episode. Tune in for a fun bunch of recommendations (not to mention a couple opinionated rants). This is episode #13 of Bookasur, talking about Asterix, Rani Laxmibai, Colonial Be…
…
continue reading
These days, we’re all thinking about sickness and pandemics - but these have been around for a long time in various forms. With them, have been men and women dedicated to healing, as well as unexpectedly human stories of extraordinary courage. Today, we talk about a new translated book about three generations of doctors, and then a classic book tha…
…
continue reading
Fantasy is a genre built out of many, many, components that come from all over. In India we’re seeing a resurgence of a fantasy tradition that rebuilds mythology and borrows liberally from western traditions. Today we talk about one of these books that creates a rich story out of all these elements. Then we discuss a project that overlays sci-fi wi…
…
continue reading
1
Ep 11: What frightens us, What draws us in
25:05
25:05
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
25:05
What we’re scared about is what goes into our Horror fiction. Today we talk about fiction that builds the base on what the genre is composed of, and then look at another book that’s the result of 40+ years of working in the genre. This is episode #11 of Bookasur, talking about ghostly doctors and paranormal sightings and also a phone that brings in…
…
continue reading
Man made God in his own image - but then turned Him into something else, until a writer turned him and made Him a man again. In this episode, we speak about a Marathi bestseller that tells Krishna’s story in His own words. We then speak about an originally-in-Greek classic that brought Jesus Christ’s story back to the basics. This is episode #10 of…
…
continue reading
Take a horror classic that’s considered foundational, and build a new book on top that’s… a thriller? No one but Ruth Ware could have dared, and gotten away with it. We then move on to a ghost story by someone who’s known for anything but ghosts - Rabindranath Tagore. Or maybe the story’s a metaphor for something else. This is episode #9 of Bookasu…
…
continue reading
There are many reasons to read Biographies. Maybe they remind us of our own childhood, or maybe they take us to a creative place only the privileged can reach. Today, we discuss the story of the man who made Alisha Chinai happy in that one iconic video, but who prefers to talk about running today: Milind Soman. Then we delve into the life of one of…
…
continue reading
How much of the appeal of Horror fiction is in the setting? How much in the world building? Today, we discuss @almakatsu’s book The Deep, where she sets us up for scares on the fatal voyage of the Titanic. And then we talk of @andaleedwajid’s horror novel House of Screams, which takes you to a historic - and storied - area in Bangalore city. This i…
…
continue reading
1
Ep 6: Deep in the forest... of Mathematics
23:27
23:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
23:27
Why don’t we read more comics? Especially those that are labours of love, that hold your hand and take you to places you’ve been too intimidated to enter. Amruta Patil (@hathoric) and Devdutt Pattanaik (@devduttmyth) riff off Indian Spiritual texts to create a fresh take. And Apostolos Doxiadis (@apdox) and Christos Papadimitriou give us a layered,…
…
continue reading
How best to know a people? Let me count the ways. Madhuri Vijay writes about a Bangalore girl who goes off the beaten paths in Kashmir, looking for a tenuous connection to her past, in her highly acclaimed debut literary novel. Onaiza Drabu retells the stories that the Kashmiri folk tell each other, around the fire, on chilly winter nights. And P. …
…
continue reading
There are all kinds of travel. There’s discovering a familiar city through new eyes, and there’s going to a place that’s remote in place and time. In this episode, Meera Iyer shows us her city, Bengaluru, as a place full of surprises, heritage, and trivia. Then, Dervla Murphy, tells us of a visit to Gilgit and Baltistan - in the dead of winter - an…
…
continue reading
Saee Koranne-Khandekar (@Saeek) walks us through Maharastrian culture via its food, in her new recipe book. Then, we roll back to a cookbook originally published in 1943, which chronicled the society of the time, even as it told young housewives what to do with the day’s find in the vegetable market. Why would a book review show pick up cookbooks, …
…
continue reading
1
Ep 2: The Apocalypse and the Black Dwarves
20:36
20:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
20:36
S. B. Divya (@divyastweets) shows us a dozen future interactions between man and machine, in her collection of cool sci-fi short stories. In the meantime, Varun Thomas Mathew takes us to ecological apocalypse and beyond, in his debut novel. Once you get started, you can’t stop reading these bad boys, they’re that absorbing. Tune in to find out more…
…
continue reading
Aayakudi and Kanthapura are both small villages in South India. But the books set in these places are dramatically different! Tune in to find out more about them. This was the first episode of Bookasur, recorded late in 2019. It's very much a "pilot" episode, but I think it covers the kind of themes that you'll see in future episodes as well. Books…
…
continue reading
Before we get properly started, let me tell you what I want to do with this cool new podcast. What do we want to cover in the show? What new do we bring to the topic? And: why listen to me specifically? All this stuff, and it's only the trailer :) ! Look out for the first episode on 15th January, 2020. This is your new year resolution to read more,…
…
continue reading
