READISCOVERY

Scholars have long pondered Shakespeare’s attitude to women, his sexuality, the misogyny demonstrated at times towards the Dark Lady of the sonnets, and his relationship with his wife, Anne Hathaway. But there’s no denying that he wrote marvellous roles for women. His heroines dazzle. Shakespeare gives his women the finest lines, say E. Foley and…

For some six centuries, the leading power in India was Muslim, not Hindu, writes Andrew Robinson in India: A Short History. Beginning with the conquest of Delhi in the 1190s, the Muslims came to rule most of the country till the British supplanted them in the mid-18th century. Now, after centuries of domination by a…

The historian Simon Schama is a wonderful writer bringing historical figures to life, vividly recounting the past. He humanises history. Like any good writer, he also has the gift of metaphor. Striking analogies are to be found in his writing. He finds inspiration in nature as he writes about history. As a historian, of course,…

Books are like the web. I wanted to read more books by Clive James after reading one of his essays that led me to other authors. Along the way, James disclosed the secret of success in the arts. I will share it, too, but patience! James is celebrated for his style and wide reading. Both…

VS Naipaul called Vijaynagar “the last great Hindu kingdom”. Now Salman Rushdie has brought it to life in Victory City, probably his breeziest novel since Haroun and the Sea of Stories, published more than 30 years ago. While Naipaul mourned the destruction of Vijaynagar by Muslim invaders in India: A Wounded Civilisation, and again in…