Category: Books
-
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote Anyone who has dreams, and seen some dreams die, should read Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He or she will empathise with Holly Golightly like her real friends, who — to a man — are her silent lovers. Like the author himself. This is a love…
-
Indira Gandhi
Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi by Katherine Graham I just finished reading Katherine Frank’s biography of Indira Gandhi, Indira Gandhi was undoubtedly popular for a long time. Spirited, courageous, cultured, artistic, she had many admirable qualities. But I wouldn’t want her back as a leader. Nor her father, Jawaharlal…
-
The smoking guns of Eng Lit
All working Singaporeans aged up to 50 will have to buy annuities. The government fears they might otherwise run out of savings as people live longer now. But that’s a risk that could have been avoided in another way. The government could have lifted the tobacco tax. Perish the thought…
-
All The King’s Men
All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren The New York Times called it: “The definitive novel about American politics.” It is seen as a roman a clef, whose hero, Willie Stark, is said to have been based on the Louisiana governor and Senator Huey Long. But I would call…
-
The magic of Ian McEwan
Saturday by Ian McEwan Seldom have I read a better book. It’s about a day in a man’s life. Forty-eight-year-old neurosurgeon Henry Perowne wakes up in the middle of the night in his posh London home, sees a plane in the sky and fears it is going down in flames.…
-
Britain and Pakistan
The Shadow Of The Great Game: The Untold Story Of India’s Partition by Narendra Singh Sarila Tony Blair had to go because his Iraq policy proved deeply unpopular. We have read how Britons disapprove of their military presence in Iraq. But he was only pursuing traditional British policy. The Middle…
-
Dead white masters
The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour Now their stories are being told. Empire’s Children, about Britons who spent part of their childhood in the colonies, is being shown on Channel 4, I read in a newspaper. It interviewed actress Diana Rigg, who is part of the story. Her father was…
-
Sex, politics and families
Cold Is The Grave by Peter RobinsonPresumed Innocent by Scott Turow I just finished reading Cold Is The Grave by Peter Robinson and Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. Both are whodunits though the latter is a courtroom drama as well. Robinson is English and Turow, American. Reading them reminded me…
-
Congratulations, Sir Salman!
Congratulations, Sir Salman! Kudos to Tony Blair and the Labour government for giving Salman Rushdie (picture taken from the BBC) a knighthood. I haven’t been blogging since my wife arrived from Calcutta (Kolkata) late last month to spend a month with me in Singapore. But how could I ignore the…
-
In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there”. Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that…
Readiscovery 