Can the history of South India be told in a single book? No, but this one tells stories that matter

Charles Allen’s sprawling ‘Coromandel’ is better read as a collection of essays than as an integrated historical journey.

Veena Muthuraman

· Apr 21, 2018 · 08:30 am

It took a translation to hear the stories of this Greek epic the way a woman would have told them

Emily Wilson is the first woman to translate ‘The Odyssey’ into English.

Veena Muthuraman

· Dec 24, 2017 · 08:30 am

Alien invasions, heady gaming, and the view from China. This is science-fiction with three twists

Physics meets literature in a play of imagination.

Veena Muthuraman

· Jun 03, 2017 · 05:30 pm

This meditative biography of Tamil is a breathtaking sweep over a linguistic landscape

A journey through the Dravidian renaissance and the ‘rediscovery’ of the classics in the language.

Veena Muthuraman

· Apr 20, 2017 · 08:30 am

Here is a new way to read Elena Ferrante: Try walking through Naples

Visiting the book-life haunts of the characters from the Neapolitan Quartet was a unique journey.

Veena Muthuraman

· Nov 26, 2016 · 11:00 am

His name isn’t Byomkesh, and he’s the new detective to hit Calcutta

Abir Mukherjee’s Sam Wyndham is an unlikely sleuth who seems to be here to stay.

Veena Muthuraman

· Sep 24, 2016 · 10:30 am

How to take on an entrenched, regressive social order, one novel at a time

Perumal Murugan’s ‘Pyre’: continuing our series on books that our readers are moved by.

Veena Muthuraman

· Jul 31, 2016 · 02:30 pm

Fiction uncovers the facts of the unknown price of Gulf remittances

Benyamin’s ‘Goat Days’: continuing our series on books that our readers are moved by.

Veena Muthuraman

· Jul 17, 2016 · 02:30 pm

When fiction asks that difficult question: what price are you willing to pay for progress?

Abdourahman Waberi's 'Passage of Tears': continuing our series on books that our readers are moved by.

Veena Muthuraman

· Jun 12, 2016 · 03:30 pm

‘The Meursault Investigation’ is both a slap on the face and a kiss on the cheek for Albert Camus

Continuing our series on books that hold a special place for our readers.

Veena Muthuraman

· May 21, 2016 · 11:00 am