On the Self

Kardamom KissesBy Shinie AnthonyRupaPrice: Rs 200Kardamom Kisses is Shinie Antony8217;s debut novel, set in the supposedly diametrically op...

The city of falling angels
By John Berendt
Sceptre
Rs 325
It would be exaggerating things to say that this book will draw ever more tourists to Venice; but certainly, The City of Falling Angels is bound to become compulsory background reading for all those interested in the Serene City. Berendt, author of the bestselling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, has done what must have been considered impossible: he has presented Venice, the most profiled of cities, the city about which everything that could be said was said to have been written, in a fresh profile.

Berendt enrolled himself as a student of Venice in February 1996 just three days after a mysterious and devastating fire claimed its Fenice Theatre. He based himself in the heart of the island city and set about following the investigation into the fire and making acquaintance with some of its residents. The stories told reveal Venice as a culture that invites artifice. As a city that embraces the rich and the artistic, as well as hordes of incredibly sophisticated vultures who insinuate themselves into others8217; lives and extricate famous inheritances. As a city that drives the most accomplished of craftsmen to obsession, like the master glassblower driven to his Murano furnace room to depict the Fenice effect. As a city of improvisation, where the Rat Man rummages through garbage to create poison that local rats will find appetising.

Kardamom Kisses
By Shinie Anthony
Rupa
Price: Rs 200
Kardamom Kisses is Shinie Antony8217;s debut novel, set in the supposedly diametrically opposite south and north cultures of Kerala and Punjab, the story of sisters Disha and Drupa, in search of themselves in a life riddled with identity crises. From the kardamom-scented kisses of an uncle, silk-bolt complexion of a divorced mother and the breathless aerobics of an aunt, the children are transported to yet another strange world. The stories unfold Russian-doll style, in layers, and proceed almost eventlessly to a semi-resolution.The story is ordinary and the writing so clever it pulls up every sentence short. For instance: 8216;8216;He walked his fingers lazily down her spinal staircase and a hush pierced the bustle within her bosom at long last.8217;8217;

The Hills of Angheri
By Kaveri Nambisan
PenguinRs 350
In novels like The Scent of Pepper and Mango-Coloured Fish, Kaveri Nambisan has tried to locate aspirations for modernity, for wider horizons, amidst her characters8217; roots. In her new work of fiction, she tells of young Nalli8217;s dreams of becoming a doctor, both because and in spite of her roots. Her pursuit of that dream takes her away from the hills of her childhood, first to the big city and then to another country.

This is the story of homecoming, but it is also a woman8217;s endeavour to prepare herself to be adequately equipped to deal with the realities of India.