Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…’ says Maria in The Sound of Music as she strums her guitar in the gorgeous outdoors of Austria in an attempt to teach her seven Von Trapp wards how to sing. In the case of

Early April, I returned to The Library Book months after having inserted a bookmark to indicate where I had stopped reading. Some of you may remember the name: it’s a book by Susan Orlean about a massive fire that was deliberately set off at the Los Angeles

For a long time, when I pushed open the curtains in the morning, I saw a small white cat sitting curled up beneath the coconut tree, staring intently at me, almost as though we had an ‘otherly’ connection. Or is it earthly? My son’s friend, for instance,

In the backdrop of the Indian cricket team winning the recent Test series in Australia, thus lifting spirits, it is logical to showcase a cricket-related book. I have picked The Commonwealth of Cricket by Ramachandra Guha, a personal memoir by a historian with a passion for the

All these relations originate from these houseboats of   ours. Don’t you see how many letters I receive? Letters come from far-off countries across the oceans, where I can never reach. Is there any corner of our own country where we don’t have acquaintances? All this is possible

I have a young friend, Apuurva, who is as crazy about books as I am. The other day I messaged her and in the course of our chat exchange, mentioned that I was reading ‘a fantastic book called The Library Book by Susan Orlean.’

The continuing lockdown intended for safety and the good health of the community can get us down worse than Monday morning blues. All I will say is: Take your medicine regularly and you’ll be fine. Yes, the medicine is books. Books are the best antidote for frustration,

There’s a train journey in the book we’re looking at this time, a 15-hour trial by fire for a bunch of English singletons, travelling regular sleeper class express from Delhi to Mumbai, replete with the sights, sounds and smells of India unplugged with all the consequent turbidity.

Angel Tungaraza is Tanzanian. She lives in Kigali, Rwanda, with her husband, Pius, on deputation to help the small nation rebuild itself following the genocide resulting from the hatred between two groups of people, a hatred further fanned by politics. Now the killing has ended and the