Book reviews & analyses
Take It Off! by Taylor Cole & Justin WhitfieldMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I wouldn’t have picked this book off a bookshelf. I don’t go in for biographies and these ‘famous/unlikely people’s life stories’ format hasn’t appealed to me so far. But the title hooked me when I saw…
I was curious about erotic literature, especially after the horrendous 50 Shades of Grey and the rather insipid S.E.C.R.E.T. Much of sex really is about things other than the act, secrets, emotions, grief, nostalgia, family and promises. I’m coming to believe that good erotica is a story that recognizes this….
“Flowers and chocolate. Jewellery is always welcome, of course. And don’t be shy of perfumes.” Sheena announced. A grunt was all she got for her airy declarations, before Ajit turned to the waiter. Sheena slumped back in her seat, downcast. Maybe talking about jewelery and perfume was a bit much….
It’s no secret, my grand love affair with books. I’ve also written about my obsession with bookstores, big and small. Flipkart has replaced Landmark in my affections because it’s so much more convenient. But I do miss the adventuring that went with real world, poking-through-shelves book browsing. A bookworm needs…
I first heard about S.E.C.R.E.T. in online forums discussing (and bashing) 50 Shades of Grey. 50 Shades, of course, had achieved cult status, a sort of adult Twilight for our times. Its terrible nature notwithstanding, 50 Shades may have brought the genre of sexual writing into popular and acceptable bookshelves….
Madame Bovary by Gustave FlaubertMy rating: 2 of 5 stars The original is in French and I read the English translation by Alan Russell (Penguin Popular Classics). I’m rather a novice with reading the classics so the writing seemed rather excessively descriptive and flowery to me. Perhaps with some books,…
A Spy In The House Of Love by Anaïs NinMy rating: 2 of 5 stars This book is described as Erotic Fiction. Having read ‘Eros Unbound’ (Nin’s erotica short stories, enjoyed greatly), I began with the expectation of lyricism in the writing too. There was far less sex than I…
The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert ArthurMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The Three Investigators, for the uninitiated are a trio of teenage boys who solve mysteries. This series addresses the same audience as that of The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew but I’d like to think the…
A review of ‘How to be good’ by Nick Hornby
The Other Side Of The Table by Madhumita MukherjeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars If you’ve ever been a letter-writer, you will love this book. The story is told entirely through letters between two people. Letter-writing isn’t just a lot art, it’s a lost form of conversations. Time is the punctuation…