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lindseysparks's review against another edition
4.0
I love books about books. I've been slowly working my way through these essays about reading and writing in English in India. I liked that book was written for Indians - not Westerners - because it provided a better look into literary India that wouldn't have been possible if she was focusing on an audience that wasn't familiar with India. I felt immersed in Indian literary life. I had to keep looking up people and events that are common to most Indians, things that might be the equivalent of mentioning George Washington to an American. You (probably) don't need to explain who he is. I enjoyed learning more about India this way. One of the most striking things is obvious - just how big India is. I started really looking at maps and the distances between places and the terrible train system and it's crazy.
Roy writes a lot about what writing in different languages in India means, how writing in English can be seen as pandering to the West, even though it's the language that connects most Indians, who speak hundreds of different languages.
I especially enjoyed the more personal essays at the beginning and end of the book, and thought it was funny that the author literally ate books as a kid. The essays in the middle focus on Indian authors show wrote in English and had me adding books like crazy to my library/Amazon/Goodreads lists. I'm not used to reading about so many authors who I don't know! I clearly need to read more Indian works. If you like books about books even when you might not be familiar with the books discussed or if you have an interest in Indian literature I definitely recommend this book.
Roy writes a lot about what writing in different languages in India means, how writing in English can be seen as pandering to the West, even though it's the language that connects most Indians, who speak hundreds of different languages.
I especially enjoyed the more personal essays at the beginning and end of the book, and thought it was funny that the author literally ate books as a kid. The essays in the middle focus on Indian authors show wrote in English and had me adding books like crazy to my library/Amazon/Goodreads lists. I'm not used to reading about so many authors who I don't know! I clearly need to read more Indian works. If you like books about books even when you might not be familiar with the books discussed or if you have an interest in Indian literature I definitely recommend this book.
eatingfiction's review against another edition
3.0
This was a lovely read, as reading about reading always is. Though, this wasn't entirely what I thought it would be. I expected a sort of memoir about a girl growing up with books -- and it is partly that, but the majority of this book is about Indian English literature, in a textbook sort of way. It was very interesting, but not really what I was wanting.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
3.0
This book by Nilanjana Roy can broadly be divided into two halves. The first and my personal favorite are her musings on life as a bibliophile while growing up in Kolkata and later finding her moorings in Delhi. The second half are her articles which mostly deal with Indian writing in English and interactions with literary celebrities. The title of the book is rather misleading since the overall tone of the book takes us on a journey of Roy’s life as a literary journalist than her life as a reader. Yes there are bits on her reading life but it is outweighed by the pieces on a life literary.
Nilanjana Roy’s time growing up in a joint family and then in a house full of books and guests is a delightful experience to read about. She vividly describes her family home and her erudite-cum-fierce grandmother who has a devil of a time by being alive and also stacks upon stacks of books. Being surrounded by all the books gave her a head start which followed her into adulthood. Her joys of finding second hand bookshops in Kolkata and later in Delhi are all parts which a bibliophile can read and recognize with. Roy talks about the love of finding rare gems among the piles at second hand bookstores, the slowly unravelling beauty of poems and of the joys that only reading can bring. Also buried among the joys of reading is the sad but inevitable decline of the intellectual class in modern day Kolkata. For them decline was about :
1 .having their grand havelis replaced by shapeless apartment complexes and
2. bearing witness to the class of parvenu gaining the upper ground over old money.
Roy takes us through the time when Soviet literature flooded the Indian market, reading at the time of the emergency etc all of which are very enjoyable. The only contention I have with her is that she has a hawk’s eye view about her reading habits. We stand with her on a cliff top a good 200 feet above real ground and Roy points out things too far away about her reading. For me as a reader, nothing would have been more delightful than wading into all the ideas and thoughts she might have amassed from all these books and yet that wish was unfulfilled.
The conversations with the authors are quite good for they are not typical interviews but more of observations. I especially liked the chats with Pico Iyer. Dom Moraes and the publisher Sham Lal for their wit and sharpness of mind. Here again, Roy veers more towards Indian writing in English than other genres. That aside, they are well written and quick portraits on writers and poets we have come to know in detail over the years.
It did not appeal to me as much as the book’s name and cover proclaimed it to be. This had a lot to do with its focus being too narrow. Recommended if you are a lover of Indian writing in English.
Nilanjana Roy’s time growing up in a joint family and then in a house full of books and guests is a delightful experience to read about. She vividly describes her family home and her erudite-cum-fierce grandmother who has a devil of a time by being alive and also stacks upon stacks of books. Being surrounded by all the books gave her a head start which followed her into adulthood. Her joys of finding second hand bookshops in Kolkata and later in Delhi are all parts which a bibliophile can read and recognize with. Roy talks about the love of finding rare gems among the piles at second hand bookstores, the slowly unravelling beauty of poems and of the joys that only reading can bring. Also buried among the joys of reading is the sad but inevitable decline of the intellectual class in modern day Kolkata. For them decline was about :
1 .having their grand havelis replaced by shapeless apartment complexes and
2. bearing witness to the class of parvenu gaining the upper ground over old money.
Roy takes us through the time when Soviet literature flooded the Indian market, reading at the time of the emergency etc all of which are very enjoyable. The only contention I have with her is that she has a hawk’s eye view about her reading habits. We stand with her on a cliff top a good 200 feet above real ground and Roy points out things too far away about her reading. For me as a reader, nothing would have been more delightful than wading into all the ideas and thoughts she might have amassed from all these books and yet that wish was unfulfilled.
The conversations with the authors are quite good for they are not typical interviews but more of observations. I especially liked the chats with Pico Iyer. Dom Moraes and the publisher Sham Lal for their wit and sharpness of mind. Here again, Roy veers more towards Indian writing in English than other genres. That aside, they are well written and quick portraits on writers and poets we have come to know in detail over the years.
It did not appeal to me as much as the book’s name and cover proclaimed it to be. This had a lot to do with its focus being too narrow. Recommended if you are a lover of Indian writing in English.
nanditalaks's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed this book. While it is a patchwork of essays, some that work better than others, Nilanjana’s elegant style pulls it through. Scholarly theses about the history of Indian writing in English, windows into the world of authors, personal nostalgia for a childhood filled with reading, the loss of family homes and books, Soviet era childrens’ books, secondhand pavement book sellers, eccentric book lovers – the book has a little bit of everything! And also so many little nuggets like the eccentric tale of Sake Dean Mahomed, Jules Verne’s ‘1857 mutiny pulp fiction’,an Indian Newbery medal winner who hung himself and the handshake that passed on all the way from Shakespeare to Jeeth Thayil via Dom Moraes and Elliot- a book for all lovers of books and reading.
mihrchand's review against another edition
5.0
Surprising how long it took me to finish it. I almost thought I would drop it at some point in the middle. But these essays are simply too good to let go of their readers so easily.
theshrinkette's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this collection of personal essays interspersed with author mini-biographies, interviews and such. The title essay was my favorite because I was absolutely that girl.
theshrinkette's review
4.0
Loved this collection of personal essays interspersed with author mini-biographies, interviews and such. The title essay was my favorite because I was absolutely that girl.
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