Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar 
I am currently reading Svetlana Alexievich’s Secondhand Time — interviews with people during the collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s a touching commentary on what to some was the end of an expected utopia and for others the end of terror. Prior to that I had taken a very brief holiday and stayed with friends in Pune. I discovered among their many books the century-old book by Frances Burnett, The Secret Garden . Written for early teenagers, which is what I was when I first read it, I was once again deeply moved by the sensitivity as well as the confidence of the two young teenagers at the centre of the action. Seventy-odd years later I still found it riveting. I look forward to reading Felix Padel’s Sacrificing People.
Romila Thapar is Professor Emeritus in Ancient History, JNU.
Alexander McCall Smith
I am reading Proust in Love by William Carter. This is about the very complicated life of Marcel Proust. The last book I read was The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons by Ashok Ferrey. I was given an advance copy of this and loved it. Ferrey is a magnificent writer. Rediscovering Homer by Andrew Dalby is the book I plan to read next. There is constant discussion about whether the Greek poet Homer actually existed. This book examines the proposition that Homer may have been a woman.
Alexander McCall Smith is a British writer, most well known for The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
