The Emperor of Maladies
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Fourth Estate
Rs. 499
Absolutely riveting. This ‘biography' of cancer – 600 pages long – is so intimate, that after a chapter or two, you begin to feel it, like an unseen third, walking between you and your medical awareness. This book is not like other books about cancer, because it takes you to places where you're unlikely to have been allowed before. Of course, this isn't the kind of book you'd be able to read at one sitting, but it sure makes you wish often enough that you could just read on and on.
The narrative swings between back glances at cancer's past as well as under-the-lens looks at its current lives in our midst, and this is what makes it so taut; the tightrope between gossip about past misdemeanours and reports about present life conditions.
As I said, absolutely riveting. Mukherjee, a practicing doctor, is so well- acquainted with cancer that he can write of it with informal familiarity
A Book of Memory
Sudhir Kakar
Penguin
Rs. 499
This might be the book that a lot of people will be grabbing: imagine reading about what goes on in the life/ mind of India's most famous psychoanalyst. And every page says that this is a writer, who's paid close attention to his own life and actions and is now fixing the past with the unswerving eye of motive. “What I intended in this memoir is to re-live the peaks and valleys of my life, revisit the times when, whether in joy or sorrow, I felt most alive.”
Kakar's memoir takes the conventional route – tracing life through its chronological trajectory, stopping at the peaks and valleys to, in a sense diagnose and reflect. Lots of interesting digressions and insights into his own life, told in Kakar's characteristic wry tone, make this book a good read.
A.R. Rahman
Nasreen Munni Kabir
Om Books International
Rs 495
“ I love melody, but pure melody doesn't work for musical tastes today…But there's also a way of creating a palette of sounds without compromising on the core melody.” So says A.R.Rahman in the book of conversations with Munni Nasreen Kabir. Kabir's questions range over all aspects of Rahman's life: early life, first film score, spiritual life, awards, collaborations, philosophy of composing etc. Kabir is thorough and perceptive and Rahman answers with seriousness. The book is good for information, and I'm not sure it is meant to be anything more than a basic biographical sketch. Not without dull moments, what keeps the reader engaged are Kabir's attempts to pull the conversations a little above the pedestrian. For fans, there's lots of trivia: Rahman's favourite melody is Ennio Morricone's Love Theme' for Cinema Paradiso; he likes James Bond etc.
If you ever wondered what Rahman felt about elements of melody, harmony and rhythm, this is what he says : “You want people to relate to melody and when you have a great melody and a sweeping harmony, you can help to hold attention by adding a driving rhythm. The rhythm is there for listners who get restless…”
Not a great read; for fans, useful.
Highway on My Plate
Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma
Random House
This is the book version of the entertaining NDTV series of the NDTV series of the same name, and this is no fun at all, but, I'm sure, vastly useful on the highways through and across the States. The guide is quite thorough, listing and describing eating places on every major highway across the country. Like in the show, the duo gives us their verdict on taste, service and value for money. Contact details, prices and specialties are also listed. Carry this with you on the road, and when you get back home, hide it away in the back of your cupboard.
