book review

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / ‘Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood’ is a flawed but essential critique of the founding fathers of our nation

Review of ‘Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood’ (Hodder and Stoughton, 1986) by Anthony Mascarenhas

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Confronting cultural silence on IPV in Bangladeshi communities

Proverbs, short and profound, often sum up wisdom passed down through generations. Bangla, one of the world’s most spoken languages, is rich with such gems. One such saying in the language—”manush ki bolbe?”—is central to Intimacies of Violence, a debut book by Dr Nadine Shaanta Murshid, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A tale of survival, dominance, and self-discovery in colonial Bengal

Obayed Haq’s Bangla novel, Arkathi, is almost a bildungsroman tale filled with adventure and self-reflection. In true bildungsroman fashion, where the protagonist progresses into adulthood with room for growth and change, a bulk of Haq’s novel talks about the spiritual journey that an orphan, Naren, takes through a forest in order to mature, and comes out on the other side to realise a community’s deep, hidden truth.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / I love you; it’s ruining my life

Someone in a chat group somewhere called Sally Rooney the ‘Taylor Swift’ of the literary world, and now I cannot unsee it.

BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Taking folk melodies of Bangladesh to the world

Folk Melody of Bangladesh: An Anthology of Bangladesh Folk Music in Standard Notation is a music anthology that compiles 204 carefully chosen folk songs of Bangladesh that date from the 16th century.

BOOK REVIEW: GRAPHIC NOVEL / Down the rabbit hole of science and art

The city of Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic, was once the breeding hotspot of the 20th century’s greatest writers, scientists, scholars, and activists.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Sad men behaving badly

In January 2023, I was sitting in the crowd, listening in on a panel at the 10th and possibly the final edition of the Dhaka Lit Fest. Sheikh Hasina had already been in power for almost 15 years, and it felt like the sun would never set on Awami League, at least not in my lifetime. 

December 31, 2024
December 31, 2024

‘Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood’ is a flawed but essential critique of the founding fathers of our nation

Review of ‘Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood’ (Hodder and Stoughton, 1986) by Anthony Mascarenhas

December 27, 2024
December 27, 2024

The role of women’s agency in transforming Bangladesh from a basket case into a beacon of progress

Review of ‘Renegotiating Patriarchy’ (LSE Press, 2024) by Naila Kabeer

December 13, 2024
December 13, 2024

A tale of survival, dominance, and self-discovery in colonial Bengal

Obayed Haq’s Bangla novel, Arkathi, is almost a bildungsroman tale filled with adventure and self-reflection. In true bildungsroman fashion, where the protagonist progresses into adulthood with room for growth and change, a bulk of Haq’s novel talks about the spiritual journey that an orphan, Naren, takes through a forest in order to mature, and comes out on the other side to realise a community’s deep, hidden truth.

December 13, 2024
December 13, 2024

Confronting cultural silence on IPV in Bangladeshi communities

Proverbs, short and profound, often sum up wisdom passed down through generations. Bangla, one of the world’s most spoken languages, is rich with such gems. One such saying in the language—”manush ki bolbe?”—is central to Intimacies of Violence, a debut book by Dr Nadine Shaanta Murshid, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.

December 5, 2024
December 5, 2024

I love you; it’s ruining my life

Someone in a chat group somewhere called Sally Rooney the ‘Taylor Swift’ of the literary world, and now I cannot unsee it.

November 14, 2024
November 14, 2024

Taking folk melodies of Bangladesh to the world

Folk Melody of Bangladesh: An Anthology of Bangladesh Folk Music in Standard Notation is a music anthology that compiles 204 carefully chosen folk songs of Bangladesh that date from the 16th century.

November 14, 2024
November 14, 2024

Down the rabbit hole of science and art

The city of Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic, was once the breeding hotspot of the 20th century’s greatest writers, scientists, scholars, and activists.

November 7, 2024
November 7, 2024

Sad men behaving badly

In January 2023, I was sitting in the crowd, listening in on a panel at the 10th and possibly the final edition of the Dhaka Lit Fest. Sheikh Hasina had already been in power for almost 15 years, and it felt like the sun would never set on Awami League, at least not in my lifetime. 

November 2, 2024
November 2, 2024

Unravelling Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Nexus’

Review of ‘Nexus’ (Random House, 2024)

October 31, 2024
October 31, 2024