With the wedding season waning, I have a little more time on my hands now to catch up on all my reading.
I received a copy of Upamanyu Chatterjee's book English, August a couple of months back and I have not been able to put it down. First published in 1988, according to Akhil Sharma who introduces the book, English, August was widely appreciated for, well, its honesty and humor. The story is about Agastya [or August] and his coming of age in the Indian Administrative Service. [no small feat]
When the whole world has decided to turn inward and become all so serious, a book like English, August comes along that says, “hey, it's ok to laugh at the system.”
The book has been republished here by the New York Review of Books and is available at all your favorite book stores.
Loki says
Seshu,
Big fan of the NYRB classics. You should also do well reading these other books from the same series…
– Jejuri by Arul kolhatkar – a beautiful collection of poetry from a different era in India
– Any of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s works. There was an interesting piece about Sir Fermor in the New Yorker a couple of months ago. A bold literary figure – The equivalent of Robert Capa in Photography
Loki
Loki says
Seshu,
Big fan of the NYRB classics. You should also do well reading these other books from the same series…
– Jejuri by Arul kolhatkar – a beautiful collection of poetry from a different era in India
– Any of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s works. There was an interesting piece about Sir Fermor in the New Yorker a couple of months ago. A bold literary figure – The equivalent of Robert Capa in Photography
Loki
sheshadri says
The bookm serves as an enchanting retreat and of course the humor fills the air with blitz. I have studied it thrice.
sheshadri says
The bookm serves as an enchanting retreat and of course the humor fills the air with blitz. I have studied it thrice.