The Making of Canada
A concise and engaging review of The Making of Canada by Greg Koabel, tracing the country’s formation from early European exploration to Confederation through the lives of the individuals who shaped its history.
Book Reviews
Somanatha – The Many Voices of History
Romila Thapar’s Somanatha – The Many Voices of History dismantles the popular myths surrounding the Somnath temple, showing how medieval chronicles, colonial historians, and modern narratives have shaped its story. A deeply researched work, the book reveals multiple perspectives, from Turko-Persian accounts of Mahmud of Ghazni’s raid to Sanskrit inscriptions and Jain texts, offering readers a nuanced view of history beyond simplistic binaries of conqueror and victim.”
The Vegetarian
The Vegetarian by Han Kang—an unsettling novel about patriarchy, silence, and the cost of saying no.
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary
Anita Anand’s Sophia tells the remarkable story of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, and her journey from royal exile to suffragette activism.
Doppelganger
Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger explores identity, social media, conspiracy theories, political distortion, digital selves, and the unsettling mirror world of modern life.
The Truth Pill
A deeply unsettling account of how profit, negligence, and regulatory failure can turn medicine into a weapon. The Truth Pill exposes what happens when human lives become collateral damage.
Greek Lessons
Han Kang’s Greek Lessons is a quiet, unsettling novel about silence, language, loss, memory, and the fragile ways human beings try to reach one another.
The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending is a quiet, beautifully written novel about memory, remorse, ageing, friendship, and how we reshape the story of our own lives.
Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us
Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us is Manu Joseph’s first non-fiction book, and it asks a disturbing question: why do India’s poor endure injustice without revolting against the rich or the system? This review looks at the book’s sharpest arguments, its dark humour, and the places where I disagreed with Joseph.
Mother Mary Comes to Me
Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me is a memoir about her mother Mary Roy, their complex relationship, Roy’s writing life, politics, memory, and becoming a writer.