Another good read from Tharoor. This one is mainly focused on Reading, the author's rabid love for books, on Authors he is partial to and other Bookwormish proclivities.

This guy is great. His polite yet visceral dissection of petty minded imperial racists like Winston Churchill and Nirad Chaudri is so eloquent in it's totality. Putting them in their place and giving them the respect they deserve (which is very little, I must say).

This well read gentleman has profiled not only his reading habits but famous literary figures like Pablo Neruda, Tagore, R.K. Narayan, P.G. Wodehouse and many others. He has taken great pains to give respect where it is long overdue and at the same time offer some constructive criticism of points that we might otherwise have missed like not seeing the forest for the trees.

Some interesting titbits that go to suggest that India put the melting in melting pot. The arabs were trading with Kerala as early as the 9th century and Islam arrived (peacefully) to these shores. The first jews also settled in Kerala (Cochin) around 2500 years ago. The Parsis settled in Gujarat as early as the 8th century. So long before these communities spread out to Europe or other parts, they were accepted by the local population.

What Rembrandt and Van Gogh achieved through masterful brushstrokes, Tharoor manages to do with mellifluous prose. All his books (non-fiction) are on my must read list.

Another good read from Tharoor. This one is mainly focused on Reading, the author's rabid love for books, on Authors he is partial to and other Bookwormish proclivities.

This guy is great. His polite yet visceral dissection of petty minded imperial racists like Winston Churchill and Nirad Chaudri is so eloquent in it's totality. Putting them in their place and giving them the respect they deserve (which is very little, I must say).

This well read gentleman has profiled not only his reading habits but famous literary figures like Pablo Neruda, Tagore, R.K. Narayan, P.G. Wodehouse and many others. He has taken great pains to give respect where it is long overdue and at the same time offer some constructive criticism of points that we might otherwise have missed like not seeing the forest for the trees.

Some interesting titbits that go to suggest that India put the melting in melting pot. The arabs were trading with Kerala as early as the 9th century and Islam arrived (peacefully) to these shores. The first jews also settled in Kerala (Cochin) around 2500 years ago. The Parsis settled in Gujarat as early as the 8th century. So long before these communities spread out to Europe or other parts, they were accepted by the local population.

What Rembrandt and Van Gogh achieved through masterful brushstrokes, Tharoor manages to do with mellifluous prose. All his books (non-fiction) are on my must read list.

I've enjoyed reading this book even if some of the essays have not been all that interesting. Of some poingancy are the feelings that Tharoor brought forth regarding the colonial British, always a complex topic. Tharoor is something of a polymath, and has spent considerable time in three great large cities of India, Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta, as well as his more rural birth state of Kerala. Of particular interst to me are his development of the "[Great Indian Novel]", the revelation that P.G. Wodehouse is far more popular in India than in Briatin at this point, his particpation with various literary projects involving other Indian writers. ( )

I met Tharoor at a book signing at Mehinder Tak's....very personable and made the book more interesting for having heard him speak at length. The book's title is an essay towards the end of the book. The book is a collection of articles, speeches, and book reviews written by Tharoor, who by day is the Undersecretary General for Communications & Public Information at the United Nations in NYC.