The Blog of Small Things

  Name :  Ponniyin Selvan : Vivadhangal Author :  Jeyamohan     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Non-Fiction, Cinema     Rating : ***  1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) Jeyamohan utilizes the social media debates during the release of "Ponniyin Selvan" movies in 2022 to bring out his erudition in analyzing the dimensions of Chola history, film criticism and caste. While it may seem that the author's  tone is condescending towards half-baked virtual warriors, he emphasizes the importance of studying a subject before proffering opinions. An important voice making some valuable arguments and hence, it is worth reading.

Name :  Banned : A Social Media Trial Author : Boria Majumdar     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Non-Fiction, Cricket     Rating : **  ( Two stars out of 5) In 2022, the seasoned sports journalist Boria Majumdar was banned by BCCI for two years in relation to charges of intimidating the national player Wriddhiman Saha in Whatsapp for not giving an interview to him. Thus, the book is basically a defence statement from Majumdar wherein he pleads not guilty. What makes this book worth reading is that it throws light on the impact a social media trial and the vicious cycle of virtual abuse can have on the mental health of a person and his family.

  Name :  The Ministry of Utmost Happiness Author :  Arundhati Roy     Year of Publication : 2017     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : ***  ( Three stars out of 5) While Arundhati Roy's non-fiction works have the imagination and lyricality of a novel, this particular work is the opposite : it feels like a mishmash of all the political essays she has penned since 1998 with some curious characters thrown in to gain the tag of a novel. Those who follow the author will tread familiar ground while the uninitiated will be confused with the purpose of it all. Despite such problems, the book is still recommended because it traverses multiple avenues of despair only to culminate in hope. A middling sophomore novel but considered as an entry in the continuum of Arundhati Roy's political works, it passes muster.

Name :  Battleground Bengal Author :  Sayantan Ghosh     Year of Publication : 2026     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics     Rating : ***  ( Three stars out of 5) Sayantan Ghosh's book is a well-researched primer on West Bengal's tumultuous electoral politics. It traces the journey of the major political players in West Bengal from the early days up to the present giving an overview of every factor that matters - caste,  religion, class struggles etc. What reduces it's sheen is that the author gets into Rajdeep Sardesai mode of "On one hand, On the other hand" balancing tricks so that he is seen to be neutral. A good introduction to the subject, nonetheless.  

  Name :  Heart Lamp Author :  Banu Mushtaq, Deepa Bhasthi (Translator)     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Fiction, Short stories     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) An evocative collection of short stories which throws light on the gender dynamics and patriarchy in the lives of Muslim women in South India. While some of the stories like "Be a Woman once, oh Lord" and "Heart Lamp" leave a lump in one's throat with it's dreary endings, it is the rebellion in the women of "Black Cobras" and "High-heeled Shoe" which gives hope that not all is lost. Some stories like "A Taste of Heaven" and "A Decision of the heart" are elevated by the element of surprise in their denouement. Overall, an important work of translation which rises above the despair to hope for a better tomorrow for our women.

  Name :  Mother Mary Comes to Me Author :  Arundhati Roy     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Memoir     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) Arundhati Roy effortlessly blends the personal and political in her trademark polemic style. In the introduction, she gently guides us : "Read this book as you would read a novel". Had this been a novel, she would have faced criticism as the entire mother-daughter relationship and most of her life decisions cannot be explained by cold logic. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. What dampens the impact is that we are privy to most of her early life memories through her first novel and all her political anxieties through her non-fiction since 1998. Hence, most of the material is already familiar to any Roy follower. It is a pity that Mrs.Roy is not alive to review her daughter's book. Would she have told a "Well done, baby girl"? Arundhati Roy may not feel optimistic a...

Name :  The God of Small Things Author :  Arundhati Roy     Year of Publication : 1997     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : *****  ( Five stars out of 5) I had read this novel originally when I was in college - Kerala was merely a tourist spot to me then. After all these years of working in Kerala, revisiting the book made me see the geography, the politics, the caste dynamics afresh. The novel's non linear narration hurtles towards a heart-breaking denouement but what makes the work a new voice is the language it creates for the kids - Rahel and Estha. When you read a good novel, you enjoy reading it but it is over when it is over. When you read a great novel, the real impact of it begins much after you finish reading it. In a way, the novel turns all of us into Esthas - The novel is "lodged there, deep inside some fold or furrow, like a mango hair between molars. That couldn't be worried loose."

Name :  Kolayuthir Kaalam Author :  Sujatha     Year of Publication : 1981     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : ***  ( Three stars out of 5) Sujatha is in fine form in this horror/crime thriller which oscillates between the occult and the rational. It is typical of  Sujatha that he has incorporated technical stuff like holography and laser barcodes into a novel way back in 1981. The character development of the protagonist Leena is a bit undercooked while Vasanth goes over the top in his "adult jokes". Overall, a heady mix of myth and science which stops short of clearly taking a side , thus adding more masala to a well made meal.

  Name :  Kolai Arangam Author :  Sujatha     Year of Publication : 1984     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : * 1/2 ( One and a half stars out of 5) A Sujatha novel in the famed "Ganesh- Vasanth" series. The novel's plot is a hackneyed Agatha Christie template and the whodunit part is underwhelming. What keeps the novel going are the Vasanth witticisms. The Srilankan Eelam issue is just a topical one to add spice to the story as the novel was serialized in 1984. Overall, a below-par novel which still sells because of the author's reputation.

  Name :  What Women Want Author :  Ruhi Tewari     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics     Rating : * 1/2 ( One and a half stars out of 5) The theme chosen for the book - understanding the female voter in Indian elections - is germane to the current political discourse but the author wastes the opportunity big time. The book is full of shallow generalizations, stray anecdotes (which the author somehow misconstrues as "research") and costly omissions. (There is no mention of Kerala at all which pioneers many women-led trailblazing local bodies). What women want is another thing, this book is not what Indian women voters deserve.

  Name :  White Hot : The Inside Story of England Cricket's Double World Champs Author :  Tim Wigmore & Matt Roller     Year of Publication : 2023     Genre : Non-fiction, Cricket     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) Tim Wigmore, who recently authored a phenomenal book on Test Cricket, joins hands with Matt Roller to capture the journey traced by the England Men's white ball cricket team over a seven year period. In 2015, England plumbed new depths due to it's conservative approach towards limited overs cricket and the book evocatively traces the entire transition from also-rans to champions. The authors combine rigorous research with skilled writing to produce an enjoyable tome on a remarkable period in England's cricketing history.

  Name :  Tamizhaga Arasiyal Varalaru  Author :  R.Muthukumar     Year of Publication : 2026     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics, History     Rating : *** 1/2 ( Three and a half stars out of 5) R.Muthukumar plays three disparate roles of a storyteller, a historian and a Dravidian apologist through this hefty tome which covers the entire history of TN politics post-1947 in nearly 900 pages. The major themes of anti-Hindi imposition protests, Eelam issue, Cauvery river sharing, welfare politics are covered in a chronological manner while the main axis which drives the book is the electoral politics which threw up charismatic leaders from time to time. While the significant arcs are covered, the author's eye for interesting trivia needs a special mention. The book does not make any scholarly analysis of events but leaves such lofty tasks to the reader. Instead, it provides a kaleidoscopic view of events which are colorful enough to make for a...

Name :  The DMK years : Ascent, Descent , Survival Author :  R.Kannan     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics, History     Rating : ** 1/2 ( Two and a half stars out of 5) The author needs to be lauded for his sweeping ambition of encapsulating the work of an era in nearly 500 odd pages. Every significant event associated with the history of DMK is covered. To avoid being called hagiographic, the book errs by moving to the other extreme - all it's criticisms of DMK are detailed while the deserved praise is rushed. The author eschews scholarship for chronological recollections and much needed analyses go missing. DMK is a remarkable institution and Kannan does not even come close to doing justice to it.

Name : Kanavu Thozhirchalai  Author :  Sujatha     Year of Publication : 1979     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : ***** ( 5 stars out of 5) A blockbuster Sujatha novel which has all the elements of a runaway hit in the box office. That the novel was serialized as a weekly series in "Ananda Vikatan" in 1979 is evident in the (sometimes forced) twist at the end of every chapter. With some minor tweaks related to technology, the novel can still be adapted to a 2026 version as the core emotions are timeless. It is a sad denouement that such a novel could never be made into a movie till today. A movie version can still be attempted and almost everything will fall in place but where will we get a younger Kamal Hassan (The only actor who can ace the complexities of the protagonist Arun Vijay) again? 

  Name : Thaaragai Author : Tamilmagan     Year of Publication : 2016     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : ** 1/2 ( 2 and a half stars out of 5) Sujatha, the heart-throb Tamil writer of an entire generation, passed away in 2008. Tamilmagan is an author who tries to evoke the haal of a Sujatha work through wit and pace. This novel is based in the glitzy Tamil film industry and traces the life journey of an aspirant actress. The regular tropes of casting couch, political ambitions, travails at a shooting spot etc are present. In "Kanavu Thozhirchalai", a classic Kollywood based novel, Sujatha evokes the absurdities and chaos of the film industry in a cathartic way. Tamilmagan falls short of mastering the third key Sujatha element ( Wit and pace, being the first two) : Emotion.

Name : Indira Gandhi and the years that transformed India Author : Srinath Raghavan     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Politics, Biography, History     Rating : *** ( 3 stars out of 5) Srinath Raghavan, the erudite scholar who has previously written valuable works on Nehru and  Bangladesh war (among others)  pens a semi-biographical, semi-political portrait of the "Long 1970s" through the travails and decisions of the fragile yet indestructible "Durga"- Indira Gandhi. While the research material is new and the context setting is thorough (understanding local economic decisions through the lens of global crises), the author is in a hurry to pack in too much material in limited space. In a book with large ambitions, epiphanies are expected but the book stops short. The biggest decision in Indira Gandhi's career was to withdraw Emergency when she was at the peak of her political legitimacy.  Ramachandra Guha's "India after G...

Name : OTP please! Author : Vandana Vasudevan     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, Economics, Society     Rating : *** ( 3 stars out of 5) The author pens a well-researched tome on gig workers and online commerce - a theme hitherto unexplored in developmental literature. The book documents the travails of such workers across South Asia through patient one-to-one interviews (from Swiggy delivery boys to Amazon warehouse workers) and emotion-based chapters (guilt, anxiety, freedom etc). The author resists broad brushstrokes and paints a mixed picture of this new world with words of caution about it's future.  This book is an important addition to our understanding of jobs and development in the South Asian perspective.

  Name : Chronicle of an Hour and a Half Author : Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari     Year of Publication : 2024     Genre : Fiction, Novel     Rating : **** ( 4 stars out of 5) The debutant author spins a lyrical narrative set in small town Kerala covering nearly 200 pages of events which happen within 90 minutes. The structure of the novel - a new narrator every chapter- adds to the frenzy. A tempest-hit village in Areekode(or is that the right spelling?) smells an affair while the woman's husband is away in the Gulf, feeds poison on Whatsapp and turns into a mob baying for blood. The result is a heady (and scary) work of fiction which sounds eerily close to reality in our rabid times. A new and original voice has arisen in the Indian Fiction horizon and Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari is here to stay.

  Name : Nehru's India Author : Aditya Mukherjee     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Non-fiction, History     Rating : **** ( 4 stars out of 5) Aditya Mukherjee's love for the Nehruvian Idea of India shines through in this short tome which provides a brief overview of the different aspects which underlines Jawaharlal Nehru's commitment to democracy, socialism and secularism. The book also provides a snapshot of how Nehru's passion for the discipline of history guided his ideals. Along with Nehru's short biographies by Shashi Tharoor and Walter Crocker, this volume is a handy introduction to who Nehru is and what Nehru means to today's India.

  Name : The Secret of Secrets Author : Dan Brown     Year of Publication : 2025     Genre : Fiction     Rating : **( 2 stars out of 5) Dan Brown's ever-reliable mix of guided tour in historical places, pseudo-science, decrypting codes and action thrills is back again in his latest novel, this time set in Prague. Every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger as usual, but the payoffs are meagre this time. The novel is long over but it meanders for atleast 100 more pages - first for a Dan Brown novel who usually unties all knots and ends immediately.  Balderdash but page-turning balderdash.