Your lockdown reading list by Samanth Subramanian

Little Japanese figurines, a cricket team on tour, a British detective in the alleys of New York. Journalist and writer Samanth Subramanian’s suggestions for your weekly Reading List are a mix of fiction and non-fiction, of the comforting and the thought-provoking

Pundits from Pakistan by Rahul Bhattacharya

In the relative scheme of things, Rahul Bhattacharya’s Pundits from Pakistan hasn’t been around for very long, but it is the kind of book that is an immediate classic. And it is a fine book to read now — to recall not only a time outside of the Coronavirus, when you could go watch cricket in a stadium, but also a time when an Indian team could tour Pakistan. Going to Pakistan was then a sign of normalcy, an aspiration to amity; now the phrase “go to Pakistan” is a little vial of vitriol, hurled at anyone who expresses a liberal sentiment.

The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

The Hare With Amber Eyes is ostensibly a story about netsuke: little Japanese ceramic figurines, cast as animals. The netsuke sit on shelves and side tables; they suggest the small, the intimate, the domestic. In the hands of Edmund de Waal, however, they unlock such rich themes: the history of his family, of ceramics, of commerce, and even of 20th-Century Europe. De Waal writes so vividly that the book is both an education and an escape.

Psmith, Journalist by PG Wodehouse

I could mention any PG Wodehouse novel here [as comfort reading], but let me turn to Psmith, Journalist for now: an ingenious amalgam of the upper-crustiness of Psmith and the earthiness of New York City criminals. The plot is a delight, and the characters a scream, but I am always slayed by the prose: Wodehouse’s own Queen’s English contrasted with New York slang, high registers playing off against low.

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

In April, I read The Mirror & the Light, the third volume of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy — a perfect lockdown read, in a way, given how sprawling and immersive it is. A few pages daily, just to allow myself to savour Mantel’s language and her perfect eye for detail. It is no secret that Cromwell is executed in the book’s final pages, but even with that foreknowledge, I was terribly moved by her account of his death.

We would love to know how you are keeping busy at home. Tell us what you are reading at metro@thehindu.co.in