Waiting for 'Literary Review' of 'The Hindu'

It is one Sunday I wait with the more than the normal level of eagerness- the first of every month. The paper I read, The Hindu, carries ‘Literary Review’ supplement on the first Sunday of every month.

Tomorrow happens to be the first Sunday of the month and I am all excited for it to be night so I can go to sleep and when I wake up ‘The Hindu’, with the ‘Literary Review’ tucked inside, will be at the doorstep.

The Literary Review of 'The Hindu' is all about what the title says- literature. It is one of the most intelligent monthly capsule of the literary events, book launches, reviews, writers in the news. It also carries regular columns on books by some of the best literary minds in the country like Ravi Vyas. It is a supplement no book lover can afford to miss. I cannot imagine the first Sunday of the month without it.

Last month’s Literary Review carried a lot of interesting stuff. The front page had an interview with David Davidar of Penguin. In it he talked about his second book- The Solitude of Emperors which comes after his first book- The House of Blue Mangoes. Also on the front page was a write up on Qurratulain Hyder by Rakhsanda Jalil. Hari Kunzru’s ‘My Revolutions’ was reviewed on the front page by Maitreyee S. Ganapathy.

Inside there were more book reviews both brief and detailed. Advaita Kala’s ‘Almost Single’ was one such brief review in the ‘First Impressions’ by Suchitra Behal column.

One column that I find very informative and interesting is ‘Endpaper’ by Pradeep Sebastian who writes knowledgeably about books, book collecting, bookstores and bibliophiles. In this issue he wrote a highly informative article on book search engines like ‘Alibris’, ‘Abebooks’, ‘Addall’ and other websites which help one locate rare and first editions of books that are out of print.

This six page supplement contains enough stuff to keep me occupied with literary matters for the entire month because I keep reading it again and again all through the month until it is time for the next issue.