Daily Star Books
THE SHELF / 2023 in Review
Some of these works have inspected the complex lives of modern Bangalis while some have traced the contours of our past often not examined. Here’s your chance to read some of the releases of this year by Bangladeshi authors, if you haven’t read them yet.
FROM PAGES TO PIXELS / Percy Jackson finally gets the adaptation he deserves
The 2010 and 2013 Percy Jackson films, despite Logan Lerman's charismatic lead performance, fell short of expectations, drawing criticism for creative decisions like omitting significant book sequences and ageing Percy prematurely to 16.
THE SHELF / 5 books you should read before 2023 ends
As 2023 draws to a close, we have compiled a list of books we think you should read that capture the essence of the year and prepare you for another vibrant year of reading.
ESSAY / The Palestinian crisis, Holocaust production, and ‘Maus’
This is part of a grand narrative that, offensive as it is, asks why the Jewish people let themselves be killed, instead of asking why the system enabled it to happen–the same narrative also exists in the cases of colonialism and slavery.
THE SHELF / Books that reinspire the creative spark
And on this day, when you are almost certain you will complete what you set out to do (hit your word count), you pick up that pen and flip open your notebook, and it hits you.
BOOK REVIEW: NONFICTION / Navigating the labyrinth of Bangladesh’s secular identity
The debate about the constitutional position of secularism in Bangladesh with Islam as the state religion raises one burning question, “Is the country undergoing an identity crisis?”
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Discovering something not-so new with ‘The Turtle of Oman’
The melancholic, tuned nostalgia of finishing a journey was being caressed by the soft yet upbeat rhythm of the journey coming forth.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Human virtue questioned in the not-so-small things
At a time when everyone is grappling with financial instability while combating the icy spree, Bill is grateful enough to have survived another year with his wife Eileen and five daughters.
EVENT REPORT / Discussion on Munier Chowdhury held at Jahangirnagar University
In his discussion on Munier Chowdhury and his writings, Professor Mashrur Shahid Hossain hailed Munier Chowdhury as the “pioneer writer” of comparative literature in Bangladesh.
TRIBUTE / The futuristic post-punk world of Izumi Suzuki
More than anything, Suzuki shows that the key to being an alien is not to be outlandish but to be sickeningly more human.
REVIEW: LITERARY MAGAZINE / Explosive speculative fiction in the latest issue of ‘Small World City’
What struck me the most about these stories is the firm, unflinching, and confident authorial voice sneaking up on and dictating the reader’s thoughts, orienting them to feel sympathy for the characters no matter how unlikeable they are.
Growing up with Mark Twain
On a chilly winter morning of November 2010, I came across a story that would stamp my childhood permanently. It was the winter vacation and the school finals were just over. While playing board games at one of my friend’s, I found quite a picturesque book filled with illustrations and art. It was titled, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
Keep your secrets close and your tech support closer
Addison Square is one of those hidden enclaves where well-heeled Londoners tuck themselves away to create bubbles of “civilised life” from which they can exclude the riffraff surrounding them in the mega-city they call home.
On the Palestine Question: Roald Dahl, Harold Pinter, and others
On Saturday, February 15, 2003, I was part of a 15-coach convoy from Portsmouth to London, UK.
There's a Jo March in every woman
Whether it was in the past or in the present, Jo March instilled herself in every woman.
Disempowering voices of propaganda: The BDS movement in books
When millions of lives are at stake and indiscriminate violations of human rights are perpetuated, there is no longer space to entertain the debate on whether the art should be separated from the artist
Nobody writes like Arundhati Roy
When a dear friend recommended The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, it took me one page to grow up.
Despair and death in ‘Truth or Dare’
Bangladeshi literature in English has had a considerably late start compared to its South Asian counterparts in India and Pakistan. A few exceptions aside, a consistency came to be seen only by the early 2010s.
In search of lost eden
From the beginning we see Benjamin Honey, the patriarch of the island, longing to return to his past, in a garden, the Eden of his childhood where he reminisces about being with a woman who might or might not have been her mother.
Revisiting ‘Chobir Deshe, Kobitar Deshe’
The book captures all the enjoyable experiences of travelling, and the food they ate, and provides descriptions of France's seas.
A masterful portrait of normalised misogyny and sexism
Award winning Irish writer Claire Keegan is a master of short fiction. Her previous novel, Small Things Like
