Kari
by Amruta Patil
HarperCollins, 2008
With such a vibrant graphic tradition, it is little surprise that Indian art and literature has now produced a series of beautiful and smart graphic novels. Orijit Sen's Kalpavrisksh (1994) and Sarnath Banerjee's Corridor (2004) and The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers (2006) are now joined by Amruta Patil's very smart new book. The drawings are evocative, and the emotions tear off the page. There isn't much of a story here – not like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (2007), which draws us in with its coming-of-age, coming-out narrative. Our Kari's coming-of-age is muted. I wanted more. (Vijay Prashad)
Traffic:
Why we drive the way we do
(and what it says about us)
by Tom Vanderbilt
Allen Lane, 2008
Say what you will about our increasingly globalised, increasingly non-regimented soup of urban existence, but where exactly are these elements in our daily lives? Most people are stuck in something of a rut of habit: regularly meeting, if not the same people, many of the same types of people. Into this easeful milieu sallies forth something of a great leveller: traffic, that most democratic of daily annoyers.