The Girl Who Ate Books

Book excerpt: A unique collection of essays from one of India's best-loved critics From Bankimchandra Chatterjee to G.V. Desani to Vikram Seth, Indian writing in English has come a long way over the last hundred years. And Nilanjana Roy - voracious eater of books and sharpest of critics - has taken stock of it all. One of India's most widely read journalists, Roy has been writing reviews, columns, essays and features for over two decades. The Girl Who Ate Books revisits the best of these occasional pieces and weaves them together with a set of new personal essays. From early memories of living in a house made of books to encounters with men and women who hoarded books to the author's first taste of the printed word, this is a memoir of reading, loving and living with books like no other. Bringing together writers across generations - from the obscure Sake Dean Mahomet to the mischievous Khushwant Singh to the fiery Arundhati Roy - The Girl Who Ate Books gives us a ringside view of the theatre of Indian writing in English over several decades, and especially the last two. Written in the author's understated but unfailingly elegant style, this is an essential collection for those who live to read and read to live.