From Doon With Death (Chief Inspector Wexford #1)

Author – Ruth Rendell

Genre – Detective, Crime, fiction

Source - Kindle

Rating - 4

Read - December 2015

Some of you would know that I am doing a series with a newspaper on detective fiction. I am glad, therefore, that I am getting to revisit writers that I am fond of, or read ones that I had not earlier. Ruth Rendell was a master of the detective fiction genre, and I am familiar with her work, as I am with Chief Inspector Wexford, the main protagonist of many of her books. This, the first in the series, I had not read earlier. 
And I am glad to have done so now. An expert police procedural, this is a must-read for fans of the sub-genre. I am fond of these village-green police procedurals as I call them - they have in them both the comfort of the cozies, and the rootedness of the hardboiled (although little of the grit and the grime). This is excellent - solid plot, crisp storytelling, no pretension or unnecessary flourish, precise character development, a main protagonist you can root for, and a finish that's gentle but not without surprises. 
Dated? Well, it does indeed read like it was written in 1964 (its year of publication). But that does not hamper the story at all. Has aged quite well.

Will review in greater detail sometime in the future.

Dwitiyo Innings - er Por

দ্বিতীয় ইনিংসের পর 
Author – Mati Nandi

Genre – Fiction, Bengali

Source - Print

Rating - 4

Read - December 2015

A fine novella; based on test cricket what's more, which doesn't diminish at all on re-reading. Not a classic, not among his greatest, but still a fine piece. Mati Nandi is an expert novelist. I am glad to have re-discovered him.

Nayaker Prabesh o Prasthan

নায়কের প্রবেশ ও প্রস্থান 
Author – Mati Nandi

Genre – Fiction, Bengali

Source - Print

Rating - 5

Read - December 2015

This is an extraordinary piece of work. Remember that piece in 'Interpreter of Maladies', the first one? A Temporary Matter? Of how a quasi-estranged couple speak with each other in the middle of a week-long power-failure? This story, by Mati Nandi, reminded me of that. This is a story of how an entire small lane in Kolkata changes, or just comes to terms with itself, while a celebrity steps in, and then steps out of a building in that lane. This is quite extraordinary storytelling. Needs translation.

Baobab

বাওবাব 

Author – Mati Nandi

Genre – Fiction, Bengali

Source - Print

Rating - 4

Read - December 2015

Mati Nandi gave me sports. And I will be eternally grateful to him for that. 
But even beyond his sports-writing, he was an exceptional writer of novels and novellas. And here in Baobab is a master of the written word, at near his peak. Suneet, the chief protagonist of the story, is probably quite the most heinous, morally destitute main protagonist you will ever encounter in a story, and yet somehow, Nandi is able to humanize him. Not by glorifying him, that would be gangster simple and it is easy to love pure evil; but by etching out this disgusting, disgusting human being with a level of finesse that you eventually get it - this is nonetheless a human being. With human thoughts, human urges and human passions. You cannot look away. 
This book is the work of an utterly skillful artisan.
I have a theory as to why Mati Nandi is not as famous as say Shirshendu or Bani Basu as a writer. The minor, and oft-stated answer is that the snobbish literary circle cannot and could not take a former writer of mere sports books seriously. The major answer, I think is that the Bengali reader is an emotional reader, and most, nay all of her favorites are stylistically emotional - Nandi's staccato, journalistic style of prose is not her natural habitat.