August 2025 – Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during August 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during August 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
NYRB Classics is currently running a Horror & the Supernatural Sale with around 30 titles you can choose from. I’ve only read six, but these are books I would strongly recommend: MY DEATH by Lisa Tuttle Lisa Tuttle’s My Death is a wonderfully uncanny, subversive tale of artists and creativity, identity, and the erasure of women in…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall is one of my favourite novels of all time; if you haven’t read it yet, it is certainly a worthy choice for the currently ongoing WIT Month. However, the novel that introduced me to her writing and which I also liked very much was The Loft, translated by Amanda Prantera –…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read some quality books in July, five in all of which two were part of the wonderful #NYRBWomen25 reading project, two were translated works of literature, and one was an Agatha Christie Miss Marple mystery. So, without further ado, here’s a brief look at the books in the order they appear in the picture…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I hadn’t heard of Norwegian author Torborg Nedreaas until Penguin published a rather enticing edition of her novel Nothing Grows by Moonlight this year and I decided to make it my first book …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Posts about NYRBWomen25 written by Radz Pandit| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Published in 1976, The Stepdaughter is Caroline Blackwood’s first novel and also the first book I’ve read of hers. It’s pretty impressive and has whetted my appetite for her more well-known novel G…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during May 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
4 posts published by Radz Pandit during January 2019| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during October 2023| Radhika's Reading Retreat
August is Women in Translation (WIT) Month and I thought I’ll put together a list of some of my favourite WIT books read in 2024 and 2025 so far; three of which I read thanks to the wonderful “NYRBWomen25” reading project. This list is a mix of 7 languages spread across 9 books (including Solvej…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Inès Cagnati’s Free Day was the ninth book I read for the #NYRBWomen25 reading project — one I had never heard of before, but which turned out to be a marvellous discovery, much like Maria Dermoût’s gorgeous, enigmatic The Ten Thousand Things, which I read thanks to #NYRBWomen23. Set against the bleak marshlands of southwestern…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Multi-volume Danish series seems to be quite the fad at the moment; I loved Solvej Balle’s excellent On the Calculation of Volume 1, and now we have Asta Olivia Nordenhof’s seven-part ‘Scandinavian…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during April 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Mavis Gallant’s Paris Stories was the eighth book I read as part of the excellent #NYRBWomen25 reading project, and what a sublime collection it was! This also happened to be the first book I read …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during June 2019| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during July 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Last year, I compiled a list of some favourite titles published by Archipelago Books featuring authors such as Tarjei Vesaas, Hanne Ørstavik, Tomás González, Willem Frederik Hermans, et al, and to …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read some quality books in May and June, despite May not starting on a great note (a viral fever during the first half completely sapped my energy and I could barely read). Persephone emerged as the dominant publisher as I read three books (two novels and a short story collection) from their wonderful catalogue.…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
The editions of Daunt Books Publishing are a pleasure to hold and read. Nicely produced books with French flaps, easy print, and stylish covers, Daunt publishes reissues of long forgotten works, co…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Thoughts on all things books and literature| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Last year, the Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream made it to My Top 12 Books of 2017 list. As I pored over the glowing reviews of that novel in the cultural sections of newspapers, …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
3 posts published by Radz Pandit during June 2025| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I seem to be in the mood for some Persephone books at the moment having recently read and loved Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins, followed by Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton which turned out to be…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during December 2019| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during September 2023| Radhika's Reading Retreat
5 posts published by Radz Pandit during July 2024| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Elizabeth Jenkins’ superb The Tortoise and the Hare was one of my favourite books in 2022. I was therefore keen at some point to read Harriet, published by the wonderful Persephone Books, a copy of…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I had never read Buzzati before and having heard such wonderful things about his famous novel The Tartar Steppe it seemed like the time was right to give it a try and what an absolutely brilliant r…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read Caroline Blackwood’s marvellous Great Granny Webster for #NYRBWomen25, the fifth book I’ve now read as part of this terrific reading project. I read this in April but could not write about i…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Celia Dale is a new author to me and now a wonderful discovery thanks to Daunt Books’ recent reissue of A Helping Hand. As I write about this terrific book, another of her titles just published tit…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
May Sinclair’s Life and Death of Harriett Frean is a pitch-perfect study of a woman’s life traced from cradle to grave compressed into a taut 180 pages. With quiet precision, Sinclair distills the …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I had read Elizabeth Hardwick’s essay collection Seduction and Betrayal many years ago but unfortunately did not write about it at the time, although I have a vague recollection of being impressed …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Sybille Bedford was a German-born English writer of non-fiction and semi-autobiographical fiction, particularly well-known for her books A Legacy and Jigsaw. When a recent Backlisted episode focuse…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
To quote Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” Well, certainly in 2019. But there was nothing quite as therapeutic and rewarding as reading for me this year. On the surfa…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read my first Anita Brookner in 2020, the superb Look at Me, a book that found a place on My Best Books of 2020 list, but for some inexplicable reason I haven’t read more of her work since. To co…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
As I write this, Daunt Books Publishing announced on Bluesky that it will reissue another Celia Dale novel this year – Other People – with another terrific cover. I am excited, I love her novels, a…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I loved Mariana Enriquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire when I read it in 2018 and I’m glad I wrote a review because while I recall the impression it made on me, I’ve pretty much forgotten the …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Toddler-Hunting, Taeko Kono’s terrific story collection is my first review for WIT Month, and a book that is sure to find a place on my year-end list. Taeko Kono’s Toddler-Hunting and Other S…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
For some inexplicable reason, I had never read Muriel Spark before. A few of her novels were languishing on my shelves, but I never felt compelled to open any of them. But then, last year was Murie…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Sadie Stein, in her introduction to the novel, states: Among Comyns devotees, The Juniper Tree is divisive. Having read only one Comyns (The Vet’s Daughter) prior to The Juniper Tree, I can’t reall…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read Jessica Mitford’s wonderful memoir Hons and Rebels in August as part of Kim’s ‘NYRBWomen24’ reading project but have only gotten to write about it now. I’ve always been fascinated by the Mit…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Barbara Comyns has deservedly seen a revival of sorts in recent years; quite a few of her books have been reissued by Virago, NYRB Classics, Turnpike Books, and Daunt Books. And yet, there are a co…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I read some wonderful books from NYRB Classics in September and because I am rather behind in my reviews, I decided to write about two of them – The Gate and Our Spoons Came from Woolworths –…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
After having read and loved Barbara Comyns’ wonderful Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead earlier this year, I was more than happy to read (more precisely to reread) another of her novels – The Vet’s …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Posts about NYRBWomen24 written by Radz Pandit| Radhika's Reading Retreat
2020 was so terrible, the less said about it the better. The best thing though was all the reading I did. Books kept me sane. With more time on my hands, I read much more than what I had done in pr…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
It was only a few years ago that I discovered the writing of Elizabeth Taylor. It didn’t help that she shared the same name with the famous actress. At the time, NYRB Classics had reissued her nove…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I love Barbara Comyns. Her books are so strange and wonderfully addictive, her writing and imagination so unique. Every Comyns that I’ve read has been marvellous – The Vet’s Daughter (which I plan …| Radhika's Reading Retreat
I am steadily making my way through Elizabeth Taylor’s novels, such a terrific writer she is. All the novels I’ve read so far – A Game of Hide and Seek, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, The Soul of Ki…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Jane and Prudence is the third Barbara Pym novel I’ve read, and it’s wonderful, right up there with my other favourites – Excellent Women and Some Tame Gazelle. Penned in 1953, Jane and Prudence is…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
RC Sherriff’s The Fortnight in September was one of my favourite novels in 2022 having found a place on My Best Books of 2022 list, and keen to read another and also another Persephone title, I pic…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
Françoise Gilot’s terrific memoir Life with Picasso is a book I read for #NYRBWomen24 in May, but only got around to writing about now… created by photogrid In 1953, Françoise Gilot, in her early t…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
X (erstwhile Twitter) might be a ghastly place nowadays, but it continues to remain a great source of book recommendations (for me at least), and thanks to Andrew Male (who writes wonderfully about…| Radhika's Reading Retreat
