A Book A Day - A Literary Podcast from India

The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century is a 2014 English style guide written by cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author Steven Pinker. I discuss this in today's podcast.

Written in early 20th-century, In Search of Lost Time is Marcel Proust's most prominent, known both for its length and its theme of involuntary memory. I narrate a few pages from the book in today's podcast.

As a Man Thinketh is a self-help book by James Allen, published in 1903. The book might reveal the answers to some of the fundamental questions you are pondering over.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States, and of American literature. Today I narrate some of his verses in this podcast.

Wit Inspirations of the Two-Year-Olds is a humorous piece penned in the late nineteenth century by American writer Mark Twain. I narrate this short story in today's podcast.

In today's podcast, I narrate a really, really short story written by Confucius.

In today's podcast, I narrate a wonderful essay written by the great American writer Stewart Edward White. The essay is titled On Lying Awake at Night and it is going to be of great help if you are a nocturnal being.

JRR Tolkien's fantasy world is one of the most popular ones in literature and is best explored through books such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. In today's podcast, I discuss the first one and narrate the first few pages of it.

Continuing the discussion from previous episode on Sanjeev Sanyal's book Land of the Seven Rivers, I discuss the Vedic culture of India and its history. Hope you will have a good time listening to the excerpts from the book.

In his book Land of Seven Rivers, Sanjeev Sanyal sets out to explore how India’s history was shaped by its geography-answering questions you may have never thought to ask. One of those questions is regarding the fate of Indus Valley Civilisation. I discuss that question through the lens of this book in today's podcast.

Free Will is a 2012 book by the American neuroscientist Sam Harris. It argues that free will is an illusion, but that this does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of political and social freedom, and that it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life. I discuss the key ideas and arguments presented in this book on the question of free w...

Ghosts bring a lot of thrill to a story. They can be scary too but that's a part of the fun. That's why I am going to narrate a horror story in today's podcast. This is as much an attempt to scare you as it is to entertain you. Beware!

Letter to His Father is the name usually given to the letter Franz Kafka wrote to his father Hermann in November 1919, indicting him for his emotionally abusive and hypocritical behavior towards him. I narrate parts of this letter to give you some idea about Franz Kafka's own life, especially his childhood issues.

Finally we come to the end of this week's theme, which is about telling you some folk stories from around the world. This one comes from Italy. Enjoy.

In the second last episode of this week's theme of folklores, I bring a folk tale from the other side of the world, i.e., from South America. Hope you will enjoy the story.

This week's theme on folk stories continues and I bring to you a Jewish folk tale today. Follow us for more stories and conversations on books.

This week's theme of myths and folklores continues. Today's folk tale is from China. Hope you will enjoy it.

Continuing this week's theme of folk stories, I bring to you a Korean folklore today. It's called Come, Look. Enjoy the story and stay tuned for more.

Today, I narrate an Irish folk story which is about the queer side of cats. Keep following this week's episodes to listen to more of such folk stories from different parts of the world.

This week I am narrating folk stories from around the world. A story a day, to be precise. Today, I have picked an African folk tale for you.

Edward James Corbett CIE VD was a British hunter, tracker, naturalist, and author who hunted a number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India in 20th century. In this episode, I briefly discuss his works and narrate a short story written by him.

Mullah Nasruddin Khodja is a wise man famous throughout the Muslim and some parts of the non-Muslim world. Historical documents show that he lived in the 13th century in Anatolia (today Turkey). He was a scholar (âlim) or at least an educated man. His jokes were narrated for centuries between people for different purposes, some for humour and some to tell as stories full of meaning and wisdom. I n...

Okakura Kakuzo was a Japanese scholar who contributed to the development of arts in Japan. His masterpiece The Book of Tea is a long essay linking the role of chadō to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. I discuss this book in today's podcast.

In the 200th episode of this podcast series, I bring you Ratna Rajaiah's book Secrets of Health from the Indian Kitchen. The author brings you some of the ancient and finest cuisines from grandma's kitchen and tell you the stories of each of them along with the recipe secrets. Enjoy the podcast and enjoy the food.

Ancient Greeks has their own worldview, beliefs and folklores. The myths found in their culture are as rich as you would find anywhere. In this podcast, I take a look at the creation myth of this culture.