Legendary filmmaker
Rachna Singh
Enchantment of the Mind: Manmohan Desai’s Films
by Connie Haham. Roli. Pages 204. Rs 395. 
THE Manmohan Desai’s unabashed proclamation, "I don’t make films for critics", sums up the cinematic genre of fantasy-entertainment created by him. In Preface, Amitabh Bachchan compares this auteur-director to a child who has clambered onto a Ferris wheel and could have enjoyed the ride till the kingdom come.

Myriad shades of life
Shubhshil Desraj
If: A Collection of Short Stories by Neeru Nanda. Rupa. Pages 201. Rs 195.
THE word "IF" is pregnant with meaning. It is full of terrifying implications and predicaments, encompassing sober facts and frightening fantasies.

Murder on rugged island
Rubinder Gill
The Lighthouse by P.D. James Faber and Faber. Pages 323. £ 6.99.
THE latest Adam Dalgliesh mystery by classic crime writer P. D. James is an absorbing fare. The action is set on rugged Combe Island off the Cornish coast. With a small set of characters, James weaves a powerful and superbly structured plot. Thorough in detail, The Lighthouse begins slowly but gains momentum after the first few pages.

Himachali cuisine on a platter
Amar Chandel
Classic Recipes from Himachal Pradesh
by Bhawanee Singh.
Value Books. Pages 127. Rs 295.
THE scenic beauty of Himachal Pradesh is well-known not only in India but all over the world. But what is far less known is the fact that the hill state has a rich and elaborate culinary tradition as well. This may have some resemblance with cooking in the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir but has a distinctive existence entirely different from that in the plains. It is just that these dishes have never been presented to the world in their full glory.

Whither globalism?
P. K. Vasudeva
The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World ed. John Ralston Saul. Penguin. Pages 309. Rs 395.
Globalisation, a process by which an activity or an undertaking becomes worldwide in scope is not a 21st century phenomenon. The globalisation of economic activities has been closely linked with the development and establishment of empires worldwide through international trade since the 16th century. Globalisation via development and the spread of multi-national companies is a more recent phenomenon. With the thrust on information technology and research and development for high-level technology, the whole world has become a small village.

Unhappily ever after
Harsh A. Desai
The New Andy Capp Collection No. 2
by Roger Kettle, Roger Mahoney and Richard Sunderland. David & Charles. Pages 124. Rs 400.
YOU will find Andy Capp generally lounging on his yellow sofa—sometimes just napping or with a beer glass close at hand. Or you will find Andy Capp with a pool cue in his hand and a spring in his step walking towards the pub. Or you will find Andy at the race course cheering his horse who, if he is not sitting down in the race, is woefully behind.

Opus Dei tackles Da Vinci Code image problem
Portrayed in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code as a secretive cult willing to murder to defend a fictional 2,000-year-old Catholic cover-up, Opus Dei is promoting its softer side before the movie of the book arrives in May.

Tale of Prince Charming
M.S. Unnikrishnan
My Way — The Biography of M.L. Jaisimha
Foreword by Sunil Gavaskar
by A Joseph Antony with Jayanthi Jaisimha. Card Box Company. Pages 158. Rs 100.
ML Jaisimha was such a "rakishly handsome" and debonair playboy-cricketer that "he was everybody’s hero", and his most famous fan was Sunil Manohar Gavaskar.

Feminine images
Amita Malik
Visualizing Indian Women: 1875 - 1947 ed Malavika Karlekar. Oxford University Press. Pages 119. Rs 1500.
ASK the average Indian woman, in the urban as well as rural areas, about their role models and they will immediately mention Sita and Savitri as epitomising the most admired quality in women: sacrifice. Then they will, if encouraged, slightly update their opinion by mentioning the Rani of Jhansi, except that her sacrifice was for the country and not her husband.

The ghost who writes
Boyd Tonkin
Everybody loves a literary ghost story, not the kind with floating shrouds and rattling chains, but tales of late-night liaisons over a hot tape-recorder, unfairly divided advances, and the sad plight of the hidden helpers who flit behind a famous name. In publishing, ghosting recalls 1950s sex: often practised, seldom discussed.

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