EXPERTS in an authoritative book explores many aspects of the bureaucracy and offers food for thoughts to address the crisis in the administration.

The author had the rare opportunity of closely observing the techniques and strategies of governance being a personal secretary to former President Hussain Muhammad Ershad and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A sweeping saga spanning four generations weaves itself through the bustling, pell-mell metropolis that is Calcutta and its antipode - a calm orderly small-town in Rhode Island, USA.

One is a much desired alcoholic consumer item the world has ever known while the other is a mode of armed conflict between countries.

For the ultimate intrepid global traveller, there is Timbuctoo and there is Tibet.

Mossad or “the institute” – if translated literally, is that formidable Israeli Secret Service which needs no introduction. And this is the first time that 21 of its greatest missions have found their way to the public domain.

A grimace envisaged—his medieval shawm as pulsates: on the way being sharks' dinner, to know half is more perilous than not knowing at all; there sits the poet, crosslegged. He smirks. And trillions of illustrations on their trapeze of words, swing in the brain-stomach.

LYING on the Couch is a story that opens up like the unfolding petals of a blooming flower.

THIS novel, published in 1979 in France, by Czech writer Milan Kundera explores the basic human nature of how people tolerate the torture and suffering of which they have no control. People tend to forget their past and we learn nothing from history. This novel even alludes to our Liberation War in 1971 and the torture unleashed by the Pakistani junta.

ABOUT the book and the study: The book contains the findings of an in-deep study into the Local Governance and Decentralization with an analytical approach and perspective of politics and economics, distribution of power and wealth and overall governance of the local system.

SYLHETER Sahittyo: Srosta O Sristi (Literature of Sylhet: Writers & their works) is a voluminous book by Professor Nandalal Sharma that covers a span of over one hundred years to enlighten the readers with adequate information about the authors, poets, essayists and educationists of greater Sylhet (Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sunamgonj). It's a compendious anthology illustrating the biographies and prominent creations of the litterateurs of Sylhet division which have been generated and published over last more than one century.

A meticulous compilation of 100 stories centering the Bangladesh War of Liberation has been done by Litterateur Hosne Ara Shahed in two volumes. Each volume contains 50 stories of renowned writers of the country. Shuchipatra has published the two volumes, which are available in Ekushe Boi Mela. The price of each volume is Tk. 700.00

CONSIDER these lines, as quotations or as a paraphrase: “Bengali Muslims of East Bengal/Pakistan were a vitally important audience for the Bengali film industry of Calcutta during the “golden age” of this industry (that is, from the 1930s to the 1950s).”

PAULO Coelho is currently the best-known Brazilian novelist. His novels The Alchemist, The Fifth Mountain, Eleven Minutes, Veronika Decides to Die, Brida have ornamented his profile with eminence and glory. Some of his non-fictional books are highly acclaimed too like Confessions of a Pilgrim and Manual of the Warrior of Light. This illustrious author came up with a catchy tale of despair, lust and sin in 2014 that sparked off considerable degree of sensation among readers and critics in the wake of its publication. The novel's title is Adultery which is suggestive enough to help readers prognosticate its thematic points. Linda, the Swiss narrator of this novel introduces herself as a woman who apparently seems complacent with everything she possesses. In her 30s, Linda has quite a well-off husband who loves her.

PROFESSOR Nizam Ahmed, a teacher of Chittagong University, has continuously been carrying out research on the functions of our Jatiya Sangsad. His latest book "The Bangladesh Parliament: A Data Handbook" is an excellent and massive research work. This timely handbook provides insights into understanding the functions of Parliament as an institution. It covers nine parliaments constituted in between the period 1973-2011.

First, haven’t read a novella that sprang out of pure chance and curiosity as the Search Warrant, and second, it was read mainly because of its author - Patrick Modiano, recipient of 2014 Nobel Prize and no other reason. The story is simple but amusingly crafted.

The collection of poems, named Retrospect peruses not only the writer’s thrive to create but speaks of his imagination and belief. His life and thoughts, according to him, was shown and shaped by no other than the late S.M. Sultan. However, a collection of 39 poems by Shams Monwar speaks of a dreamer who has picked up the pen for re-discovering himself and the reality that surrounds him.

THERE are several interesting stories in this book: there's Minka's story (a fantasy she had started writing as a young girl); there's the story of her life she's recounting to Sage, and there's Josef's story (also narrated to Sage).

Taking up C. G. Jung's book “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” was perfect in the bitter cold weather that we were passing in Massachusetts last week. For voracious readers like myself, it was like finding life with a new light by a great thinker. It is heavy reading and one needs to reflect on each piece of

THIS is a first in Bangladesh. A published anthology of the memoirs of 43 career diplomats of Bangladesh, that is. As far as I am aware, a few career diplomats have composed their memoirs and gotten them published as individual efforts, including one that is almost as voluminous as the combined efforts of the 43 that have been compressed into this one omnibus. And therein can be identified an immediate problem that accompanies Serving the