She Reads South Asia

“When a New Zealand journo, with a nose resembling the beak of his national bird, asked me why Lankans have long names, I told him I would rather have a long name than a long nose. He replied he'd rather have a long you-know-what. Such is the insightful cricketing analysis that goes on in the press box.”
― Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

“If a liar tells you he is lying, is he telling the truth.”
― Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

“She thought she could see the lines on his forehead even in this darkness, she thought she could hear his heart beat with this colossal pain that had descended upon them all. She did not pity herself, or them, or wonder what they had done to deserve all of this, or even think that perhaps they were all paying their dues for some sin they had committed in a previous life. This was life, such as it was, and it had to be borne, it had to be lived.”
― Indu Sundaresan, The Splendor of Silence

“How can it be that this town is so full of people they're falling off the pavements and yet only in dreams am I in someone's arms?”
― Anjum Hasan, Difficult Pleasures