-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Excursions in Exile
by Aatish Taseer
A blend of travelog and memoir spanning from Turkey to Mexico, exploring Aatish Taseer's uniquely blended identity and asking: Why do certain cities become epicenters of great historical shifts and sites of unpredictable communities?
In 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi revoked Aatish Taseer's Indian citizenship, thereby exiling him from the country where he grew up and lived for thirty years. This loss, both practical and spiritual, sent him on a journey of revisiting the places that formed his identity, and asking broader questions about the complex forces that make a culture and a nationality, in the process.
In Istanbul, he confronts the hopes and ambitions of his former self. In Uzbekistan, he sees how what was once the majestic portal of the Silk Road is now a tourist façade. In India, he explores why Buddhism, which originated there, is so little practiced. Everywhere he goes, the ancient world mixes intimately with the contemporary: with the influences of the pandemic, the rise of new food cultures, and the ongoing cultural battles of regions around the world. How do centuries of cultures evolving and overlapping, often violently, shape the people that subsequently emerge from them?
In thoughtful prose that combines reportage with romanticism, Taseer casts an incisive eye at what it means to belong to a place that becomes an unstable, politicized vessel for ideas defined by exclusion and prejudice, and gets to the human heart of the shifts and migrations that define our multicultural world.
"[An] exquisite collection ... Sumptuously written and elegantly observed, this is a stunning and immersive vision of a fully interdependent world." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Taseer's work is lyrical, heady, and vulnerable, expertly weaving memoir with research and reflection ... [A] poetic, insightful travelogue." —Kirkus Reviews
"A Return to Self invites readers on a captivating expedition, painting vivid and intimate portraits in which every detail is a gem to be lingered on. As Taseer navigates the ancient cities of Samarkand, the lush greenery of Sri Lanka, and the historical marvels of Istanbul, he also embarks on an introspective journey, exploring the intersections of culture, memory, self-discovery, and what it means to belong." —Clarissa Ward, author of On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist
"In A Return to Self, Aatish Taseer shows us how to see the world: He reveals what's beneath the facades, what we're missing, how it's all connected—and also how it all feels, tastes, and smells. He takes us deeper, while understanding that the surface is a reality too." —Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sontag: Her Life and Work
This information about A Return to Self was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Aatish Taseer is the author of the memoir Stranger to History: A Son's Journey Through Islamic Lands and the acclaimed novels The Way Things Were, a finalist for the 2016 Jan Michalski Prize, The Temple-Goers, short-listed for the Costa First Novel Award, and Noon; and the memoir and travelog The Twice-Born. He is also the translator of a volume of Saadat Hasan Manto's short stories from Urdu, Manto: Selected Stories. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is a Writer at Large for T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Born in England and raised in New Delhi, educated in the US and previously a journalist in the UK, he now lives in New York.
If you liked A Return to Self, try these:
by Afabwaje Kurian
Published 2025
Set against the backdrop of 1970s Nigeria teetering between post-colonial dependency and self-rule, Before the Mango Ripens examines the enduring themes of faith, disillusionment, and the search for belonging. Both epic and intimate, Afabwaje Kurian's debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Published 2024
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don't—shape our realities.
by Lauren Markham
Published 2024
A mesmerizing, trailblazing synthesis of reporting, history, memoir, and essay.
Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
