The Secret Lives Of Bengalis

A leading critic picks the standouts among the ‘splendid autobiographies’ of Indian intellectuals

Amartya Sen with his sister Supurna and a cousin in 1948 / From “Home in the World” (W.W. Norton)

You might think book critics’ biggest regrets would involve savage pans or over-the-top raves they wish they’d toned down. There’s some truth to it: Most of us have written reviews that, in retrospect, seem too harsh or too kind.

But I’ve more often heard critics express regrets about books they didn’t review. More than 4 million self- or traditionally published books appear each year, according to data from ProQuest. Nobody can review all of them, or even all of the best or the bestselling books.

The deluge means that critics are constantly doing triage on the new arrivals, asking questions like: Which books are the most newsworthy? Among those, which am I best qualified to review? Which ones might interest my readers or followers the most?

An example of the how triage plays out: Not long ago, I wanted to write about a good biography, and critics have heaped praise on Home in the World, a memoir by Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist from West Bengal. But I know Indian literature less well than American and economic theory less well than either. I went with a biography of Wanda Gág, the Minnesota writer who transformed picture books with her…