The God of Small Things on The Tempest: “Baby Kochamma, who had been put in charge of their formal education, had read them an abridged version of The Tempest by Charles and Mary Lamb. (Elsewhere the twins recite Ariel's song from it: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I / In a cowslip's bell I lie.") Normalized to Shakespeare's play, the canonical work being retold; in-text the…”
The God of Small Things on Lochinvar: “"Today I would like to recite to you a poem by Sir Walter Scott entitled 'Lochinvar.'" She clasped her hands behind her back.”
The God of Small Things on A Tale of Two Cities: “That was Rahel being Sydney Carton being Charles Darnay, as he stood on the steps, waiting to be guillotined, in the Classics Illustrated comic's version of A Tale of Two Cities.”
The God of Small Things on The Reader's Digest World Atlas: “Ammu took down the heaviest book she could find in the bookshelf—The Reader's Digest World Atlas—and hit him with it as hard as she could. Kept as a specific, singular named reference work (per project convention allowing works like Merck Manual/Brewer's); credited to its publisher since no individual author is given.”
Mother Mary Comes to Me on Mister Johnson: “He said the story was loosely based on a novel set in colonial Nigeria called Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary and that I was on no account to read it because he didn't want me to be influenced by it.”
Mother Mary Comes to Me on My Story: “Kamala Das had shocked Kerala with her book My Story, published in 1973, which was candid and unapologetic about sexual intimacy.”
Mother Mary Comes to Me on The Satanic Verses: “the Congress government had banned Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses and reversed a progressive Supreme Court judgment...”
Mother Mary Comes to Me on Wuthering Heights: “I showed her a picture of Heathcliff lying on Cathy's grave from an old illustrated edition of Wuthering Heights.”