The summer reading list: Words Worth

It’s that time of the year again—lazy afternoons, the AC on full blast, a tall glass of iced peach tea, and of course, your favourite author to keep you company.

Published: 17th June 2018 05:00 AM  |   Last Updated: 16th June 2018 03:44 PM   |  A+A-

It’s that time of the year again—lazy afternoons, the AC on full blast, a tall glass of iced peach tea, and of course, your favourite author to keep you company. The first half of this year has been a treat for any book lover. Legends such as Michael Ondaatje, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Julian Barnes, Alexander McCall Smith jostled for space on the shelves with our very own Sudeep Chakravarti, Ira Mukhoty, Manu S Pillai and many others.

While Shashi Tharoor went back in search of his roots in Why I am a Hindu, Devdutt Pattanaik gave us a peak into yet another version of his mythology—Shyam. Madeline Miller’s Greek historical fiction Circe rubbed shoulders with Ruby Lal’s take on the legendary Nur Jahan in Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan.

Even though J K Rowling failed to put a smile on her fans’ faces, Laura Sebastian, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sally Green more than lived up to the expectations with Ash Princess, Children of Blood and Bone, and The Smoke Thieves, respectively. Our favourite resident firang, William Dalrymple, is back again this year—though not with a take on history. His book The Historian’s Eye, a collection of images taken on his cell phone, gives us a glimpse of what he has in store for us next. For those seeking thrills, it couldn’t have got any better.

A J Finn’s The Woman in the Window, Christine Mangan’s Daphne du Maurieresque Tangerine, the undisputed king of Scandinavian crime fiction Jo Nesbo’s Macbeth, besides the magnum opus by Japanese literary sensation Fuminori Nakamura, Cult X—this is definitely the year for crime. Also, the first half has seen a host of autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs—call them what you may. From sporting legends such as Zinedine Zidane and Sourav Ganguly, to Bollywood favourites such as Rishi Kapoor, Karan Johar, and of course, the perennial favourite Mrs Gandhi; there are lives laid bare for those interested.With all this and more lined up, it’s a summer of utter contentment. Happy reading!

Fiction

The House of Unexpected Sisters
By Alexander McCall Smith
Precious Ramotswe has always idolised her father. She feels that she knows all about his life—but does she?

The Householder
By Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
From every page rises the heat, the smells, the flashing iridescent colours and the ceaseless rhythms of Indian life. This story is also a reflection of a universal experience.

The Baptism of Tony Calangute
By Sudeep Chakravarti
In prose that is part lyrical, part brutal satire, yet always passionate, Sudeep Chakravarti evokes the essence of a paradise on the verge of losing its soul.

A Gentleman in Moscow
By Amor Towles
Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, Count Alexander Rostov is escorted out of the Kremlin and sentenced to house arrest. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room.

Love and Ruin
By Paula McLain
It is a novel about Ernest Hemingway’s passionate, stormy marriage to Martha Gellhorn—a fiercely independent woman who would become one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century.

Shelter in Place
By Nora Roberts
On that terrible, hot summer day in 2005, Simone was lucky. She escaped death. But she would never be the same. Ten years on, she still struggles with grief, trauma and the misplaced guilt of a survivor.

The Disappearance of Sally Sequeira
By Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
With its pristine beaches and clear turquoise waters, the picturesque hamlet of Movim in Goa seems like the perfect holiday spot. But amidst all this, Sally Sequeira has disappeared.

Eleventh Hour
By S Hussain Zaidi
New Delhi, 2017. It is nine years since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai and the wounds have still not healed. Especially not for Superintendent of Police Vikrant Singh.

Hemis
By Madhu Tandan
Evocative, soulful and reflective all at once, Hemis is a powerful reminder that nothing else defines us more than our capacity to love.

Warlight
By Michael Ondaatje
In a narrative as mysterious as memory itself—at once both shadowed and luminous—Warlight is a vivid, thrilling novel of violence and love, intrigue and desire.
Small Country
By Gaël Faye
A novel of extraordinary power and beauty, Small Country describes an end of innocence as seen through the eyes of a child caught in the maelstrom of history.

The Verdun Affair
By Nick Dybek
A sweeping, romantic, and profoundly moving novel set in Europe in the aftermath of World War I, about a lonely young man, a beautiful widow, and an amnesiac soldier.

The Only Story
By Julian Barnes
Would you rather love the more and suffer the more; or love the less and suffer the less? Tender and wise, The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of fiction’s greatest mappers of the human heart.

Lullaby
By Leïla Slimani
When Myriam decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect caretaker for their two children. But soon, Myriam and Paul’s idyllic tableau is shattered.

Asymmetry
By Lisa Halliday
Playful and inventive, tender and humane, it is a novel which illuminates the power plays and imbalances of contemporary life.

The Great Believers
By Rebecca Makkai
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDs epidemic grows around him.

Brother
By David Chariandy
The author builds a quietly devastating story about the love between a mother and her sons, the impact of race, masculinity and the senseless loss of young lives.

The High Tide Club
By Mary Kay Andrews
This is Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best, a compelling and witty tale of romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered, and true love found.

Non-Fiction

Illiberal India: Gauri Lankesh and the Age of Unreason
By Chidanand Rajghatta
September 5, 2017: Journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot to death. The murder chilled the nation, sparking off protests across India. In this personal-is-political narrative, senior journalist and analyst Chidanand Rajghatta examines the lives of two people against the volatile backdrop of an increasingly fractious and intolerant India.

#NeverAgain
By David and Lauren Hogg
This book is a manifesto for the movement begun on February 14, 2018, after a school shootout. With moral force and clarity, a new generation has made it clear that problems previously deemed unsolvable due to powerful lobbies and political cowardice will be theirs to solve. This book is their statement of purpose, and the story of their lives.

The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
By David Sanger
Cyberweapons are re-writing the rules of warfare. In less than a decade, they have displaced terrorism and nuclear missiles as the biggest immediate threat to international security and to democracy. David Sanger pieces together a remarkable picture of a world now coming face-to-face with the most sophisticated—and arguably most dangerous—weapon ever invented.

The Death of Truth
By Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to a gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trends—originating on both the right and the left—that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values.

Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America
By Alissa Quart
Interlacing her own experience with close-up reporting on families that are just getting by, Alissa Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion.

Relationships, Self-help & Philosophy

My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired
By Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander
Part instruction manual, part someone else’s diary, My Morning Routine interviews 64 of today’s most successful people—including Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter; Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post; and Michael Acton Smith, the CEO of Calm—and offers advice on creating a routine of your own.

Am I There Yet?
By Mari Andrew
In the journey toward adulthood, it is easy to find yourself treading the path of those who came before you, the path often appears straight and narrow, with a few bumps in the road and a little scenery to keep you inspired. But what if you don’t want to walk a worn path?

Adi Shankaracharya
By Pavan Varma
Jagad Guru Adi Shankaracharya was born in Kerala and died in Kedarnath, traversing the length of India in his search for the ultimate truth. In a short life of 32 years, Shankaracharya not only revived Hinduism, but also created the organisational structure for its perpetuation through the mathas he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri and Joshimatha.

Love Rules: How to Find a Real Relationship in a Digital World
By Joanna Coles
Just as there is junk food, there is junk love. And like junk food, junk love is fast, convenient, attractively packaged, widely available, superficially tasty—and leaves you hungering for more. Social media and online dating sites have become the supermarkets of our relationships.

Editor’s Choice

The President is Missing
By Bill Clinton, James Patterson
The President is missing. The world is in shock. But the reason he’s missing is much worse than anyone can imagine. With details only a President could know, and the kind of suspense only James Patterson can deliver.

Where the Wild Coffee Grows
By Jeff Koehler
Deftly blending in the long, fascinating history of our favourite drink, award-winning author Jeff Koehler takes readers from these forest beginnings along the spectacular journey of its spread around the globe.

Why I Am a Hindu
By Dr Shashi Tharoor
Starting with a close examination of his own belief in Hinduism, Shashi Tharoor ranges far and wide in his study of the faith. He also looks at the myriad manifestations of political Hinduism in the modern era.

Coromandel: A Personal History of South India
By Charles Allen
The author explores the Buddhist and Jain civilisations that flourished all along India’s eastern seaboard. He discovers as much about the present as he does about the past.

Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians
By Boria Majumdar
Chronicling the history of cricket throughout colonial and post-colonial Indian life, this book offers fascinating insight into those who patronise, promote, play, and watch the sport.

Short stories, Collections & Essays

Men Without Women
By Haruki Murakami
Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone.

Florida
By Lauren Groff
The stories span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational centre.

Days of Awe
By A M Homes
With her signature humour and compassion, A M Homes exposes the heart of an uneasy America in her new collection.

Good Trouble
By Joseph O’Neill
Packed with O’Neill’s trademark acerbic humour, Good Trouble explores the maddening and secretly political space between thoughts and deeds, between men and women, between goose and not-goose.

Fight No More
By Lydia Millet
With wit and intellect, Millet offers profound insight into human behaviour from the ordinary to the bizarre.

Compulsory Games
By Robert Aickman
These superb tales terrify not with standard thrills and gore but through a radical overturning of the laws of nature and everyday life.

Look Alive Out There: Essays
By Sloane Crosley
Crosley’s essays have managed to grow simultaneously more sophisticated and even funnier. And yet she’s still very much herself.

Photography & Art

The Historian’s Eye
By William Dalrymple
While researching for his forthcoming book, William Dalrymple visited battlefields and ruins, the mosques, Sufi shrines and temples, the paradise gardens and pleasure grounds, the barrack blocks and townhouses, the crumbling Mughal havelis and the palaces and forts. This collection is a record of that journey.

Andy Warhol’s The Chelsea Girls
By Geralyn Huxley, Greg Pierce
Andy Warhol’s 1966 movie The Chelsea Girls is the iconic document of the Factory scene and 1960s New York. The book is an in-depth, deluxe treatment of the film, featuring stills from the newly digitised film, previously unpublished transcripts and archival materials, and expanded information about each of the individual films that comprise The Chelsea Girls.

365 Days of Invisible Work
By Werker Collective
This book contains 365 images collected and compiled by the Domestic Worker Photographer Network. Members of this open network took photographs of themselves and others as gardeners, dishwashers, domestic workers, mothers, interns, artists and illegal immigrants.

TRAVEL

Florence, A Traveller’s Reader
Edited by Edward Chaney, Harold Acton
Florence’s rich and glorious past is brought vividly to life for the tourist of today through the medium of letters, diaries and memoirs of travellers to the Florentines themselves. This book provides a concise history through Florence’s zenith as a prosperous city state to the Arno’s devastating flood in 1966.

The Himalayan Arc: Journeys East of South
Edited by Namita Gokhale
The Himalayas, the tallest and the youngest mountains in the world, spread from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar with their northern extrusions—the Ximalaya Shanmai—across the Tibetan plateau in China. The book focuses on a crucial, enthralling, politically turbulent, yet often under-reported part of this Himalayan belt.

 

Nautanki Diaries
By Dominic Franks
Nautanki Diaries sits comfortably in the travelogue niche, yet in the best traditions of travel writing it does much more than just describe the passing scenery. With candour and a quirky sense of humour, the author carries the reader on a 22-day journey on a cycle from Bengaluru to New Delhi.

WOMEN

Puddin’: Don’t Break the
Rules. Change ‘Em

By Julie Murphy
Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a girl. Callie Reyes is the pretty girl with the popular boyfriend and a star spot on the dance team. When circumstances bring the girls together, they will surprise everyone by realising they might have more in common than they ever imagined.

 

How Women Rise
By Marshall Goldsmith,
Sally Helgesen
Are you reluctant to claim credit for your achievements? Do you find it difficult to get the support you need from your boss or the recognition you deserve from your colleagues? This book identifies 12 common habits that can prove an obstacle to future success and tells you how to overcome them.

Like A Girl
By Aparna Jain
Do you ever get the feeling that girls have it less easy than boys? Have you been told to behave ‘like a girl’? That you should learn to cook and be nice and keep your legs crossed? Well, here are the stories of 56 women who broke the rules to forge new paths for themselves and others.

Status Single: The Truth About Being Single Woman in India
By Sreemoyee Piu Kundu
A proud-to-be-single woman, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu spills the beans on what it is like being over 30 and unattached in India. Women, whether single by choice or circumstance, are under scathing societal pressure, invasive scrutiny and pervasive criticism.

A Girl like That
By Tanaz Bhathena
Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk-taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker, whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school.

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History
By Keith O’Brien
Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. The pilots themselves were hailed, well the men were. Female pilots were more often ridiculed. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling that conspired to keep them out of the sky.

The Female Persuasion
By Meg Wolitzer
Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at 63, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades. On hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer feels her inner world light up.

Well, that Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist
By Franchesca Ramsey
Franchesca Ramsey didn’t set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race, and culture. But faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters, and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard or step back and let others frame the conversation.

POLITICS

The Trial of Adolf Hitler: The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany
By David King
On the evening of November 8, 1923, Adolf Hitler stormed into a beer hall in Munich, fired his pistol in the air, and proclaimed a revolution. Seventeen hours later, a trail of destruction followed.

For Reasons of State: Delhi Under Emergency
By Ajoy Bose, John Dayal
Part reportage and part human stories, this definitive volume evokes the life and times of
the Emergency and how it
unfolded, and remains perennially relevant.

Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump
By Michael Isikoff, David Corn
Russian Roulette is a story of political skull duggery unprecedented in American history. It weaves together tales of international intrigue, cyber espionage and superpower rivalry.

The Third Revolution: Xi Jingping and the New Chinese State
By Elizabeth C Economy
Elizabeth C Economy provides an incisive look at the transformative changes underway in China. She also assesses their implications for the rest of the world.

Political Risk
By Condoleezza Rice and Amy Zegart
Political risk affects companies and organisations of all sizes, operating everywhere from London to Lahore. This book investigates and analyses this shifting landscape.

Fascism: A Warning
By Madeleine Albright
A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the 20th century and how its legacy shapes today’s world.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
By Michael Wolff
Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

Translations

Poonachi, Or the Story of a Black Goat
By Perumal Murugan
Through a seeming act of providence, an old couple receives a day-old female goat kid as a gift from the cosmos. Thus begins the story of Poonachi. Masterly and nuanced, Perumal Murugan’s tale forces us to reflect on our responses to hierarchy and ownership, selflessness and appetite, love and desire.

Convenience Store Woman
By Sayaka Murata
Keiko has never really fitted in. Be it at school and university people find her odd and her family worries she’ll never be normal. To appease them, Keiko takes a job at a newly opened convenience store. As pressure mounts on Keiko to find either a new job, or worse, a husband, she is forced to take desperate action.

FOOD

Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering
By Joanna Gaines, Marah Stets
Magnolia Table is infused with Joanna Gaines’ warmth and passion for all things family, prepared and served straight from the heart, with recipes inspired by dozens of Gaines family favourites and classic comfort selections. It includes 125 classic recipes from breakfast, lunch and dinner to small plates, snacks and desserts.

Jack Stein’s World on a Plate
By Jack Stein
In this beautiful new book, Jack Stein combines his culinary experience from working in restaurants around the world and his passion for British produce to create 100 dishes to enchant and entice home cooks. Stunning photography complements these delightful recipes, ensuring this is a book you will cook from time and time again.

Saffron and Pearls: A Memoir of Family, Friendship & Heirloom Hyderabadi Recipes
By Doreen Hassan
For Doreen Hassan, Hyderabad is not just where her roots lie, it is also the city that informs the way she and her family lead their lives. This is not a collection of Hyderabadi recipes that stops at the biryani or the mirchi ka saalan or kebabs or shahi tukra. It is a personal story, a tribute to the city.

Pull of Pulses Full of Beans
By Salma Husain, Vijay Thukral
This book is a tribute to the rich and awesome diversity of Indian gastronomic traditions. The recipes in the book include not only curries but also snacks, savouries and sweets. It covers most regions and communities of India. It also includes several international lentil recipes.

The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian: Delicious Meals from the Indian Kitchen
By Nandita Iyer
The author, a trained nutritionist and self-taught celebrity chef, provides a fantastic combination of myth-busting nutritional advice and simple, fuss-free vegetarian recipes using everyday ingredients from the Indian kitchen. In over 100 delectable recipes, she guides you through interesting ways of preparing the same old vegetables and fruits.

The Diary of a Domestic Diva
By Shilpa Shetty Kundra
Do you find it difficult to cook the food you and your family enjoy during a busy day? With Shilpa Shetty’s quick and hassle-free methods, cooking good food is now easy. These favourites of the Shetty-Kundra household have been created to give you variety, taste and the occasional food coma.

Secret Sauce: Inspiring Stories of Great Indian Restaurants
By Priya Bala and Jayanth Narayanan
Secret Sauce is an in-depth look at 40 of India’s most iconic and successful restaurants, not just as landmarks and must-visit destinations, but also as businesses that have stood the test of time and upheld their standards of culinary excellence.

An Indian Sense of Salad: Eat
Raw, Eat More
By Tara Deshpande Tennebaum
The author shows how to use fresh, local vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, natural sweeteners and cold-pressed oils to prepare a range of raw and partially cooked salads. She deconstructs classic Indian dishes to their raw form, creating salads that make healthy meals.

Government & Judiciary

Whither Indian Judiciary
By Justice Markandey Katju
The former Supreme Court judge traces the evolution of law and proceeds to analyse matters of critical importance like the appointment of judges, contempt of court, delays in justice and the challenges facing the judiciary. He draws on his extensive tenure as a justice of the High Court and Supreme Court to draw examples and relate fascinating personal experiences.

Anita Gets Bail
By Arun Shourie
The judiciary has been the one sturdy dyke that has saved us from the excesses of rulers. But recent events remind us of the cracks that have formed: the quality of individuals apart, even the institutional arrangements that had been put in place to preserve the purity and independence of the institution—the collegium, conventions governing the way cases are to be assigned among judges—have frayed.

Religion, Mythology & Historical fiction

Shyam
By Devdutt Pattanaik
This book seamlessly weaves the story from Krishna’s birth to his death, or rather from his descent to the butter-smeared world of happy women to his ascent from the blood-soaked world of angry men.

The Forgotten Cities of Delhi
By Rana Safvi
This book covers historical trails in Siri, Jahanpanah, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, Din Panah, Shergarh and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. Rana Safvi combines narrative history with Sufi couplets.

Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from
Khilji to Shivaji
By Manu S Pillai
Manu S Pillai narrates the story of the Deccan from the close of the 13th century to the dawn of the 18th. This book takes us from the age of Alauddin Khilji to the ascent of Shivaji.

Requiem in Raga Janki
By Neelum Saran Gour
Based on the real-life story of Janki Bai, this is the beautifully rendered tale of one of India’s unknown gems—moving from Hindustani classical music’s earliest times to the age of the gramophone.

Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire
By Ira Mukhoty
In 1526, when Babur rode into Hindustan, his wives, sisters, daughters, aunts and distant female relatives travelled with him. These women would help establish a dynasty and empire that would rule India for the next 200 years.

Empress: The Astonishing Reign of
Nur Jahan
By Ruby Lal
Historian Ruby Lal uncovers the rich life and world of Nur Jahan, rescuing this dazzling figure from patriarchal and orientalist clichés of romance and intrigue.

Circe
By Madeline Miller
When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, wrathful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia. There she learns to harness her occult craft, drawing strength from nature.

The Pataala Prophecy: Son Of Bhrigu
By Christopher C. Doyle
What is The Pataala Prophecy, that must be decoded even as the world hurtles towards a fate that may doom humanity?

Keepers of the Kalachakra
By Ashwin Sanghi
The author describes a world of people at war with one another—a boomeranging conflict of faiths that results in acts of such slow and planned human cruelty that they defy human imagination.


Children’s

A Bagful of History
By Subhadra Sen Gupta
Peppered with stunning illustrations and unusual trivia, this is a fascinating read about the unforgettable events and people from Indian history.

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy)
By Katherine Arden
In a village at the edge of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King.

The Thunderbolt Pony
By Stacy Gregg
A dramatic and emotional story about one girl’s determination to stand by her beloved animals, and her refusal to give up.

I Need to Pee
By Neha Singh
Travel with the cheeky Rahi and read all about her yucky, icky, sticky adventures in this quirky and vibrant book.

The Ammuchi Puchi
By Sharanya Manivannan
Stunningly illustrated and told in gorgeous, poetic prose, this is a poignant and moving story about bereavement and healing.

The Inquisitor’s Tale
By Adam Gidwitz, Hatem Aly
On a dark night, travellers from across France cross paths at an inn and tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France.

War Storm
By Victoria Aveyard
Victory comes at a price. Mare Barrow learned this when Cal’s betrayal nearly destroyed her. Now determined to secure freedom, Mare resolves to overthrow the kingdom of Norta.

Biography & Memoir

Memory in the age of Amnesia
By Saeed Akhtar Mirza
It is a collage created from stories about dreams and nightmares, hate and compassion, violence and repentance.

An Ordinary Man’s Guide to Radicalism: Growing up Muslim in India
By Neyaz Farooquee
Sardonic and wise, the author scrapes out the unvarnished truth about identity and stereotypes, about life in a ghetto, and the small and big disappointments.

Intertwined Lives : P N Haksar and Indira Gandhi
By Jairam Ramesh
This is the first full-length biography of arguably India’s most influential and powerful civil servant who was Indira Gandhi’s alter ego during her period of glory.
S D Burman: The Prince-Musician
By Anirudha Bhattacharjee,
Balaji Vittal
This well researched biography is both a tribute to a great artist, and a deep inquiry into what made his music great.

Indira
By Devapriya Roy, Priya Kuriyan
Real and imagined, the past and present, text and image all entwine as Indira walks us through the formative decades of political life of India.

An Unsuitable Boy
By Karan Johar, Poonam Saxena
Baring all in his autobiography, Karan Johar reminisces about his childhood, the influence of his Sindhi mother and Punjabi father, obsession with Bollywood, foray into films, friendships with Aditya Chopra, SRK and Kajol, his love life, and much more.

Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored
By Rishi Kapoor, Meena Iyer
Characteristically candid, Rishi Kapoor brings Punjabi brio to the writing. This is as up close and personal a biography as any fan could have hoped for. A foreword by Ranbir Kapoor and a stirring afterword by Neetu Singh bookend the warmest, most ‘dil se’ biography an Indian star has ever penned.

pulp fiction

Little Fires Everywhere
By Celeste Ng
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson.
Enter Mia Warren—an enigmatic artist and single mother with her teenage daughter Pearl. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for rules.

The Silent Widow
By Sidney Sheldon,
Tilly Bagshawe
A young American au pair, Charlotte Clancy, vanishes without a trace in Mexico City. A decade later, LA is shaken by a spate of violent murders. Psychologist Nikki Roberts is the common link between the victims. When someone makes an attempt on Nikki’s life, it’s clear she is a marked woman.

 

The House Swap
By Rebecca Fleet
When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap, they jump at the chance. After the difficulties of the past few years, they want to reconnect as a couple. On arrival, they find a house that is stark and sinister in its emptiness. Then, gradually, Caroline begins to uncover some signs of life.

Love a Little Stronger
By Preeti Shenoy
Life is a collection of moments, some memorable and some mundane. Often it is the tiniest things that bring the greatest joy, even though at that time, we have no idea that what we are witnessing may be magical. Packed with her hilarious narratives, this book is certain to strike a chord.

When Life Gives You
Lululemons
By Lauren Weisberger
Emily Charlton, Miranda Priestly’s ex-assistant, does not do the suburbs. Karolina Hartwell is as A-list as they come. She’s the former face of L’Oreal. Miriam is the link between them. Until recently she was a partner at one of Manhattan’s most prestigious law firms. An unlikely trio, but they desperately need each other.

Frankenstein in Baghdad
By Ahmed Saadawi
From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, Hadi—a scavenger and an oddball fixture at the local café—collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognise the parts as people and to give them a proper burial.

Fantasy

Ash Princess
By Laura Sebastian
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother was murdered. Ten years later, Theo has learned to survive under the relentless abuse of the Kaiser and his court as the ridiculed Ash Princess. When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo can’t ignore her memories any longer.

Children of Blood and Bone
By Tomi Adeyemi
Zélie remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic. Zélie is one such person. Now she has a chance to bring back magic to her people.

 

The Evolution of Claire
By Tess Sharpe
The year is 2004, and Claire has been given the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to intern at the Jurassic World theme park. But life at the park isn’t all test-driving gyrospheres.

The Smoke Thieves
By Sally Green
In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a political marriage, while her true love, Ambrose, faces the executioner’s block. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for thrills. And in the northern territories, 13-year-old Tash is running for her life. These five heroes find their futures inextricably linked.

Gita: The Battle of the Worlds
By Sonal Sachdev Patel, Jemma Wayne-Kattan
This book takes the epic battle within the Gita and transports it inside the body of a young boy called Dev. Through Dev and Sanjay’s adventure, readers will be able to connect with some of the deeper concepts in the Gita.

Crime & Thriller

The Woman in the Window
By A J Finn
It’s been 10 long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost.

Tangerine
By Christine Mangan
The perfect read for fans of Daphne du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith, set in 1950s Morocco, Tangerine is a gripping psychological literary thriller.

Forever and a Day (James Bond 007)
By Anthony Horowitz
A spy is dead. A legend is born. This is how it all began. This is the story of the birth of a legend, in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera. The Word Is Murder: She Planned Her Own Funeral, But D...

Macbeth
By Jo Nesbo
Set in a dark, rainy northern town, Macbeth pits the ambitions of a corrupt policeman against loyal colleagues, a drug-depraved underworld and the pull of childhood friendships.

Calling Sehmat
By Harinder Sikka
The year is 1971. Tension is brewing between India and Pakistan. One secret could change the course of history.

The Good Son
By You-Jeong Jeong
A shocking and addictive psychological thriller, The Good Son explores the mysteries of mind and memory, and the twisted relationship between a mother and son.

 

The Outsider
By Stephen King
When an 11-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town’s popular little league coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit.
Cult X
By Fuminori Nakamura
The magnum opus by the Japanese literary sensation is a story that dives into the psychology of fringe religion, obsession, and social disaffection.

The Cuban Affair
By Nelson DeMille
Daniel MacCormick has a good life. A decorated US Army veteran, he whiles away his life in stunning Key West, Florida. He is approached by a hotshot Miami lawyer with an irresistible offer.

Time is a Killer
By Michel Bussi
It is summer 1989 and 15-year-old Clotilde is on holiday with her parents. On a twisty mountain road, their car plunges into a ravine. Only Clotilde survives.

sports and Fitness

Football in Sun and Shadow
By Eduardo Galeano
This unashamedly emotional history of football is a homage to the romance and drama, spectacle and passion of a ‘great pagan mass’.

Zidane—The Biography
By Patrick Fort, Jean Philippe
One of modern football’s most brilliant players—and one of its most iconic and mysterious figures—Zinedine Zidane’s football career is the stuff of legend.

Cristiano and Leo: The Race to Become the Greatest Football Player of All Time
By Jimmy Burns
Who’s better: Ronaldo or Messi? Ask any football fan and they’ll have an opinion. For the best part of the last decade football has seen a personal rivalry unlike any seen before.

A Century is Not Enough: My Roller-coaster Ride to Success
By Sourav Ganguly
Arguably India’s greatest cricket captain, Sourav Ganguly gave confidence to the team, re-energised them and took India, for the first time, to spectacular overseas victories.

Imperfect
By Sanjay Manjrekar
Manjrekar uses his famous analytical powers to look back on his own career. Imperfect sets a new standard for cricket writing in India, with significant life lessons even for those who aren’t cricket fans.

The World’s Fittest Book: How to Train for Anything and Everything, Anywhere and Everywhere
By Ross Edgley
Designed for anyone who wants to make permanent and lasting changes to their food and fitness, it’s the first book to combine the teachings, tips and tricks of Olympic and World Champions into one.

Kintsugi Wellness: The Japanese Art of Nourishing Mind, Body, and Spirit
By Candice Kumai
Kumai guides us through her favourite Japanese traditions and practices for cultivating inner strength and living a gracious life.

Humour

Always Never Yours
By Austin
Siegemund-Broka,
Emily Wibberly
Megan Harper is the girl before. All her exes find their one true love right after dating her. Megan refuses to waste time, feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses on pursuing her next fling and fulfilling her dream school’s acting requirement.

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik
By David Arnold
Noah Oakman is 16. Bowie believer, concise historian, disillusioned swimmer, son, brother, friend. Then Noah gets hypnotised and sees changes. Subtle behaviours, bits of history, plans for the future—everything in Noah’s world has been rewritten. This is a story about all the ways we hurt our friends.

How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life
By Lilly Singh
From actress, comedian and YouTube sensation Lilly Singh (aka Superwoman) comes the definitive guide to being a BAWSE—a person who exudes confidence, reaches goals, gets hurt, and smiles because they’ve fought through it all and made it out the other side.

Bookstores Recommend

Kochi
Origin by Dan Brown
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Will You Still Love Me by Ravinder Singh

Bhubaneswar
Love in Lutyen’s Delhi by Amitabh Pandey
Son of Bhrigy by Christopher C Doyle
Keepers of Kalachakra by Ashwin Sanghi
Factfulness: Ten
Reasons We’re Wrong About the World by Hans Rosling
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Kolkata
Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians by Boria Majumdar
Why I am a Hindu by Shashi Tharoor
A Century Is Not Enough: My Roller-coaster Ride to Success by Sourav Ganguly
Bengalis: A Portrait of a Community by Sudeep Chakravarti
Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Chennai
Catalyst by Chandramouli Venkatesan
Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan
The Spy Chronicles by
Asdulad Asad Durrani
The Fallen by David
Baldacci
Calling Sehmat by Harinder Singh Sikka

Delhi
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
Anita Gets Bail by Arun Shourie
Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire by Ira Mukhot



Comments(1)

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  • Sushmit Goyal

    Your list should have included "Durand's Curse" by Rajiv Dogra
    4 years ago reply
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