<p>There’s fiction, nonfiction, biographies, memoirs, and children’s books — all in here. As always, in no particular order — the only criteria being whatever that piqued my interest. And yes, I have judged the books by their cover, their blurb, the author, <span class="italic">and</span> my instincts. The outlook is eclectic and one suspects the trend of writing about oneself or turning the pages back on Indian history, whether it is fiction or truth or a bit of both, will persist well into the next year. Happy reading!</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Qabar </span></strong></p>.<p><strong>K R Meera and Nisha</strong><br />Susan (translator)</p>.<p>As the foundations are laid for a temple to rise on the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, voices rise from the ground in a small town in central Kerala. She is a judge in a district court, and he is a petitioner in a seemingly banal property dispute. But the very first hearing tosses the judge’s life into disarray. In this illusory landscape are the hard truths about the intertwined histories of Hindus and Muslims in India, as well as the chasms between men and women. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Chivalry</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Neil Gaiman</strong></p>.<p>An elderly widow buys what turns out to be the Holy Grail from a second-hand shop, setting her off on an epic adventure with a knight who brings her gifts of ancient relics in the hope of winning the cup. From the award-winning creators, Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran, comes this new graphic novel that promises to be delightfully humourous and charming. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Villainy</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Upamanyu Chatterjee</strong></p>.<p>The master of the art of black humour and satire in an avatar we have not seen before — a crime writer. This new novel of his promises to incorporate all the ingredients a good thriller should have: a body in a park, a delinquent teenager with a passion for gambling and meddling with his father’s gun, and a courtroom drama that has a most unexpected ending. The question, of course, is will truth and justice prevail in this story where everyone is a villain?</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Let Me Hijack Your Mind </span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Alyque Padamsee</strong></p>.<p>The late Alyque Padamsee invites us to re-examine and think afresh about some of our most deeply held beliefs, from love, marriage, terrorism, leadership, money, gender, faith to education. This is Alyque’s parting gift to Indians, exhorting them to throw out the old and embrace new ways of approaching everything.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Rebels Against the Raj</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Ramachandra Guha</strong></p>.<p>This tells the little-known story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who, from the late 19th century, arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Agyeya</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Akshaya Mukul</strong></p>.<p>Sachidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan Agyeya is arguably the most meditative poet-writer of 20th century India. A complex man and a literary giant, and deeply involved with the social politics of the time, he was both worshipped and reviled for his unconventional views and unorthodox personal life. This biography is as much an account of the life of an important figure from Indian history as it is a slantwise look at the history of a newly independent India itself.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">100 Great Chronicles of Indian History</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Gayathri Ponvannan</strong></p>.<p>Dip into an adventurer’s diary to find out what it was like to spend a day at the Mughal court. Refer to a centuries-old guidebook for stage performance tips. Marvel at the exquisite illustrations adorning the pages of a conqueror’s scrapbook. These invaluable relics offer rare glimpses and insights into events that shaped the course of India’s kaleidoscopic journey.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Birth Of A Nation</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Josy Joseph</strong></p>.<p>In an unprecedented historical investigative undertaking, renowned investigative journalist Josy Joseph and his team have collected tens of thousands of historic documents that will feed into a breakthrough publishing project that examines how the Indian nation came to be.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Everything The Light Touches</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Janice Pariat</strong></p>.<p>This is an ambitious, elegant, multilayered work that interweaves a quartet of journeys across continents and centuries. Drawing richly from scientific and botanical ideas, the novel plunges into a whirl of ever-expanding themes: the contrasts between modern India and its colonial past; capitalism, and centuries-old traditions of generosity and gratitude.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Kailash Temple at Ellora</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Tilottama Shome</strong></p>.<p>Go on a journey right back into the time of gods and demons, kings and queens, and when an awe-inspiring work of art was brought to life on stone. Filled with photographs and illustrations, it brings to life this magnificent example of art and architecture for a young reader.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Alpha</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>T D Ramakrishnan</strong></p>.<p>Twelve people accompany an anthropologist to a deserted island, cutting off all relations with the outside world. There, an experiment begins. They are not to use any known languages and must begin anew – to explore and find out if they can achieve in 25 years what humanity has achieved over generations.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">My Pen is the Wing of a Bird</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Multiple Authors</strong></p>.<p>This promises to be a landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women. Eighteen writers tell stories that are both unique and universal — stories of family, work, childhood, friendship, war, gender identity, and cultural traditions.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Blue Book</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Amitava Kumar</strong></p>.<p>This is the author’s urgent artistic response to our present world — a world that bestows upon us, love and loss, travel through diverse landscapes, deaths from a virus, a flood of fake news, and if we care to notice, visions of blazing beauty. This writer’s journal is a panoramic portrait of the experience, both individual and collective, of the pandemic.</p>
<p>There’s fiction, nonfiction, biographies, memoirs, and children’s books — all in here. As always, in no particular order — the only criteria being whatever that piqued my interest. And yes, I have judged the books by their cover, their blurb, the author, <span class="italic">and</span> my instincts. The outlook is eclectic and one suspects the trend of writing about oneself or turning the pages back on Indian history, whether it is fiction or truth or a bit of both, will persist well into the next year. Happy reading!</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Qabar </span></strong></p>.<p><strong>K R Meera and Nisha</strong><br />Susan (translator)</p>.<p>As the foundations are laid for a temple to rise on the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, voices rise from the ground in a small town in central Kerala. She is a judge in a district court, and he is a petitioner in a seemingly banal property dispute. But the very first hearing tosses the judge’s life into disarray. In this illusory landscape are the hard truths about the intertwined histories of Hindus and Muslims in India, as well as the chasms between men and women. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Chivalry</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Neil Gaiman</strong></p>.<p>An elderly widow buys what turns out to be the Holy Grail from a second-hand shop, setting her off on an epic adventure with a knight who brings her gifts of ancient relics in the hope of winning the cup. From the award-winning creators, Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran, comes this new graphic novel that promises to be delightfully humourous and charming. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Villainy</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Upamanyu Chatterjee</strong></p>.<p>The master of the art of black humour and satire in an avatar we have not seen before — a crime writer. This new novel of his promises to incorporate all the ingredients a good thriller should have: a body in a park, a delinquent teenager with a passion for gambling and meddling with his father’s gun, and a courtroom drama that has a most unexpected ending. The question, of course, is will truth and justice prevail in this story where everyone is a villain?</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Let Me Hijack Your Mind </span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Alyque Padamsee</strong></p>.<p>The late Alyque Padamsee invites us to re-examine and think afresh about some of our most deeply held beliefs, from love, marriage, terrorism, leadership, money, gender, faith to education. This is Alyque’s parting gift to Indians, exhorting them to throw out the old and embrace new ways of approaching everything.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Rebels Against the Raj</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Ramachandra Guha</strong></p>.<p>This tells the little-known story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who, from the late 19th century, arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. </p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Agyeya</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Akshaya Mukul</strong></p>.<p>Sachidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan Agyeya is arguably the most meditative poet-writer of 20th century India. A complex man and a literary giant, and deeply involved with the social politics of the time, he was both worshipped and reviled for his unconventional views and unorthodox personal life. This biography is as much an account of the life of an important figure from Indian history as it is a slantwise look at the history of a newly independent India itself.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">100 Great Chronicles of Indian History</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Gayathri Ponvannan</strong></p>.<p>Dip into an adventurer’s diary to find out what it was like to spend a day at the Mughal court. Refer to a centuries-old guidebook for stage performance tips. Marvel at the exquisite illustrations adorning the pages of a conqueror’s scrapbook. These invaluable relics offer rare glimpses and insights into events that shaped the course of India’s kaleidoscopic journey.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Birth Of A Nation</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Josy Joseph</strong></p>.<p>In an unprecedented historical investigative undertaking, renowned investigative journalist Josy Joseph and his team have collected tens of thousands of historic documents that will feed into a breakthrough publishing project that examines how the Indian nation came to be.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Everything The Light Touches</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Janice Pariat</strong></p>.<p>This is an ambitious, elegant, multilayered work that interweaves a quartet of journeys across continents and centuries. Drawing richly from scientific and botanical ideas, the novel plunges into a whirl of ever-expanding themes: the contrasts between modern India and its colonial past; capitalism, and centuries-old traditions of generosity and gratitude.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Kailash Temple at Ellora</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Tilottama Shome</strong></p>.<p>Go on a journey right back into the time of gods and demons, kings and queens, and when an awe-inspiring work of art was brought to life on stone. Filled with photographs and illustrations, it brings to life this magnificent example of art and architecture for a young reader.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">Alpha</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>T D Ramakrishnan</strong></p>.<p>Twelve people accompany an anthropologist to a deserted island, cutting off all relations with the outside world. There, an experiment begins. They are not to use any known languages and must begin anew – to explore and find out if they can achieve in 25 years what humanity has achieved over generations.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">My Pen is the Wing of a Bird</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Multiple Authors</strong></p>.<p>This promises to be a landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women. Eighteen writers tell stories that are both unique and universal — stories of family, work, childhood, friendship, war, gender identity, and cultural traditions.</p>.<p><strong><span class="bold">The Blue Book</span></strong></p>.<p><strong>Amitava Kumar</strong></p>.<p>This is the author’s urgent artistic response to our present world — a world that bestows upon us, love and loss, travel through diverse landscapes, deaths from a virus, a flood of fake news, and if we care to notice, visions of blazing beauty. This writer’s journal is a panoramic portrait of the experience, both individual and collective, of the pandemic.</p>