reading habit

Editor’s note

This week, news desk producers—Disha and Sara—curate the latest book releases and a list of delightful literary reads.

Books releasing in December

• Age Of Pandemics (1817-1920): Economist Chinmay Tumbe’s latest book talks about the politics of a pandemic from a century ago. It is set in the context of the Influenza outbreak in India and is an intriguing contrast to the current Covid-19 pandemic. Read an excerpt in The Print here. (December 2, 2020)
• The Coolie's Great War: Radhika Singha shifts the focus of war-narration to the oft-forgotten warriors—the non combatants. She reimagines global conflict to one that draws the ‘Coolie’ into the arclight. (December 3, 2020)
• The Mating Game: If you’ve ever tuned into Animal Planet late at night, you’d know a thing or two about wacky animal mating rituals. But ICYMI, follow Alex Cooper on his quest to document the most creative ones—from tap-dancing birds to seductive sea otters—in his new, delightfully risqué book. (December 7, 2020)
• Desserts for Every Mood: Shivesh Bhatia’s newest cook book is just in time for Christmas! A 100 recipes to lift your spirits and chime in the holiday season.  (December 8, 2020)
  
• Written On the Wind: Anuradha Kumar-Jain pens a heartwarming story following two women in pre-partition Lahore—as they navigate troubled relationships, political turmoil, religious divide and their own aspirations. There’s always space for brave writing on our shelves. (December 10, 2020)
  
• Sapiens Graphic Novel: Harari is back with a graphic novel version of his blockbuster hit Sapiens, and we’re excited! If you still haven’t read the book, this is a great opportunity to beat the FOMO. (December 10, 2020)
  
• The Practice: Winter—the season of sloth-like procrastination—is upon us, and Seth Godin is here with the perfect antidote.This millennial self-help book is replete with practice strategies, productivity hacks and generally great life advice to help you create, commit and succeed! (December 10, 2020)
• The Chanel Sisters: The quintessential tale of aspiration and success—Judithe Little details the fashion world’s most iconic rags-to-riches tale in this book. (December 29, 2020)

Also releasing this month: Sonu Sood’s memoir I Am No Messiah, Colleen Hoover’s newest YA novel Layla, and the long-awaited desi COVID-19 read Till We Win penned by medical experts. All of these are worth adding to your TBR pile!

A fab list of literary reads

• Want personal deets on some of the world’s most dreadful dictators? Ask their chefs. Mel Magazine has a deep-dive on Szabłowski’s newest book, ‘How to Feed a Dictator’. 
• Atlas Obscura has a real-life story of a ‘book thief’ in Germany—and how librarians finally caught him after 13 long years.
• Paging all GoT nerds! TOR has this intriguing read on how dragons became Western literature’s fave mythical beast.
• Maria Popova over at Brainpickings spotlights Tara Books’ astonishing handmade masterpiece ‘The Night Life of Trees’—which features intricate portraits of trees painted by great Gond artists.
• Aeon uncovers the deeply conservative—and anti-progressive—spirit that animates the greatest fantasy novelists such as CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein.
• We greatly enjoyed browsing through this edition of Quartz Weekly Obsession. The subject: book covers! It’s brimming with fantastic trivia and links.