A list of new releases

Fiction:

A Psalm for the Wild-Built: by Becky Chambers. The Hugo Award-winner is back with a futuristic tale full of robots and hope. It has been years since the robots gained sentience and retired to the wilderness to live in peace and let humans do the same. But Dex, a tea monk, is going through life when they chance upon a robot, who has ventured out after all this time to “check on” humans, as promised. What follows is a comfortable, hopeful, quaint story of the meaning of life and death. It’s book 1 in what promises to be a lovely series.

Survive the Night: by Riley Sager. Sager is the new king of twists, and this book is chock full of them in the best way. It is 1991, and Charlie and Josh are strangers from the same college travelling together by chance on an empty highway in the dead of the night. Charlie just wants to get away, in the aftermath of the murder of her best friend, the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer, and Josh is on his way to take care of his sick father. . . or so he says. As the night and their journey progresses, Charlie begins to feel that things are not as straight with Josh as he claims to be. Could he be who she thinks he is, and can Charlie survive the night? 

While We Were Dating: by Jasmine Guillory. Ben Stephens is not looking for a serious relationship. He’s happy with his casual flings and, anyway, too busy with his advertising job. Which is where he meets Anna Gardiner, a movie star who wants to become a household name, and believes this ad will be a stepping stone to getting there. But it’s becoming hard for them to keep it strictly professional, and when their harmless flirtatious banter begins to turn into something serious, it’s obvious that they both need to figure out how the other fits in their life plans. Juicy alert!

A Passage North: by Anuk Arudpragasam. Krishan gets a phone call that his grandmother’s caretaker, Rani, has died. She was found at the bottom of the well, her neck broken by the fall. Just before this, he had received an email from Anjum, an activist he had fallen in love with years ago while in Delhi, stirring up some latent emotions and memories. As he makes his way from Colombo into the war-torn Northern Province for Rani's funeral by train, we journey with Krishan through the legacy of Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war—through the concepts of absence and longing, while ultimately trying to understand the gap between who we are and what we seek. A masterful, perennial novel.

Incense and Sensibility: by Sonali Dev. This is the third book in a hilarious, heartfelt, quirky series of retellings of Jane Austen novels. In this take on ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ Yash Raje, California’s first serious Indian gubernatorial candidate, just wants success while keeping his emotions in check. But when he blacks out on the campaign trail after a panic attack, his family asks India Dashwood for help—his sister’s best friend and California’s foremost stress management coach. Things begin to simmer and get intense between these two, threatening the lives both of them have so painstakingly built for themselves. What will they do??? A question I’d like answered very much.

Non-fiction:

12 Bytes: by Jeanette Winterson. Twelve original, revealing essays based on Winterson’s research on Artificial Intelligence and its many unique, unprecedented forms. It attempts to address age-old AI-related questions: when we do create a non-biological life-form, what will it look like? What role will gender play? What happens to the many human concepts of love, sex, attachment etc.? A witty, thoroughly researched collection bursting with humanity and compassion.

Home in the World: by Amartya Sen. The Nobel Prize-winning economist doesn’t quite need an introduction, but his lovely memoir does go into his origins: “Where is ‘home’? For Amartya Sen home has been many places—Dhaka in modern Bangladesh where he grew up, the village of Santiniketan where he was raised by his grandparents as much as by his parents, Calcutta where he first studied economics and was active in student movements, and Trinity College, Cambridge, to which he came aged nineteen.” This book has so much more, an extraordinary life full of wonder and genius.  

The Comfort Book: by Matt Haig. Another book on finding hope and meaning, this time from Haig who is the master of trying to make you feel better about life. A collection of notes, thoughts and stories Haig began writing down for his future self, these were meant to get him through the darkest of times. Now, they’re here for the rest of us, bringing us out of those unexpected lows life tends to throw us into sometimes. It’s meant for slow, paced perusal, giving lessons in self-acceptance, the beauty of existence and finding happiness in your circumstances.

The Next Great Migration: by Sonia Shah. A wonderfully researched and accessibly narrated volume on the many preconceived notions about migration we hold and how it actually helps with climate change, from an award-winning journalist. The world today is full of dislocated humans and animals, and while the media presents this movement as a sign of conflict or spread of disease, the science and history of migration tells a different story, one of a “lifesaving response to climate change.” It is the most fascinating book on today’s list, and a must read.

Better to Have Gone: by Akash Kapur. In this mix of personal narrative, history and biography, Kapur sets out to understand the mystery of two individuals who created a much beloved community in southern India. John Walker and Diane Maes founded Auroville, and were also the parents of Kapur’s wife, Auralice. Two decades after they settled, they were both found dead, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon. No one understood their deaths, and as Kapur returned to Auroville after living in the US with his family to reckon with their familial past, they gradually came to understand how the lives and deaths of the two individuals were inextricably linked to the collective history of the town. A compelling read.

Quick fixes, aka a few varied recommendations

Relish: by Lucy Knisley. A food-themed, graphic memoir will always tick off some very exciting boxes for me. Knisley is the daughter of a chef and a gourmet, and herself a cartoonist and storyteller. She was born into her love for food, and in this memoir, she tells us how so much of her life and personality was shaped by the food she was eating, and the lessons she has learned about food, cooking and life. She also includes illustrated recipes at the end of each chapter, making this a wholesome, mouth-watering reading experience.

Ex Libris: by Anne Fadiman. This is an absolute necessity for every bibliophile. A witty, funny collection of personal essays about the author’s lifelong love affair with books and language, Fadiman talks about her life through her reading: about how her husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, how she considered herself truly married once she had merged her own and her husband’s book collections, and so many more precious literary tidbits. This is pure delight.

Educated: by Tara Westover. I am sure there aren’t many people who haven’t heard of this book, but just in case you are one of them, you’re in for a roller-coaster ride. Westover didn’t go to school until she was 17 years old. She was born in a family of survivalists, and lived away from most people, usually spending her time preparing for the end of the world. She and her siblings were not allowed to see doctors or nurses for any illnesses and injuries, big or small, and growing up secluded and without an education, her brothers grew violent and her parents grew worse in terms of the ideas they held. But bright Tara was different, and soon she started educating herself. Her need for learning and knowledge soon overtook the deep-seated constraints set on her by her family, and she eventually escaped, going so far as to study at Harvard and Cambridge universities. It is an unbelievable, bizarre tale that almost culminates as the triumph of an educated mind. An absolute must read. 

The Pigeon Tunnel: by John le Carré. Le Carré remains one of my favourite people and authors, even after his death last December. His books have helped me overcome some strange times, and his memoir was no different. He lived a most interesting life, from being in British intelligence during the Cold War to transitioning to becoming a full-time writer with his finger on the political pulse at all times. His commentary on modern times, both during the Cold War and beyond, was sharp, astute and always hit the mark. In these essays he chronicles episodes from his life, from celebrating New Year's Eve 1982 with Yasser Arafat and his high command, to watching Alec Guinness prepare for his role as George Smiley in the legendary BBC TV adaptations, and so many more. More than anything, he talks about the craft, which he was a master of, giving us a glimpse into a six-decade writing career. This will forever remain close to my heart.

The Fact of a Body: by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. Marzano-Lesnevich finishes law school and goes to Louisiana to work with prisoners on death row, firmly opposed to the death penalty. To their surprise, they find themself questioning their stance when they come across a particularly heinous crime. Their investigation into the case leads them to some brutal memories from their own childhood experiences and they remember their trauma, which forces them to face some hard truths and realizations. This was an edge-of-your-seat read but very, very painful and comes with numerous trigger warnings around sexual assault and brutality, murder and the pursuit of justice, so please consider these before picking it up.

Note: Reading Habit is curated by our book editor Anushree Kaushal. Want to send along recommendations, feedback or just say hi? Email her at kaushalanushree@gmail.com.