reading habit
Books Editor’s note
There are SO MANY good books out this month, guys. I mean yes, there are always new releases, but my shortlist this month is bursting at the seams, and it took a lot of restraint to bring this list down to ten. If you feel like I have missed something essential, please feel free to remind me via email.
A list of new releases
Fiction:
The King of Infinite Space: by Lyndsay Faye. Faye is a Sherlockian and her retellings of Holmes and ‘Jane Eyre’ are worthy homages to their respective canons. Thus, it was natural that I’d be more than excited for her latest outing, this time bringing us a “magical, queer and feminist take on Hamlet.” Ben Dane is a neuro-atypical physicist whose theatre baron father is dead. Disturbed by his mother’s remarriage to his uncle, he turns to his best friend Horatio Patel, while his ex-girlfriend, Lia, finds herself entranced by three florist sisters—seemingly ageless, teaching her something akin to natural magic. One fateful night, all these powerful threads collide; could they result in death and devastation? Cannot wait to find out.
The Women of Troy: by Pat Barker. Retellings abound more than ever, but the more they are from a woman’s lens, the better. Pat Barker, following on from her incredible ‘The Silence of the Girls’, brings us the aftermath of the Trojan war—the Greeks are waiting to go back home with their spoils and winnings, but the sea won’t cooperate. As they wait, the atmosphere in the encampment, made up of both the victors and the losers, festers with ugly sentiments. Briseis, captive, takes this opportunity to form an alliance with other women—Amina, Hecuba, Calchus—and begins to plot revenge.
A Slow Fire Burning: by Paula Hawkins. The author of the massive bestseller ‘The Girl on the Train’ doesn’t need an introduction, and this latest thriller continues her winning streak. When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a houseboat, three women with separate connections to the victim come under the spotlight. All three are unreliable and unlikeable, with explosive secrets, but who really had something to do with the murder?
Billy Summers: by Stephen King. Another bigwig with a new book which the Guardian has already declared “his best book in years.” The eponymous character is an assassin, the best in the business who only kills bad men, and now he wants out. But, as it happens, there’s one last hit before he could hang up his boots. Unlike almost all his other novels, there’s no element of the supernatural in this one. Instead, it’s noir done in classic King fashion. What’s not to love?
The Reading List: by Sara Nisha Adams. This is a bibliophile’s dream novel. Mukesh is a widower in London who spends his time watching nature documentaries, going to the temple, and worrying about his granddaughter. Aleisha is an anxious teenager who is working in the local library when she finds a list of books she’s never heard of hidden inside a copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird.’ Intrigued, she begins to read the books on the list one by one, coming face to face with the realities of her own life, and when Mukesh visits the library to find something he could bond over with his granddaughter, she passes the list on to him, creating a joyous, unique connection between the both of them.
The Island of Missing Trees: by Elif Shafak. There’s always an element of the magical in Shafak’s novels, and this one is no different. Teenagers Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot meet at a taverna with a fig tree on the island, compelled to do so in secret due to their opposing backgrounds. The fig tree remains even after a war breaks out, and the teenagers go their separate ways. Years later, Kostas, now a botanist, returns to the island to find Defne, and they take a clipping from the fig tree to take with them to their new home in London. Decades on, their daughter Ada returns to the island in search of a home she has only known through the fig tree in her garden. A rich, sprawling tale of identity, love and growth.
Non-fiction:
The Right to Sex: by Amia Srinivasan. Thinking and talking about sex has never not been complicated, and in many ways it feels even more so today. It is a private act and idea burdened with public meaning and expectations. It lies very much at the intersection of gender, class, race and power and has recently been altered by the idea of consent. Srinivasan’s brilliant debut helps us imagine the future of sex, where she “discusses a range of fraught relationships—between discrimination and preference, pornography and freedom, rape and racial injustice, punishment and accountability, students and teachers, pleasure and power, capitalism and liberation.” This promises to be a transformative book.
The Secret History of Food: by Matt Siegel. A delicious undertaking, Siegel tries to answer a variety of questions surrounding food, like why are we drawn to foods like hot peppers, which are bound to hurt us? What makes certain foods aphrodisiacs and how did vanilla get associated with boring sex? This well-researched book answers these questions and more, and is an “exploration of the historical, cultural, scientific, sexual, and, yes, culinary subcultures” of food.
What Millennials Want: by Vivan Marwaha. The quintessential question, really. As the largest generation, the decisions millennials make are bound to have pathbreaking consequences for local, regional and global politics and economics. So, what do they want? With 84% of them reporting having an arranged marriage, and 65% listing a government job as their top priority in 2021, are they really that different from previous generations? Marwaha combines statistically backed data with personal anecdotes to formulate a deeper understanding of India’s millennials, and takes a closer at what their feelings are towards sex, marriage, employment, religion, and politics in this one-of-a-kind book.
A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: by Rodrigo Garcia. Devoted and tender, this is the memoir of the son of one of the greatest novelists of all time, remembering his beloved parents with immense love. What started as an account of the time Garcia Marquez came down with a cold at the age of 87, prompting his wife of more than fifty years to declare that she was not hopeful they’ll come out of this one, this volume is an homage to a man who will always be larger than life in people’s memories, presented here at his most vulnerable, and his constant companion and muse, Mercedes. At the centre of it is a deep loss the family is going through. It is bittersweet and powerful and necessary reading.
The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long: by Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai. The title is lovely, and the subtitle explains it all. Comprising 108 enthralling tales from fifty-seven languages and dialects, sourced from all four corners of the country and every other place in between, this is an essential volume for readers of all ages. There are stories, among other things, “of a tree who loved a girl, of seers and wise men, of chudails, werewolves, and wizards, of a potter girl and the divine cow, of demoiselle cranes and humans transforming into elephants, of how the woodpecker got its crest, and much, much more.”
Quick fixes, aka a few varied recommendations
What I’m reading: I’m not reading anything right now (the horror!) because I’m in the middle of ten different things, but I was recently gifted Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen’ and I am finally going to get down to it. If you have a recommendation for what I should pick up next, let me know!
A childhood fave: There have been a lot of retellings of James Bond, including an official continuation of the canon, but my favourite version is Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series, beginning with ‘SilverFin’. In it, James is young and still at school (and not yet the kinda insufferable adult Bond we know). Years before he becomes the superspy that he is, he is battling bullies, trying to make friends, and coming face to face with the unfairness of the world. But there are still challenges to overcome, such as the mysterious thing lurking under the water on the school campus. The series was thrilling and high adrenaline, and sets a very nice stage for James Bond’s origin story.
Book-adjacent rec of the week: She Designs Books delivers what its name promises. It’s an account dedicated to celebrating book cover designs by womxn. It nurtures the community and the support everyone shows on their account for each other is heart-warming. Honestly, I can scroll through its posts for days on end.
Underrated author of the week: Lily Anderson is the author of funny, irreverent books-with-a-twist starring snarky girls, situations you don’t necessarily expect, and at times even monsters. I have read and loved ‘Undead Girl Gang’ by her which has a bonkers premise, and next on my list is ‘The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You.’
Bookish adaptation to watch out for: I watched ‘The Mysterious Benedict Society’ on Disney+ Hotstar, and even though the target audience is supposedly a much younger demographic, I enjoyed it thoroughly nevertheless. It’s based on a book, and series, of the same name by Trenton Lee Stewart, and is set in an alternate world much like ours. Four extraordinary, gifted kids are chosen through a series of mind-bending tests to go undercover on a secret mission at a place called the Institute, where the fate of the world is in their hands. Tony Hale of ‘Veep’ fame plays Mr Benedict. It was a heart-warming watch that managed to keep me on my feet as the children showed amazing gumption, camaraderie, heart and a love for adventure—everything I had hoped for as a kid.
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.
