reading habit
Editor’s note
Hi all, how’s everyone faring? As coronavirus cases rise again, I hope you have scheduled—if not already had—your booster shots. To distract yourself from the madness, why not peruse this loving article on independent bookstores in India, written by none other than our subscriber Prachi Joshi? And once done, head over to one of them (or place an order online or via phone) for the many sumptuous new offerings I have for you today.
A list of new releases
Fiction:
The Bangalore Detectives Club: by Harini Nagendra. I cannot get enough of good Indian crime fiction. This is the first in a joyous and charmingly cozy mystery series set in 1920s India. When Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry the handsome doctor Ramu, she has no idea of the adventures she’s in for. Expecting a quiet life, she finds just the opposite when a party she’s at turns into a murder scene. I genuinely think this sari-clad detective and her supportive husband/sidekick are going to steal my heart. (April 28)
Four Chapters: by Rabindranath Tagore, tr. Radha Chakravarty. This new translation of Tagore’s last novel, ‘Char Adhyay,’ is set in pre-Independence India; its protagonists, Ela, Indranath and Atindra, are thrown together in passion and activism against a backdrop of nationalist politics. A Penguin Modern Classic, this new translation brings to life the atmosphere of the original in a way that will ring familiar to us even today. (May 2)
Book of Night: by Holly Black. Many of us already know Black as a fantasy writer for kids and teens. This is her first foray into adult fiction, featuring sinister thieves and secret societies in a world where shadows can be altered—so can memories and feelings—but at a cost. Can our heroine Charlie Hall survive in this murky world of dangerous magic and murderous intent? (May 3)
Book Lovers: by Emily Henry. Henry has already solidified herself as a household name in romance writing and is no stranger to producing the big heartfelt read of the summer. In this one, Nora is a cutthroat literary agent and incurably bookish. On a vacation with her sister, instead of meeting ‘a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender’ that she has read about and hopes for, she meets the equally bookish but brooding Charlie Lastra, an editor at a publishing house. Will sparks fly? This book honestly is like catnip to me. (May 3)
The Emma Project: by Sonali Dev. Dev has been writing some delectable Jane Austen retellings in the Rajes series, and this gender-swapped ‘Emma’ is no different. Vansh Raje is handsome, rich, has lived a charmed life and is winning at life in his mid-twenties when he meets his match in Knightlina “Naina” (yes, you read that right) Kohli, about to turn forty and on a mission to bring economic independence to millions of women in South Asia through her microfinance foundation and wanting to stay away from the Rajes. But we all know that’s not gonna happen, right? 😉 (May 17)
Non-fiction:
The Premonitions Bureau: A True Story: by Sam Knight. We all feel like we’ve had a premonition or two in our lives. But what if you have a premonition about something big—and bad—and you can stop it from happening? This is the unbelievable, wondrous story of the real Premonitions Bureau, set up in Britain in 1966 by psychiatrist John Barker, and its two unnaturally gifted “percipients” who predicted things like assassinations and plane crashes until one day they had their most disturbing premonition: about Barker’s death. (May 3)
Linea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes: by Jazmina Barrera, tr. Christina MacSweeney. In this short book, Barrera draws from a wide range of inspirations and traditions, from Louise Bourgeois and Ursula K Le Guin to influential indigenous Nahua model Luz Jiménez, to explore childbearing, motherhood and the mysteries of the body. (May 3)
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story: by Simu Liu. Admittedly it might be too soon for Liu to be writing a memoir, and yet there’s something earnest about this book that drew me in. The MCU’s first movie-helming Asian superhero shares his own unexpected origin story, from China to Hollywood, battling everything from parental expectations and cultural stereotypes to a failed accounting career and becoming Shang-Chi. (May 3)
Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up: by Selma Blair. We know Blair from her iconic characters in ‘Cruel Intentions’ and ‘Legally Blonde.’ A lot of us also know her struggles with multiple sclerosis and her advocacy for the MS community. But in this wild, funny, emotional memoir, Blair reveals that she was known to be a mean, mean baby. She talks about the things she did to be the centre of attention as a child, her struggles with alcoholism, even her momentary flirtations with death. She writes openly and smartly and bares her soul. I’m really looking forward to this. (May 17)
Quick fixes, aka a few varied recommendations
Today’s recommendations are murder mystery-themed on a special request from subscriber Laavanya Tamang. If you have been reading my columns with even the slightest attention, you know that murder mysteries are my jam. Hence, it is with giddy excitement—and some trepidation (the pressure!)—that I present to you some of my favourite go-to murder mysteries that successfully blend a great plot and excellent, root-able characters. The best part: all of them are part of a series, so you’ll have more books to go to once you’re done with these! Let’s begin.
The Likeness: by Tana French. The love I have for this—and the entirety of the Dublin Murder Squad series—can only be described by excited incoherent ramblings, hand gestures and eyebrow-wriggling. French is a masterful writer of both intricate plots and such intense, rounded, deep characters, you come out of each of her books having lived a full lifetime. In the second book of this loosely connected series, detective Cassie Maddox is brought to an eerie crime scene—the victim is a girl who looks exactly like her. Not only that, she’s carrying an ID with a name that Cassie used when she was on an undercover assignment. Pulled into this unnerving case despite her better judgement, Cassie decides to go undercover once again to find out who killed her lookalike.
Case Histories: by Kate Atkinson. Speaking of series I love beyond measure, Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie mysteries are at the very top. In this first instalment, private investigator Brodie follows three seemingly unconnected mysteries in Cambridge, England. A little girl goes missing in the night. Thirty years later, a beautiful young office worker is killed by a maniac’s apparently random attack; close by, a new mother finds herself cracking under pressure in a fit of rage that leaves a grisly, bloody scene. Brodie is a complex man, but he’s always the last good man standing, and his personal life is what makes this series that much more endearing. Run don’t walk to your nearest bookstore for this one.
The Word is Murder: by Anthony Horowitz. This series has one of the most unique concepts to come out in some time. A woman goes into a funeral parlour to organise her own service. Six hours later, she’s dead, murdered. In comes Daniel Hawthorne, a genius-level detective who holds his secrets close to his chest. With him is his writing partner and sidekick, Anthony Horowitz—that’s right, the same Anthony Horowitz who has written this book. Together, they solve this and many other crimes, and we’re the more fortunate for it.
A Study in Scarlet Women: by Sherry Thomas. Sherlock Holmes retellings are a dime a dozen, but the Lady Sherlock series is one of the crème de la crème. It’s the late 19th century, and Charlotte Holmes has too remarkable a mind for her to remain constrained by the demands her society makes of women. When she unexpectedly becomes a social pariah and her family becomes entrenched in a trio of suspicious deaths, it’s up to Charlotte, under the assumed name of Sherlock Holmes, to find the killer, with some help from a coterie of characters you’ll find familiar but just slightly different.
The Eyre Affair: by Jasper Fforde. In an alternate Britain in 1985, time travel is routine and literature is the most serious business of them all. So serious that Acheron Hades is the third most wanted man in the world. He has stolen the original manuscript of Charles Dickens’ ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’ and killed a minor character, making him disappear from every volume of the novel ever printed. But he won’t stop here. His next target: ‘Jane Eyre.’ Enter our intrepid literary detective Thursday Next, charged with catching the criminal mastermind before another heinous crime is committed. This series is a fantastic mix of suspense and humour, an absorbing, fun read with mysteries abounding in this strange and amazing alternate universe. By the end, you will want Thursday Next to be your best friend. I know I did.
Here are some more:
- ‘A Study in Charlotte’ by Brittany Cavallaro
- ‘An Unsuitable Job for a Woman’ by PD James
- ‘The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie’ by Alan Bradley
- ‘Eight Perfect Murders’ by Peter Swanson
- ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman
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.
