Editor’s note: Here’s your reading inspiration for the month. Anushree Kaushal is back with her popular reading habit list comprising some books that are on her mind and a few literary reads. Over to you, Anushree.
It was World Book Day on March 2, and as always, I cannot be more thankful to the books I have read that have made me the person that I am. I agree completely with Jorge Luis Borges when he said, “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
Now, on to some new books and links for your reading pleasure.
Books on my radar
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton: The much-anticipated new novel by the Booker Prize—winner is a psychological thriller about a guerrilla gardening group called Birnam Wood that wants to take over land in the abandoned town of Thorndike. But someone else has their eye on the town as well: an American billionaire who allegedly wants to build his end-times bunker there. The two decide to join forces and work the land, but is everything truly as it seems? Catton’s second novel, ‘The Luminaries’, won the coveted prize a decade ago, and was a masterpiece of plot and form, a 5-star read for me, and was adapted into a miniseries by the BBC. You can read a conversation about it with the author and her editor here. (March 2)
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh: Based on the real unsolved mystery of a 1951 mass poisoning of a French village, ‘Cursed Bread’ is told through the point of view of Elodie, a baker’s wife who, in the aftermath of the Second World War, becomes obsessed with a charismatic new couple in the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit. But then the town collectively loses its mind, falling ill with a mysterious illness and having violent hallucinations. Tell me that doesn’t sound enormously gripping. (March 2)
Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood: A collection of short stories from the grand dame of dystopian literature, featuring a variety of themes and genres and focusing on older characters and feelings of love and loss. Do I need to say more? (March 7)
Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell: Odell wrote the refreshingly welcomed ‘How to do Nothing’ which implored us to take a break from the “attention economy” to do nothing and contemplate. ‘Saving Time’ attempts to open our eyes to spending our time not as per the demands made by “work, the office clock, or the profit motive” but in rhythm with ourselves. It’s difficult to achieve and, yes, easier said than done, but I’m sure Odell will make us think and offer realistic ways to adapt our mindset in whatever capacity possible. (March 23)
I am currently reading ‘Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl’ by Jonathan C Slaght. I love owls. At the society complex where I lived for a couple of years, there were two of them who sometimes accompanied me when I went for walks. I find something protective and assuring about the presence of these majestic creatures, and it was a no-brainer that I picked up this memoir about Slaght’s research into the elusive and rare Blakiston’s fish owl in the remote region of Primorye in Russia. It’s also a terrific account of the harrowing life of doing field research in the literal wild and of crafting a conservation plan to help ensure the survival of an entire species.
A list of good literary reads
I didn’t know that some people dream in foreign languages! I’ve only ever dreamed in English, Hindi, and gibberish, so this BBC article was an eye-opening delight for me.
There are novels that span years, decades, centuries, sinking its teeth into generations of one family or the entire history of a nation. And then there are novels that take place over the course of one day, and somehow manage to be as piercing, ruminative, and illuminating as their counterparts on the other end. Here, a list of 10 novels that take place in a single day.
Chris Pine, one of Hollywood’s finest, is also a serious reader (something that makes him that much more attractive). In Esquire, he recommends 15 books he thinks everyone should read. My favourite bit from the very end: “And all of John le Carré—I could read these for the rest of my life.”
If anyone is travelling to the UK anytime soon, please visit one of these for me: 10 great places to stay for book lovers, over in the Guardian.
A love letter to libraries in the New York Times. “Libraries have always been a place of worship for a certain type of person, but they’re also community centers, meeting houses and pop-up medical clinics, offering vaccines, homework help, computer classes, craft sessions and tax advice.”
Finally, on Twitter, Penguin Teen did one of my favourite things where they matched the celebrities’ outfits at the SAG Awards with covers of their book titles. I always love these threads, and in this one, my favourite is probably D'Arcy Carden matching with ‘The Future King’ by Robyn Schneider!
