The World Book Fair at New Delhi is about to begin, and INDIAreads will be there.

Do visit the INDIAreads stalls – we can’t wait to have you paw our brand new merchandise even as you struggle to manage a cheap sandwich with one hand, and a screaming brat with the other.

It’s always a pleasure to hear you gossip about the authors in hushed tones (“Amartya Sen – isn’t he the guy that invented Amul..?”), and it really makes our day when you ask us 50 painfully mundane questions and end up buying nothing. We live for those moments!

The theme at this year’s fair shall be ‘Indian Cinema’.

Cinema and Literature – Really…?

As long as the cinematic medium has existed, the movie industry has looked to literature for both inspiration and content.

But when turning a literary masterpiece into a movie, do the two mediums share enough commonalities so as to enable a smooth transition…?

The filmwallahs would answer ‘yes’. From ‘About A Boy’ to ‘Wuthering Heights’, the conversion of popular books to big screen pictures has been a recurring theme in film, particularly in recent years with the success of huge franchises like Harry Potter and the Twilight saga.

While much discussion centers around adaptations that aren’t seen as having lived up to the literature on which they are based, there are many adaptations that actually enhance an existing story; or completely supersede it.

Example: Fight Club – a brilliant movie, stemming from an okay novel.

Or Clueless, which takes a novel from 1815 and makes it relevant to the modern day by setting the story of Jane Austen’s Emma in the context of a Beverly Hills high school.

But all faffing aside – the tendency to make film adaptations of books stems largely from the desire for a guaranteed audience, and is not quite the ‘natural progression’ for a book as advocated by some filmmakers.

Flipside? Stories are abridged, scenes are added, movie-only fans (newbies, resented by the hard core lit enthusiasts) are born, and those who followed the series from its inception are often left feeling a little disappointed at the end product.

The greatest difference between movies and novels is that cinemagoers share a much more social, passive experience than bookworms – who enjoy an active, solitary read. This means that while those reading the book have their own visions of characters and events, film audiences are forced to share a single vision of what these aspects of the story look like.

This alienates the book fan further – what was once a personal experience for him/her, is now universal; with the perceptions and prejudices of producers, directors, actors and audiences – all influencing the final product.

All is not lost, though.

In Part II, we shall take a look at some of the more successful experiments to have managed the leap from literature to cinema.

I say again, lest my last post failed to register with the ‘deaf futtbucker’ demographic hiding amongst you: The Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 is about to get underway.

There are Lit Fests and there are Lit Fests. This one, though, is not your average overdose of book readings and (equally lackluster) panel discussions. The authors will not brood and the audience will not snooze.

For one, it’s a free festival.

So you see..? It is a chance for bottom feeders (like you) to approach Salman Rushdie, sip coffee with Michael Ondaatje, rub shoulders with Amish Tripathi, or admire Fatima Bhutto in toto for her, er, literary excellence.

Choosing what events to attend may be the only stress of the day for your cheap derriere. You’ll pay nothing to get in; then mull difficult session choices over a free lunch.

The atmosphere will be informal, interdisciplinary, and infectious. Actors, directors, fashion designers, economists, travellers, politicians, scientists, students, bloggers and all manner of urban hipsters will congregate in the gardens of an old and intimate Rajasthani palace to spend 5 days “in conversation”.

At night, the wine will flow. Expect the stage to come alive with the Dionysian revelry that typically follows a literary salon.

But there’s a catch.

Thanks to a rise in the number of programmes (and an ever increasing attendance) over the years, the venue is straining to breaking point and the nature of the event is changing. Last year, J.M. Coetzee had to clamber over hundreds of people squeezed next to speakers, crouched next to seats, or sitting on folded newspapers on the churned-up grass.

To reach the stage.

Those who have experienced the intimacy of earlier editions of the JLF lament that it is now impossible to have conversations with their favourite writers. The authors, too, may bemoan the festival’s increasingly unwieldy size.

Junot Diaz, a witty and thoughtful commentator on the lot of migrants in America, used one session to blame capitalism for encouraging writers to pursue their work not because they have something important to say, but for the sake of getting approval from the largest possible audience. “We know that we need less applause and more conversation,” he told a packed room.

Promptly—inevitably—the audience clapped.

One can certainly nitpick, and criticism has always been a blood sport in India. My money, though, is still on Dalrymple (co-Director of the event) to put up a great show. The self-confessed “Indophile” has always had an acute understanding of the way things work (or don’t work) in India (a fact amply demonstrated in his books). Vikram Seth may well buy George Herbert’s house and own an umbrella but he won’t ever really be ‘British’; while one may safely proclaim Dalrymple is more ‘Indian’ now than when he first came here (as a backpacker in 1989), and less of an anglophile than a lot of us.

Ergo: Mister William aage badho, hum tumhaare saath hain.

At the 2010 Lit Fest;

1. Catherine Clement, French intellectual and author of ‘Edwina and Nehru: A Novel’ and Nayantara Sahgal, Jawaharlal Nehru’s niece discussed the roaring affair between Jinnah and Sarojini Naidu. “It is well known in France. Why is it not spoken of in India?” asked Clement. Came the reply, “Because our national leaders are not allowed to have sex organs.” Sahgal and Clement also agreed that Sahgal’s ‘maamu’ was a beautiful man while Edwina was ‘nice’.

2. The toothsome Bangladeshi author Shazia Omar had to be shepherded through crowds of autograph-seeking men. Subsequent to getting her autograph on brand new notebooks came the question, “What is your name, madam?”

3. Hanif Kureishi, irritable about being on a panel called ‘Migrant Words’, snapped, “I have moved a few kilometres within London. That’s the extent of my migration.”

4. At one Litfest venue (the Mughal Tent), speaker Amitava Kumar stopped to salute William Dalrymple, who’d just entered. He went on: “I hear Dalrymple is soon taking over the world. This is how the East India Company began; one Mughal tent at a time.”

5. Hearing a ‘whoosh-whoosh’ sound, Wole Soyinka paused mid-reading to peer down his chin at the mike: “Is my beard doing something?”

Earlier, Soyinka had the pleasure of being introduced by Urvashi Butalia as ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’.

6. Sidin Vadukut (then first-time author of comic novel Dork), on the Jaipur Litfest experience: “It’s like a college fest, except you don’t go home — you just grow older.”

7. During a session titled ‘Bin Laden after Bush’, Javed Akhtar jumped out of the audience to accuse Steve Coll of being part of an American conspiracy to pretend Bin Laden was still alive. This, in January 2010.

At the 2009 Lit Fest;

1. Authors Ira Pande and Namita Gokhale, cousins, began a session by chattering jovially amongst themselves, completely oblivious to the audience, and apologising for the same later: “Sorry about this, when Namita and I get together we turn into a Johar Mahmood show and forget all about the audience.”

2. Bruce Palling, a journalist for over 40 years and well-known travel writer, recalls seeing Colin Thubron being addressed scornfully by a visa officer at the Indian High Commission in London.

Thubron, whose novels and travel books have stopped just short of the Man Booker Prize but earned him the sobriquet of “gentleman traveller”, was apparently trying to assert himself as a delegate for the Jaipur festival but the documents he was presenting, rather than earning him a visa, seemed only fit to draw derision. Bruce, with all his experience of India pulled him gently aside and counselled in a whisper, “Colin. Just go back home and come again tomorrow with an application for a tourist visa.”

3. Amitabh Bachhan, attending the festival to release ‘Bachchanalia’ (a book in his honour) was seen brandishing his trademark native wit. When a crowd gathered on an overhanging terrace came too close to the edge and an announcer requested them to move back, Amitabh translated, “Peeche hat jao nahin toh aap meri godh mein giroge!” (Please get back, lest you fall in my lap)

4. When a young school girl asked Nandan Nilekani, what prompted him to write a book, the Infosys co-founder replied, “I wanted an invitation to the Jaipur Literature Festival.”

5. Vikram Seth revealed that he had to buy a copy of his own book to read in one of the sessions, as he’d arrived at the festival without any copies.

6. Final Night. Writers’ Ball at the Jaipur City Palace. Chetan Bhagat was seen asking Vikram Seth for an autograph.

As India’s young rock-star novelist tried to convince the cranky genius (who sat there fretting with a wrinkled brow) to write something meaningful on a scrap of paper for his sister (or someone), a journalist (standing with Seth) noted that he might consider adapting the kind of line Asimov is reputed to have taken in such situations: “I’ll never forget our marvellous night on the beach.”

Seth guffawed, and Bhagat got his autograph.

Homies!

The Jaipur Literature Festival (20-24 Jan ’12) is about to get underway.

It’s been a bumpy ride - The inaugural event in 2006 drew a crowd of about 100 attendees, including some who “appeared to be tourists who had simply got lost,” according to the event’s co-director William Dalrymple.

And the naysayers feel the festival is all about pretenders and post-colonial sahibs. Like Hartosh Bal; in a caustic piece appearing in Open Magazine in 2011, he wrote the festival  “works not because it is a literary enterprise, but because it ties us to the British literary establishment”—exemplified, first and foremost, by Dalrymple himself (whom he went on to deride as the “pompous arbiter of literary merit in India”). Incidentally, Bal is an Oxbridge-educated Indian who sounds more British than the Queen herself.

Dalrymple hit back immediately, lambasting Bal’s screed as racist cant akin to “pouring shit through an immigrant’s letterbox”.

Sadly, things are less acrimonious now.

Let’s take one final, longing look back at some of the funnier and more candid moments from events of years past. To set the mood for the serious business that follows.

Literary foreplay, if you will.

At the 2011 Jaipur Lit Fest;

1. Orhan Pamuk, that grave purveyor of melancholy, is evidently also a funny man.

During the Q&A session, someone asked Pamuk if the theme of his new novel ‘Museum of Innocence’ was whether philosophical love was deeper than physical love. Without skipping a beat, Pamuk responded, “That depends on the penetration.”

2. Junot Diaz (author of ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao‘), during a session titled ‘Storyteller-in-Chief’, told a packed crowd under the Mughal tent, “I can’t imagine anything more foreign to Indian readers than the Dominican Republic or New Jersey. But white people were looking for YOU when they found US.”

3. During one of the interactive sessions, Gulzar amused the audiences with little anecdotes on the birth of songs in Hindi cinema before Javed Akhtar (who arrived 20 minutes late) could join him. He later apologised to Akhtar saying,” ‘Maaf Kijiyega, main inhe behla raha tha (Forgive me, I was just managing them).

4. During a Q&A session, a school girl asked Gulzar, “There was simplicity in our old songs. The vocabulary was simple and it touched our hearts. Why can’t we have a similar vocabulary in new songs?” Gulzar shot back, “You have used ‘vocabulary’ twice in your question. Can you tell me what it is called in Hindi?

5. An angry Indian editor from a well-known and respected publishing house was heard  describing Dalrymple (who at last year’s festival was reading his own texts while Paban Das Baul sang and swayed, even as certain sections felt as the Director of the Festival he should not have been hogging so much of the limelight) as “that self-promoting ‘White Mughal‘ who has turned down all my authors”.

People!

2012 is about to be quite a year; doomsday predictions notwithstanding.

With a star studded line-up of authors and titles to choose from, rest assured the literary roller-coaster at INDIAreads is not about to stop anytime soon.

Check out these gems that may be pre-ordered at INDIAreads shortly;

1. I’ve Got Your Number – Sophie Kinsella (Feb 2012): When Poppy loses her engagement ring and her mobile all in the same disastrous evening, it seems making use of a phone she finds by chance, abandoned in a hotel bin, is the obvious solution.

But inevitably her life becomes entangled with the real owner of the phone, a high-flying businessman called Sam who becomes increasingly irritated when Poppy can’t resist meddling in his affairs…

2. The Oath of The Vayuputras – Amish Tripathi (Oct 2012): Book Three in the hugely popular Shiva Trilogy – after ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ and ‘The Secret of The Nagas’ – keeps the feeding frenzy going.

3. Emerging India: Economics, Politics And Reforms  – Bimal Jalan (Jan 2012): A collection of essays written over 20 years, this is an essential read for anyone seriously interested in the history and future of India’s development as a nation.

4. Didi: A Political Biography – Monobina Gupta (Jan 2012): Gupta brings her experience as a journalist and commentator on the politics in West Bengal to paint a fascinating portrait of the woman who defeated the longest-serving communist government in the world; and is fast emerging as one of the most important political figures in India today.

5. When Loss is Gain – Pavan K Varma (Jan 2012): Action-packed yet contemplative, Pavan K. Varma’s first novel is a powerful story of love and loss, despair and hope, chance and destiny, and the true meaning of joy and sorrow in every human life.

6. Rahul – Jatin Gandhi & Veenu Sandhu (Jan 2012): .Who is Rahul Gandhi—the real man—beneath the hype and the hatchet jobs? What are the ideas and influences that propel him? Who are his advisers? And how will he tackle his new responsibilities as his mother, Sonia Gandhi, makes way for him? Two young journalists, Jatin Gandhi and Veenu Sandhu, trace the evolution of the Rahul brand and explore the fascinating relationship between modernity and dynasty in this incisive political biography.

7. Neglected Poems – Gulzar (Jan 2012): Neglected only in name, these poems represent Gulzar at his creative and imaginative best, as he meditates on nature, delves into human psychology, explores great cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and New York , and confronts the most telling moments of everyday life.

8. Micro – Michael Crichton (Jan 2012): An instant classic in the vein of Jurassic Park, this boundary-pushing novel has all the hallmarks of Michael Crichton s greatest adventures with its combination of pulse-pounding thrills, cutting-edge technology, and extraordinary research.

Three men are found dead in a locked second-floor office in Honolulu. There is no sign of struggle, though their bodies are covered in ultra-fine, razor sharp cuts. With no evidence, the police dismiss it as a bizarre suicide pact. But the murder weapon is still in the room, almost invisible to the human eye…

9. Smart Trust – Stephen M. R. Covey (Foreword by Indra Nooyi) (Jan 2012): Find out why trusted people are more likely to get hired or promoted, get the best projects and bigger budgets, and are last to be laid off. This book will forever shift your perspective as it reveals and validates once and for all the transformational power of trust. Reading Smart Trust will help you thrive in an increasingly unpredictable marketplace.

10. The Innocent – David Baldacci (Apr 2012): Freelance hitman Will Robie gets a job from the US government. Even as he expertly nails his target – a suspected enemy of the country – he sees something at the scene of crime which he suspects will have deadly consequences …

Does he need to change sides to save lives, including his own…?

11. Untitled Memoir – Salman Rushdie (Sep 2012): The memoir will cover Rushdie’s childhood, his family life – he has been married four times – and his time in exile.

12. The Limpopo Academy of Private Investigation – Alexander McCall Smith (Apr 2012): The new installment in the perpetually delightful and bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

Precious Ramotswe is back and, as usual, her plate is full.  She’s called in to tackle a mysterious disciplinary problem at her adopted daughter’s school. Her infinitely trustworthy assistant, Grace Makutsi, is having trouble adjusting to wedded bliss; a problem to test even the formidable talents of Mma Ramotswe. And the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Investigation – the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual – has arrived, right there, in Botswana, on a case of his own. Bush tea, anyone?

13. Home – Toni Morrison (May 2012): The latest novel from Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.

An angry and self-loathing veteran of the Korean War, Frank Money finds himself back in racist America after enduring trauma on the front lines that left him with more than just physical scars. His home–and himself–may no longer be as he remembers it, but Frank is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from; a place he’s hated all his life. As Frank revisits childhood memories and the war, that leave him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he thought he could never possess again. A deeply moving novel about an apparently defeated man finding himself–and his home.

14. Bring Up the Bodies – Hilary Mantel (May 2012): In this sequel to the Man Booker-winning Wolf Hall, Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. From history’s darkroom, this novel offers a speaking picture to the modern world; a vision of Tudor England so recognizable it defies archaism. It is the work of one of our greatest writers at the peak of her powers.

15. Betrayal – Danielle Steel (Mar 2012): A renowned film director confronts an act of unimaginable treachery—and the first devastating blow will not be the last.

In this riveting novel, Danielle Steel reveals the dark side of fame and fortune. At the same time, she brilliantly captures a woman’s will to navigate a minefield of hurt and loss—towards a new beginning.

16. Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity – Katherine Boo (Feb 2012): In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book by the Pulitzer winner, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human; thanks in no small part to three years of uncompromising reporting.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

People !!!!

Now is the time to subscribe to INDIAreads.

We’re giving away a Free Bestseller with every purchase of an INDIAreads Smart/Bonanza Plan in 2012.

You heard us; our shelves runneth over.

Only for New Members, though.

Existing Subscribers will have to settle for our massive discounts and flawless service; it’s quite sad, really.

So please hurry and mooch off of us.

For a complete overview of all INDIAreads plans, please click here. (for Delhi/NCR)

or here. (for Other Metros)

and here. (for Rest of India)

NOTE: Offer valid only till midnight, January 2012.

Source: http://enotes.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/top-10-true-confessions-of-professors-and-other-literary-types/

So, I love collecting books. I see a good book, especially if it has anything to do with history, politics, world affairs and I just have to buy it. I know that I may never get a chance to read them all, but one can dream right? And just looking at them gives me immense pleasure. I begin each morning by walking around the library, running my hands over books, flipping some open and smiling. I know that at the end of the day (or even in between), I have something to look forward to. My friends and family often complain that the only reason INDIAreads came up is so that I could indulge this book addiction of mine. Every time they call and ask, “So where are you?,” the answer inevitably is, “book shopping.” “Again?” “Hey, that’s my job after all ”

So in my latest shopping spree I came across some great Off the Beaten Track Non Fiction reads (bought 500 in one go ). They’ll make their way to the library collection soon enough but here’s a list of a few choice picks. Now take a look and tell me can you really blame me for buying these????

P.s. I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to read and review all of these, so am including external albeit reliable reviews. The once without any information are books which we have already uploaded on the site with all information. Hope you enjoy them!!!!!

1. Conquerors of Time: Exploration and Invention in the Age of Daring by Trevor Fishlock: A completely absorbing read that brings to life the important events and ideas that have shaped our world. It is about “men, animals and machines, about the seafarers, engineers, inventors and trailblazers who enabled the British to hold together a vast empire and the Americans to push their frontiers West.”  http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/feb/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview21

2. Spectre of Violence: The 1857 Kanpur Massacres by Rudrangshu Mukherjee: An illuminating inquiry into the play of power and dominance behind 1857 .
On 27 June 1857, rebels publicly slaughtered over 300 men, women and children of the ‘master race’ at the Satichaura Ghat in Kanpur. On 15 July, a group of women and children who had survived were killed at the Bibighur. Two days later, General Havelock reclaimed Kanpur and Colonel James Neill decimated the rebel population. This sequence of violence has held sway over Indian and British imaginations for generations, and historians and commentators have recounted the massacres with horror.
Locating the massacres in the upheaval which overtook north India in the early nineteenth century, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, an eminent 1857 historian, analyses the nature of the violence. Mukherjee argues that the absence of rebel accounts and chronicles inhibits a telling of their version of the story. What is available are the contemporary accounts of British survivors, diaries of British loyalists and depositions as part of the official report prepared by the British. By reading these sources ‘against their grain’ and by examining the manner in which the evidence was stitched together, Spectre of Violence brings to light fresh directions of inquiry into the events of 1857.

3. The Mammoth Book of War Correspondents: 100 of the greatest war dispatches ever written with contributions from Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Crane, George Orwell, John Steinbeck, Rudyard Kipling, James Cameroon, Leon Trotsky and Max Hastings. “War correspondence is a dangerous job, but someone has to do it. The readers demand it. Need  it. Warfare has changed much since Russell’s day (the first man to use the telegraph in the 1840s to to send dispatches from the Crimean wars.), so has the technology of war journalism from telegraph to sat phone, and live commentary as you watch war-u like on the tube. The readers’ hunger for war news has changed too. It’s even greater. In the information age the one information you cannot do without is Mars’s latest havoc. Somewhere, a war correspondent is dying to give it to you.”  This book contains dispatches from the Crimean war to the Franco-Prussian War, from the American Civil War to the Russian Civil War, from the World Wars to the Korean War, from the Cuban Civil War to Chechnya,  from Bolivia (the last journey of Che Guevara) to Vietnam.

4. The Stuff of Thought: Language as a window into human nature by Steven Pinker: How you use words can determine how your mind works, Steven Pinker explains here. Find out more with this detailed NYT review. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/review/Saletan-t.html

5. Deep Water: The Epic Struggle over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment by Jacques Leslie: There are more than 45,000 of them in the world. They have altered the speed of the planet’s rotation, the tilt of its axis, and the shape of its gravitational field. They influence landscapes and societies. They are dams, and in Deep Water,Jacques Leslie offers an incisive, searching, and beautifully written account of the emerging crisis over dams and the world’s water. Reporting in the tradition of John McPhee and Peter Matthiessen, Leslie examines the crisis through the lives of three people: Medha Patkar, the world’s foremost anti-dam activist; Thayer Scudder, an American anthropologist; and Don Blackmore, an Australian water manager. In each of these engrossing portraits, Leslie shows how dams seduce national leaders with seeming bounties of water and power but end up producing blights on the citizenry and landscape. Deep Water is an eloquent and important book about the water crisis and a startling look at the fate of our planet. (From goodreads.com)

6. Simplexity: Why Simple things become complex (and how Complex things can be made simple) by Jeffrey Kluger: Frustrated by the traffic on narrow bridges? Stunned by the number of buttons on a remote control? Saddened by the lack of basic medical care in the developing world? Kluger (Splendid Solution) makes the modern world comprehensible, analyzing social and technological systems to reveal that “things that seem complicated can be preposterously simple; things that seem simple can be dizzyingly complex.” He compares cells to cities to stock markets, renders quarks and fractals accessible and draws parallels between Wal-Mart and AIDS clinics in Tanzania. Although Kluger is prone to hyperbole, his astonishing discoveries require no exaggeration: the book describes how even the most technologically advanced manufacturing plant is infinitely simpler than a humble houseplant “with its microhydraulics and fine-tuned metabolism and dense schematic of nucleic acids”—and baseball fans will be dismayed to discover that football is, in fact, the more complex of the two games: “the possible number of starting configurations before the play even begins is… 31.4 billion.” Kluger’s findings are likely to incite controversy, confirming his contention that explaining simplicity and complexity is never as straightforward as it seems. (Publishers Weekly, April 2008)

7. Flames of the Chinar by Sheikh Abdullah (Abridged and translated from Urdu by Khushwant Singh): This is the autobiography of Sher-e-Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, the man who shaped Kashmir’s destiny.

8. Mountbatten and the Partition of India by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre: This book contains interviews with Mountbatten, and a selection of papers that were in his possession, explaining and examining Mountbatten’s role in India’s partition.

9. The Europe since Napoleon by David Thomson

10. Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz

11. War Made new:  Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World by Max Boot: From bronze cannons to smart bombs, this engaging study examines the impact of new weaponry on war by spotlighting exemplary battles, including famous epics like the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the attack on Pearl Harbor along with obscure clashes like the 1898 Battle of Omdurman, in which a British colonial force mowed down Sudanese tribesmen with machine guns. Boot (The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power) gives due weight to social context: advanced weapons don’t spell victory unless accompanied by good training and leadership; innovative doctrine; an efficient, well-funded bureaucracy; and a “battle culture of forbearance” that eschews warrior ferocity in favor of a soldierly ethos of disciplined stoicism under fire. These factors flourish, he contends, under a rationalist, progressive Western mindset. The author, a journalist and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, enlivens his war stories with profiles of generals from Gustavus Adolphus to Norman Schwarzkopf and splashes of blood and guts. Boot distills 500 years of military history into a well-paced, insightful narrative. (from the Publishers’ Weekly)

By now, we all know that technological and strategic revolutions have changed the face of war, but how many of us also realize how much these innovations have also transformed the world beyond the battlefield? Narrative historian Max Boot contends that advances in military affairs helped create the modern nation, facilitated the growth of European colonial empires, and aided the rise of 20th-century totalitarian governments. Boot’s detail-packed discussion of the impact of military revolutions on the course of modern history makes War Made New one of the most provocative, thought-stimulating books in recent memory (goodreads review)

12. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell: Among his many gifts, Joseph Campbell’s most impressive was the unique ability to take a contemporary situation, such as the murder and funeral of President John F. Kennedy, and help us understand its impact in the context of ancient mythology. Herein lies the power of The Power of Myth, showing how humans are apt to create and live out the themes of mythology. Based on a six-part PBS television series hosted by Bill Moyers, this classic is especially compelling because of its engaging question-and-answer format, creating an easy, conversational approach to complicated and esoteric topics. For example, when discussing the mythology of heroes, Campbell and Moyers smoothly segue from the Sumerian sky goddess Inanna to Star Wars‘ mercenary-turned-hero, Han Solo. Most impressive is Campbell’s encyclopedic knowledge of myths, demonstrated in his ability to recall the details and archetypes of almost any story, from any point and history, and translate it into a lesson for spiritual living in the here and now. –Gail Hudson, Amazon.com

13. True as the Stars above: Adventures in Modern Astrology by Neil Spencer: What do Princess Diana, Ronald Reagan, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare and the leaders of the Third Reich have in common? They all consulted astrologers. Why? How does astrology work, and if scientists like Richard Dawkins go out of their way to rubbish it, why has it never been so popular? Most books on astrology have either been how-to manuals, cheap guides to the year ahead, or forbidding academic tomes on subjects like the transits of Pluto – until now. True as the Stars Above is a irreverent, intelligent defence of astrology, and an examination of the extraordinary role it has played in the past and still plays today. Among some of the revelations in the book: Margaret Thatcher sought astrological advice after the Brighton bomb. A significant number of the world’s major financial institutions have an astrologer or two on their payroll. British intelligence employed an astrologer during WWII because they were convinced Hitler was doing the same. Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff (to his fury) was forced to keep a colour coded calendar, with green for good days, red for bad days and yellow for ‘iffy’ days, in line with the views of Nancy’s astrologer. This is astrology demystified, whether it’s the ongoing row over statistical evidence for astrology; the myth of The Age of Aquarius; computer dating by star sign or why Gone With The Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara is definitely an Aries.

14. Beyond the Oxus: the Central Asians by Monica Whitlock

15. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: Okay, before you point it out, I know this one’s fiction, but I just had to mention it. Why? Read the synopsis below…..

“. . . I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

January, 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, Dawsey Adams, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name in a book?
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of Dawsey and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—a book club born as a spur-of-the- moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts an outstanding cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable conversation in letters with the Society’s members, learning about their lives, their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on all of them. Over time, and despite a demanding and dramatic life in London, she finds herself drawn to the self-contained Dawsey Adams, and to the story of Elizabeth, a young woman whose bright spirit and strength live on in the daughter she left behind when she was sent to a concentration camp. Juliet knows she has found the subject of her book, and possibly much more, and sets sail for Guernsey, changing the course of her life forever.

And I could go on and on, after I hand picked every book and each according to me is special….but here’s just a taster….just to explain why I am a compulsive book buyer!!!!!

Reviewed by Ruth Zothanpuii

The Color Purple written by American author Alice Walker was published in the year 1982. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award and was later adapted into a film.

The Color Purple has also been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000-2009 at number seventeen because of the sometimes explicit content, particularly in terms of violence.

Alice Walker adopted the epistolary style, so we have the account of the story conveyed entirely by an exchange of letters.Walker has Celie write to God, Nettie to Celie and Celie to Nettie. What occurs in these letters is the story of the physical and mental abuse of Black women who are subjugated by their men in both America and Africa during the 1930s.

Celie, the protagonist and narrator of  The Color Purple, is a poor, uneducated, fourteen year old black girl living in rural Georgia. At the beginning of the story we have Celie who starts writing letters to God as her sense of shame is great and thinks that she can only write to God and has no other way to express her feelings. These letters are written in a voice that uses raw realism – the only language an uneducated girl of fourteen years old would know to convey the facts of her life. The only sentences outside the letters are the first two:“You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.”

Celie’s stepfather, Alphonso, beats and rapes her; he impregnates Celie twice and later steals and presumably kills both the children.She  is married off to Mr. _____ , a widower on the condition that she take care of his four unruly children, tend his house and be available to him for sex. Her husband following the custom of his race, thrashes her often in order to subdue her and keep her under control.  By illustrating such incidents, Walker draws the attention of modern women. For instance, in some society men inflict physical wounds on women, but in other societies men inflict psychological wounds on women.

Nettie, the younger sister of Celie, whose fate holds an opposite direction joins a missionary family who encourage her to read and learn; something Celie (the heroine) pines for. Nettie later goes to Africa with the missionary family. Both the sisters are estranged from one another for most of their adult lives, yet their devotion as sisters continues, and, without even knowing whether the other is alive, their mutual and unconditional love sustains them.

The interesting part in reading this novel is that while the novel traces the lives of both sisters over a period of decades, it provides us with an innumerable opportunities for thoughtful classroom discussion. For instance, the popular concept of God versus Celie- Nettie – Shug picture of God later in the novel.

The story brings to life American history, world history, women’s history, civil rights history.  It also focuses on incest, women’s exploration of their bodies and souls, wife-beating and other violence, illustrating mainly the dehumanization of women. Walker’s focus on feminist issues within the black community as well as upon intra-racial violence and oppression places her in a category of writers willing to confront the difficult problems of communities in transition, to complain about the male and female, and parents/child relationships, and to persuade their members to renew their faith in each other for the sake of community survival.

Finally, it is the kind of a story that stays with you even long after you’ve finished reading it. A must read and a must have in one’s own private library.

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Looking for an M & B with a good storyline, intrigue and Indian protagonists? Pick up Metro Reads’ latest offering: Love on the Rocks by Ismita Tandon Dhankher. With all the ingredients of a “timepass read” this novel does full justice to Metro Reads’ tagline – ‘fun, fast and fiesty reads.’

Life promises to be a lot of fun for newly wed Sancha when she joins her husband Chief Officer Aaron Andrews on his merchant navy vessel, Sea Hyena. However less than 24 hours on the High seas she realizes that all is not well aboard the ship. Confronted with a series of disturbing occurences, including a theft and a murder, the inquisitive bride sets about unravelling the multiple mysteries. She soon realizes that nothing is as it seems and no one, including her husband or his best friend First Engineer Harsh Castillo, can be trusted. What does a woman in love do under such circumstances?Disclose her suspicions to the investigationg officer or give her hubby the benefit of doubt? And who is the murderer?

After the first few chapters you will begin to have your suspicions, but Dhankher manages to successfully keep you guessing till almost the end. The needle of suspicion keeps pointing to different characters; each time you pat yourself on the back for playing Sherlock , there is a new development. A die hard mystery lover might be able to nail the culprit way before he is revealed, but most readers will enjoy the little twist in the end; not Sheldonesque but nonetheless interesting.

The real strength of this debut novel is the voice that Dhankher provides to virtually all her characters. The story is told not from the point of view of a single person – Sancha. Harsh, Aaron, Raghav (the investigating officer), Popeye (the Captain) – everyone gets their say. This refreshing style provides the reader with an interesting insight into the mind and emotions of human beings, particularly of those who have to stayed away from land and their loved ones for long periods of time.

Dhankher’s writing is engaging, the language colloquial and humour, refreshing. The setting – a merchant navy ship – is new and interesting and the plot reasonably well developed. The book may not qualify as the best mystery novel of the year but it definitely does full justice to the “new genre” that Penguin has sought to introduce. A genre of books that “don’t weigh you down with complicated stories, don’t ask for much time and don’t have to be lugged around.”

It is a book for the youth of today who have neither the time nor the patience to indulge in “heavier” reads. Love on the Rocks may not give you an adrenaline rush and it doesn’t exactly compel you to burn the midnight oil just to get to the end, but that was never the intention of the series. Love on the Rocks sets a comfortable pace; it allows you to pick it up in between your chores and enjoy slices of it. No compulsions, no information…pure, simple entertainment. And it definitely qualifies as a good candidate for a Bollywood potboiler.

All in all a laudable debut novel and a great “light” read. Pick it up the next time you plan to catch a flight or want to unwind after a crazy workday.

Today is that day that William Shakespeare was baptised. His exact birth date remains shrouded in mystery. But nonetheless, since this is like the week of his birthday, we from the INDIAreads team invite you to participate in “Map your Shakespearean Characters contest”. You are required to mention your favourite character as well as the one whom you despise from your favourite play by Shakespeare. (along with the why of course.)