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From my teenage years, I have conducted this exercise, a ritual infinitely more pleasurable than any drawing up of resolutions. When I was 16, it was tough to find information about books yet to be released — I used to hunt through magazines and newspapers, collect odd scraps from here and there and build up what I always felt was a pitifully small list.
Today, with the glut of information I have, it is inordinately tough to choose a few titles — how can I leave out Tim Wigmore, that wonderfully gifted cricket writer? Will I look foolish if I pick up the next instalment of a fantasy thriller meant for young adults that I unabashedly devour? How about that new book by Stephen King? It took me a while but here is the list of my most-anticipated reads of 2025. As biased as ever and in no particular order as always.
Rama, Bhima, Soma: Cultural Investigations into Modern Karnataka by Srikar Raghavan
The book promises to explore a dizzyingly wide sweep of Karnataka’s contemporary history. An enterprise of translation and rediscovery, it is packed with stories and conversations about everything Karnataka — from the life of legends like Kuvempu and Shivaram Karanth to the rise of the Hindu Right, to the rise and fall of Naxalism in the state and the perplexing popularity of television serials.
Rohit Sharma: The Making Of A Legend by R Kaushik
From the dusty grounds of Borivali to the grandest cricketing arenas worldwide, this biography traces the journey of one of India’s most beloved and enigmatic cricket stars. It captures the evolution of a young, laidback boy into an iconic cricketer, a master tactician, and a leader of men and promises to be packed with anecdotes, historical context, and behind-the-scenes stories.
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
When academic Nadia is disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, she decides to make a getaway — accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. Here is a novel that promises to be not only bitingly original but also wildly funny and razor-sharp. Fundamentally upends a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour.
Rebel English Academy by Mohammed Hanif
On the night Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister Mr Bhutto is hanged, Captain Gul’s mission is to take a picture of the dead Bhutto’s genitalia to prove to the nation that he was a closeted Hindu. As punishment for this botched assignment, Gul is posted to a dull town where all car number plates begin with O and K. But nothing is ok in OK town. Hanif returns with his acerbic wit and laugh-aloud sarcasm.
The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon
From the bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree, the fifth novel in the gripping Bone Season series will be out next year. Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade — but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory. As she makes her way back to the revolution, her journey takes her to Venice, where she learns a dangerous secret... one that could change the face of the war between humans and immortals.