Book Rack (Feb 16-22)

Books of the week (Feb 16th to 22nd)

Future Tense

Nitasha Kaul

HarperCollins, 2020, pp 308, Rs 499

Shireen, the granddaughter of a spy, discovers how her painful and divisive family story is deeply intertwined with the history of Kashmir. The book traces the competing trajectories of modernity and tradition, freedom and suffocation in Kashmir.

Urdu Ghazal: A Gift of India’s Composite Culture

Gopi Chand Narang

OUP, 2020, pp 544, Rs 1,295

The book explores a variety of influences on the ghazal, including Sufism, Bhakti movement and the infusion of Rekhta, Persian languages and culture. It elucidates classical ghazal forms that blossomed from the seeds sown by Amir Khusrau in the 14th century.

Happy For No Reason

Mandira Bedi with Satyadev Barman

Penguin, 2020, pp 240, Rs 299

A multifaceted personality, Mandira candidly shares with her readers her secrets to maintaining health and exuberance in chaotic, mentally and physically gruelling schedules.

Soar

Amit Majmudar

Penguin, 2020, pp 256, Rs 499

Bholanath and Khudabaksh are two soldiers in the British Indian Army, sent off to Europe to fight in World War I. When a mission in a surveillance balloon goes awry, these two gentle soldiers along with an exceptionally ill-tempered squirrel are set adrift high above the Western Front. What happens next?

Not All Those Who Wander

Arjun Nath

Penguin, 2020, pp 272, Rs 299

Sometimes together and sometimes on their own, sometimes as friends and sometimes as more, Gehna and Eram journey without a map down a most unexpected road. Quirky and heartfelt, this is a story of millennial friendships.