Bookrack for the week (25 Sept to Oct 1)

New releases of the week (Sept 25 to Oct 1)

Stories

Shahidul Zahir and V Ramaswamy (translator)

Harper, pp 280, Rs 399

In these pages is the world of the mohalla, where rumours and gossip abound and where everyone knows everyone, where seemingly bizarre yet intriguing creations deliver profound commentary on post-independence Bangladesh.

In Search Of The Pitcher Of Nectar

Samaresh Bose and Nirmal Kanti B (translator)

Niyogi Books, pp 288, Rs 450

This travelogue narrates the author’s experience of visiting the Kumbh Mela. The narrator commences on this journey with the desire not to achieve atonement, but to learn about life, about people.

The Sea Hawk

Manohar Malgonkar

HarperCollins, pp 340, Rs 499

Troubled by the mounting European threat along the Konkan coast, the Maratha empire turns to Kanhoji Angrey, master mariner, to lead its navy. Join Kanhoji on his many adventures and naval campaigns.

The Dreams Of A Mappila Girl

B M Zuhara and Fehmida Zakeer (translator)

Sage, pp 232, Rs 550

Set at the time when Independent India was embracing its new identity as a free nation, this work provides a wide lens for the reader to view life in a semi-rural Kerala village.

Extinctions

Sharmistha Mohanty

Context, pp 112, Rs 699

There are things on this subcontinent—rituals, objects, gestures—that have existed for centuries but are now vulnerable, dying, at the edge of our lives. Extinctions catches them in movement, as they fade, as they set.