Flip the pages ahead

Here's a selection of books to look forward to in 2023.

This is a list that's completely unscientific and curated only through gut instinct. Be forewarned, we have judged by the cover too.

* Chronicle Of An Hour And A Half by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari (Context): In the foothills of the Western Ghats, the village of Vaiga is enduring the worst storm it has seen in decades, but another more insidious storm is brewing beneath the façade of provincial life. It begins as a rumour of an illicit affair and the rumour soon takes on a life of its own, embellished through frantic WhatsApp messages, with everyone turning into gatekeepers of morality even as they relish the prurient details of the alleged affair.
* History's Angel by Anjum Hasan (Bloomsbury): A darkly funny, sharply observed and deeply moving novel about the surprises and struggles of life in contemporary Delhi, this book promises to explore the contemporary world's treatment of Muslims and the force and consequence of remembering your people’s history under an establishment that wants to forget.
* Why We Eat by Julia Belluz and Dr Kevin Hall (Hachette): From the world's leading nutritional scientist, and one of the top health journalists, this promises to be the definitive book about nutrition, about why we eat. It will explain why we're hungry at particular moments in our days and our lives, why diets almost never work, why exercise doesn't benefit you in the ways you probably think it does, and how ultra-processed food fools and alters our metabolisms.
* The Book Beautiful by Pradeep Sebastian (Hachette): The author retraces his fulfilling journey of collecting fine books online, his new-found love for modern calligraphic and illuminated manuscripts, and his discovery of the masters of bookmaking. Peppered with vivid anecdotes and delightful conversations, this is as much about the love for fine books as it is about the pleasures of bibliophily.

* The City of New Beginnings: Unboxing Bengaluru by Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash (Vintage): This first-ever deep dive work on Bengaluru promises a richly researched narrative into namma ooru. The book covers the city's journey, offering readers a fascinating exploration of its different sides and aspects and the role it plays in the lives of the people who have made it their home.
* The Monkey Who Fell From Future by Ross Welford (HarperCollins): The year is 2425. Centuries after a catastrophic meteor collision, nature has retaken the earth. In a small town in what was once England, young Ocean Mooney and the monkey-owning Duke Smiff have just dug up a 400-year-old tablet computer. Meanwhile, in the present day, Thomas Reeve and his genius cousin Kylie create the Time Tablet, a device which they hope will allow them to communicate with the future.