On the racks – August 2019

Becoming

Author       : Michelle Obama
Publisher  : Viking
Pages         : 426; ₹999

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her. She talks about her childhood on the South side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it. Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations — and whose story inspires us to do the same.

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The sugar impact diet

Author       : J J Virgin
Publisher  : Hachette India
Pages         : 344; ₹499

This book describes how foods contain different types of sugars that have unique effects in your body.  J J Virgin explains the role of sugar metabolism in weight loss. Foods with a high sugar impact cause weight gain, fatigue and inflammation. Low sugar impact foods promote fat burning and sustained energy. The diet claims if you switch foods with a high sugar impact for those with a low sugar impact you can lose up to 10 pounds in 2 weeks. It identifies the most damaging types of sugars that you may be eating every day without realising it.  Virgin promises her programme will help you cut sugar out of your diet — without the cravings and the crashes. Her plan, she says, will also lead to high energy levels, better focus, less bloat and will reverse chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Oh, and for those of you who diet to fit into skinny jeans, Virgin says followers will “look and feel younger almost overnight.”

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Fear of Lions

Author       : Amita Kanekar
Publisher  : Hachette India
Pages         : 336; `399

Set twelve years into the rule of the austere Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, Amita Kanekar’s intricately woven and powerful novel tells the story of an unlikely rebellion that almost brought imperial Dilli to its knees. Two young Mughal nobles, Shamsher and his sister Zeenat, leave Shahjahanabad for a trip down the royal Ajmer highway to the market town of Narnaul. The reluctant Shamsher is on a secret mission for his father; an excited Zeenat on one of her own. Their journey takes them through the shattered landscape of a recently crushed mutiny. This revolt was rumoured to have been led by a witch inspired by the Bhakti saint Kabir; her militant followers, many of them women, called themselves Satnami: those whose name was truth. The rebels were finally defeated, but the questions remained: Where had they come from and what did they want? Who really was Kabir, the acid-tongued weaver-poet of Banaras? How could Bhakti, the cult of passionate devotion, inspire violence?

Compiled by Kiran Zehra