On the racks – January 2021
The amazing human body
Author : M V Ravikumar
Publisher : Kaveri Trust
Pages : 76; ₹99
A compilation of interesting facts about the various organs and systems of the human body. Written in simple English, the book talks about things that go on in our bodies, that we have no idea about as we go on about our day. Be it your new found high in the morning or how many times your heart beats a day. It’s easy to forget how amazing the internal organs, eyes, or even the basic building blocks of life are. This book works as a gentle reminder on how fascinating each part of our body can be.
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Stage – 4: Love, Trauma & Redemption
Author : Soumya Mohanty
Publisher : Notion Press
Pages : 278; ₹320
Rupa, a simple, beautiful girl in love with the author, is diagnosed with stage-four cancer. Everything comes to a standstill for the couple as they begin to fight the cancer. Written in an autobiographical mode, the book talks about love, life and what it takes to move on. The author talks about the struggle of a couple while dealing with an exhausting routine and doing everything it takes to save the love of your life. We follow the couple through their visits to the doctors, to temples and the partner waiting outside the ICU with hope and despair at the same time.
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Hamnet
Author : Maggie O’Farrell
Publisher : Tinder Press
Pages : 372; ₹999
Hamnet is an imaginative take on Shakespeare’s love life ,Agnes, the early days of their marriage, and the death of one of his children due to the bubonic plague. This is the story of Agnes and the emotional and psychological challenges of bereavement she faces. The book takes us back and forth from 1580 to 1599, the time where Shakespeare wrote his play Hamlet. At its heart, this is a story about grief and how a mother finds her way around it. Interestingly not once does the author call the playwright by his name in this book. The story includes magical beliefs, myths and superstitions of the time.
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Piranesi
Author : Susanna Clarke
Publisher : Bloomsbury
Pages : 245; ₹570
Piranesi is alone and has no great memories, but curiously is content inside his big house, which has endless halls and countless rooms. The house and the world are one and the same for him. While birds have built an entire town for themselves in the house’s upper halls, stormy tides flow through its lower levels. He wanders the empty halls and courtyards, documenting everything in his journal with satisfaction. He sustains himself with catching fish for food and burning dried seaweed during the winters. There is one other person — a man called The Other who visits Piranesi and needs his help to unravel a secret knowledge, revealing terrifying truths and a world beyond the labyrinth house.
