Bookshelf | New books on the shelves (August 09, 2024)

Four Seasons in Japan

Nick Bradley

Penguin

Rs.550

Flo is sick of Tokyo, her job as a translator, her stagnating relationship. Then she chances upon a mysterious novel left behind by a passenger on the Tokyo subway, and her life is transformed for the better as she takes it upon herself to translate it.

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The Rainbow Runners

Dhrubajyoti Borah

Thornbird Books

Rs.695

Set in the days of the Assam insurgency, this novel is about Sriman, a young man whose life is upended by the violence. He travels to the Himalaya, where he meets the Tibetan immigrants, who too are searching for home. Translated by the author from the original.

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Also Read | New books on the shelves

A Death in Cornwall

Daniel Silva

HarperCollins

Rs.499

Art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon gets involved in a murder investigation that leads him to a stolen Picasso worth millions. The mystery moves quickly from the cliffs of Cornwall to the exotic island of Corsica and, finally, to a nail-biting finish on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street.

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Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodernism, Science, and Hindu Nationalism

Meera Nanda

Permanent Black

Rs.695

Arguing that the secularisation of cultural common sense is the best answer to Hindu nationalist bigotry in contemporary India, this book (first published in 2006) demonstrates how, under a Hindu nationalist regime, the country took a turn towards reactionary forms of modernism, acquiring cutting-edge technologies—including nuclear weapons—while reviving superstition in the guise of ‘Vedic sciences’.

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Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal, and Martyrdom

Aparna Vaidik

Aleph Book Company

Rs.999

This ground-breaking new study of the infamous Lahore Conspiracy Case and its principal martyrs—Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru—who belonged to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army brings to vivid life the people and events of a trial that left an indelible imprint on the history of nationalism and revolution in India.

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Imperial Games in Tibet: The struggle for statehood and sovereignty

Dilip Sinha

Macmillan

Rs. 599

Renowned as the ‘roof of the world’, Tibet is both a spiritual bastion and a hotbed of geopolitical intrigue. Former ambassador Dilip Sinha deftly charts its history, revealing, among other things, the real story behind the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959 and how six decades later, Chinese ‘suzerainty’ maintains its grip on Tibet despite a global outcry, begging the question: Can Tibet ever be free?

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