New books on the shelves

A Japanese cat book classic in translation, a treatise on shudra nationalism in Indian history, and much more.

Published : Oct 30, 2024 11:00 IST - 2 MINS READ

The Blanket Cats

Kiyoshi Shigematsu, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

MacLehose Press

Rs.411

A classic of the Japanese Cat Book genre, this feel-good novel is now available in English. The anxious souls of Tokyo rent feline companions from a unique pet shop in the hope that their troubles will be resolved by the touch of a furry paw. But the cats have their own agendas, naturally.

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Madwoman

Chelsea Bieker

Oneworld Publications

Rs.499

Clove has an Insta-perfect life, complete with a kind husband, two adorable children, and a stable family home. That has come at the cost of erasing her past life with a few convenient lies. The safe world threatens to fall apart when Clove’s mother returns, dragging the past with her.

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Beauty Queens of Bishan

Akshita Nanda

Vintage Books

Rs.399

Set in Singapore, this light-hearted story is about two rival salon owners, April Chua, stylist to the stars, and Gurpreet Kaur, owner of Monty Beauty Spa in Bishan. When April threatens the business of Gurpreet and other small salon-owners of Bishan, the Indian community comes together, declaring war.

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The Shudra Rebellion

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

SouthSide Books

Rs.500

The social scientist Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd calls for a thorough re-examination of Indian identity through the lens of shudra heritage as he unveils the often-overlooked role of shudra nationalism in Indian history. This book is not just a historical account; it is a call to awareness and action.

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Ways of Remembering: Law, Cinema and Collective Memory in the New India

Oishik Sircar

Cambridge University Press

Rs.1,195

Using the example of the “memorialisation” of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom in films and court decisions, Oishik Sircar examines how secular law is not only seen as a solution to irrational violence against Muslims but also used to justify that very violence.

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Cities Rethought: A New Urban Disposition

Gautam Bhan, Michael Keith, Susan Parnell, Edgar Pieterse

Westland

Rs.399

Drawing from the lived experiences of its authors in cities across the world, this multidimensional study proposes a new “urban disposition” that will help us rethink what we see and know about the cities we live in so that we act and intervene meaningfully within them.

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Fiction

Held

Anne Michaels

Knopf

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Small Rain

Garth Greenwell

Picador

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Orbital

Samantha Harvey

Vintage

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A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories

Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Hogarth

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Non-fiction

Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative

Isabella Hammad

Black Cat

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Young People, Media, and Nostalgia: An Ethnography of How Youth Imagine their Lives

Rodrigo Muñoz-González

Routledge

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Climate Radicals: Why Our Environmental Politics Isn’t Working

Cameron Abadi

Columbia Global Reports

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A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness

Francisco Aboitiz

The MIT Press

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