SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Dec 30: As 2022 draws to its end, here’s a list of the top 10 most read and bought books by Jharkhand readers this year.
India, Bharat and Pakistan : The Constitutional Journey of Sandwiched Civilisation
by J Sai Deepak
The book ‘India, Bharat and Pakistan’, the second book of the Bharat Trilogy, takes the discussion forward from its bestselling predecessor, India That Is Bharat. It explores the combined influence of European and Middle Eastern colonialities on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation, and on the origins of the Indian Constitution.
One of the objectives of this book is to help the reader draw parallels between the challenges faced by the Indic civilisation in the tumultuous period from 1740 to 1924, and the present day.
The Magicians of Mazda
by Ashwin Sanghi
The book is a part of his chart-topping ‘Bharat Series’, and travels backwards– through the epochs of Islamic jihad, Macedonian revenge, Achaemenid glory, messianic birth, Aryan schism to the Vedic fount from where it all began.
Being a total outsider, one is wonderstruck by the humongous and honest effort put in by him. I might say, it is an Indian’s tribute to his brethren who came all the way to escape their persecution. They not only became one with their land of adoption but also enriched it.
A Place Called Home
by Preeti Shenoy
In ‘A Place Called Home’, author Preeti Shenoy explores the idea of family and finding oneself. It is a realistic romance novel with grit and finesse. It had a very morally grey plot and a sense of charm to it. The book was written beautifully and it was charming to read. It was fast-paced and had simple language.
Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom
by Ramachandra Guha
‘Rebels Against the Raj’ tells the story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who across the late 19th to late 20th century arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence from British colonial rule.
To Paradise
by Hanya Yanagihara
‘To Paradise’, Hanya Yanagihara’s vast, complex follow-up to her Booker-shortlisted A Little Life, is a novel of many faces. It’s about colonialism and racism in America today; or that it’s a queer counterfactual history (and future) that asks what would happen if sexuality were destigmatised (and then stigmatised); or an elegy for the lost kingdom of Hawaii.
The Living Mountain
by Amitav Ghosh
In many ways then, Amitav Ghosh’s slim fable, ‘The Living Mountain’, seems to fit right into India’s chequered 2022 growth story.In many ways then, Amitav Ghosh’s slim fable seems to fit right into India’s chequered 2022 growth story. It is also cautionary: a fable for our times, as the strap says. It dwelvs into expecting poetic turns of phrase, and morally ambiguous characters braided into meticulous plots.
Sin
by Wajida Tabassum
The story is set in the aristocratic society of 1950s Hyderabad. Tabassum is known for her depiction of the realities in the society she lived in colliding with the critical reviews from the self-proclaimed custodians of the culture of the period. This book presents some of the boldest short stories featuring unfulfilled marriages, lascivious nawabs, sly retainers, lecherous begums, and more; along with the story of the author’s life.
To Hell and Back
by Barkha Dutt
When the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic was first announced in 2020, acclaimed journalist Barkha Dutt began a series of road trips. On this trip, she recorded the stories of people during a pandemic. In this book, she talks about India during the pandemic through the stories of workers, politicians, businessmen, doctors, nurses, teachers, students, families, and more.
City of Incident
by Annie Zaidi
Annie Zaidi in the ‘City of Incident’ depicts the life of six men and six women. Each of these characters is struggling to keep up with the metropolis life that provides them little hope, power, and opportunity for redemption. The stories of these individuals interlace together and offer the readers an unsettling picture of the lives that continues on the edges of our vision. These are random people that one may have seen in one’s car, on the metro, or read about in the pages of one’s daily paper. The kind of people who don’t catch one’s attention until a moment breaks.
Burning Questions
by Margaret Atwood
‘Burning Questions’ is a canny title for Margaret Atwood’s new book of essays and occasional pieces. It reflects both the urgency of the issues dear to her — literature, feminism, the environment, human rights — and their combustibility, the risk that in writing about them she might get burned.
