A kid with a book is an onlooker’s delight. However, it is not just that. A kid with a book is an affirmation of an alternate future, a future that is hard to predict. A future that may never materialise. A luminous, promising future.
Where would we all return if not to love? Why won’t we die, to live? Saikat Majumdar’s latest novel is about love, and sacrifice. It’s about Eklavya giving up his thumb to his guru. It’s about Megha returning to arrange a bookshelf with Poonam.
Superheroes are a common occurrence in children’s and YA stories. So Karma Tandin could be just another Batman or Spiderman next door. However, hold on! Evan Purcell, author of the Karma Tandin Monster Hunter series, planned this little superhero differently.
Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land, where the notes are read and then possibly cherished, or else misinterpreted, or else understood all too well by those who hate the message. You never know who your readers might be.
Each time a story is told for children, a little nugget of intellectual innocence and truthfulness is added to the world. It swerves humankind towards a more enlightened prospect. Arefa Tehsin has stirred us in this direction quite a few times with her handful of children’s books – The Chirmi Chasers, Amra and the Witch, Globetrotters, Steel of the Jungle God.
Mention Stephen King and one of the first words that will come to most people’s minds is “horror.” And well, with good reason. Still, it seems to be quite a bit of a stretch to think of him writing a story for kids, right? Well, he did.
He was known as the master of wit. And was literally a quote generator. Hey, when asked if he had anything to declare by a customs official, the man famously said “Nothing but my genius.”
Gillian Flynn made “domestic noir” a thing with Gone Girl. And ever since the normal household has become the setting for many thrillers. There are no great detectives or scheming villains – just your seemingly normal everyday family members dealing with seemingly normal everyday family issues.
One of the biggest challenges one faces while reading a book is coming across words and terms one does not understand. Of course, one can always consult a dictionary for meaning or dig out a reference ebook like an encyclopaedia or a Who’s Who or an atlas to find out more about a particular subject.
Time to pick up a book to read – but which one? Here is a list for 2021 for you – cutting across genres and selected since the beginning of mass publishing.