Literature

By IANS, New Delhi : The bookshelf this week is essentially Indian in flavour, showcasing the country's soul.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The book cache this week is a mix of tomes that is thought-provoking as well as fun. 1. Book: "Nehru's Kashmir"; Compiled by Sati Sahni (photographer);

By IANS, New Delhi : Indian journalist M.J. Akbar's "Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan" leads the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Fact, fiction, fun and adventure sprinkle excitement on the bookshelf this week.

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Warm up this week with a pile of exciting and diverse books ranging from history and identity to magic realism.

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By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "Beyond the Office Window"; Author: A.K. Pande; Publisher: Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd; Pages: 178; Price: Rs.400

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By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The book cart this week is a year-end holiday treat. 1. Books: "All About Rockets"; Written by S.K. Das, Published by Penguin-India; Priced at Rs.175

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By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,

(IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Beat the chill with a load of exciting books this weekend.

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By Ranjana Narayan, IANS, Book: The Red Devil - To Hell With Cancer - and Back; Author: Katherine Russell Rich; Category: Non fiction; Publisher: Tranquebar; Price: Rs: 275.

(IANS Books This Week) By IANS, New Delhi : The books we chose this weekend reflect the tide of the times... a carefree mix of substance and entertainment.

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(IANS Book Review) By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "Hinduism - An Alphabetical Guide"; Author: Roshen Dalal; Publisher: Penguin; Price: Rs.999; Pages: 483

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Relax with a cache of stimulating books this weekend.

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(IANS Books This Week) By IANS, New Delhi : Spend the weekend with a load of exciting and profound books.

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By TCN News,

By IANS, (IANS Book Review) Book: "Looking for America"; Author: Avirook Sen; Publisher: HarperCollins-India; Price: Rs.299 By Madhusree Chatterjee,

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By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Let your hair down this weekend with an exciting pile of books.

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By Bobby Kunhu and Sudeep KS, The magazine joins the Great Kerala Terrorist Hunt. This was sent as a rebuttal to Tehelka, but has not been published.

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By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : From the irrepressible Shobhaa De to a passionate defence of art by Milan Kundera, here's a stimulating pile of books to spend the weekend with.

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(IANS Book Review) By Sarwar Kashani, IANS,

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : The bookcase is exciting, funny and offbeat this weekend.

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By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Mythlogy to leadership, the weekend bookshelf offers variety and adventure.

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Sufism is much misunderstood by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. While Muslims think that Sufis are innovators in the religion and qabr-parast (grave worshipper) and therefore unacceptable, non-Muslims think that Sufism offers a peaceful alternative to violent face of Islam and therefore acceptable to them. The truth is somewhere between these two extremes and as Sadia Dehlvi aptly states in her book “Sufism: The Heart of Islam” it is “the spiritual undercurrent that flows through Islam.”

By IANS, New Delhi : "Absolute Khushwant" by Khushwant Singh and Humra Quraishi climbed three notches to become the number one book on the non-fiction list this week while "Secrets and Sins" by Jaishree Misra continued to dominate the fiction section. The top 10 in each category of the bestselling list are: Non-fiction 1. "Absolute Khushwant" Author: Khushwant Singh and Humra Quraishi Publisher: Penguin Books Price: Rs.250.00 2. "Super Power?" Author: Raghav Bahl Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.699.00 3. "The Secret: The Power"

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : From lifestyle to business, summit catastrophes to gay love, the book case this weekend is a study in contrasts. 1. Book: "Broom Groom"; Written by Kiran Bedi and Pavan Choudary; Published Wisdom Village (WVPD); Priced at Rs.195

By IANS, (IANS Books) New Delhi : Raghav Bahl's "Super Power?" topped the non-fiction section in the bestseller list this week while "Secrets and Sins" by Jaishree Misra climbed several notches to the number one spot in the fiction category. The top 10 in each section are: Non-fiction 1. "Super Power?" Author: Raghav Bahl Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.699.00 2. "Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857" Author: Mahmood Farooqui Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 3. "Fault Lines" Author: Raghuram G. Rajan

By TCN News Panaji, Goa: Prominent scholar and litterateur Mrs. Asma Saleem was awarded Sahitya Akademi’s award for her Urdu translated book Safar at a ceremony in Panaji on August 20. The Sahitya Akademi translation awards presentation ceremony was held at the Kala Academy’s Dinanath Mangeshkar hall. The welcome speech was delivered by the secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Agrahar Krishnamurti. The president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay presided over the function.

By Dr Omar Khalidi Dr. Anwar Moazzam, former professor of Islamic Studies at Osmania University in Hyderabad, Deccan, India and Ashhar Farhan, an info-technologist and entrepreneur has compiled a massive, epoch-making bibliography of works in social sciences in Urdu. Dr. Moazzam launched the project way back in 1976, under the auspices of Indian Council for Social Science Research and National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language, both institutions funded by the union government of India in New Delhi.

By IANS, (IANS Book Review) Book: "India and the UAE: In Celebration of a Legendary Friendship"; Author: Venu Rajamony; Publisher: Indian Expressions Management Consultancy Ties between India and the Arabian Gulf are now over 5,000 years old. The Gulf is today home to around five million expatriate Indians. Of them, around 1.5 million reside in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and their contribution to that country's development is well acknowledged.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Fault Lines" by Raghuram Rajan continued to top the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while Stieg Larsson's "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" bounced back to the number one fiction spot. The top 10 in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Fault Lines" Author: Raghuram Rajan Publisher: Harper Collins Price: Rs.499.00 2. "Witness to Life and Freedom" Author: Pramod Kapoor Publisher: Roli Books Price: Rs.595.00 3. "Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian" Author: Somnath Chatterjee

By IANS, New Delhi : At a time when there has been a dramatic surge of interest in India, here comes a coffee table book that captures the country in all its colourful glory, chronicling its culture, heritage, plurality, ethos and its multi-dimensional progress. Compiled by diplomat Amit Dasgupta, "India For a Billion Reasons" (Wisdom Tree), is driven by the growing interest in India globally, driven primarily by the prediction that by 2040 it would become the third largest economy after the US and China.

(IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : As the weather slides and more clouds threaten to burst, retreat with a book and a cup of coffee. The mixed bag this week... 1. "Superpower? The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise": Written by Raghav Bahl; Published by Penguin-Books India; Priced at Rs.699.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Fault Lines" by Raghuram Rajan tops the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while Sarita Mandanna's "Tiger Hills" dominates the fiction category. The top 10 in each section are: Non-Fiction 1. "Fault Lines" Author: Raghuram Rajan Publisher: Harper Collins Price: Rs.499.00 2. "Celebrating Delhi" Author: Mala Dayal Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.350.00 3. "Before Memory Fades" Author: Fali S. Nariman Publisher: Hay House Price: Rs.599.00

By Vishal Gulati, IANS, Shimla : Shimla was a nondescript hamlet with shepherd hutments that became a flourishing town with palatial bungalows and hotels. Capturing this journey is a coffee table book, with rare photographs of imperial buildings and stories of eminent personalities and events in the last 188 years. "In 1822, the first house was built in Shimla, then a village, and it took another almost 44 years when this number grew to 290," says the book, "Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai" - literally meaning 'every house tells a story'.

By IANS, [IANS book this week] New Delhi : Some home truths about towering edifices and small pleasures of stories smartly told. The cache this week is a mix of serious non-fiction and fiction: 1. Book: "Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand"; Written by Morgen Witzel; Published by Penguin Books India; Priced Rs.599

By IANS, New Delhi : Fali S. Nariman's "Before Memory Fades" continues to dominate the non-fiction section in the bestseller list this week while "The Immortals of Meluha" by Amish Tripathi also retains its number one position in the fiction category. The top 10 in each section are: Non-fiction 1. "Before Memory Fades" Author: Fali S. Nariman Publisher: Hay House Price: Rs.599.00 2. "Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian" Author: Somnath Chatterjee Publisher: Harper Collins Price: Rs.499.00 3. "The Honest Always Stand Alone"

By Mauli Buch, IANS, Book: "Go Fly High"; Author: Sandesh Mestry, Chandrashekhar Bhat and Om Dhumatkar; Publisher: MBMC Consulting Ltd; Price: Rs.499. A piece of light fiction, this book relates the experiences of perhaps every small entrepreneur -- fire-fighting, managing delayed orders, resource crunch and simply never having time for the family. It tells the journey of one such businessman who discovers the mantras of success by simply flying a kite.

By IANS, New Delhi : Dogs, widows, Kolkata, thrill and domestic drama - the weekend book cart is diverse, cute and emotional... Read on 1. "As Cute as a Pug": Written by Dhruv Lamba; Published by Netizens First; Priced at Rs.200.

By IANS, New Delhi : Fali S. Nariman's "Before Memory Fades" has bounced back to the number one spot among non-fiction books this week while "The Immortals of Meluha" by Amish Tripathi continues to dominate the fiction category in the bestseller list. The top 10 in each section are: Non-fiction 1. "Before Memory Fades" Author: Fali S. Nariman Publisher: Hay House Price: Rs.599.00 2. "The Honest Always Stand Alone" Author: C.G. Somiah Publisher: Niyogi Books Price: Rs.395.00 3. "Awakening Giants: Feet of Clay" Author: Pranab Bardhan

By Mahtab Alam, Name of the book: A Guide to Uplift Minorities Compiled by: Abdur Rasheed Agwan and Edited by M. Gauhar Iqbal Published by: Social Service Wing, Jamaat-e Islami, Hind D-317, Dawat Nagar, Abul Fazl Enc, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-25 Pages: 319, revised edition- June 2010 Price: 150/- rupees

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : What better time to leaf through love stories than the monsoon. Take a man, a woman, an edgy locale - sprinkle passion, mystery, a whiff of history - and you are set for some perfect reading in the rains. Romance is the flavour of the season as new books, fiction as well as non-fiction, reveal. "All women are in love with the idea of a manly man who has an abiding passion for a woman for a lifetime," says Toronto-based novelist Sarita Mandanna, whose new novel, "The Tiger Hills", was released in India last week.

By IANS, New Delhi : The reading cart flaunts a heady mix of history, romance, diaspora and hope this weekend. 1. "The Pleasure Seekers": Written by Tishani Doshi; Published by Penguin Books-India; Priced at Rs.499. It all started in August 1968 when Babo became the first member of the Patel family to leave "Madras" and fly to London to further his education. His father should have known there would be trouble. But off Babo went, and now here he is, in a flat off the Finchley Road, untraditionally making love to a cream-skinned girl from Wales, Sian Jones.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Awakening Giants: Feet of Clay" by Pranab Bardhan tops the non-fiction section while Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" is number one in the fiction category of bestsellers this week. Non-fiction 1. "Awakening Giants: Feet of Clay" Author: Pranab Bardhan Publisher: Oxford Price: Rs.495.00 2. "Before Memory Fades" Author: Fali S. Nariman Publisher: Hay House Price: Rs.599.00 3. "The Honest Always Stand Alone" Author: C.G. Somiah Publisher: Niyogi Books Price: Rs.395.00 4. "Leela: A Patchwork Life"

By IANS, New Delhi : "Before Memory Fades" by Fali S. Nariman again topped the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" was number one in the fiction category. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Before Memory Fades" Author: Fali S. Nariman Publisher: Hay House Price: Rs.599.00 2. "Leela: A Patchwork Life" Author: Leela Naidu & Jerry Pinto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price : Rs.450.00 3. "Birds & Butterflies of Delhi" Author: Mehran Zaidi

By IANS, New Delhi : The book case is crowded with contrasts this weekend with serious treatises vying for attention with works of fiction. 1. "The Little Book of Hindu Deities: From the Goddess of Wealth to the Sacred Cow": Written by Sanjay Patel; Published by Penguin Books-USA, Priced at Rs.299.

(IANS Books) By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : "I've always known I'd be stuck with a corpse some day - possibly in the first week of October." Lalli, India's new woman private eye - in the manner of the classic 20th century detectives - finds her corpse and begins decoding the cryptic clues to the murder. Detective writer Kalpana Swaminathan, a surgeon by profession, casts her net of intrigue right from the word go in her latest whodunit, "The Monochrome Madonna", the third in the series, published this month.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, In his new novel, "The Mythologist", San Francisco-based Indian origin author Vamsee Juluri has captured the inner chaos of a young migrant in the US who has grown up in the movie studios of Chennai with dreams of grandeur.

By IANS, New Delhi : Here are five new books to add to your reading list this week: 1. "Serious Men": Written by Manu Joseph; Published by HarperCollins-India; Priced at Rs.499. Ayyan Mani is just another man in Mumbai, stranded in the "rot" of a good marriage, an unremarkable life and a deadend job as personal assistant to an insufferable astronomer called Arvind Acharya at the Institute of Theory and Research. To breathe some life into the drudgery that has set in, Ayyan weaves an outrageous fiction around his 10-year-old son.

By Arun Anand, IANS, Book: "1984: Lessons From History", Author: Harminder Kaur; Publisher: Corporate Vision, Price: Rs.595; Pages: 245 India witnessed a spate of inter-linked tragic events in the year 1984 - Operation Bluestar and the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh body guards, followed by anti-Sikh riots in capital Delhi and several other parts of the country that shook the conscience and secular fabric of the country.

By IANS, New Delhi : Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" continues to retain the number one position in the fiction category while "Before Memory Fades" by Fali S. Nariman tops the non-fiction section in the bestseller list this week. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Fiction 1. "The Immortals Of Meluha" Author: Amish Tripathi Publisher: Tara Press Price: Rs.295.00 2. "And Thereby Hangs A Tale" Author: Jeffrey Archer Publisher: Pan Books Price: Rs.249.00 3. "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" Author: Stieg Larsson

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Here are five new books to add to your reading list this week: 1. "The Begum's Secret": Written by A.K. Srikumar; Published by Penguin Books-India; Priced at Rs.299. For Lucknow, the year 1784 might have passed as its predecessor - unsung and cheerless, - but for a significant piece of news. A messenger from Calcutta announced the arrival of the 'Laat Sahib', or the British viceroy of India. The people of the fetid capital of Awadh by the Gomti river were invigorated. It meant employment.

By IANS, New Delhi : Here are five new books to add to your reading list this week: 1. "Akbar: The Mighty Emperor": Written by Kavitha Mandana, published by Penguin-Puffin, priced at Rs.150. For Mughal emperor Humayun, the news of the birth of Akbar allowed him a moment of quiet joy in the wilderness of a camp he was confined to. He broke a musk pod and the fragrance wafted across the camp. The father hoped his son's fame would spread through like the scent of musk.

By IANS, New Delhi : Two months after it hit the bookstalls, Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto's "Songs of Blood and Sword" continues to be the number one bestselling book in the non-fiction section while "The Immortals of Meluha" by Amish Tripathi dominates the fiction list. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Non-Fiction 1. "Songs Of Blood And Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Price: Rs.699.00 2. "Gandhi - Naked Ambition" Author: Jad Adams Price: Rs.699.00 3. "The Difficulty Of Being Good" Author: Gurcharan Das Price: Rs.699.00

By Paloma Ganguly, IANS, Book: "We, The Children Of India"; Author: Leila Seth; Publisher: Puffin; Price INR.150 What's the most important book of India? It's the Constitution, silly, and its goals are contained in the first long sentence, the Preamble. Any child who has gone through super grandmom and former chief justice Leila Seth's latest offering can tell you that.

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "The South Asia Story"; Author: Harold A. Gould; Sage Publications, Price: Rs.295; Pages: 136 When the affable Chester Bowles was named ambassador to India in 1951, it was seen as the most significant step the US had taken to firm up ties between the world's most powerful and largest democracies. The joy was short-lived. Neither Harry S. Truman, who was president (1945-53) when India became independent, nor the US Congress were enamoured of Jawaharlal Nehru's Fabian socialism and non-alignment.

By TCN News, New Delhi: A book entitled, “Government of British India on Allama Mashraqi and Khaksar Tehreek (Movement): A Select Chronology” has been published and released in the USA. This work of 544 pages is a major contribution toward the historiography of the independence movement and the emergence of two sovereign states — Pakistan and India— in 1947.

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "Decoding Intolerance"; Author: Prateep K. Lahiri; Publisher: Roli Books; Pages: 276, Price: Rs.395

By IANS, New Delhi : Catch up on your reading with five interesting titles this weekend: 1. "Innovate: 90 Days to Transform Your Business": Written by Rekha Shetty; priced at Rs.299; published by Penguin Portfolio. A daily implementation schedule, "Innovate..." is a step-by-step self-help workplace manual. Here is a typical 90-day pep-up pill to enhance productivity, profitability and set the ball rolling for innovations in the boardroom as the writer guarantees.

By IANS, New Delhi : There are no changes at the top of the bookrack this week as Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto's "Songs of Blood and Sword" again holds sway over the non-fiction category, while British author Jeffrey Archer tops the fiction list with "And Thereby Hangs a Tale". The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "Mother Pious Lady" Author: Santosh Desai Publisher: Harper Collins Price: Rs.399.00 3. "Jangalnama"

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "Trickster City: Writings from the Belly of a Metropolis"; Publisher: Penguin-Viking; Price: Rs.499 Like its history, Delhi is a city of layers that tricks the eye into complaisance, tugs at the heart and also rejects at the same time. The bustling facade of the 21st century metropolis camouflages a dark underbelly.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2010 for the best first book in the Africa region, says she has fulfilled her dream of "writing the kind of humorous book that she had always wanted to as a child". "As a child, I read British comedies by P.G. Wodehouse and other humorous writers and always dreamt of writing funny novels I loved reading," said the Nigeria-based writer who has made waves with her novel, "I Do Not Come to You By Chance".

By Shubha Singh, IANS, Book: "Empire of the Moghul: Brothers at War"; Author: Alex Rutherford; Publisher: Headline Review; Price: Rs.495 Babur, Humayun and Akbar lived in tumultuous times - their lives were full of dramatic changes. And the story of their lives would seem fantastical if it were not based on actual events.

By IANS, New Delhi : Readers, here come five new books to keep you turning the pages: 1. "The Monochrome Madonna": Written by Kalpana Swaminathan; published by Penguin-Books India; priced at Rs.250 Kalpana Swaminathan's Lalli is the first credible Indian woman detective in the English language. The third book of the series, "The Monochrome Madonna", begins with the violent death of a man in a strange apartment, 4, Kalina Sputnik, inhabited by S. Shah and V. Dasgupta.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Songs of Blood and Sword" by Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto is still the number one non-fiction bestseller while Jeffrey Archer's "And Thereby Hangs a Tale" dominates the fiction list. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "The Big Short" Author: Michael Lewis Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.599.00 3. "Freefall" Author: Joseph Stiglitz Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, Name of the Book: A Necessary Engagement—Reinventing America’s Relations With the Muslim World Author: Emile A. Nakhleh Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford Year: 2009 Pages: 162 Price: ISBN: 978-0-691-13525-0 Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

By Aparajita Gupta, IANS, Kolkata : Not for nothing is he the evergreen bard of Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore's literary gems are a huge draw among youngsters and older generations even now, with cheaply priced editions and attractive covers spurring sales, say publishers. As the nation gears up to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the versatile Nobel laureate May 9, publishers say Tagore's poems, short stories and songs are still a rage.

Name of the Book: Oxford Handbook of Muslims in India: Empirical and Policy Perspectives Edited by: Rakesh Basant & Abusaleh Shariff Publisher: Oxford University Press, New Delhi Year: 2010 Pages: 308 Price: Rs. 850 ISBN: 0-19-806205-2 Reviewed by Yoginder Sikand

By IANS, New Delhi : From the world of vampires to poetry from Vivekananda, here are five new books to sit back and enjoy this week: 1. "Beyond Twilight: Explore the World of Vampires" - written by Manuela Dunn Mascetti; published by Shree Book Centre & Pentagon Press; price Rs.395: The latest non-fiction tome from the archives of Count Dracula's mysterious domain tries to probe the range of historical, social, literary and even cinematographic allusions that have brought to life the myths and shadowy figure of the Vampire which skulks in the shadows of sunset.

By IANS, New Delhi : In a super run for late Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's niece Fatima Bhutto, her "Songs of Blood and Sword" completes a month on top of the non-fiction list while Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" dominates fiction this week. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "The Big Short" Author: Michael Lewis Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.599.00 3. "Freefall" Author: Joseph Stiglitz

By K.G. Sreenivas, IANS, Book "Turtle Dove: Six Simple Tales"; Author: Divya Dubey; Gyaana Books, Pp 236; Price: Rs. 195 Swathes of the untold lie at the nub of "Turtle Dove: Six Simple Tales". Divya Dubey's book presents a stark yet compelling universe. The mélange of stories sit on the cusp of the familiar yet not so familiar.

By IANS, New Delhi : Here are five new books to sit back and enjoy this week: 1. "Traitor" - written by Shobasakti; published by Penguin-Viking: Set in the turbulent milieu of bullets and blood at the peak of the LTTE struggle in Sri Lanka, "Traitor" is a rhetoric of torture, pain and black humour that gives voice to the testimonies of millions of refugees of the torn land.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Songs of Blood and Sword" by Fatima Bhutto, niece of late Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is the top non-fiction bestseller for the third consecutive week while Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" dominates the fiction list. Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "The Big Short" Author: Michael Lewis Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.599.00 3. "Becoming Indian" Author: Pavan K. Varma Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "Jangalnama: Travels in a Maoist Guerrilla Zone"; Author: Satnam; Penguin Books, pp 206; Price: Rs.250 Why Bastar's tribals harbour Maoists? This is undoubtedly India's answer to "Red Star Over China", the epoch-making story of what the then obscure Mao was up to in China's rural areas at the head of a nascent Communist party that eventually took power in 1949. When American Edgar Snow came out with the classic of a book, the world sat up and took notice.

By IANS/EFE, Alcala de Henares (Spain) : Writers are "members of a mendicant order" and most writers' lives are filled with humiliations and failures, an award-winning Mexican author has said. Mexican poet Jose Emilio Pacheco, who received the Cervantes Prize from Spain's king Juan Carlos Friday, said writers are not given the recognition they deserve. "In all of Spanish literature, no life has been filled with more humiliations and failures than that of the author of 'Don Quixote'," Pacheco said.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "Unmasked Questions"; Author: Surender Bhutani; Publisher: Wydawca Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Warsaw-based Urdu poet Surender Bhutani's new anthology of English poetry addresses posers on religion, love, freedom, the changing world order, conflicts, metaphysics, literature and even economy - spanning the cycle of human sensibilities and the forces that govern life in this epochal era.

By Paloma Ganguly, IANS, Book: "Must for Mums Delhi"; Author Rina Mehta; Publisher: Oxford and IBH; Price: Rs.210 Summer is upon us and, in no time, so will the school holidays be. So, all Delhi moms - and exceptional dads - who are beginning to sweat at the thought of keeping the children busy, here's an idea: go buy this handbook. Having done the rounds of Mumbai and Bangalore, the latest in the "Must For Mums" series now comes packed with information on what the Indian capital and its satellite towns have to offer to their kids.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Songs of Blood and Sword" by Fatima Bhutto, niece of late Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, remains on top among non-fiction bestsellers this week while prize-winning author Rana Dasgupta's "Solo" dominates the fiction list. The top 10 in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "The Big Short" Author: Michael Lewis Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.599.00 3. "Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India"

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS, Book: "Captive Imagination"; Author: Varavara Rao; Publisher: Penguin/Viking: Pp 193; Price: Rs.350

By Mahtab Alam, TwoCircles.net, Name of the book: Khaki & Ethnic Violence in India Author: Omar Khalidi Publisher: Three Essays Collective B-957 Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana-122 017, India Phone: +91 98681 26587, +91 91863 44843 Year: 2010 (2nd and Revised edition) Pages: 196 Price: Rs. 300/-

By IANS, New Delhi : "Songs of Blood and Sword" by Fatima Bhutto, niece of late Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, dominates the non-fiction list while Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" tops the fiction category among bestsellers this week. The top 10 in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Songs of Blood and Sword" Author: Fatima Bhutto Publisher: Penguin Viking Price: Rs.699.00 2. "Becoming Indian" Author: Pavan K. Varma Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00 3. "The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma"

By M.R. Narayanswamy, IANS, Book: "Perfect Health In 20 Weeks"; Author: Amar Chandel; Publisher: Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi; Pages: 146; Price: Rs.195 Considering the proliferation of health guide books in the market, one may well ask what this slim volume has to offer. In what has been described as a step-by-step guide to 100 percent natural healing, the author comes up with a simple, easy-to-practise regimen that he promises will rejuvenate you in just 20 weeks.

By Azera Rahman, IANS, Book: "Laburnum - For My Head"; Author: Temsula Ao; Publisher: Penguin Books-India; Price: Rs.150 New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Gripping, not in the sense of a thriller novel, but one in which the reader feels compelled to go on as events unfold in each of the tales. Temsula Ao's collection of short stories, "Laburnum- For My Head" is a sensitively written book, which draws inspiration from the vibrant and troubled region of northeast India.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Epic tales of jungle safaris and human rights repression in Africa are making way for a new kind of contemporary literature in a changing continent where women are becoming an increasingly vocal force in influencing literary trends. Literary pundits are describing the current phase in contemporary African fiction as the "time of boom".

By Shubha Singh, IANS, Book: "Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages To Five Continents"; Author: Minal Hajratwala; Publisher: Tranquebar Press; Price: Rs.595 The Gujarati diaspora has always been much more energetic and entrepreneurial than any other migrant group from India. The 'push' and 'pull' factors of migration from India were similar - drought or bad times in the home village and the possibility of better opportunities abroad - but their entrepreneurial energies and chain migration helped the Gujarati migrant to establish himself in the new country.

By IANS, New Delhi : The morphing of the world into a sprawling global village and free passage of people across terrains are changing the tenor of contemporary literature. New groups of non-majority cultures are acquiring a voice to express their artistic visions in innovative literary formats while the contours of identities are sharpening to narrate stories about lost sub-cultures, the regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize said at a literary session on "Multi-Cultural Identities: Artistic Expression" in the capital Wednesday.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "The Suriani Kitchen: Recipes and Recollections from the Syrian Christians of Kerala"; Publisher: Westland Ltd; Author: Lathika George; Price: Rs.450 A traditional Syrian Christian Malayali kitchen captures the essence of a home and the spicy cuisine of the community, which had converted to Christianity when the first missionaries from the West arrived in southern India.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: Rukmini Devi - A Life; Author: Leela Samson; Publisher: Penguin-Viking; Price: Rs.500. In 1935 Rukmini Devi brought the ancient dance form Sadir, later known as Bharatanatyam, back to life on the Indian stage with a performance in Chennai. Sadir till then had been confined to the temple precincts and was the 'preserve' of devdasis. The renowned Bharatanatyam danseuse established her dance school, Kalakshetra, in Chennai the following year - an example of women's empowerment, lending them a voice at a time when culture was a male bastion.

By TCN News, Aligarh: On the 112th Death Anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, The Aligarh Movement magazine launched educational movement series today at Aligarh Muslim University. Principal of AMU Women’s polytechnic & Social Activist Prof. Shamim Ahmad inaugurated the series and released special edition of the magazine in the auditorium of Women’s Polytechnic Auditorium.

By IANS, New Delhi : Writers from South Asian countries have joined hands to discuss climate change issues and ways in which they can contribute in creating more awareness at the 33rd SAARC Festival of Literature that began here Friday. Hundreds of writers, students and academicians from diverse backgrounds are participating in the three-day festival at the India International Centre here. The event is being jointly organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Foundation of SAARC Writers' and Literature (FOSWAL).

By DPA, London: The first edition of a George Orwell book signed by the author has fetched 86,000 pounds ($128,000) at an auction. The 1930s edition of the semi-autobiographical novel "Down and Out in Paris and London" was impeccably preserved, and still had its dust cover, a spokesman for the Lewes auction house said Thursday. The book, which contains a dedication to Orwell's agent dated Christmas Eve 1932, was expected to bring in a maximum of 3,500 pounds. "I would be shocked if it isn't a record," the spokesman said.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Becoming Indian" by Pavan K. Varma continued to retain the number one position in the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk's "The Museum Of Innocence" again dominated the fiction group. The top 10 in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "Becoming Indian" Author: Pavan K. Varma Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00 2. "Victoria and Abdul" Author: Shrabani Basu Publisher: Rupa & Co Price: Rs.395.00

By IANS, New Delhi: South Asian literature is trying to position itself globally with a new award from India being announced Tuesday for the best fiction on the region. The first winner of the award known as the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which carries a purse of $50,000, will be announced in January 2011.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "It Rained All Night" by Buddhadeva Bose; Translator: Clinton B. Seely; Publisher: Penguin Books-India; Price: Rs 150 Buddhadeva Bose, one of the most versatile Bengali writers of the 20th century, was convicted on Dec 19, 1970, for alleged obscenity in his book by the additional chief presidency magistrate of Kolkata just four years before his death.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Europe, for the first-time traveller, can be a teaser: the distances are vast, the stops too tempting and the costs mind-blowing. So how does one save a few extra euros on a summer junket? Through a car pool, says travel writer and columnist Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu. "Try the Mitfahzentrale in Germany and then car pool your way across Europe as an alternative option. It saves cost," suggests Sidhu, whose travelogue "Adrift: A Junket Junkie in Europe" will hit the stands in April.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Filled with rich visual imagery in miniature art style, Bihar is a tale of rise, fall and redemption in architect-writer Gautam Bhatia\'s new graphic novel, \"Lie: A Traditional Tale of Modern India\". "If good politics is about governance, how can a minister inaugurate a speedbreaker when people do not have enough food? Or a conference on drought degenerate into a debate over wines among the delegates?" Bhatia told IANS in an informal chat, explaining the context of the book.

By IANS, New Delhi : "Becoming Indian" by Pavan K. Varma climbed six steps to become the number one non-fiction book on the bestseller list this week while Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk's "The Museum Of Innocence" bounced back after a month to dominate the fiction section. Non-fiction 1. "Becoming Indian" Author: Pavan K. Varma Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00 2. "Victoria and Abdul" Author: Shrabani Basu Publisher: Rupa & Co Price: Rs.395.00 3. "The Difficulty of Being Good: On The Subtle Art of Dharma" Author: Gurcharan Das

By Paloma Ganguly, IANS, Book: "Mr. Oliver's Diary"; Author: Ruskin Bond; Published by Puffin; Price: Rs.150 What, you wonder, can be new in the story of a not-yet-40, bald and a bit lonely teacher at prep school, replete with the antics of juvenile boys, a parrot that screeches "bottoms up", frolicking frogs and a violin-playing headmaster? But Ruskin Bond, who has more than 30 children's books to his credit, uses all the old tricks to make Christopher Oliver a funny and loveable little hero in the hills of Simla.

By IANS, New Delhi : "The Last Sunset" by erstwhile royal and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh dominates non-fiction this week while Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest" climbs four steps to take the number one fiction spot on the bestseller list. The top 10 in each category are: Non-fiction 1. "The Last Sunset" Author: Amarinder Singh Publisher: Roli Books Price: Rs.695.00 2. "Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy" Author: Joseph Stiglitz Publisher: Allen Lane Price: Rs.499.00

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "Himalayan Wonderland, Travels in Lahaul and Spiti"; Publisher: Penguin/Viking; Author: Manohar Singh Gill (union sports minister); Price: Rs.599 In the summer of 1962, a restless young Indian administrator, Manohar Singh Gill, made an arduous journey from the north Indian plains to the farthest reaches of Indian Himalayas - the Lahaul and Spiti Valley - and spent a year living and working with the people there.

By Joydeep Gupta, IANS, Book: "The Green Pen: Environmental Journalism in India and South Asia"; Editors: Keya Acharya and Frederick Noronha; Publisher: Sage; Price: Rs.395 Do journalists writing about the environment have special problems? Do they have special opportunities? Should they see themselves as a tribe apart? Where should they draw the line between journalism and activism?