This month’s reading list is proof that books remain the most efficient form of transport. One moment, you are in ancient Rome watching a republic edge towards dictatorship; the next, you are in present-day Mumbai, where property, marriage and social standing are all part of the same intricate negotiation. From there, it’s on to speculative futures powered by unsettling technology, New England family dramas tinged with folklore, and quietly devastating stories about memory and the lives we think we’ve left behind.‘It Will Come Back to You’ | Sigrid Nunez(Virago; ₹599)The American writer’s remarkable new collection brings together 13 stories written over more than three decades. Her characters are writers, mothers, daughters, siblings and solitary people, looking back at their lives and discovering that memory often preserves the oddest details while blurring the things that once seemed important. Nunez’s voice is conversational and funny, with an awareness of illness, ageing, regret and death, running just below the surface.
Author Sigrid Nunez
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
‘The Secret Eligibles of Mumbai’ | Anmol Malik(HarperCollins India; ₹399)In a buoyant, unabashedly filmi and gloriously maximalist Mumbai, the charming, rich and wily Dharam Ved is determined to woo Andie, the younger daughter of Prakash McMiller, who made his fortune making dustbins. But when Dharam finds himself repeatedly sparring with the furious yet funny older daughter, Iman, he is forced to reconsider his motives. Beneath the cheerful chaos of this rom-com lies a sharp understanding of how quickly money determines who is considered respectable or eligible.‘Agrippa’ | Robert Harris(Penguin; ₹999)This is the story of Marcus Agrippa, the Roman soldier, strategist and builder who helped make Augustus Caesar’s rule possible, while largely remaining in the shadows. Harris gives him the floor, imagining the ageing general looking back on the friendship that determined his life. Battles, betrayals, marriages and political bargains arrive with the clean propulsion of a thriller, while Agrippa’s plain, soldierly voice keeps the spectacle human.
