Books of this week

Check out the books of the week

Postscript

Cecelia Ahern

Harper Collins, 2019, pp 368, Rs 399

Inspired by hearing about her late husband Gerry’s letters, the ‘PS, I Love You Club’ wants Holly Kennedy to help them with their own parting messages for their loved ones to discover after they’re gone. But she doesn’t want to be dragged back to the grief.

Saying No to Jugaad

T N Hari, M S Subramanian

Bloomsbury, 2019, pp 194, Rs 599

Entertaining and anecdotal, the book is not a panegyric about the founders or the company but is the story of real people and a real company with real flaws. It captures the vision, culture and commitment to values which has made Bigbasket one of India’s most successful start-ups.

Ducks, Newburyport

Lucy Ellmann

Pan Macmillan, 2019, pp 1,020, Rs 1,120

Ducks, Newburyport lays out a whole world for you to tramp around in. A heart-rending indictment of America’s barbarity, and a lament for the way we are blundering into environmental disaster, this book is both heresy and a revolution in the novel.

The Ride of a Lifetime

Robert Iger

Penguin, 2019, pp 272, Rs 699

The CEO of Disney, one of Time’s most influential people of 2019, shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.

How to Become Rich

Devdutt Pattanaik

Rupa, 2019, pp 120, Rs 195

How to Become Rich is a simple retelling of the stories of Lakshmi found in the Vedas and Puranas. Devdutt Pattanaik deftly explains what Hinduism says about economics at a personal level as well as at the social level.

The Cockroach

Ian McEwan

Penguin, 2019, pp 112, Rs 699

That morning, Jim Sams, clever but by no means profound, woke from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic creature. Jim Sams has undergone a metamorphosis. In his previous life, he was ignored or loathed, but in his new incarnation he is the most powerful man in Britain – and it is his mission to carry out the will of the people.

My Little Epiphanies

Aisha Chaudhary

Bloomsbury, 2019, pp 116, Rs 350

Aisha Chaudhary was born with SCID and underwent a bone-marrow transplant when she was six months old. The last few months of her life felt like a roller-coaster ride, one that seemed to be mostly going down. Spending almost all her time lying in bed, Aisha wrote down her thoughts to get some relief, to get them out of her head.

Never Grow Up

Jackie Chan

Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp 352, Rs 399

In Never Grow Up, Jackie Chan, the global superstar, reflects on his early life, including his childhood years at the China Drama Academy, his big breaks and setbacks in Hong Kong and Hollywood, his numerous brushes with death, and his life as a husband and father.