Books to check out this week

Check out the books of the week

The Book of Gutsy Women

Hillary Rodham Clinton & Chelsea Clinton

Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp 464, Rs 799

With their new book—the first that Secretary Clinton and Chelsea have collaborated on together—the two lay out a vision for how stories of persistence can galvanise women and girls around the world. The women featured in the book range from Greta Thunberg to Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz.

The Trials of Apollo: The tyrant’s tomb

Rick Riordan

Penguin, 2019, pp 480, Rs 599

The former god Apollo is having a pretty rough time of it. Well, for one thing, he’s called Lester.Though he and his friends have emerged from the Burning Maze, they still have a triumvirate to defeat and prophecies to decipher, so that Lester can become Apollo once again.

Never Have I Ever

Joshilyn Jackson

Bloomsbury, 2019, pp 352, Rs 499

It starts as a game at a book group one night. Never Have I Ever... done something I shouldn’t. But Amy Whey has done something she shouldn’t. And Roux, the glamorous newcomer to Amy’s suburban neighbourhood, knows exactly what that is.

The Guardians

John Grisham

Hachette, 2019, pp 384, Rs 399

In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. There were no witnesses, no one with a motive. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s.

Notes of a dream

Krishna Trilok

Penguin, 2019, pp 360, Rs 599

Featuring intimate interviews with the soft-spoken virtuoso, as well as insights and anecdotes from key people in his life, this balanced, uplifting and affectionate book is the definitive biography of A R Rahman — the man behind the music and the music that made the man.

You Beneath Your Skin

Damyanti Biswas

Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp 320, Rs 350

It’s a smog-choked New Delhi winter. Indian American single mother Anjali Morgan juggles her job as a psychiatrist with caring for her autistic teenage son. She is in a long-standing affair with ambitious police commissioner Jatin Bhatt — an irresistible attraction that could destroy both their lives.

Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t

Tom Phillips

Hachette, 2019, pp 304, Rs 599

We live in a ‘post-truth’ age, we’re told. The US has a president who openly lies on a daily basis. The internet has turned our everyday lives into a misinformation battleground. People don’t trust experts any more. But was there ever really a golden age of truth-telling?

The Lacquered Curtain of Burma

Eugene Lawrence

Niyogi, 2019, pp 220, Rs 495

Thisa is an account of the shaping of the historical, social, religious, and political canvas of Burma by two powerful events: the British colonial conquest and the Japanese occupation of the country during World War II. It shows how these influenced the dynamics of the Burmese communities.