Bazaars, Conversations & Freedom
Rajni Bakshi
Penguin India, 2009
A lively, timely attempt at tracing the changing idea of the free market. A broad and liberal look at neo-liberalism through ages and cultures. Toothsome.

Deaf Heaven
Pinki Virani
Harper Collins, 2009
Path-breaking in format and medium, with a range of narrative voices bursting with vitality. Gorgeous and painful.

First Love
Brinda Charry
Harper Collins, 2009
Unusual, warm stories about first love from the author of The Hottest Day Of The Year, rooted in suburban South India.

Secrets and Lies
Jaishree Misra
Harper Collins, 2009
Four friends, a secret, and a death that returns to haunt their relationships. Wade right in over a weekend.

like a diamond in the sky
Shazia Omar
Zubaan Books and Penguin, 2009
An array of characters in contemporary Dhaka weave together to form a tapestry of modern urban life in Bangladesh. Fresh-voiced and passionate.

The Man Who Spoke In Pictures: Bimal Roy
Edited by Rinki Roy Bhattacharya
Penguin, 2009
A compendium of essays on the art of the immortal auteur, with a star-studded cast of contributors. A valuable addition to the canon of Indian film history.

Slumgirl Dreaming
Rubina Ali
Random House, 2009
Quickly-written and quickly-read, but genuinely engaging in the way junk food can be, if you can resolve your own moral questions about young Ali’s exploitation and exposure first.

COFFEE-TABLE KEEPSAKES

RK Laxman: The Uncommon Man
Dr Dharmendra Bhandari
Dharmendra Bhandari, 2009
A comprehensive selection of the art of India’s best-loved cartoonist, with a handily-sketched overview of his life and work. Serves as an introduction and retrospective: the political cartoons of Nehruvian India are especially trenchant and poignant now.

New Delhi: Making of a Capital
Malvika Singh, Rudrangshu Mukherjee and Pramod Kapoor
Roli Books, 2009
Beautifully produced account of the newest avatar of an ancient city. Insightful writing accompanied by illustration and photographs that speak for themselves, a fitting tribute to the mammoth task that created a capital out of a city.

IF YOU MISSED IT

Check out the winners of the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards for 2008:
Amitav Ghosh – Sea of Poppies
Neel Mukherjee – Past Continuous
Basharat Peer – Curfewed Nights
Manohar Shyam Joshi and Ira Pande (translator) – T’TA Professor
Pallavi Aiyar – Smoke and Mirrors

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