Title: Tao Te Ching
Author: Lao Tzu
Genre: Non fiction
Summary:
The Tao Te Ching is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text’s authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated
Title: The Warrior
Author: Nicole Jordan
Genre: Historical Romance
Summary:
For five turbulent years Ariane has dutifully prepared herself for marriage to King Henry’s most trusted vassal, the legendary Norman knight Ranulf de Vernay. But cruel circumstance has branded Ariane’s father a traitor to the crown. And now Ranulf is returning to Claredon, not as a bridegroom . . . but as a conqueror.
Survivor of a hellish youth, Ranulf knows well the treacheries of noblewomen–and mistrusts the regal, defiant beauty to whom he was once betrothed. But while he shields his wounded heart with impenetrable armor, she sears his soul with sensuous fire. Ranulf may have vowed to claim her lands and her body as his prize, but ultimately it is the mighty warrior who must surrender to Ariane’s proud, determined passion–and her remarkable healing love.
Title: Poison Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy (YA)
Summary:
Choose: A quick death… or slow poison…
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.
And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.
As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…
Title: The Conquest of Bread
Author: Kropotkin
Genre: Non-fiction
Summary:
The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin’s most extensive study of human needs and his outline of the most rational and equitable means of satisfying them. A combination of detailed historical analysis and far-reaching Utopian vision, this is a step-by-step guide to social revolution: the concrete means of achieving it, and the world that humanity’s “constructive genius” is capable of creating. Includes a new introduction that historically situates and discusses the contemporary relevance of Kropotkin’s ideas.
Title: Scars
Author: G.A.Bassier
Genre: Romance
Summary:
They say love can heal all wounds…but some scars may run too deep.
Eight months ago, while in a werewolf rage, Lily escaped her cage and killed an innocent person. Every moment since then, Lily’s guilt has grown heavier and more suffocating. Just as it threatens to engulf her, she meets a kind stranger who is struggling through his own turmoil after losing his beloved wife.
Sitting in a coffee shop with Jack, Lily smiles for the first time in eight long, dark months. She and Jack love all the same things: Star Wars, banana bread, even cheesy eighties movies. In spite of her lingering guilt, Lily starts to fall for him. Jack makes it easy. He trusts her. He worries about her. He never compares her to his lost love. Jack makes Lily want to live again–and she does the same for him.
There’s just one problem:
The innocent person Lily killed was Jack’s wife.
Previously published in the shapeshifter romance anthology Transformed, this tightly told novelette (10,000 words, 40 pages) takes readers on an emotional journey through grief, friendship, heartbreak, and–above all–love.
Title: Why Stories Work
Author: Somdev Chatterjee
Genre: Non-fiction
Summary:
For millions of years our ancestors survived on the marginal niches of the environment while the bigger beasts reigned on Earth. They were a bunch of weak, defenseless, and unimportant creatures serving out their time before being swept into evolution’s dustbin. Then, sometime between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago, they embarked on a journey unprecedented in the history of life on the planet – one that took them from being footnotes in the book of Life to the dominant species of the planet. What secret superpower propelled this incredible charge? Tool use? Language? These were important, of course. But there was something else. We learned to tell stories. Drawing on insights from the evolutionary and social sciences, psychology, and the cognitive sciences, the author shows how the ability to tell stories has been at the foundation of our success as a species. They help us pass on crucial knowledge, imagine possible futures and co-operate flexibly in large groups. But the importance of stories in our lives goes deeper. It isn’t only that stories help us live. Recent discoveries in the cognitive sciences suggest that stories could be the most fundamental form in which we experience our lives : we live in stories every moment of our lives. That is why they have such power over us. If you have ever been captivated by a novel, film, or television show, and wondered why the storyteller is able to weave such magic (not merely how they do it); if you want to know why storytelling makes us human, and why to be human is necessarily to be a storyteller, then this book is for you.
Title: The Prince
Author: Machiavelli
Genre: Non fiction
Summary:
Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the nature of a people, one need be a Prince; to know the nature of a Prince, one need to be of the people. 2. If a Prince is not given to vices that make him hated, it is unsusal for his subjects to show their affection for him. 3. Opportunity made Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and others; their virtue domi-nated the opportunity, making their homelands noble and happy. Armed prophets win; the disarmed lose. 4. Without faith and religion, man achieves power but not glory. 5. Prominent citizens want to command and oppress; the populace only wants to be free of oppression. 6. A Prince needs a friendly populace; otherwise in diversity there is no hope. 7. A Prince, who rules as a man of valor, avoids disasters, 8. Nations based on mercenary forces will never be solid or secure. 9. Mercenaries are dangerous because of their cowardice 10. There are two ways to fight: one with laws, the other with force. The first is rightly man’s way; the second, the way of beasts.
Title: Let’s Talk Money
Author: Monika Halan
Genre: Non-fiction
Summary:
We work hard to earn our money. But regardless of how much we earn, the money worry never goes away. Bills, rent, EMIs, medical costs, vacations, kids’ education and, somewhere at the back of the head, the niggling thought about being under-prepared for our own retirement. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our money worked for us just as we work hard for it? What if we had a proven system to identify dud investment schemes? What if could just plug seamlessly into a simple, jargon-free plan to get more value out of our money, and have a super good life today? India’s most trusted name in personal finance, Monika Halan offers you a feet-on-the-ground system to build financial security. Not a get-rich-quick guide, this book helps you build a smart system to live your dream life, rather than stay worried about the ‘right’ investment or ‘perfect’ insurance. Unlike many personal finance books, Let’s Talk Money is written specifically for you, keeping the Indian context in mind.
Title: Letters from a Stoic
Author: Seneca
Genre: Non-fiction (Philosophy)
Summary:
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65) is one of the most famous Roman philosophers. Instrumental in guiding the Roman Empire under emperor Nero, Seneca influenced him from a young age with his Stoic principles. Later in life, he wrote Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, or Letters from a Stoic, detailing these principles in full.
Seneca’s letters read like a diary or a handbook of philosophical meditations. Often beginning with observations on daily life, the letters focus on many traditional themes of Stoic philosophy, such as the contempt of death, the value of friendship, and virtue as the supreme good.
Using Gummere’s translation from the early twentieth century, this selection of Seneca’s letters shows his belief in the austere, ethical ideals of Stoicism – teachings we can still learn from today.
Let’s talk diversity in books. When I first wrote this post in 2017, diversity was a talking point across book communities in twitter and blogs. Now, it is still an important thing to talk about.
Why do we need diverse books?
Simply put, our world is diverse and we need to see the reflection of our world in the media that we consume-whether it is TV shows or the books that we devour. It distorts our view when the picture a book paints leaves out communities.
We connect with the characters from the books we read, because we see pieces of ourselves in them. This is why diversity is important, because everyone should be able to feel that they are represented by their beloved characters.
How should we deal with diversity?
I’m Indian and while I did grow up on Indian television, the books I consumed did not have Indian characters for the most part. It is understandable that the Historical Romances I was living in as a teen did not have Indian characters. What is irking, however, is that some of these books do have Indian characters. They just happen to be stereotypical caricatures that exist to please a saheb or a sahiba. I’m not going to name throw, but still- is it too much to ask that characters from other cultures and races be given their due diligence while writing?
There are historical romances set in British Colonial India that come off to me as insensitive and tone deaf that I wonder that they were published. This period and setting is something I know to avoid because I have been burned so many times. This is apparently a shared opinion among many of my Indian friends, who all avoid historical romances set in India like the plague. Why? Why do these authors not realize that they offend a share of their readers? Do they simply not care?
That brings me to the point-how do we do diversity? I believe that diversity is representative of the real world. What you see in the real world, you should see it represented in the books. The problem is not that every book does not have diverse characters, it is that some books go to lengths to avoid having diverse characters.
For example, if a book is set in contemporary US/Canada, I expect to the country’s demographic represented there. In a book set in my country, India, I don’t except to see people of other races (In fact, it would be odd if they got shoehorned in). But Indians are diverse in culture and language and religion and the book should represent whatever place it is set in. But whatever you do, you need to be respectful of the people you are adding to your book. That is, please don’t write a character who is a caricature of the community.
But hey, diversity is larger than race and culture
Autism, physical disability, ugly people, pretty people, mental illness-these are all things that exist and it has been refreshing to see that they are being explored by authors now. I’m seeing lots of characters with disability in romance and fantasy and it looks like they’re here to stay.
As I update this post now in 2024,I can see that the scene has changed so much in less than a decade. We have more diversity than we did back then and it is so cool.
What do you think of diversity in books? Do you read books that lack diversity or is it a deal breaker for you?
Books and Readers 