Tag: reading

  • Five books for your summer reading list

    Five books for your summer reading list

    ‘The Rape Trial’ begins with the revelation that, many years ago, Rahul Satyabhagi had indeed raped Avni Rambha…writes Siddhi Jain.

    Reading is one of the most joyous activities to the people especially during the pandemic era. From poetry on the vibrance of ‘letting go’, a reference guide on married lives, and a sprinkle of self-love and even mythological fiction, these five books by forthcoming authors are on our bookshelf this summer.

    ‘Ceasing to Disown’ by Sunny Ramesh Sadnani

    ‘Ceasing to Disown’ is the very persona of the similar antithesis that life is. It is a collection of poetries that serve as a reminder of what we have found solace in or maybe continue to hopelessly endure, not for a few moments or days, but for perhaps years and decades and what we choose to not let go regardless of the consequences. Maybe even feel vibrant about it! In this book, Sunny has attempted to relay his emotions with respect to family, parents, romantic alliances, failure, redemptions, loneliness, anger, sex, the natural environment, diversity. And then some more.

    ‘The Rape Trial’ by Bidisha Ghosal

    ‘The Rape Trial’ begins with the revelation that, many years ago, Rahul Satyabhagi had indeed raped Avni Rambha. Rahul has long since been acquitted and Avni had left the country for her peace of mind. Now, it looks like he’s about to get away with it again. Rhea, Amruta and Hitaishi are beyond furious. What unfolds is a thriller worth a read.

    ‘The Last War and Other Stories’ by Sambhit Daspatnaik

    ‘The Last War and Other Stories’ is a collection of science fiction stories written by Sambit Daspatnaik. In the main story “The Last War”, the author takes his readers back to a time of post Mahabharata War era, featuring the descendants of the Pandavas, a mammoth invasion by the Gandharvas and a desperate attempt by the protagonists Senapati Agrasen and princess Charulata to save the city of Moenjo and Hariapa. The rest of the short science fiction stories cover different genres of sci-fi from space travel, solar systems to alien planets.

    ‘Love Your Wife’ by Soumitra Singh Thakur

    An insightful reference manual to have a joyous married life. This companion of love and devotion will invoke deep thoughts in you. It will reveal the true husband inside you, a husband, who you don’t show to anyone, not even to your wife, maybe. This book will share such an insightful perspective of human relations between a husband and a wife that will give you an outcome of joyous married life in this materialistic world. If used effectively, this book will serve as a lifelong practical reference manual and a workbook for all the world’s erring husbands and all eligible bachelors to efficiently handle all the difficult phases of their married lives.


    ‘Self Love — The Power Within You’ by Aaira Kaurr


    This book makes you aware of a miracle ingredient necessary for your flowering and becoming the best version of yourself, self love. If you don’t love your own self first, you can’t love anyone else, be it a person , a profession or anything else. No matter, how much effort you put in or how good or brilliant you are, you will be disappointed in the end in all your ventures, in spite of your high achievements. Without self love, others will enjoy and exploit your talents, you won’t. This book not only explains the concept of self love, but gives you a systematic framework for imbibing it in your life. In fact you already have it in you, you just need to turn it on.

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  • Spend ‘second wave’ for reading

    Spend ‘second wave’ for reading

    The year 2020 brought about a paradigm shift in everyone’s lives — people began thinking, eating, living and reading differently…writes Siddhi Jain.

    Getting some free time will be a great relief for some people at least to enjoy themselves with favourite hobbies. Over the last year, the pandemic has led people to spend most of their time indoors as they maintain social distance. As India now reels under an alarming second wave, many parts of the country have tightened stay-at-home protocols — making consumers opt for activities that reduce their need to step out — a key pastime being ‘reading’.

    According to homegrown e-commerce platform Flipkart, the Books category has witnessed a growth of 1.5 times in the number of units sold in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period last year.

    “With people finding comfort in books, it’s curious to see how reading habits and genre preferences can change during unprecedented times. We pride ourselves in being close to consumers, while deeply understanding their needs and expectations across the country and work continuously towards providing them with the best selection, through our sellers.

    In the case of books, overall, two-third of the demand for books on the platform came from tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the past quarter, where we witnessed increasing searches from cities such as Jamshedpur, Azamgarh, Faizabad, Deoria, Guwahati, Gorakhpur and Bhubaneswar,” Nishant Gupta, Head — Beauty, General Merchandise, Home and Furniture, Flipkart told.

    With competitive exams around the corner coupled with time in hand, people are upskilling, leading to a growing demand for academic books, reference books, general knowledge books and English books such as Word Power Made Easy and Oxford Student Atlas. Owing to children spending their time at home, activity books, picture and colouring books have also seen a clear spike.

    The year 2020 brought about a paradigm shift in everyone’s lives — people began thinking, eating, living and reading differently.

    Books that deal with weight loss, diets and other ‘how to’ books saw great demand. Self-help and soul-searching books boomed more than usual, as people turned to books as a way of understanding their old and new lives, making books such as ‘Ikigai’, ‘Think Like a Monk’, ‘Death’, ‘Power of Subconscious Mind’, ‘Attitude is Everything’, ‘Life’s Amazing Secret feature in the Top 100 books sold on Flipkart. Additionally, books by celebrity writers such as Sonu Sood, Tahira Kashyap and Priyanka Chopra made it to the bestseller list on the platform, learnt.

    In order to encourage book readers further, Flipkart has also launched its digital property for its books category — Flipkart #NowReading on Instagram, which hosts digital launches of new books, discussions with bestselling authors, reviews and suggestions. It has hosted Amish Tripathi, Rujuta Diwekar, Sonu Sood, Durjoy Dutta, Tahira Kashyap and Chetan Bhagat, among others.

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