With the quarantine period extended till May 3, it is completely natural if you might be feeling low while #selfisolating at home. We suggest finding happiness in the pages of a good book. For books have paved to be a place for great escape, adventures, excitement, and knowledge. Even if we are confined to our homes, we travel with the books we read as they fill our imagination with vigour and unbridled joy. Here’re some recommendations that’ll lift your spirits in no time! Kindle editions are available on Amazon.
1. The Windfall by Diksha Basu
Anil Kumar Jha has worked hard and is ready to live well. After thirty years in a modest flat, he and his family are moving to Gurgaon, one of Delhi’s richest areas. But his wife, Bindu, is heartbroken about leaving their neighbours, and doesn’t want to wear designer saris or understand interior decoration. Meanwhile, their son Rupak is failing business school in the US – and secretly dating an American girl.
Once installed in their mansion, the Jhas are soon drawn into a feverish game of one-upmanship with their new neighbours, the Chopras, as each couple seeks to outdo the other with increasingly lavish displays of wealth. As an imitation Sistene Chapel is pitted against a crystal-encrusted sofa, Bindu wonders where it will all end.
A sharply observed tale of social aspiration and anxiety, The Windfall is a thoroughly modern comedy of manners about family, friendship and what it means to belong in a rapidly changing India.
2. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
From the author of the global bestseller Eat Pray Love, comes a celebration of glamour, resilience, growing up, the joys of female friendship – and about the freedom that comes from finding a place you truly belong.
New York, 1940. Young, glamorous and inseparable, Vivian and Celia are chasing trouble from one end of the city to the other. But there is risk in all this play – that’s what makes it so fun, and so dangerous. Sometimes, the world may feel like it’s ending, but for Vivian and Celia, life is just beginning.
City of Girls is about daring to break conventions and follow your desires: a celebration of glamour, resilience, growing up, and the joys of female friendship – and about the freedom that comes from finding a place you truly belong.
3. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for ‘kidnapping’ the white child she’s actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with the best of intentions, resolves to make things right.
But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix’s desire to help. When a surprising connection emerges between the two women, it sends them on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know – about themselves, each other, and the messy dynamics of privilege.
4. Love in the Time of Affluenza by Shunali Khullar Shroff
‘I laughed non-stop, it made me want to book a flight to India’ – Kevin Kwan
Raising three beautiful children in her beautiful Bombay home with her aristocratic husband of 15 years – every bit the prince you read about in fairy tales – Natasha has it all. But when her closest friend drops the bombshell that she’s isn’t entirely fulfilled by her family and is having an affair, Natasha begins to ask some difficult questions about her own seemingly perfect life.
From the bestselling author Shunali Shroff comes a novel about being a wife, a mother and the woman you used to be before that.
5. Bhatinda to Bangkok by Vibha Batra
Is it going to be Mahi Way, or the Highway for Mahi?
Mahi’s back in the pavilion, but, ji, her dreams got mixed with mud. Hopes got crushum-crushed. Heart became pieces-pieces. As if life isn’t tatti enough, one after another new-new siyapas are starting.
Mahi’s hungry to grow Ludhiana to London, her party-planning company, to international height. Lavith, her international returned ex-love, is thirsty for her blood. Leave work-life balance, she’s toh losing mental balance.
Her BFF (Bechari Frustoo Friend) Dingy’s to-be-in-laws are refusing first night in Bangkok. Her other BFF, Dumpy’s refusing to go anywhere without his Combo Pack — his Sweet Knife GF Simran and her paindu brother Raj. Her brother Niku’s business problem is not saying bye-bye. And her stepmom Bhooto (short for Bhootni) is – hai-hai – don’t ask.
But the question bothering her the most is: Will her ex come back to her? Will it be Lav-ith or Leave-it for Mahi?
Let us know in the comments section on which books catch your eye and we will be back with another list of recommendations very soon. Stay safe and #ReadwithBloomsbury.