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Bookmarked: What You Should Read this September

Bookmarked: What You Should Read this September
on Sep 18, 2019

In order to help you stay abreast with new novels that come out every month but tend to get lost in the crowd, here's a list that will help you decide what to read and what not to by telling you what all to look forward to every month.

Few things in life can be as comforting, if not more, than books. They can transport you, take you to places you have never been without moving an inch, and on some nights even lull you to sleep with a promise of better dreams. Several writers are churning out stories every day, each striving to look at the world differently, trying to find newer ways to surprise and engage readers. In order to help you stay abreast with the new novels that come out every month but tend to get lost in the crowd, here’s a list that will help you decide what to read and what not to by telling you what to look forward to every month.

For the month of September, here are the books to keep a lookout for:

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

A sequel to her 1985 novel, the disturbingly glorious The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments takes place 15 years after Margaret Atwood had drawn curtains on her dystopic fiction. It would be no overstatement to say that Atwood’s latest is one of the most anticipated books of this year. No book has captured public imagination like this or has been this fiercely guarded, in recent years. Except for the Booker judges (the Canadian author has been shortlisted this year), and few of her associates, no one has laid their hands on it.

In a report in The Guardian, literary critic Johanna Thomas-Corr writes, “[t]he hoopla around the launch of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments is more reminiscent of the unveiling of an iPhone or something Pokémon-related than that of a mere book.” On September 9, the author will read out some passages from it in the evening for a select gathering of 400-odd people. They will then read it for themselves. It is published by McClelland & Stewart.

The Institute by Stephen King

There are very few who can make the grotesque look as enchanting and compelling as Stephen King. The Shiningauthor is back with his latest, and he is still fighting the old fight between good and the evil. Except, morals in his universe have ceased to be functional. It is published by Simon and Schuster.

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw and David and Goliath,Gladwell’s latestTalking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Knowis self-help as well as philosophical. He probes deep into our psyche, trying to reason why we do the things we do and explains why those sudden encounters with strangers tend to get awkward. It is published by Penguin books UK.

No Regrets: The Guilt-Free Woman’s Guide to a Good Life by Kaveree Bamzai

For women, guilt is a constant companion in their journey of life. Being often told what to do, any deviance leads to an accumulation of guilt. Thwarting this, journalist Kaveree Bamzai, with advice by Naina Lal Kidwai, Arianna Huffington, Sudha Murty, Smriti Irani, Twinkle Khanna and Sania Mirza, in her novelNo Regrets: The Guilt-Free Woman’s Guideto a Good Lifeoutlines what women must not do. And, as the title insists, not feel guilty while not doing it. It is published by HarperCollins India.

So Now You Know: A Memoir of Growing Up Gay in India by Vivek Tejuja

Adolescence can be difficult. And growing up knowing you are gay during the 90s in India can be perplexing and harrowing with hardly any reference point. Vivek Tejuja tries to narrate and deconstruct the experience in his book, as he looks back at his formative years which was spent negotiating with the various stereotypes Bollywood perpetuated about homosexual characters. It is published by HarperCollins India.