Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Non-fiction calls the shots on the weekend book cart. Pick up the gems as you read on.

1. “Daughters: A Story of Five Generations”; Written by Bharati Roy; Published by Penguin India; Priced at Rs.399

A chronicle of the lives of five generations of women in the author’s family, this fascinating story spans over a hundred years in its narrative sweep — from the late 19th century to the early years of the 21st.

It mirrors and critiques the progress of a nation, its society and its women, seamlessly blending biography with social history.

2. “Love on the Rocks”; Written by Ismita Tandon Dhanker; Published by Penguin-India; Priced at Rs.150

Newly-wed Sancha is excited about sailing with her husband, an officer in the merchant navy, on board the Sea Hyena. But Chief Officer Aaron Andrews is keeping a secret from his wife - a month before she arrived, the chief cook was found dead in the meat locker, his death ruled an accident.

When money is stolen from the captain’s safe, the inquisitive Sancha makes a game of finding the thief. What she finds, instead, is a murder. With the evidence implicating her husband, Sancha is at a crossroads - should she tell Raghav Shridhar, the investigating officer about the money or should she give her secretive husband the benefit of the doubt?

3. “Women Awakened: Stories of Contemporary Spirituality in India”; Written by Swati Chopra; Published By Harper-Collins India; Priced at Rs.399

The volume chronicles eight illuminated lives that can change life in the fast lane for contemporary Indian women burning with ego, anger, lust for ephemeral pleasures of the senses and inability to feel lasting love.

Through the lives of eight awakened women Anandmayi Ma, Nirmala Devi, Nani Ma, Sadhvi Bhagwati, Mata Amritanandamayi, Pravarika Vivekaprana, Jetsumna Tenzing Palmo and Ven Khandro Rinpoche, the book explores feminine spirituality in the contemporary context and what it means to be a spiritual seeker in today’s world.

4. The Intolerant Indian: Why We Must Discover a Liberal Space; Written by Gautam Adhikari; Published by Harper-Collins India; Priced at Rs.399

Far too many Indians today do not seem to appreciate the idea of pluralistic tolerance, which forms the structural framework of Indian democracy. They see pluralism as phony and tolerant secularism as irrelevant to an existence centred on narrow religious, regional or ethnic lines.

The treatise is a plea for the restoration of reason in public life; from the point of view of a liberal secular democrat, who happens to be an agnostic.

5. “Trees Incredible: Lives Sustaining Lives”; Written by Madan Mohan Pant; Published by Rupa & Co; Priced at Rs.296

All life is sustained by the ecosystem - trees, shrubs, herbs, micro flora and fauna. This eco-system is very fragile and takes millennia to evolve. A tree provides vital life-sustaining services such as oxygenating air while mopping greenhouse gases and leashing pollution.

The book is a comprehensive understanding of trees that discusses necessary linkages and interactions between natural elements and trees in a harmonious life sustaining environment.