What to Read in 2023

The New Year is finally here with its bonanza of literary surprises. Here is a selection of titles to watch out for, anticipate, covet and acquire over the next 365 days.

1. Victory City

The epic tale of a woman who whispers a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it. Written by Salman Rushdie (Penguin).

2. Roman Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri’s third collection of "intimate and poignant" short stories set in and around the city she calls home. They are centred on characters who are cast adrift in myriad ways. Tobe published by Picador.

3. My Life in Design

In her coffee table book, My Life in Design, Gauri Khan charts out her journey as a designer with exclusive pictures of her and her family-Shah Rukh, Aryan, Suhana and AbRam. Unseen images of her Mumbai residence, Mannat, and the design thought-processes that went into it as well as other key projects are part of the book as well. To be published by Penguin.

4. Tipu Sultan

Penguin will publish historian Vikram Sampath’s biography of the controversial ruler of Mysore whose rise is inextricably linked with the fall of the Wodeyars.

5. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Hidden Histories

Amitav Ghosh’s wide-ranging, compelling, and absolutely fascinating new book is about China, and India; tea, and opium; Europe, and Asia; capitalist enterprise, and indigenous understandings of the environment; personal history, and a writer’s experience. And everything that lies in between. An absolute feast for the curious-minded reader who might be

looking to find intelligent perspectives on the world that surrounds us, it is scheduled to be published by HarperCollins.

6. The Bandit Queens

Geeta's no-good husband disappeared five years ago. She didn't kill him, but everyone thinks she did--no matter how much she protests. But she soon discovers that being known as a "self-made" widow has some surprising perks. No one messes with her, no one threatens her, and no one tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It's even been good for her business; no one wants to risk getting on her bad side by not buying her jewelry. Freedom must look good on Geeta, because other women in the village have started asking for her help to get rid of their own no-good husbands...but not all of them are asking nicely. Written by Parini Shroff; to be published by HarperCollins in India.

7. Murder at the Imambara

In this prequel to the bestselling novel, Murder at the Mushaira, Raza Mir’s unorthodox detective poet Mirza Ghalib, journeys to Lucknow to solve a particularly difficult crime that has foxed the authorities. To be published by Aleph.

8. The Book of Dals

Pratibha Karan, in The Book of Dals (Penguin), takes you on an incredible journey. This book offers many varieties of beautiful, fragrant and beguiling dals that will have anyone savouring them in raptures. From the southern India, you will find Telangana Sambar, Khatti Dal and Dalcha with Vegetables and Meat. It also has recipes such as Kootu from Tamil Nadu and the famous Bisi Bele Huliyana from Karnataka. You will also find Lentils in Coconut Milk, Katachi Amti and Moong Sprouts from Maharashtra, and Dhansak, a Parsi dish, from Gujarat in western India. Dals from eastern India such as Chana Dal Bengali-style and Assamese Mati Maa are included. From the northern India, Delhi Rajma and Punjabi Dal Makhani find a place in the book.

9. Ananda: A Journey into India's Complex Relationship with Cannabis

Cannabis sativa is one of India’s most famous exports to the globe’s counterculture. There hasn’t been a comprehensive biography of this hallucinogen and this is what Ananda attempts to do by exploring the myriad cultural and legal connections around the drug in India, from its first cultivations, ancient Vedic beginnings, its politics, legal status, medicinal benefits, dangers, and the cultures around its recreational use. Written by Karan Madhok, to be published by Aleph.

10. Who Cares About Parliament?

Derek O’Brien dominated Indian television as the country’s favorite quizmaster. Now, this award-winning Parliamentarian plays a key role for the Opposition, raising difficult questions from the front row in the Rajya Sabha. In this interesting treatise, he writes, among other matters of concern, about how Parliament has been undermined in the last decade. It will be published by Rupa.

11. A Life in the Shadows

No Indian spymaster has, until now, written a memoir. A.S. Dulat is the first to do so, and in A Life in the Shadows he does it with considerable elan. The author of two bestselling books, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years (2014) and The Spy Chronicles: R&AW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace (2018), Dulat's views on India, Pakistan and Kashmir are well-known and sought after. Yet very little is known about his private life. Dig into this new book, published by Penguin.

12. Autobiography by Ghulam Nabi Azad

In this most-awaited autobiography of the year, the former Congress leader and CM of J&K, provides an authoritative account of contemporary Indian politics.

13. Shabana Azmi Memoirs

The veteran actress is penning her memoir, to be released by Penguin.

14. Rani Mukherjee Memoirs

Mukherjee's autobiography will be published in March by HarperCollins.

15. The Hindi Heartland

Award-winning author Ghazala Wahab takes a deep dive into the region known as the Hindi heartland — a contiguous area that today consists of nine states with Hindi as their official language. To be published by Aleph, this first-of-its-kind biography of the Hindi belt traces the region’s history, society, culture (including its famed Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb), religion, language (Hindi imposition and loss of other regional languages and dialects), politics and more.

16. Cursed Bunny

Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society. To be published by Hachette.

17. The Inheritors

Nisar Chowdhury returns to Dhaka, the city of his forefathers, from Chicago, feeling a sense of estrangement to both. The city that awaits him, however, is not the one that lives in his memory. Nisar must come to terms with his father's decision to sell their patrimony, remnants of their link to this country. But before that, he meets people who have morphed with the city, and who will teach Nisar the ways of Dhaka's new world. Here, deceit and guile go hand in hand with friendship and love. Written by Nadeem Zaman, to be published by Hachette

18. Song of the Golden Sparrow

In this brilliant satire on modern India, Nilanjan Choudhury mixes fact and fiction with the skill of a master storyteller. Song of the Golden Sparrow is the story of Manhoos and Mary, and mirrored in their tumultuous lives, is the history of free India from 1947 to 2022. From Speaking Tiger.