Between the Pages

HYDERABAD :  The first month of 2021 is almost over, and the literature aficionados are already waiting to move into different days and weeks when literary stalwarts like Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kazuo Ishiguro and cine icons like Sharon Stone and Priyanka Chopra Jonas will be releasing their books. Here’s a brief list for you to savour, save and soak:

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
This Nobel Laureate’s latest book to be released in the month of March is about a friend who is not a human but a machine instead. Named Klara, this machine is kept in a shop has observational skills and observes the customers and their behaviour secretly wishing for someone to choose her. What this artificial being notes also pertains to what’s the meaning of love — an eternal question. Titled Klara and the Sun this book is what many book lovers are waiting for.

Jungle Nama - Amitav Ghosh
The fables of Sunderbans are quite popular especially the legend of Bon Bibi which translates as the lady of the forest also known as Bandevi and Ban Durga. His two books The Hungry Tide  and Gun Island feature this. And now the Jnanpith awardee author is penning the book Jungle-nama which will be published later this year by HarperCollins. It will be an illustrated edition and a graphic novel.

Whereabouts - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Pulitzer Prize in Fiction awardee author Jhumpa Lahiri’s her first Italian novel Dove mi trovo is to be published as a translation titled Whereabouts. The book is a story of belonging and estrangement, solitude and cityscapes. The book is to be released this year in spring.

Unfinished - Priyanka Chopra Jonas
The actor penned the memoir titled Unfinished during the time of quarantine. It will be out in the bookstores in the month of February. The book narrates parts of the dark phases in her life. One of the topics she has chosen to write in the book is on bullying that she went through as a teenager. In an interview, she said that she felt terrible promoting skin-whitening creams especially when she was called ‘dusky’ in the industry.

The Beauty of Living Twice - Sharon Stone 
The 62-year-old Hollywood actor’s memoir The Beauty of Living Twice will release in March 2021. It is a collection of the snippets from her life journey. She unveiled the book cover on Twitter and wrote: “Possibility made me write this book: the opportunity to grow & to share that growth. I have learned to forgive the unforgivable.” [sic]