
HT Picks: The most interesting reads of the week
THE GREAT NICOBAR ISLAND BY REHAN RAZA

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a group of 572 islands, located in the Bay of Bengal, form a beautiful canvas of vivid colours. A paradisiacal landscape, the islands are blessed with unique tropical rainforests , varieties of forest animals, exotic sea beaches and exclusive tourist attractions.
The Great Nicobar Island helps us understand how Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in general, and Great Nicobar, in particular, can be a keystone of India’s strategic and development trajectory. It also describes the fascinating collection of the exotic flora and fauna of the island and discusses the identity and tradition of the Nicobarese and Shompen tribes. Author Rehan Raza accounts his journey to Indira Point, Navy Dera, Mount Thullier, Galathea, Makachua and Afra Bay and thus parts of the book read like a delightful travelogue. It gives a vivid description of the potential tourism sites of Great Nicobar Island along with illustrating all the popular tourist destinations of Andaman Islands. In a personal account, Raza captures the ordeals of the tsunami survivers and the efforts made by the administration in the aftermath.
In his professional capacity as the SDM and Assistant Commissioner, Campbell Bay, Raza outlines the challenges to and discusses the prospects of unlocking the potential of growth and development in the Great Nicobar Island and transforming it into a strategic asset. A treasure of information, this book will be of immense value to scholars, strategic experts, bureaucrats and tourists visiting the islands. *
JAPAN MADE EASY BY SANDEEP GOYAL

For the average Indian, Japan is the land of the bullet train, zippy cars, and geishas – as also hard to understand. However, what appears to be opaque and insular to the world outside turns out toe be a society that is friendly, intimate, and loosely knit when you get to know it better.
In Japan Made Easy, Sandeep Goyal, an old hand at explaining the country, takes us on a joyous roller-coaster ride through Japanese aesthetics, business, culture, food, philosophy, spirituality and much else to make this land of mystery and mystique familiar to us.
With India’s rising number of tourists to Japan and Olympics 2020 on the horizon, this book is the best guide to a complex, nuanced and an utterly loveable country.*
THE BAWAJI; CHRONICLES OF A VANISHING COMMUNITY BY BERJIS DESAI

Fifty Parsi portraits include:
The city father assassinated in broad daylight
The aristocratic sisters owing allegiance to the British monarchy, fifty years after independence
The principal who bent all this principles for a masseuse
The accountant who organized tax raids on his own clients
The thumri humming high priest of Navsari
The conman who met Marilyn Monroe through time travel
The renowned forensic expert who hypnotized roosters
The stud who fathered half a village in Pune
The serpent avatars with their Bollywood glitz
The serial philanderer who seduced countless domestics behind a water tank*
*All copy from book flap.

Durjoy Datta: Criticism used to bother me but now I don’t have energy for anger

Women's Day: Reese Witherspoon shares this ‘illuminating’ book as her March pick
- Ahead of Women’s Day 2021, Hollywood actor Reese Witherspoon shares an ‘exceptionally powerful and illuminating’ book as her March pick after launching a free app for her book club which celebrates ‘diverse voices that put women at the center of their stories’

Women's History Month: Priyanka Chopra shares favourite books by female authors
- Priyanka Chopra recently took to her Instagram stories and shared a few of her favourite books written by female authors in celebration of Women's History Month. Check out the list here:

Essay: A tribute to Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri

HT Picks: New Reads

Interview: Olivia Sudjic, author, Asylum Road

Review: Covid-19: Separating Fact from Fiction by Anirban Mahapatra

Book on Smriti Irani's victory in Amethi to release in English

Cecelia Ahern's book 'Roar' to be aired as female-driven dark-comic Apple series
- Irish author Cecelia Ahern's book 'Roar', which was a female-driven anthology of 30 short stories, to be screened on Apple TV+ as an 8-episode series starring Emmy and Golden Globe award winners Nicole Kidman, Alison Brie, Cynthia Erivo and Merritt Wever

Billie Jean King memoir 'All In' to be published in August

Worried about climate change? There's a book for that.

Ira Mukhoty: I want to talk about strong women of Nawabi era

Essay: The importance of Lawrence Ferlinghetti

New book uncovers Indian mystery probed by Sherlock Holmes author
