Books

It is an extraordinary chronicle of the country and its people: it can take a wide-angle view of the Land of the Thunder Dragon as well as give intimate portraits of villagers.

In Amish Tripathi's new book, Ram returns to his janmabhoomi and Sita has a wacky alternative to reservations. What is this mythological world that has sold 2.5 million books?

Inder Kumar Gujral,  the then I&B minister, had been getting flak even before Emergency was declared, because Sanjay Gandhi felt that the government-controlled media, AIR and Doordarshan were not giving the desired spin to the news.

The book offers a rare insight into the making of a historic law on land acquisition, but the justifications of Jairam Ramesh and his officer on special duty are not fully convincing.

Satirist Shovon Chowdhury says books, writers aren't rated enough.

Chowdhury's first book, The Competent Authority (2013), was stunning dystopian fiction, expertly plonking us down in a future so ludicrous and yet so perfectly recognisable as a version of the present that one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The last book of the trilogy, the mammoth Flood of Fire, sails from Calcutta to Canton, into the gunshots and cannon fire of the First Opium War between Britain and China in 1840.

Here are the new releases

Christophe Jaffrelot has written one of the finest books on Pakistan, capturing the contradictions that make up the country and the resilience at its core.

It's Ruskin Bond's 81st birthday today. And as the celebrated author steps into his wise eighties, Mussoorie is out celebrating the day.

Anuja Chauhan is at the top of her game as she explores romance and real estate in Delhi

Anuja Chauhan on how she writes and what she reads

Another book from the odd subspecies called parliamentary poets.

Amrita Shah captures post-2002 Ahmedabad in a series of brilliant cameos.

What's happening to books, authors, publishers, bestsellers, worstsellers.

A new book claims that many ills of India's political system can be traced back to Indira Gandhi's last term in office.

Toni Morrison's powerful new novel reveals the indelible scars of childhood and the enduring prejudice against skin colour.

Ronnie Screwvala turns his entrepreneurial journey, from making toothbrushes to blockbusters, into a DIY manual.

Hank Paulson watches China's reforms unfold from the front-row seat he occupied as former US treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs CEO.

Sociologist Dipankar Gupta reveals why he became crime writer Doug Gunnery

Kiran Nagarkar's heavily censored play Bedtime Story is published after 30 years. He talks about writing, sloth and books

Tania James' novel reveals a landscape shared by man and elephant in bewitching prose.

Ashutosh's book has early warnings about the tensions wracking AAP even as it chronicles the magic of Election 2014.

Winning India was an extraordinary achievement. A new book reminds us how Narendra Modi did it.

Akhil Sharma, whose Family Life has made it to the Folio Prize shortlist, on writing