Read about the war that moms fight in raising their kids; know the secret dramas that unfold inside the courtroom in a crime thriller; and finally get an insight into a fictional start-up of superheroes with a mission of saving lives.The IANS bookshelf has these reads to offer for this weekend.
1. Book: It's a Mom Thing; Author: Sathya Ramaganapathy; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 159; Price: Rs 250
It's a war out there, and the kids are winning. They can download apps on your smartphone with deceptive ease, tell you who the Greek goddess of wisdom is and how to do a back-heel nutmeg (don't ask). How is one ever to catch up, let alone get the upper hand? "It's a Mom Thing" presents anecdotes from a mother and offers a light-hearted look at her parenting journey. The main protagonists are the mother, her two cheeky daughters, aged nine and eleven, and her long-suffering husband.Parenting is a veritable minefield in this household. Backchat, bad jokes and mischievous gleams in the eyes, pre-teen hormones and emotional meltdowns (of the parental variety) pop up frequently. Every day is fraught with danger. Revealing the affectionate, yet tumultuous relationship between the mother and her daughters who are growing up fast, the book falls in the parenting humour genre.
2. Book: The Mogul; Author: Vish Dhamija; Publisher: HarperCollins; Pages: 312; Price: Rs 299
Vish Dhamija is the bestselling author of six crime fiction books. He is frequently referred to as the "master of legal crime and courtroom drama" in India. The Mogul, a legal thriller, is his seventh novel.In the gripping novel, Prem Bedi is the 'Mogul' - the third richest man in the country. He commands both fear and respect, and at fifty-three, he still looks handsome and aristocratic. But Bedi's smoothly run empire comes to a screeching halt when he's accused of killing his ex-wife and her husband, and dragged into a court battle. The ever-present spotlight on him grows brighter and harsher, and the questions grow louder - 'Did he do it?' A story unfolding through several different perspectives, The Mogul is howdunnit set in the fractured world of power, money and crime.
3. Book: DareDreamers; Authors: Kartik Sharma & Ravi 'Nirmal' Sharma; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 288; Price: Rs 250
Focused on the life of six characters, each with a unique talent, it is one of the first novels in Indian fiction that meshes an exciting adventure story with the philosophy of how love, passion and belief can help overcome any challenges and obstacles in converting our dreams into a spectacular reality. The book was launched recently in the presence of Olympian Shagun Chowdhary, Chaayos' co-founder Raghav Verma and Born of Web's founder Karan Bharadwaj.The book lays forth that the corrupting influence of power, when left unchecked, can make even the best of us a monster. High on the arrogance that his job affords him, Rasiq, a young investment banker loses everything he holds dear before he can stop himself. Salvaging only his grit from the wreckage, he bounces back strong with an accident rescue start-up of real-life-superheroes-who-still-gotta-eat.Meet the Daredreamers: Nick: a crazy inventor, Halka: an inhumanly strong human, Arjun: an Olympic-class shooter, Natasha: a Bollywood stunt-double, and Dr. Vyom a medical Sherlock. Their combined strength being greater than the sum of the parts, the Daredreamers work hard to build a viable and innovative business model that gives them a taste of their true purpose of saving lives. Together they execute amazing rescue missions to earn fame and fortune.But as soon as they are ready to soar higher, they meet their nemesis in the very monster that Rasiq had barely avoided becoming himself