BOOKS WE RECOMMEND THIS WEEK

From a two part collection of Indian playright Manjula Padmanabhan’s plays, to a memoir of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our book picks this week, curated by Chirdeep Malhotra

PLAYS

“Blood and Laughter: Plays (Collected Plays, Volume 1)” by Manjula Padmanabhan

Collected Plays, in two volumes, brings together, in a much-anticipated series, the dramatic works of Onassis Prize-winning playwright and author Manjula Padmanabhan. With new introductions to the works that affirm the relevance of the themes of the plays, this collection showcases the playwright's mastery of her art and reconfirms her standing among the leading dramatists of our time.
Blood and Laughter, the first volume, presents Padmanabhan's full-length plays – including the three-times cinematized ‘Lights Out’, the previously unpublished ‘The Mating Game Show’ and ‘The Artist's Model’, and the award-winning ‘Harvest’, which won first prize at the Onassis Prize for Theatre in Greece. All these plays are known for their masterful portrayal of the dilemmas of morality, relationships and the idea of justice. Horror, anticipation and chilling realism mark each of these works, drawing readers and audiences alike to the edge of their seats.



“Laughter and Blood: Performance Pieces (Collected Plays, Volume 2)” by Manjula Padmanabhan

Laughter and Blood, the second volume, presents within its covers Padmanabhan's short performance pieces. In these plays, conjoined triplets go on a blind date, a manic-prudish teacher gives a lesson in human reproduction, there is a heart-stopping game of cards, and an instrument that tunes in to the music of our bodies' organs. From ‘The Sextet’ and ‘Ladies' Night’ to ‘Hidden Fires’ and ‘Blind Date’, these wildly inventive, subversive and often chilling plays introduce readers to the intrigues of inverted power structures, tantalizingly suggestive interactions and powerful voices from the fringe.



FICTION

“The Far Field” by Madhuri Vijay

This novel has won the JCB Prize for Literature 2019 and was shortlisted for The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019. The book follows Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, who in the wake of her mother's death, sets out for a remote village in Kashmir to track down Bashir Ahmed. She thinks that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of this charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home.
But as soon as Shalini arrives, she is confronted with the region's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. With rare acumen and evocative prose, the novel gives a potent critique of Indian politics and class prejudice through the lens of a guileless outsider, while also offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion.



MEMOIR

“My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams

Ruth Bader Ginsberg was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In this memoir by Justice Ginsburg, her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams introduce each chapter and provide biographical context and quotes gleaned from hundreds of interviews they have conducted. Justice Ginsburg was a prolific writer and public speaker, and in the book discusses gender equality, the workings of the Supreme Court, her Jewish heritage and the value of looking beyond US shores when interpreting the US constitution. This book, termed ‘witty, engaging, serious, and playful’ by The Washington Post, provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America’s most influential women.