Honolulu


Alan Brennert - 2009
    As for me, my parents named me Regret."Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride" who journeys to Hawai'i in 1914 in search of a better life.Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous in the islands history...With its passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawai'i far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.

Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet: Indian Traditions in Beauty and Health


Sharada Dwivedi - 2005
    We journey with her as she recounts a lifetime of comforting rituals, tantalizing textures, colors, and fragrances, exquisite jewels and adornments, and assorted beauty and health secrets passed through generations of women by word of mouth.In Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet, Sharada Dwivedi, a native of India, and Shalini Devi Holkar, an Indian princess by marriage, draw on the oral histories of privileged Indian women to capture and revive their many wonderful and wise beauty traditions. The result is a rich cultural tapestry, filled with ancient remedies, recipes, and tonics used to soften skin, silken hair, enrich the body, and lift the spirit like no store-bought products can. Additionally, the book offers a glossary of plants, flowers, spices, and grains and simple home remedies for women in all stages of life—from puberty to pregnancy to menopause—including:Almond-Saffron for cleansing and exfoliationPapaya-Mint-Tea for acne and pimplesCream & Honey for dry skin and wrinklesCress & Rosewater for post-natal strengthTulsi Kadha (Basil Tea) for coughs or morning sicknessReplete with gorgeous photos and illustrations from a bygone era, Almond Eyes, Lotus Feet is a treasure trove of time-honored health and beauty customs that will delight the senses of modern women everywhere.

Travelers


Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 1973
    With a mixture of impassioned dialogue and subtle narrative, Jhabvala examines the psychological and cultural forces that wend their paths into inextricable knots of love and conflict.

MIЯЯЯO : at THƎ WƎIЯⱭ WAYWAЯⱭ


Manoj Kumar Sharma - 2019
    But at the same time many perennial social problems also grew manifolds, remained inattentive and giving birth to exponential intensification to grievances. The volcanoes of grievances led to Genesis of MIЯЯЯO … MIЯЯЯO’s unpredictable fearless Modus-Operandi breaks all the Laws and leads to the out-of-the-box solutions as Weird Way Ward, to rejuvenate the Eco-Systems of today’s hypocritical SYSTEMS…it’s up to the discretion of the PEOPLE, to allow or not! The Story indicates India’s perennial problems through the eyes of the Protagonist, who always dreamt for the solutions as his own personal aspirations, but, couldn’t succeed meeting even single one, out of his own personal flaws. Time compels him taking help of someone, whom he never believed cordially. Out of gist of many, only 3 problems are selfishly picked-up by the Protagonist, which hurt him most personally. MIЯЯЯO weirdly solves those 3 problems with the essence of absolute cleansing as permanent solutions… Will INDIA wish to have such weird, but, permanent solutions to all other problems? Let TIME tell…

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town


Jon Krakauer - 2015
    Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team — the Grizzlies — with a rabid fan base. The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical. A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer’s devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault. Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to the assault — and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are often used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman’s entire personal life becomes fair game for defense attorneys. This brutal reality goes a long way towards explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime in America. In addition to physical trauma, its victims often suffer devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame, emotional paralysis and stigmatization. PTSD rates for rape victims are estimated to be 50%, higher than soldiers returning from war. In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in Missoula — the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them. Some of them went to the police. Some declined to go to the police, or to press charges, but sought redress from the university, which has its own, non-criminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal. Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his university hearing. She later left the prosecutor’s office and successfully defended the Grizzlies’ star quarterback in his rape trial. The horror of being raped, in each woman’s case, was magnified by the mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community. Krakauer’s dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape. College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is clearly broken.

Pokhran - A Novel


Uday Singh - 2020
    But what went unreported in the media was the nuclear fallout that had lasting impact on the inhabitants of Pokhran, especially Chaitanya.It quickly becomes clear that the conspiracy surrounding this radioactive fallout runs pretty deep in the establishment. Those who have had a hand in covering it up are willing to go to great lengths to ensure that the secrets stay buried.Chaitanya sets on a journey to expose the truth. With Zara by his side, he is sure to bring justice to his people. But when fate snatches Zara away from him, he is consumed by revenge. Undeterred by threats, he embarks on a mission that takes him from the deserts of Pokhran to those of Syria, and into the halls of MIT.A heady page turner, at its very core, Pokhran is an exceptional journey of revenge, courage, love and the unbeatable human spirit.

The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices


Xinran - 2002
    As an employee for the state radio system, she had long wanted to help improve the lives of Chinese women. But when she was given clearance to host a radio call-in show, she barely anticipated the enthusiasm it would quickly generate. Operating within the constraints imposed by government censors, “Words on the Night Breeze” sparked a tremendous outpouring, and the hours of tape on her answering machines were soon filled every night. Whether angry or muted, posing questions or simply relating experiences, these anonymous women bore witness to decades of civil strife, and of halting attempts at self-understanding in a painfully restrictive society. In this collection, by turns heartrending and inspiring, Xinran brings us the stories that affected her most, and offers a graphically detailed, altogether unprecedented work of oral history.

Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits


Rahul Pandita - 2013
    The heartbreaking story of Kashmir has so far been told through the prism of the brutality of the Indian state, and the pro-independence demands of separatists. But there is another part of the story that has remained unrecorded and buried. Our Moon Has Blood Clots is the unspoken chapter in the story of Kashmir, in which it was purged of the Kashmiri Pandit community in a violent ethnic cleansing backed by Islamist militants. Hundreds of people were tortured and killed, and about 3,50,000 Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes and spend the rest of their lives in exile in their own country. Rahul Pandita has written a deeply personal, powerful and unforgettable story of history, home and loss.

The Far Field


Madhuri Vijay - 2019
    Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. And when life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay masterfully examines Indian politics, class prejudice, and sexuality through the lens of an outsider, offering a profound meditation on grief, guilt, and the limits of compassion.

Diwali in Muzaffarnagar


Tanuj Solanki - 2018
    This is a place where teenage love and friendships are tested by the violence that threatens to erupt at the slightest provocation. A town that always pulls you back into its ways, no matter how cosmopolitan the city has made you.In 'Diwali in Muzaffarnagar' - Tanuj Solanki's new book of short stories after 'Neon Noon' - young men and women straddle the past and the present, the metropolis and the small town, and also the parallel needs of life: solitude and family.

Sultana's Dream: A Feminist Utopia and Selections from The Secluded Ones


Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain - 1905
    Sultana’s Dream, first published in 1905 in a Madras English newspaper, is a witty feminist utopia—a tale of reverse purdah that posits a world in which men are confined indoors and women have taken over the public sphere, ending a war nonviolently and restoring health and beauty to the world."The Secluded Ones" is a selection of short sketches, first published in Bengali newspapers, illuminating the cruel and comic realities of life in purdah.Suggested for course use in:HistoryIndian LiteratureSouth Asian StudiesUtopian FictionWomen’s StudiesRokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 - 1932) was a Bengali Muslim writer and feminist activist who founded the first Muslim girls’ school in Calcutta in 1911.

Tiger, Tiger


Margaux Fragoso - 2011
    She is seven; he is fifty-one. When Peter invites her and her mother to his house, the little girl finds a child's paradise of exotic pets and an elaborate backyard garden. Her mother, beset by mental illness and overwhelmed by caring for Margaux, is grateful for the attention Peter lavishes on her, and he creates an imaginative universe for her, much as Lewis Carroll did for his real-life Alice. In time, he insidiously takes on the role of Margaux's playmate, father, and lover. Charming and manipulative, Peter burrows into every aspect of Margaux's life and transforms her from a child fizzing with imagination and affection into a brainwashed young woman on the verge of suicide. But when she is twenty-two, it is Peter -- ill, and wracked with guilt -- who kills himself, at the age of sixty-six. Told with lyricism, depth, and mesmerizing clarity, Tiger, Tiger vividly illustrates the healing power of memory and disclosure. This extraordinary memoir is an unprecedented glimpse into the psyche of a young girl in free fall and conveys to readers -- including parents and survivors of abuse -- just how completely a pedophile enchants his victim and binds her to him.

The Vizag Sabotage: A spy thriller inspired by true events


Saurav Anand - 2019
    He was an employee of Hindustan Shipyard limited which is building India’s nuclear submarine fleet. This is the fourth submarine engineer in the last twelve months who perished under mysterious circumstances. Navy leadership gets suspicious about a covert sabotage operation being carried out by an unknown enemy, to slow down India's attempt at acquiring a potent nuclear deterrent platform. After deliberations at different levels, an Intelligence Bureau agent is sent to Vizag to work as an undercover operative. What secrets will she uncover? Will she become the next target of an enemy spy ring? Would the Indian Navy exact revenge from a belligerent enemy?

Gora


Rabindranath TagoreJanko Moder - 1910
    The story reflects the social, political and religious scene in Bengal at the turn of the century. The forces that were operating in Bengal at that time were one of the intense nationalism and revival of ancient spiritual values and also that of liberal western thought. What makes Gora a great prose epic is not only its social content but also its brilliant story of self-searching, of resolution, of conflicts and of self discovery.

The Silent Raga


Ameen Merchant - 2007
    Janaki is a musical prodigy, sublimely gifted on the veena, but will soon be eighteen and dreads her aunt's schemes for an arranged marriage. Eschewing tradition, she runs off with a Muslim Bollywood star. Years later, Mallika receives a letter from Janaki, who is returning to Madras.In confident prose that resembles the rhythms and progression of an Indian raga, Ameen Merchant captures in rich detail the world of these Brahmin women, a world restricted by caste and cultural rules but also teeming with colour, music and food. It is a story about the traditions that bind us and the sacrifices we must make along the road to our own individual destinies.