For those who enjoy a good story, there’s also a whole lot of fiction to pick and read from. Personally, we don’t mind re-reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but there’s also the brilliant Sally Rooney book Beautiful World, Where Are You (R550), which released this year. It’s the story of four young people, and how their love for each other, pulls them closer and yet apart. They worry just not for themselves, but the world they live in, and Rooney’s storytelling makes this immediately intimate. If that feels too “seriously happy”, maybe a Ruskin Bond novel and his tales from the hills will do the trick.

A dose of self-help

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.79%

AAP 42.62%

INC 24.59%

Submit

View All In Poll

We’ve taken a shine to all things bright and beautiful in these dreadful COVID times, and we must admit that a little sprinkle of self-help has only done a whole lot of good for us. Haemin Sunim’s Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection (Rs 499) offers vital lessons to help you realise that the only way to change what’s happening around you, is accepting your own flaws. There’s also Oprah Winfrey’s What I Know for Sure (Rs 775), that was published in 2014, where Winfrey shares stories of joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity and power.

Illustrated guides to love and life

One of the first books that we read in 2021 was Charlie Mackesy’s heart-warming bestseller, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Rs 999). A tale of four unlikely friends crossing paths with each other, this book is about love, friendship, hope and fighting your fears. We cannot thank Mackesy enough for writing and illustrating this one. It’s the book we keep going back to, each time we feel like we want to belong. For those nursing a broken heart, there’s Amalia Andrade’s You Always Change the Love of Your Life: [For Another Love or Another Life] (Rs 1,150), a beautiful illustrated interactive roadmap for getting over a broken heart. We suggest buying physical copies of these books instead of getting a Kindle version.
>>>
TO BUY: amazon.in or your nearest bookstore