A touch of the world on the weekend bookshelf

New Delhi - Browse through a gripping book cart this week with IANS... Unwind

Book: "Intermission", Written by Nirupama Subramanian, Published by Harper Collins-India, Price: Rs.250

He wondered why he, a 44-year-old successful entrepreneur, faithful husband and competent father of a 16-year-old boy, should wait every morning for a glimpse of a girl like a teenager in the first throes of an infatuation. Set in Gurgaon, one of the faces of modernity in India, "Intermission" takes us into the lives of Varun and Gayatri Sarin, not-so-happily married corporate couple with a typically NRI problem: resettling in chaotic India after several years spent in an ordered existence in the First World. Then Varun meets Sweety, young mother of twins who is living her dream of life in a nuclear family, and everything changes - for him, for Sweety and, insidiously, for everyone around them.

Book: "Albert of Adelaide", Written by Howard Anderson, Published by Hachette Book Group, Price: $24.99 (Rs.1,393)

The book follows the story of a duck-billed platypus who escapes from Australia's Adelaide Zoo and embarks on a journey through the outback in search of "Old Australia," a land of liberty, promise and peace. Encountering a motley assortment of characters - a pyromaniac wombat, a pair of invariably drunk (and vaguely gay) bandicoots, some dingoes, a group of kangaroos and a wrestling Tasmanian devil - this unlikely hero discovers a strength and skill for survival he could not have known he possessed. At once an old-fashioned-buddy-novel-shoot-em-up and a work of deliciously imagined fantasy, the book is a story of a world where something has gone horribly awry.

Book: "Romance of Angel Oracle Cards", Written by Doreen Virtue, Published by Hay House India, Price: Rs.932

The Romance Angels - a compilation of 44 illustrated cards - are a group of cherubic angels who are focussed upon all things love-related. Anyone can call upon these beings, and they're able to help unlimited numbers of people simultaneously. This beautifully illustrated card deck by Doreen Virtue will allow you to receive angelic guidance about your romantic status, as well as conduct accurate and trustworthy readings for your friends and clients. The cards with texts can offer you more clarity about soul-mate relationships, healing from the past, and attracting more love into your life.

Book: "Maharani", Written by Ruskin Bond, Published by Penguin India, Price: Rs.350

H.H. is a spoilt, selfish, beautiful widow of the Maharajah of Mastipur. She lives with her dogs and her caretaker, Hans, in an enormous old house in Mussoorie, taking lovers and discarding them, drinking too much, and fending off her reckless sons who are waiting hungrily for their inheritance. The seasons come and go, hotels burn down, cinemas shut shop, and people leave the hill station never to return.

But H.H. remains constant and indomitable. Observing her antics, often with disapproval, is her old friend Ruskin, who can never quite cut himself off from her. "Maharani" is a novella about love, friendship and death.

Book: "Skios", Written by Michael Frayn, Published by Faber & Faber, Price: 15.99 pounds (Rs.1,392)

Good God, thought Oliver, as he saw the smile. She thinks I'm him! And all at once he knew it was so. He was Dr. Norman Wilfred. On the sunlit Greek island of Skios, the Fred Toppler Foundation is preparing for the most important event in its calendar: its annual lecture. This year they have secured a major star: Dr. Norman Wilfred, the world-famous authority on the scientific organisation of science.

When he arrives he turns out to be surprisingly young and charming. At the other end of the island, a young woman waits for the notorious chancer she had agreed to go on holiday with but who failed to turn up. Trapped in the villa with her instead is a balding old gent called Dr. Norman Wilfred, who has lost his whereabouts, his luggage, and all normal sense of reality. And as the time draws nearer for one or other Dr. Wilfred - or possibly both - to give the eagerly-awaited lecture, so Skios - Greece - Europe career off their appointed track.