Potter(ing) through new wizarding tales
Gayatri Rajwade
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
by J. K. Rowling. 
Children’s High Level Group in association with Bloomsbury.
Pages 109. Rs 599.
OF all the wizard "books" mentioned in the Harry Potter series, none would have piqued the curiosity of readers as has the The Tales of Beedle the Bard. 

One for the road
Roopinder Singh
Traffic: Why we Drive the Way we do (And What it Says About us)
by Tom Vanderbilt.
 Allen Lane/Penguin.
Pages 402. Rs 395.
EVER since human beings found ways to propel themselves artificially, traffic has been mankind’s bugbear. Pompeii had one-way streets to regulate wagons better, one of Caesar’s titles was curatores viarum or "director of the great roads", and one of his important edicts was to ban the entry of carts and chariots in Rome, with certain exceptions, of course.

Enigmatic genius
Nonika Singh
Ten Years with Guru Dutt — Abrar Alvi’s Journey
by Sathya Saran.
 Penguin/Viking.
Pages 203. Rs 499.
THE golden years of cinema would never have been so deliriously magical, but for filmmakers like Guru Dutt who romanced the silver screen with an unrivalled ardour and a deft individualistic touch. Now, well-known journalist Sathya Saran portrays his undying romance with movies in Ten Years with Guru Dutt — Abrar Alvi’s Journey.

Sagas of Partition
Belu Jain Maheshwari
Humanity Amidst Insanity — Hope During and After the Indo-Pak Partition
by Tridivesh Singh Maini, Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik.
UBSPD, New Delhi.
Pages 186. Rs 295.
IN the Indian subcontinent, no historical event has left a greater impact then Partition. The vivisection of the country continues to find an echo in the collective minds of the people of this region even 60 years later.

On the trail of mysterious Blue Koran
Alev Adil
The Blue Manuscript
by Sabiha Al Khemir.
Verso Books.
Pages 288. $ 24.29.
THE Blue Koran is one of the most mysterious objects of medieval Islamic art. A whole animal skin was used for each bifolium, every page is dyed indigo, and the stylised, minimalist script shimmers in gold and gallnut ink.

Pint-sized romance guru
David Usborne 
IN the world of boy-meets-girl dating, you don’t have to be old — or even the right side of puberty — to be wise. This we know from the newfound fame of nine-year-old Alec Greven from Colorado, author of America’s latest self-help book that is now set to become a major Hollywood film, How to Talk to Girls.

Le Clézio inspired by Mahabharata 
Alfred De Tavares
FRENCH writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, who has won the 2008 Nobel prize for literature, says the Mahabharata has been a sustaining factor in his life, especially as a storyteller.

• Nobel Prize dedicated to Qurratulain

SHORT TAKES
The story of Punjabi chutzpah
Randeep Wadehra

• Have guts...!!! the Untiring Truth
  by Jaswin Jassi.
  Diamond Pocket Books.
  Pages 144. Price not mentioned.
  

• Eurocentrism
  by Samir Amin (Translation: Russell Moore).
  Aakar.
  Pages: xiii+152. Rs 195.
  

• Indian Government and Politics
  by Bidyut Chakrabarty & Rajendra Kumar Pandey.
  Sage.
  Pages: xxviii+359. Rs 295.