The most awaited time of the year, for lovebirds, is finally here – Valentine's Day! Flowers, teddy bears and candlelight dinners are always popular, but if your bae is a bookworm, then you are in luck.
Gomantak Times Digital lists a few books that have stories of love, adventure and of course, Goa, in their themes, which will surely make your love grow stronger through the art of reading.
BEN ANTAO: PENANCE
This novel is a love story of two couples – Donna and Karen in a radical relationship, and Alice and James who follow the conventional ideas of being in love.
Buy this book to read what happens when one of them is attracted to a married person. The book portrays the contemporary society we live in, and is an unusually memorable and thought-provoking novel, set in the backdrop of today's conflicting demands in mainstream society.
MRP: Rs 200
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available online and at all leading bookstores
The 27 stories in The Greatest Goan Stories Ever Told are proof that there is more to Goa than the hats and sunglasses, printed shirts and shorts, cameras, seafood and holidaymakers frolicking on its beaches.
MANOHAR SHETTY: THE GREATEST GOAN STORIES EVER TOLD
The 27 stories in this anthology are proof that there is more to Goa than the hats and sunglasses, printed shirts and shorts, cameras, seafood and holidaymakers frolicking on its beaches.
Read and enjoy stories from well-known Goan authors, such as Damodar Mauzo, Laxmirao Sardessai and even Manohar Shetty, which make the book an interesting read.
MRP: Rs 799
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available online and at all leading bookstores
ANTHOLOGY: WAYS OF BELONGING: NEW WRITING FROM GOA
This is an anthology by the Goa Writers Group released at the Goa Arts and Literature Festival in 2024. Authors include Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Ashlesha Athavale, Ben Antão, Frederick Noronha, Heta Pandit, Pantaleao Fernandes among others. The anthology unfolds a diverse array of essays, each a unique exploration of belonging inspired by Eunice de Souza’s poem of the same name.
MRP: 450
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available online and at all leading bookstores
JOSEPH FURTADO: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF JOSEPH FURTADO
The Collected Works of Joseph Furtado includes Golden Goa!, the historical novel set during the early years of the Portuguese rule in Goa, and a collection of poems from his many published works.
The book also contains a collection of Furtado’s poetry.
The novel attempts to represent a forbidden love story that unfurls between Babasinho and Tulsibai. The book also contains stories from the farmer’s wife or the Brahmin Girl, the Goan fiddler or a grandmother; the bulbul’s nest or the stray monsoon butterfly.
MRP: Rs 450
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available online and at all leading bookstores
SAVIA VEIGAS: SONG SUNG BLUE
The author captures the pathos of human detail and emotion with frank candour. Breaking free from her family's rigid values has its consequences for Divina.
Her love impacts her parents and sister, Maria do Ceu, and everything changes forever. The novel narrates Divina's tale in poignant detail, through a series of monologues in her story.
MRP: Rs 300
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available at all leading bookstores and online
The Collected Works of Joseph Furtado contains stories from the farmer’s wife or the Brahmin Girl, the Goan fiddler or a grandmother; the bulbul’s nest or the stray monsoon butterfly.
SILVIANO C BARBOSA: THE SIXTH NIGHT
Want to know how life was like in Goa back in the day? This novel portrays the difficulties of a Catholic girl, growing up in the traditional Goa of the 1950s, the last decade of the Portuguese rule.
Linda Cardoso loves the nuances of the simple village life which is steeped in customs, traditions, feasts and celebrations, that is, until, she becomes aware of the caste discrimination.
It is a story of love, hate, jealousy with insights into Goan life, traditions and customs.
MRP: Rs: 449
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available at all leading bookstores and online
ALEXANDRE MONIZ BARBOSA: COLONIAL SUNSET
Authored by senior journalist, Alexandre Moniz Barbosa, Colonial Sunset weaves two love stories, one between a Goan woman and a Portuguese soldier in 1961, and another five decades later, that connects with the past.
The novel intertwines politics with a deep-rooted love story.
MRP: Rs: 1,000
WHERE TO FIND IT: Available at all leading bookstores and online.
No matter what your boo's interests are, express those three magical words of love with interesting books from these bookstores and share the gift of reading with bae.