India, Dec. 19 -- It always blows my mind that people are reading less fiction than non-fiction. This year, my recommendation is this petite book that I really relished, Courtesan Don't Read Newspapers by Anil Yadav. Translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma, it comprises a novella and five short stories that each try to unveil social hypocrisy and the cracks within. The volume takes its title from that of the novella about police official Ramashankar Tripathi, who decides to push sex workers from the locality of Manduadih in an attempt to alter his public image as the suspected murderer of his wife. When a photojournalist Prakash and his partner Chhavi attempt to help the helpless sex workers, the reader sees how an unholy alliance is form...