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Books Worth Your Time – Fiction

December 29, 2019

Hello, I hope you are having a good holiday season with ample time to relax, read and rejuvenate. I am back with my second post on year-end book recommendation, after all, what’s a holiday without some good reading :-)? You may check the first part of this post which was on marketing books, here.

As I mentioned earlier, I still love reading good fiction. Many reasons for the same but I remember jotting down some of my thoughts on this here. So, this year was no different for me, read some very insightful nonfiction and some very interesting fiction too.  Out of all that I read, I think the three that I loved the most would be the following:

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Before we visit the Goodess – Book

November 21, 2016

There are books and then there books you wish would never end. 
Before We Visit The Goddess is one such book. The kind of book that makes you sad once it ends, you know that feeling of emptiness when a good book ends, yes exactly that one! You wish the story could continue forever, you’re so engrossed in the plot and so absorbed in the characters that you literally find them to be real and part of your daily life. Sabitri, Bela & Tara – how real were they! Hats off to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for giving us such gems one after another.
I have been a great admirer of her writing ever since I read Sister Of My Heart and Oleander Girl few years back. I have read almost all of her books now and each book of hers is a masterpiece in itself. Varied plots with intricate story lines, but what I like most about her books is the protagonists. They are someone with whom you can relate to, someone real. Before We Visit The Goddess is also yet another literary treasure by the author that tells us the story of a family over three generations. It’s a must read for those who love to read good story around human relationships and emotions.
Here’s my quick take on the book:
  • Poignant story line that touches your heart somewhere deep within.
  • Genuine plot that highlights the imperfect yet connected family ties. No unnecessary fictitious perfect-happy-family kind of drama at all.
  • Brilliant characterization, you can almost imagine a Sabitri or Tara living around you, inside you.
  • Powerful writing that actually presents the complexity of human emotions in a very beautiful way.
  • Captivating read, not even once I actually lost interest anywhere in the book. A story spread across three generations and two continents but towards the end, it was like all pieces of a scattered puzzle finally put together.

Overall a book that I strongly recommend, totally worth the time and money. And as always, I will be eagerly waiting for the next book by this author, she is just terrific and brilliant and…. well, for her I think I will actually run short of adjectives :).

This book is available at both amazon and flipkart and I didn’t buy a kindle version of this book. I actually bought a hard copy as books like these are meant to be a part of your home library collection :). 

Life of Angela: Book

October 20, 2016

Just finished reading this book with a smile on my face. If your roots are from any small Indian town or you have lived in one during your growing up years, then this book is surely going to bring a smile on your face.
It was quite a pleasant surprise when my childhood friend Rakhi Anand pinged me about her debut novel – Life of Angela and when she mentioned it being based on school life, I was all the more keen to pick it up. And I am glad I grabbed a copy of it as the book reminded me of my growing years in many ways :). Here’s my quick take on the book:
  • It’s simple & real, no wannabe portrayal of cool, hip student life.
  • Presents the inner turmoil of a fatherless middle class teenager girl beautifully, the pressure on her to do well in academics, get a well paying job so that she can support her family, her struggle and challenges due to her introvert personality – all of these have been presented quite genuinely.
  • Has an important message for students who try to give up life due to academic pressure. Life is much more than just scores in board exams and if you believe in yourself, there is always a beautiful destination waiting for you ahead.
  • Engaging plot presented in a very crisp and easy language.

Overall it’s a book that’s definitely worth a read. And for a change, it’s an Indian fiction that’s not on romance at IIT / IIM campus 🙂 or about a girl who is dying to get married just because she has entered in her 30s!

Do give it a try, it’s available on Amazon as well as on Flipkart.
Rakhi: Kudos to you for your effort. Wish you good luck for your future books. 

Where to find good book recommendations?

April 18, 2016
Just finished yet another book by an Indian author and I am wondering what it was actually! Calling it a book or story would be such a slur as it was nothing but nonsense after nonsense printed  in black & white. And I also wonder why do I even waste my time in completing such shit pieces of work, damn this very irritating habit of mine that doesn’t let me leave things half way. But what’s worse is to realize that this book came highly recommended in most of the reading sites and I wonder how? Well, book marketing has surely picked up in India, isn’t it? Incentivize few reviewers, spend some marketing money and voila you have words after words spread across media in favor of some crap piece of work. Being a marketer as well as blogger, I am also aware of the dynamics of how it works. There is no harm in marketing any good product, anything new needs a bit of push but unfortunately I think in case of something as precious as books, going this far is really irking me a lot now.
My words might be sounding rude but I am actually quite disappointed with my last 5 reads. If you all remember, I have been a big supporter of Indian fiction and have always proudly mentioned my preferences for Indian stories and authors but I think it’s time for me to change my preferences now. Whether you believe it or not, last few of my reads have all been centered around either of the two themes – a 30 something career oriented girl desperately trying to get hooked on to a man, takes all possible measures to woo any / all kind of men and finally settles down with the one who has money and all. In the last book that I read, the main character slept with 7 men in a period of 6 months, lost her job, but is perfectly fine to lose her job as long as she finds a good catch (read man). Now in which city / culture in India, unmarried women date & sleep with 7 men in 6 months? After few pages, I was feeling sick of reading that book and being a woman felt pathetic to realize that the book was written by a woman only! All of it look such desperate, forced projection of so called “modern”, “new-generation” Indian women. And the second theme, wait… do I need to tell you about the second theme? It’s the same – a boy at IIT meets a girl and it’s love at first sight, blah blah & some more blah. Uffff, I know I am picking up wrong books but then all these have been picked after recommendations on Twitter, Goodreads etc. I definitely was looking for some light reads or romantic fiction but in the name of comedy or romance, all I could get my hands on was racy sex, almost porn content and comedies which were disgusting to the core.
What happened to the good writers and stories? What happened to healthy comedies? And what happened to pleasant love stories? With a heavy heart I think I have decided to not read any Indian author book for next few months except the mythology ones. I agree, mythological stories these days are quite well written and engaging for sure. But for other genre, I am going to stick to non-Indian writers for now . I am also thinking of trying my luck with Hindi Classics. I have really not read much of Hindi literature and I think it’s time for me to delve into some old gems.
If I find something really good, I will get back to you with my review of the same. Until then, if you have any recommendation for good  fiction, do let me know of the same. By the way, which site do you refer to for book recommendations these days? Any pointers please? Any site which is not heavily influenced by paid media yet? Look forward to your suggestions please 🙂

India Unlimited: Book Review

April 7, 2014
I think I have read a short story collection after really long and that too thankfully turned out to be good, something that I enjoyed throughout. India Unlimited – as the book cover rightly says is a collection of short stories from a nation that’s caught between hype & hope. Authored by Kulpreet Yadav, this book has 31 short stories set against the backdrop of evolving India.
Enthralling, Engrossing & Enjoyable – my 3 word reaction for this book would be these! Even though I’m not very much of a short story person but still managed to finish the whole book over a weekend. Interest in one story led to another and so on. Things that I loved about this book:
  • Intense emotions presented in such a simple language.
  • Poignant plots, some of the stories never looked like initially could be concluded in a short story, but they did and that too beautifully.
  • Variety of themes, I mean this book actually presents gamut of varied emotions in 191 pages.

It’s difficult to decide whether I liked Billu’s story in A Familiar Stranger more or Ram’s emotion from The City of Mirrors but amongst all if I have to go for one, I think I would pick the first story of Not the only Peanut Seller Who Hasn’t Heard of Osama Bin Laden – it’s nice and simple and emotional or The Beautiful People which is again simple yet very hard-hitting. Did I not like anything about this book? Nothing very strongly but yes, definitely found 2-3 stories to be quite vague.

Overall, a book that I enjoyed and surely recommend as a quick read for your weekend. Even if you are not much into short stories but enjoy reading stories about human emotions, then you’re definitely going to enjoy it. Do give it a try.
You can read more about the author Kulpreet Yadav at his website and this book is available for INR 159.00 (as on today) at Amazon.
*This post is based on review copy sent by the author. Opinions expresses in this post about the book are solely mine.

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi

December 1, 2012

After reading “Chanakya’s Chant” by Ashiwn Sanghi earlier, I was quite looking forward to his new book “The Krishna Key”. To add to that, the video ad of the book made me all the more excited about it. So, was it a delight or a dud for me? Actually neither! At times, the book was too gripping whereas at others I lost interest due to too many details. When I say ‘too many’, it was actually ‘too many’. But I have to give credit to the author for the kind of research he has done to write this book. Absolutely brilliant! It’s simply amazing and praiseworthy to note that in this age of shortcuts or quick-lits, someone has actually put in this kind of effort to write a book like this. Kudos to Mr. Sanghi for the same!

Now coming down to the book, its yet another intriguing thriller fiction that interweaves mythology and reality. Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age, the Kaliyug. In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar. Only, he is a serial killer. In this heart-stopping tale, the arrival of a murderer who executes his gruesome and brilliantly thought-out schemes in the name of God is the first clue to a sinister conspiracy to expose an ancient secret, Krishna’s priceless legacy to mankind. ‘The Krishna Key’ tries to provide a logical alternative explanation of the Vedic Age that could be relished by conspiracy buffs and thriller addicts alike.
Well-researched, Fascinating but Overloaded! These are the three words that come to my mind if I have to describe this book crisply. The start of the book was quite good; first day when I had picked it up, it seemed to be one of those unputdownable ones. But as the story unfolds, it isn’t. If the blogosphere said that it’s like an Indian Da Vinci Code, it actually is! And I didn’t mind reading one, as personally speaking I have come across very few Indian fiction that has presented thriller in a captivating way. This book definitely manages to do that to an extent. Except that I feel that at places, over stretching could have been avoided to keep the interest intact. If you try to relate to fact with fiction, or go into the mode of relating current with history then trust me it will leave you super confused. So, just read it as it is. Language was good and flow smooth but the length of the book with 464 pages of storytelling was something that I think could have been definitely relooked at. 
Overall a good read but start reading it with moderate expectations. If you get into comparative mode with the author’s first two books, then you might have higher expectations leading to disappointment. If not for anything else, read it for the kind of information that this books provides on mythology and history.
So, have you read this book? What has been your view on it? Do share the same in the comments section.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

“366 words” series by FUNOKPLEASE

September 3, 2012
Few days back I had written about Toto Series by this new age Indian publisher FunOkPlease. I got to read yet another gem by them – “366 words in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi & Kolkata” and once again I am compelled to write my feedback about them. These guys definitely deserve a big shout out for their effort! Absolutely laudable and worth a mention! Undoubtedly their content is different and when I say different it’s actually different. Practical, innovative and engaging to the core! I can’t tell you how impressed I’m by this 366 words series.
 ‘366 words’ showcases the vibrant cities of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi & Kolkata to its readers in a very creative and interesting way. Each book revolves around one city and presents the history, culture, food, festivals and important landmarks through beautiful illustrations. This book is meant for kids of any age group. For younger kids (< 5 years), it can be used as picture talk book to learn one new word each day. For bit older kids (6-8 years), it can be used to help them learn and identify places and interesting facts about their city. For older kids (> 8 years), it can be used as an informative and comprehensive guide of their city and surroundings.

Loaded with information, presented in style, these books have enough activities to keep your little ones engaged – be it the ones like ‘find-the-objects-in-each-picture’ or ‘identify-the-images’ at the end of  books, each page has been designed keeping kids of different age groups in mind.
A sample page from “366 words in Bengaluru”
Though the book does not mention it but I must say that this book is not only meant for kids rather even grown ups can benefit from it easily. The first two pages on history and background of city are so informative. Things like “how did Bengaluru get its name” or “how payasa combines all flavors of life in one single recipe” from ‘366 words in Bengaluru’ are some of the knowledge nuggets which I definitely loved to read.

In nutshell, this series is a must if you’re looking to enrich your kid’s knowledge about your city. In fact as per me, it would be interesting if schools in their curriculums can include such books. I read all four in their series and I think I can safely say that I have not come across any similar Indian book that presents such important insights in such a fun way. Loved it and strongly recommend it to parents in my network. It’s one of those must-have books for your junior’s library.

Do check out more about their new collection here.

The Immortals of Meluha: Book Review

November 30, 2011

Don’t remember when was the last time I got so hooked on to any book that I took all-nighter efforts to finish a fiction series. Shiva Trilogy is indeed one of those which got glued me to it like crazy. And thank God, I did not read these two books separately. I had missed to read the first one when it was released. So, when there was buzz about ‘The Secrets of the Nagas’ getting released, that’s when I actually picked up ‘The Immortals of Meluha’. Otherwise had I read these two titles separately, can’t imagine the restlessness that I had to go through about ‘what happened to Sati’.
Set in 1900 BC, ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ is the first book of Shiva Trilogy series written by Amish Tripathi. What we modern Indians call the Indus Valley Civilization, the inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracized and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills! Amidst all this chaos, here appears a Tibetian immigrant who as per legends will be their savior, their God – the Neelkanth. But is this immigrant ‘SHIVA’ a normal human being prepared to handle the same? This book is the story of SHIVA, an ordinary man whose karma actually made him MAHADEV – God of Gods.
What I liked about the book:
  • The Presentation. It’s actually a mythological story but presented as fiction with its own share of thriller, romance and action. I mean the way author has presented this story is absolutely commendable!
  • The characterizations – from Shiva to Parvati to Brihaspati everybody has been sketched out in a unique way. Though we are aware of these characters but this book gives lots of interesting information about them that actually personifies them as real flesh and blood human beings.
  • The details, I absolutely loved the knowledge it provides on our old civilizations and ancient India. Not everything is fiction, lots actually hold true as per our history and mythology.
  • The theme, which makes you believe that one can become God only by actions and nothing else. The whole concept of “Har Har Mahadev” which reinforces that there is a God in everyone.
  • Last but the most important one – the plot! It’s racy, engaging, page-turner, fascinating and totally gripping till the end.
What I didn’t like about the book:
  • Actually nothing strongly negative about this book except the language that too only at some places. Maybe at places I found Shiva’s language to be too casual but then you know it might be because of the fact that somewhere in our brain Shiva is ingrained as God, so called Bhagwaan Shivji and that’s why his casual approach in some situations like his initial encounters with Sati might seem bit odd . It’s more to do with perception I think 🙂
Overall, a very interesting and must-must-must read book. It’s not in news unnecessarily; it deserves to be a bestseller. I will be back with my views on second book of this series in my next post. Till then, tell me did you read the book and did you like it?

Book Review: “Life is what you make it” by Preeti Shenoy

June 19, 2011
Life is what you make it – Well, to start with this is really one of those books which makes you restless if you don’t finish it in continuation! I started reading this book last weekend but then due to lots of other commitments both at office and home front, I could not get time to pick it back. And trust me, every night when I missed to read the book I kept on thinking about Ankita and what exactly would have happened to her perfect life which ended her being into a mental hospital? Initial few pages portrayed her life going on a smooth path – a nice student life in one of the most reputed colleges and a nice personal life with all the love from her boyfriend… Then how come she is meeting this psychiatrist described at the start of the story? Thank God, I finally got the chance to pick it up this Saturday and all the curiosity ensured that I didn’t keep the book down without finishing it completely.

As I do with my reviews, I don’t prefer to reveal much of the story or scenes from any book / movie in the interest who are yet to read / watch it. So, here goes just the brief summary of what this book is all about – It’s is the story of a young gal Ankita Sharma who is confident, smart, ambitious and is moving ahead in her life in the desired direction. The book starts with her first exposure to college life, her long distance love relationship, her changing personality in an all girls’ college, her encounter with new friends and relationship swings like most of the girls of her age. Life is going good till she realizes that God has made some other plans for her. Ankita’s life turns topsy-turvy when she is diagnosed with a mental illness. The second half of the book very sensitively deals with her anger, fear, pain and her struggle to overcome the odds of her life. What seems to be an easy, breezy read in the beginning actually turns out to be an intense and captivating story by the end.

Personally speaking, I really loved the book and it fared far better than I expected it to be. Reason for expecting it to be a general read was mainly the sentence on the cover of the book – “A story of love, hope and how determination can overcome destiny”. I assumed it to be like most of these urban English fiction these days i.e., simple love story with general highs and lows of life. But this book is much more than just another love story. More than anything else, I liked the narration of this story. Be it the joy or fun of Ankita or her strife to regain her life, almost every aspect has been presented in a simple yet gripping way. There were moments when I got so engrossed with Ankita’s pain that I actually ended up googling “bipolar disorder” in order to understand this disease better. From words to the plot, everything held my attention from start to end. As per author’s one the tweets, this book has been declared as national bestseller now. Well, it definitely deserves to be one! Overall, a very interesting read and a book which I surely recommend.

Book Details:
Title: Life is what you make it
Price: Rs. 100 (Available at discounted rates online – Flipkart, Infibeam)
Number of Pages: 209
Author: Preeti Shenoy
Like the book at: Facebook

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books! Thank you BlogAdda for sending me this book for review.

LOVE MARRIAGE : The Book

February 28, 2011
And finally I have finished reading “Love Marriage” by V.V. Ganeshananthan and this will be my first read for 2011 South Asian Reading Challenge for which I signed up last Dec. This book took me unexpectedly long to complete. Blame it on my ill health these days, other engagements as well as the fact that it is not as easy read as I had thought it to be. Maybe the perception of title which somehow made me think that it’s going to be a simple and quick read which it definitely is not. In fact the book needed a lot more concentration and undivided attention as it revolved around many characters and zoomed in different time spans. To simply put, if “Persepolis” was all about childhood of Satrapi in Iran during the turbulent years of Iranian Revolution, “Love Marriage” was all about growing years of Yalini in US during turbulent years in Sri Lanka.
Yalini is an American-born daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants Murali and Vani, she is always confused about her identity which splits between her modern lifestyle of America and her traditional Tamil ancestry from Sri Lanka. Yalini is born in July 1983, a very dark month for Sri Lankan Tamils as it was in this phase when many Tamils were killed in riots and those who survived, scattered across the globe to save their existence. Her parents had left Sri Lanka earlier considering the difficult and violent times ahead but Yalini’s maternal uncle Kumaran decided to join the group of rebels and became a Tamil Tiger. He had this motive to fight for the cause of Tamils in Sri Lanka, though at a later stage of life he had to leave due to his incurable Cancer. Yalini’s life takes a dramatic turn when she meets her uncle Kumaran who despite his grievances against Murali & Vani’s love marriage decides to spend last few days of his life with his loving sister Vani. Yalini goes through a difficult emotional struggle trying to understand her uncle’s perspective, her family background, her cousin Janani, her traditions and many other such interesting pieces which finally get woven into a very strong and poignant story.

As I always do with my reviews, I’m not revealing the complete plot of the book as it’s for the readers to read and savor those details. “Love Marriage” is touching, well written and insightful, though I must admit that it gets confusing also at certain places. With 293 pages divided between so many characters, their individual stories and the frequent oscillation between past & present leave you perplexed at times. There have been moments when I had to go back to the first page to understand the family hierarchy in order to relate to that character properly.

I think, it’s definitely a good read but do not confuse it for a romantic book due to its title, the book is more of realities of life, social and political issues facing Tamils in Sri Lanka than a typical fable of love and marriages.

About the Author: “Love Marriage” is a debut novel of V.V. Ganeshananthan. She is a fiction writer and journalist, is a graduate of Harvard College, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the M.A. program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she was a Bollinger Fellow specializing in arts and culture journalism. You can read more about the author here.

Other Details of the Book:
Pages: 320
Published in: April 2008
Price: Rs. 350, though I bought it for Rs. 291 from Flipkart.