BookReview/The Midnight Library By Matt Haig/Thegirlwithkindle

If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most gossip is envy in disguise. Keep your head down. Keep your stamina. Keep swimming”

What is the one thing you actually liked about 2020, though this year has been the worst throughout the world.   (there must be something good about the year)

 

I just read The Midnight Library by MattHaig , and frankly I cannot stop thinking about it. There was this build up regrets in me for many year ( teenage time) and this book just  hit that part badly ( which is good) and I am grateful I am letting it go this year.

You don't have to understand life, you just have to live it.

 

The Midnight library is one  such book which I think everyone can connect too.  People who have regrets /unfulfilled wishes about their life (anything possible) this book is for them. 

The story follow as  - 35 year old Nora  Seed lives in Bedford . Nora has lots of regrets in her life. She feels that she has  not lived the life which she wanted to and couldn’t execute the plans she had about life properly, and if she did those as per her plan things would have been better in her life. ( regrets) .

She faces lots of disappointment, series of unfortunate events which includes pet cat dying and loosing job on the same day  and many more in every single stage of her life.

Nora comes to the point where she is tired of things happening to her which includes Cat dying,  wedding being call off, losing jobs,  not being able to do things which she always wanted to and hence forth So she tries to kills herself.

But she lands up in the library.  A Midnight Library, library between  life and death. Every one gets to go through this library when they commit suicide .Here the books are the pages of your life. She meets her librarian Mrs Elm  who tells her she could choose the life she wanted to live  from the book of regrets , if she is happy  with her choice  she will remain in that life or else she will be back to the library to chose another life she wanted to live.  If she cannot find anything good she will be moving towards death corridor.

She lives every single life to choose the best option possible and discover the core truth about every life . Will she find happiness and stay alive or will she die?

 

I love Nora Seed- !!!! I could see myself in her at times. She desperately struggles to fit into something but ends up in rejection.  You want to do something in life so badly but it seems the world has conspire not to let you do what you want to.

Sprinkled with awesome philosophical quotes,this book just won my hurt. An whenever I will be upset I am surely going to read the highlighted quotes in the book.

This book deals with every relation possible. Relation with friends, parents, boyfriend , husband,  pets building up career  and many more. I am sure everyone who will read this will find a page of their life in the midnight library

A very magical, uplifting book which everyone needs to read before this year end.

You see, doing one thing differently is very often the same as doing everything differently.”

Book Review: InnerEngineering and Think Like a monk

 

Just completed Inner Engineering and Think like a monk by Jay Shetty, Both the book are beautifully, explained  but I  would prefer reading Inner engineering  to enhance my lifestyle. Both the book at first talks about the author’s spiritual journey which was quiet interesting and  aimed for enhancing lifestyle by cutting out negativity in life

What I felt Sadhguru has a beautiful way of explaining the things with little stories  which are always funny and obviously with  logic and science behind it.  What is true is explained here, and I could completely connect with what he said. Finding Joy in life doesn’t need one to follow spiritual path. But at times his thoughts contradict with what we have read in BhagavatGeeta.   So you may get confuse which one to follow. 

For example

“One of the biggest problems in the world today is loneliness. It is quite incredible. The planet is teeming with seven billion people, but people are lonely! If someone enjoys being alone, there is no problem at all. But most people are suffering because of it! They are going through serious psychological problems as a consequence. If you are lonely, it is because you have chosen to become an island unto yourself. It doesn’t have to be this way. “I am not responsible” makes you unwilling to get along with anyone—until you can’t even get along with yourself. It often comes to a point when you believe you are not even responsible for what is happening within yourself!”
― Sadhguru,  

The practical exercise are good enough for any individual who wants to discover oneself, but please don’t read the book in hurry. Read slowly and highlight line which  touched you. Sadhguru’s inner engineering have touched that one nerve in me, who now wants to try out the programme in the ashram. I hope one day when my daughter  grows up, I would definitely try doing the course, not because I want to be a monk or want my  thoughts to be like a monk but I want to explore more of science and technology and the uncharted terrain of Inner dimension and this only possible with live road map  Aka Gurus.

 JayShetty’s think like a monk is written in very simple English compared to Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering but I didn’t find anything new or engrossing like Sadhguru though he tried to connect many things with Bhagavad Geeta but I wished it  had more substance to it which are yet to be discovered by readers. 

“Your identity is a mirror covered with dust. When you first look in the mirror, the truth of who you are and what you value is obscured. Clearing it may not be pleasant, but only when that dust is gone can you see your true reflection.”
― Jay Shetty, 

Did the above books help me in finding peace and contentment? 

No not yet, but hope reading it regularly the highlighting points may bring some change in me some day.

Purple Lotus by Veena Rao

 Ratings:⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Like the purple lotus, rarest of rare, you shall rise from muddy waters to rule the world'

 The plot revolves around  our female protagonist Tara. When Tara was a little girl her parents left her to her grandparents’ house with a schizophrenic uncle and moved to Dubai with their newly born son for a better life. Tara as a little girl craved for parental love and struggled with her feelings. She always felt lonely and wished to live with her parents in Dubai. 

Later in her life when she grew up she faces constant societal pressure, being 28 not married and not even beautiful. In a hurry her parents  marries her with a man in US.While the guy abandons her for three years right after marriage but soon as she lands in US , Tara faces domestic abuses, neglect, ignored. Little did she know her husband was having affair with someone else.

  What shocked me was in such abusive relationship, her parents asked her to compromise and stay with the husband, as women are supposed to do that.  A man can live  with no fear while the  wife gets disowned by the society. She feared to take decision and come out of her abusive life in an unknown country. Didn’t know where to go , or what to do. It is how Tara got her inner strength, fought back and lived the way she wanted to live and not how others wanted her to do.  What daring she did was marry her  childhood love who belongs to different religion without caring about the medieval societal norms.

Why I loved it

What I loved about the book is the overwhelming usage of simple english making the reading appealing, while portraying the old fashion mind-set of the Indian society.. It has beautifully portrayed the cultural differences and Tara’s lonely years in US , which destroyed her  self-worthiness.. This cultural reference reminds me of  Jhumpa Lahiri's style, were  she  explores expatriate  Indian in America, I felt happy when Tara met her Russian friend and took a step to come out of the abusive relationship. The insight of Tara’s disturb life, domestic abuse and coming out and facing the situation and settling back to new life was flawlessly explored by the author, making the book feel so real. The ending was perfect, you cannot have anything better than this.

Thank You Net galley for the  ARC.

Book Review: The Night Diary By Veera Hiranandani

 

Have you read The Diary of Anne Frank? Did you like it? If you did then I would recommend you to read The Night Diary by Veera Hirandani. An young Adult historical fiction which has won Newbery Honor in 2019.

Some of my favorite lines from the book:

👉“Everyone knows who is Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh by the clothes they wear or the names they have. But we all have lived together in this town for so long, I just never thought much about people’s religions before.”

👉The British people are going to free India  but there is a talk of India being separated into two countries where Muslim have to go one place and the Hindus  the Sikh and everybody else have to go to another place. I told him that sounded insane why would India suddenly become 2 countries?

👉You don’t underdstand .You could be killed ! you cant change people’s mind s now.Its the only way to protect yourself. When we leave for the New India,things will be better. I hope"

👉Pakistan is for Muslims and everybody else will go to India, which isnt here anymore.  I wonder if any Hindus were staying  anyways. Papa says its not safe and the fighting will probably get worse. Papa says it was a group decision between Lord Mountbatten for thebritish , Jinaah for Muslims and Nehru for everyone else,They all agreed to the partition. 

Nisha , who is  twelve years old  writes a  diary dedicated to her mom, who died while giving birth . Nisha’s father is a doctor and works for a hospital in Mirkhaspur. Nisha lives with her grandmother, Kazi the cook, her brother Amil  and father.

Though Nisha was  Hindu but Nisha’s mom was muslim.  This novel has been written as documents/ recordinsgs. It recounts  India’s independence and the horror of Partition through Nisha’s  recordings.

At times this book  just gave me shiver on how much people had to struggle to be in the country they want to live.

As per Nehru, Jinnah and MountBatten, Muslims must move to Pakistan, while Hindu  Sikh Christian, Jain, Parsis should move to New India. 14 million people crossed the border  and atlest 1 million died.  Partition was one of the largest Mass movement in the history. The book is loosely based fiction..so when you read remember  there are things which are true and happened  to the author's father''s side.. The locality she lived everyone stayed united until the killing started.  It was beautifully expressed how Muslim and Hindu friends saved each other life in the misdt of all the chaos, staying together.

On 15 Aug 1947, Nisha and her family had to leave  Mirpur Khas which became part of Pakistan… Millions of people started walking  leaving everything behind, to enter New India as refugee without food and water .

From a child's point of view reading about  the partition, you can feel the innocence in every question Nisha ask to her mom in the diary. 

Highly recommended for Young adults and also Adults.

3 Short Stories You Do not want to Miss

 

Many a times I don’t feel like reading too much. Also there are times when I am burdened with household chores and do not get time even to  touch a book.  So  a quick read  is what I generally do. While having my morning cup of tea or even before going to bed, I generally prefer reading such books. It makes me feel satisfied / accomplished, and I donot feel guilty of not touching a book.  A well told tale with a fine beginning, middle and a good ending is what I look for. Few days back I read some short stories, which I thought to share with you all in case you just want to relax and enjoy a good book.

Also  there  are many booklovers who don’t get much time  to read novels because of jobs or school college and henceforth even though they want to , so why not pick these short stories  and keep yourself into reading habits rather than detaching yourself from books?So here are my recommendations -3  quick reads to you all .Each one has different emotions which you will be drowned while reading, and I am sure you will enjoy these three books. 

Things my Son needs to know about the world by Frederick Backman 

One of my  favorite

 The author pens down his thoughts to his son about how it was to become a father for the first time .Lets read it as how it is to become a parent for the first time. This book is so hilariously relatable that I am sure new parents out there will definitely have a grin on their face after reading this chat-pata 30 min read. From first day’s memorable dark poop in the hospital ( calls it as an evil poop ) to Google search on a problem, don’t we parents  all  go through such crazy stuff?.  Humorously written yet touched every bit of life's aspect which we all want to pass on to our next generation, a must read to new father and mother’s out there.

Favorite Quotes: ( wish I could share all of them)

👉“Having kids is in many ways like trying to drive a bulldozer through a china shop. With broken legs. Wearing a back-to-front ski mask. While drunk.”

👉“Remember, a good friend helps you move, but a great friend helps you move a dead body.”

👉"I know that in a year or two, you’ll learn how to talk, and after that you’ll pretty quickly enter that phase where, regardless of what I say, you’ll always ask “Why?” Well, I can help you out right now by telling you that in 95 percent of the cases, the answer to “Why?” will be “Because people are really bloody stupid.”

Winter by Alice Oseman –

How do siblings support each other when parents and relatives become judgemental? This book talks about mental health on eating disorder. Charlie ( teenager) returns from hospital before Christmas and faces his family and relatives questioning him about his disorder and also his relationship with Nick (cute couple and super supportive).  Don’t we all face those relatives or parental pressure?  Charlie too did. His siblings  Oliver and Tori gave him the best  emotional support one can imagine. An emotional Christmassy quick read which will melt your heart.

 

  A Deal of a lifetime and other stories:

 Collection of short stories ,with thought provoking  beautiful lines which I definitely would re read. Though the story was cold and focuses mostly  on death ,  oldage,   memories ,letting things go,  fear and love   it also talks about depression. An  impactful read, and I am sure at some point of time you would too, have tears in your eyes because the author have beautifully caprtured emotions. The story which touched my heart the most was the little girl with cancer  and  a short story of oldage.  It definetly gives me goosebumps thinking how  at some point of my life when I will be growing old , I will be loosing my memories and ideas.I will be loosing time and missing people around me. Such a wonderful read!

Some thought provoking Quotes from the book:

👉Human's are strange breed  in a way our fear  of getting old seems to be even greater than our fear of dying.

👉The only thing of value on eath is time. One second will always be a second , there is no negotiating with that.

👉“Happy people don’t create anything, their world is one without art and music and skyscrapers, without discoveries and innovations. All leaders, all of your heroes, they’ve been obsessed. Happy people don’t get obsessed, they don’t devote their lives to curing illnesses or making planes take off. The happy leave nothing behind. They live for the sake of living, they’re only on earth as consumers. Not me.”

I hope you will enjoy these as much as I did.   Short stories are like having an extramaritial affair while reading  a novel is getting tied up in marriage. As Neil Gaiman says

"Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.”

Keep reading and  follow my instagram page @thegirlwithkindle for updates.

Bookreview: Home Before Dark By Riley Sager

 

I have become Riley Sager’s fan now, and I cannot wait to read the other three books which also became best seller. The final girls, the last time I lied and lock every door.

If you are a horror thriller lover like me, do give this one a try ( read alone in the dark), I am sure you will love it too. At some point of reading this, I felt this was somewhat close to Amityville Horror, Haunting of the hill house and some movies which includes Netflix original type writer by Sujoy Ghosh. Reading it at night the  story literally spooked me out  with its haunted description.

“Every house has a story to tell and a secret to share. Ours is a ghost story. It is also a lie, and now that yet another person has died within these walls, it’s finally time to tell the truth.”

Home before Dark by Riley Sager

  This book kept my spine straight from the beginning till the end!   With few characters and incredible twist Home before dark just won my heart with its horror/ thriller essence. Does it have ghost in yet ? Yes a lot? If you are going through reading slump I am sure this book will help you to come out of it.  

The entire story revolves around the Victorian estate Baneberry with dark secrets .Though it seems the house is lifeless and gloomy but the walls got a lot of stories to share.

Families have come and lived in this house for decades and the walls have remembers every event which took place and it never forgotten its incidents.

Twenty Five years  ago Maggie Holt ,who was just 5 years old then , came to live in the baneberry house with her parents Jess and Ewan. Just a few weeks of stay and one night they fled away from the house, claiming it to be haunted.  Ewan ( father) who was a nonfiction writer, wrote a book about the House of horror, there ghastly experience and what the little girl went through. The book became the best seller. Everything which he wrote in the book was claimed to be true. Maggie, didn’t believe the book. She felt the book was  fiction and there was nothing called ghost  and the claims were completely fake.

Before her father died she wanted to know the truth. The truth that there was no ghost and everything written was just for fame or may be something her parents are hiding from her. But unfortunately she didn’t get the satisfying answer and there she goes herself to find the truth.

The plot has been written from 2 point of view. The story from the book and the current story of Maggie holt facing the situation.’ The style of writing by Riley Sager was very creative weaving the story so beautifully matching  the past and the present situation together. What I didn’t know was coming to me was the twist.  Yes. I didn’t expect the twist. It’s different from all the horrors I have been reading all these years.

Over all, a 400 page book will not make you bore and fly you through the pages for the answer, did little  Maggie actually see ghost while living in Braneberry estate?

  Rating 4.5/5

Buy the Book 

Book Review: The First to Lie by Hank Phillipi Ryan

Date of Publish: 4 August 2020

Publisher: Forge Books

A drug company comes up with a " miracle drug "  which is a fertility drug  where a women who is unable to have a child can conceive easily.

The dark side effect of this medicine can ruin a women's life but this has not been mentioned by the company nor does the doctors talks about it to their  patient. And there are many who actually had side effect and there life has been ruined.

The charecters now wants to destroy Pharminex  ( the company)

The plot is this simple !

This little plot get twisted till your brain burst ! With four point of views and charecters having double life made it hard for me to keep track at times. s I was writing down the charecters to remember their goals, but then the plot had so much twist  and lies that it made me clueless at times, Though there were times were it was so predictable yet the charecter didnt understand whats going on . I wish it was more clear in terms of writing to enjoy the bumpy ride. 

If you have the ability to take this roller coster ride with charecters and their secrets go ahead I dare you.

Rating 3/5

Thank You Netgalley and Forge Books for the ARC.

Book Review:The vegetarian by HangKang

This book is less than 200 pages, but it is definitely not an easy read. I don’t even know if I have understood the book the way the author wanted to portray to the readers.So if you have read this one, do share your thoughts.

The vegetarian is written by a South Korean author Hangkang and later it was translated in English  by Deborah  Smith . The story is about a women name Yeong Hye  who decides  not to eat meat anymore. She throws away all the meat from the fridge and when her husband ask her why she did this, her answer was I had a dream. ( do read the book to know about the dream)

The book is in 3 parts. First it was narrated by her husband second her brother in law and then her sister.

Its like the sky has fallen on to  Yeong Hye family just because she have stopped eating meat. ( In south Korean  meat is the main staple food ) The huband complained to her father, a family meeting was called because she stopped eating anything related to meat.  What shocked me was the adult Yeong Hye  was forced by her father  and was  shoved meat in her mouth. Infact when she tried suicide  and was taken to the hospital  in that time too her mother tried to make food for her which was non veg.  The day she left the hospital  sat on a chair naked in front of the public Her husband felt she needs  to get admitted in Psychiatric hospital and a divorce.

Frankly I didn’t understand the narration of the brother in law and his artistic views on Yeong Hye,  he had  this weird erotic vision which later shattered his marriage with Yeong Hye sister. 

The last narration was from her sister  In-Hye , though she didn’t understand her sister’s problem but she tried  to prevent people to force feed her  meat. Even the doctor diagnose her with Anorexia and Schizophernia , but no one is ready to accept her the way she wants to live her life.

What I felt is  the book is about how people get treated when they don’t follow social norms in South Korea. Even the husband didn’t even stood by her side in the times when she needed him the most.  Slowly Yeonh Hye gets admitted to the mental hospital where she  stops taking food completely. Its all because she wanted to live a life of non violence.

A person who enjoy  books related to realism or even about Human Psychology can try this one  out.

BOOKREVIEW : You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.”-  Jessamyn West.

Have you ever thought how others will interact with you if your looks get changed or de formed?  Yes people do interact differently.

Isnt the title so apt? You Beneath Your Skin?

The story starts with heinous murder in Delhi where a woman was raped  and then her face was burned by acid  so that no one can identify her.  As police gets busy identifying the body and looking for the suspect, the story shift to the protagonist Anjali , a single mother of an autistic child and also a psychiatrist who helps an NGO to rehabilitate victims.  As the city sees surge in rapes and acid attacks , Delhi police decides to investigate and look  deeper into it until, Anjali becomes victim herself

A serious crime thriller pointing out many ignored issues in our society and one of them is  "Parenting". - Neglectful Parenting.The story shows how a neglected children resort to dangerous substances like alcohol, cigarettes or even drugs

A story about extramarital affair, loosing trust on relationship, teenagers facing  peer pressure, bad parenting, rape/ acid attack, sex trafficking NGO, and  drugs , everything  fit like a puzzle in the story. Every chapter shows different shade of human relationship, in their true color. In case of Anjanli, her surrounding environment was different before she was  attack and a complete change in relationship took place when she became victim.

Though at times the story seemed  slow with all the personal drama, I was craving more for the investigation of the cases. Blame me for reading too much of  psychological thriller ,but the "Byomkesh Bakshi in me could sense the culprit at times.

• Reading Level Easy
• Strong Theme
• Few Characters ( so  you wont get confused)
• Recommended for Crime Thriller Lovers

The author will donate all the proceeds from this book #youbeneathyourskin  to @stopacidattacks  @projectwhydelhi

 Ratings : 3.5/5

BOOKREVIEW : Where the Crawdads Sing By Delia Owens

“ Go as far as you can- way out yonder where the crawdads sing.”

Let me be honest with you, first few pages with all the natures description and Little Kya’s life in the marsh, the plot was getting monotonous for me. I felt at times this book might not be the one for me.I skimmed many areas of the natures description in the beginning (almost about 100 page)s,  as there was nothing happening in the story. The dialect distracted me immensely. Until I came to the part where the book was unputdownable.  Yes it is, believe me .

You will either hate it or love it

The story is set in a marshland North Carolina 1950-1970, and the entire plot is about Abondonment.

The story begins with the survival of a six yrs old girl Kya who was abandoned by her mother, and  then her siblings . She was left with her abusive / alcoholic father until one day her father too left her in the marshes. They live in the marshes away from humans and there main source of transport was boat. So you can feel how it would be for a little girl to survive in the marsh all alone . Her solitude life in the marsh and how she learnt to survive  with the nature,  among the gulls and herons, insects and marsh  tides fabulously described.  From cooking, cleaning, to learning to drive the boat, Kya  had no other choice but to learn for survival this also made her distrustful to others. ‘ Slowly  with little bit of -learning about using boat and catching fishes and mussels she started  going to the town to sell them and get food and gas for her boat. Here she was loved by a couple and whenever she had trouble she would seek there help. The town people hated her for no apt reason, called her marsh girl, and many a times people made stories about her. This made her stop going to school. The discrimination and hatred was beyond words. They hated her alternative lifestyle.

Let me tell you she was not a black girl.

Kya in her growing up years had 2 people whom she loved immensely Tate and Chase. May be more than her parents who abandoned her.

“ Everygirl probably remembers her first love , She let out a long  breath then rowed back the way she came….”

The book moves to the part where she is a teenager and meets Tate. Slowly her life changed, she was been taught to read and write, and Tate too loved the marshes and so there chemistry was so adorable but will it end here, I guess no. More pains where written for Kya. The murder scene changed the whole tone of the story and Kya was suspected. Chase was murdered. 

 Trial room scene,  trauma, loneliness , loosing loved ones, betrayal  and lot of  hope to anchor the solitude life and lastly an unforgettable ending.  A book  full of emotional rollercoaster ride, a beautiful one.

BOOK REVIEW : The Day I Dissapeared By Brandi Reeds

The Day I Disappeared

By Brandi Reeds:

Thriller

Publisher: Lake Union

Publishing  On: 25 Aug 2020

Holly Gebgardt was kidnapped when she was 4 years old, but luckily she was been sent back home by the kidnapper after 3 months. Her parents were shocked to see her return unharmed, as they left all hopes of getting little holly back. But unfortunately Holly couldn’t remember a thing about her kidnap.Her best friend Kitty did recognize a man while Holly got kidnap, and the person was immediately jailed .But things get complicated when series of Kidnaps of little girls starts off again even though the person is in jail and almost many family lost their little girls. (Found dead in bridal dress)After almost twenty years the case reopens and the detective who is in charge starts questioning Holly as she was the only child who returned. Holly herself couldn’t come out of the trauma and her suspicions falls on many people which includes her mom.

Her mom got into a severe accident and went to coma, and therefore things gets more complicated but yes she knows some kind of a secret which makes the reader more curious.

“Phew” - What a twisty ride. Everyone is under suspect till the end of the story.

The story is narrated from Holly and her mother’s (Cecily) point of view , and the suspense was really good.

At times it became little slow especially Holly’s best friend kitten’s part, but I enjoyed her mother’s narration. Though Cecily was not much reliable because she is an alcoholic and her mind is always in mess. The past and the present narration made the plot more suspenseful by both the character .Just when you will think you know who the kidnapper is and what was the motive behind, you will get a bend in the road and again you will be left dangling.

Thank You  #netgalley and Lake union Publishing for the ARC of #thedayIdissapeared.  Recommended for thriller lovers !

Book review : The Henna Artist by AlkaJoshi

Set in the year 1950 right after India's independence, the henna artist is about Lakshmi  Shastri from a village named Ajar. She fled away from her abusive marriage and made her living struggling hard selling herbal medicine and designing mehendi to her high profile clients which include the Maharani of Jaipur. She learned henna in Agra while herbal medicine from her beloved mother in law  who use to treat women  in her village. Her business and connection started to grow and she wanted to have her own house, until suddenly her husband visits her in Jaipur with a little girl of age 13 name Radha. Lakshmi gets to know it is her sister , and also how much struggle she went through in her village alone after her parents death. Things change soon after Radha's arrival and Lakshmi started to face obstacles in her journey. 

Henna artist is about the independent women Lakshmi , a story about women empowerment. In India mythology Radha is the reincarnation of Lakshmi, and so i felt in the book Lakshmi wanted to give all the motherly love and most comfortable life to Radha  as she see her young self in her. 

The charecters detailing in the book created an everlasting reminisce . I was unable to choose which charecter I enjoyed the  most  because everyone supported each other. 

The plot talks about caste system, superstition, abusive marriage, motherhood .

A mature book for the ladies out their in their mid twenties and Thirties.

Book Review Stories Of US by Bobby Sachdeva

• 
  

Stories of Us

Publisher : PanMacmillan

Kindle Format

Available at Amazon

 

• Stories of US  highlights the problems in our society with its short story collection.  These stories are written from a common man’s  viewpoint  and somewhere you can relate with it too.
• Some of the stories  like Notebandi , Connection,  A letter to the president, RTI,  or even 56 offerings will make you think ,if we faced the  same problem ,or are we privileged not to face them. Of course at the end of each stories, the author have thrown few questions to the reader to judge. (Swayam Vichar Kijiye)
• Every story is about 2-3 page long and covers  topic  like  Family relation, parenting,  sexual harassment ,social issues, political issues, superstition, third gender and henceforth. So if you are not looking for a heavy read, or you just began your book reading journey, you can start with this one and I am sure you will like it.
• The English is very simple and the stories are fast pace, to the point , loud and clear focusing its topic.
• While there are many stories which are my favorite, there are some which didn’t make much of an impact on me like five desi American, love in times of war , the bright old scooter and few more.
•   What I craved more for is all the problems have been shown to the reader about the society, while  no solution have been given to come out of it or how the protagonist  solved  his problems.  This is book can create   great debate on   issues  like Sexual Harassment ,Euthanasia,  how  Internet (social media )hampering our family relationship , scams and few more.
• Being a short story lover I  enjoyed this 41 mini story collection exposing the  cold society.

Ratings: 3/5

Book review: The Little BookShop Of Love Stories

I had gone to sleep dreaming about being a bookseller, about a gorgeous little shop being mine, about me sitting behind that polished mahogany counter, handling out free bookmarks and crocheting blankets fpr Bosnian children

Author : Jaimie Admans


35 yr old Hallie Winston who got fired from her job  but luckily wins a bookshop in lottery . The shop is called Once upon a page. The owner wants to handover the old shop to someone who will love the shop dearly and not sell it. Running the business started getting hard for Hallie with few customers to buy books. The story revolves how she meets her  Dimitri and how both they try to save the business and the love for books.

My views:
Being a booklover , i think this light-hearted  novel has been written keeping in mind the common factors which any booklover will enjoy.

 A fun chic lit romamce book which you will adore in this sad time period of lockdown.

The humourous lines kept my jawline ace with smiles.

Hallie and Dimitri were the cutest pair, one with lack of confidence and the other with positivity and charm. I enjoyed reading both the charecters as both complimented eachother well.



4/5


Thank you #netgalley #hqdigital for the ARC, in exchange of an honest review.

Book review: Under The Willows by Pamela Mc Cord

Author: Pamela Mc Cord
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Publication Date: 15 May2020

Book review: Under The Willows

 Kelly  and her son TJ  moved to a new house in Ohio which TJ's  father inherited from his grandmother. Unfortunately due to accident TJ lost his dad.
The house was beautiful and there life started  to overcome the tragic incident until one day TJ  hears crying of a little girl asking for help.The sound was coming from Alexa. He make her mother hear the sob too, and finally they decided to solve the mystery behind the crying of the little girl.

My view:
A very different kind of horror story which  made me eager to look for the answer till the end, but there were few questions which was unclear and left me dissatisfied.
I wanted to know more about the little girls and how and why the incident happened. Especially Emma.
Language is easy and if you are looking for some light read this book is recommended from me.
A mix of mystery, horror, action , love and emotion is what this book is all about.

Ratings : 3/5


Thank you #netgalley and #underthewillows for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

Book Review : The Apartment by K.L Slater

The Apartment
Author K.L. Slater
Ebook
Pub: Amazon publication UK
Mystery , thriller, psychology.

This book the apartment is heavily inspired by a true event which took place in the 1900's  and it was considered one of the bold step taken by psychologist . Though it opened new roads in the world  of emotional psychology but many consider still today the experiments to be a fraud .

Freya and her daughter skye, who is 5 years  decides to move to a new place to overcome the tragedy that took place in their life. Skye lost her father and freya her husband.
Freya meets a man who offer her a place to stay, The Adder house. Though small, but the luxurious apartment , rent is low in  comparison to other houses in the area.  Though the place was very comfortable and extremely neighbors helpful, until series of strange things started happening in the apartment and Freya's conscience starts knocking her mind.

My views:
The apartment is sure a page turner mixed with facts and fiction. It will hook you up till the end.

Language is easy and you will fly through the pages to know the secret behind the Adder House.

The story didnt have too many charecters and therefore made it more engaging and less confusing.


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


Highly recommended .

Thank you #netgalley #AmazonPublicationUK and author #K.L Slater for the ARC. I have tried my best to provide an honest review on this book.

Book Review : The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

The Mother-in-Law
Author:Sally Hepworth


Synopsis


A twisty, compelling novel about one woman's complicated relationship with her mother-in-law that ends in murder...

From the moment Lucy met her husband's mother, Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana was exquisitely polite, and properly friendly, but Lucy knew that she was not what Diana envisioned. But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice who helped female refugees assimilate to their new country. Diana was happily married to Tom, and lived in wedded bliss for decades. Lucy wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was five years ago.

Now, Diana has been found dead, a suicide note near her body. Diana claims that she no longer wanted to live because of a battle with cancer.

But the autopsy finds no cancer.
The autopsy does find traces of poison and suffocation.
Who could possibly want Diana dead?
Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her adult children and their spouses?

With Lucy's secrets getting deeper and her relationship with her mother-in-law growing more complex as the pages turn, this new novel from Sally Hepworth is sure to add to her growing legion of fans. 


Excerpt from the book:

Someone once told me that you have two families in your life – the one you are born into, and the one you choose. But that’s not entirely true, is it? Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don’t, for instance, choose your children. You don’t choose your brothers- or sisters-in-law, you don’t choose your partner’s spinster aunt with the drinking problem…. More importantly, you don’t choose your mother-in-law.”


My Thoughts :


A family drama/ mystery novel  about a complicated relationship with Mother in Law. The book opens with the death of Lucy's Mother in law, Diana. It was said she committed suicide leaving a note  in the drawer.  But police feels their is more to it and its not a suicide.
Every women getting married and joining a  new family  wants to feel accepted by the mother in law. Lucy too wanted to get the motherly love from her mother in law Diana as she lost her own mother in her childhood days. But unfortunately Diana was always reserved and tried to keep distance.

As the story unveils slowly, we see how complicated people gets in terms of relation. Each chapter has been written in terms of characters perspective. How they feel and why they feel.
The story opens up with Diana's past her  and how she met her husband Tom.
Though with the past story of Diana ,the author tried to create sympathy, I think her attitude towards everyone at times were mean. Diana was sympathetic towards strangers but towards her grandchildren or children she was extremely mean and stingy. Some time being too much practical is  not good for relationship.
I am not surprise she is dead ! What surprised me was the ending, how she died.
Overall it was a light read.

3/5


"of course  there are plenty of ways to give your life meaning  beyond having children . Every one says this. Some people believe it. But in the end it doesn't matter  because I dont believe it. And this is after all my life."

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

In the time when the entire world is fighting for the Covid19, the book  Fever 1793 which is a historical fiction shows the horror of such disaster. Though in this book it’s a state disaster  the question that rise is would you only help your family in such disaster or would you  help the nation and not be selfish ( though we all have seen how celebrity with covid kept on partying without informing the authority  a perfect example of selfishness. .

Corona virus or Yellow fever which is in this book actually showed the world how we are as human beings, how we react when there is a catastrophe,and  the horror of human suffering.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse  Anderson is a young adult historical fiction, but the incident actually took place in Philadelphia in 1793 when thousands and thousands of people died in yellow fever.The book points out  how the society fear outsider ( blaming  refugee for bringing the yellow fever in) isn’t it relatable?. No one was allowed to cross different cities with fever. They were left to die anywhere as everyone was scared of the disease getting spread.

Story 

The story is of Matilda a 14 year old from Philadelphia whose family suffered yellow fever. The struggle the pain she went through (especially in the time when the world had no technology, no knowledge about disease and also no doctors.) looking for her mother, who suffered yellow fever.

It was the time when people didn’t know how the disease is spread. They just knew if you had the disease you  would suffer and die.

No body understood that it was through mosquito that the fever was spreading like wild fire. Out 40000 people 4000 people died in immense pain and suffering.

When the winter sets in the  infection rate slows down. Because doctor didn’t know how to treat this ,they often cut patient views and let the blood flow. and have their blood drip into a bowl until the doctor thought the disease was removed from the person.   But this method killed more people than it saved because draining the blood of really weak. A book with pain, suffering, happiness, loss everything you need in this crisis time.The author did so much research  on the topic yellow fever.  Being an adult I completely forgot this book is for teenagers .

The book is definitely not for young adult, it will be boring for them to understand history. But I would recommend  adults to read this specially when the entire world is going through a situation like this.

Book review :Ghidra, by Abir Roy

Ghidra is a bengali book, but I can’t help myself, share an English review  of it.

 Budding author Abir Roy’s Ghidra   is about –The Rise of  the Evil.

The book contains three stories and the third one connects the other two carefully and beautifully making reader stick to the book till the end.

Each story takes place in different location.

 Puri

 Ujjain

 Tarapith – (a place in West Bengali where Goddess Kali being worshiped and Tantric sacrifices are done)

The chapters are as – Prayers, Sacrifice and Ghidra

The first story Prayer takes place in Puri where the city is getting ready for Nobokolebor festival. This festival takes place after every 24 yrs. where the Jaganath Deity is changed in utmost secret

With Lakhs of visitors to see the Nobokolebor festival, the atmosphere in the city seemed to be very gloomy and drowsy .The people of Puri seems to be in different world  and no one cared about the upcoming big day. The head priest (mohapatra) in the temple seemed  to worship the deity but in different Mantras which sounded Satanic.The protagonist Kripa Sindhu ,who also came for the holy occasion felt an unknown danger lurking in Puri. The city smelled of dead Human Fleashes.  Will the Nobokolebor festival take place?

The second story  starts in a crematory ground .The place is Ujjain. A priest who use to worship Goddess Kali witness a heinous human sacrifice. An 8 year old child been forcefully killed by few men in front of the God and priest couldnt save the child.  Series of paranormal activity started taking place in that area. With bodies being found near a neem tree, the locals and the police were clueless.

The third story  takes place in Tarapith were pregnant women started giving birth to dead babies, or the babies are dying right after the birth. Also  this incident started taking place in Puri and Ujjain too. Tarapith temple became the crematory ground for newborn.

How the three story weaves in to one giving rise to the evil  is what this story all about.

Will there be an end to it? 

The author gives an extreme detail about the Nobokolebor festival,  How the head  priest  perform the task of changing the diety and henceforth.   This part of the book is  the meaty fact.

The rise of the satan has been well compared with Lucifer.

The book is extremely gripping and you will complete it in one sitting.

The ending was good, but I was so engulfed with the entire plot that I expected more from it. 

Highly researched on various topic like Nobokolebor,  Vanishing Twins, Occult Science

When you loose trust from god, you give birth to Satan, how the universe conspired to give rise to the three headed evil and how it will come to an end is what Ghidra all about.

Rating:4.5/5

Click here to Buy the book

International Kolkata Book Fair 2020 Blog

Let me tell you the history of Kolkata book fair in short. 

It was in 1975 when the first fair was organized with 56 stalls of 34 publishers at Maidan beside Victoria Memorial.

It was to promote reading habit among public and also to help booksellers and publishers to grow their business. Slowly with time the fair started getting fame and visitors from literature field all over the world started visiting the Kolkata book fair. Over the period of time, with its gaining popularity, Kolkata Book Fair got its international accreditation. Today, Kolkata book fair is the world’s largest non-trade book fair and Asia’s largest book fair.

Maidan was the best place for the fair because of large area and availability of conveyance.

I am sure most of the Bengali watching this video, share the same feeling. Maidan was a different emotion, a bag full of beautiful childhood memories.In 2008 the high-court ordered that the Book Fair could not be organized at Maidan because of the amount pollution it created. So sadly it was shifted to a different location.

This year the 44th International Kolkata Book Fair 2020 was held at Central Park Mela ground in Saltlake, Karunamayee. The theme was Russia.The book fair took place this year from 29th January to 9th February. The fair remained open from 12 pm to 08 pm. There was no entry fee to the fair. Yes ! You heard it right The entry  to the fair was absolutely free

After almost 10 year or more, I visited book fair. But again that feeling of Maidan book fair, the aura of open book stall was not there. The worst part was too much traffic, bad transport connectivity and lack of car parking space. After roaming around here and there looking for parking space, we finally parked our car 4 km away from the fair. The funniest part was we had to take an auto from the parking lot to the entrance due to the distance.Weekend made the fair overcrowded and it was so difficult for us to look at books or even go inside any stall.

Various cultural programs were organized inside the fair premises to entertain guests. Such activities have become an integral part of the fair over the years. The biggest difficulty one faces while visiting the fair  is the maddening crowd. With a total footfall of over 2 million people every year , it is the world's largest book fair by attendance.

book fair is probably the least cheapest place to buy books. The books were sold here at a discount of 10-20 % on MRP. One could get more discounts in the publishing houses located at College street, Kolkata.

For English Novels I generally prefer buying from online e-commerce platforms. I love the discount they provide on their sale day.

Along with the adults, there were shops for toddlers as well in the fair . Getting inside the popular book stalls was a difficult task. One has to stand in a long cue before getting their hands on the books.

A separate place has been dedicated for the food stalls to fulfill the demands of hungry bellies.

Police booths were well spread across the entire area to cater various emergencies.

There is no doubt that in the era of kindle and other e-book reader, the interest of buying printed books have declined drastically. Still the charm of Kolkata Book Fair remains unaltered. A  winter day-out amongst the sea of books of all genres, music, debates on various topics and delicious foods definitely makes the Kolkata Book Fair a must visit place.

Check out Youtube Video On THE INTERNATIONAL KOLKATA BOOKFAIR