European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

Posted on August 22, 2019 by anshubhojnagarwala

Apart from Harry Potter which I absolutely loved, I haven’t enjoyed the genre of fantasy much. So, when my librarian showed me this book, my first instinct was to say NO. But then I read the excerpt – it talked about Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde (we have all read the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in our childhood), and also about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. That’s what intrigued me. I knew I had to give this book a try.

The story goes like this – At the end of the nineteenth century, must be the year 1898 AD, when Mary Jekyll receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped. Being a member of the Athena Club along with other women like Beatrice, Catherine, Justine and Diana, she must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue this young girl who has gone through torturous scientific experimentation.

Before I go further, let me tell you, about the members of Athena Club who Mary met in her previous adventure and who now stay with her in her house at 11 Park Terrace, London. All these women are basically monsters created by scientists in order to better the human race through Artificial Selection as opposed to Natural Selection, the theory proposed by Charles Darwin. Mary Jekyll is Dr. Jekyll’s daughter, an eminent scientist and a member of the S.A (a secretive Alchemical Society). Dr. Jekyll experimented on himself and turned into Dr. Hyde and sired Diana Hyde through another woman. Beatrice is Dr. Rappaccini’s daughter who has purposely raised her a garden of poisonous flowers so that she would be poisonous to other living beings. Justine Frankenstein nee Moritz is reanimated by her mentor Viktor Frankenstein after she is dead. So basically, Justine is a dead person living. Catherine Moreau is the half-finished puma woman from the island of Dr. Moreau, a science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.

All these 5 women are both powerful and weak in their own respective ways, however, when each of their individual qualities are combined it gives them a definite edge over many others.

Mary along with Justine decide to travel to first Vienna, where Lucinda has been kept in a mental asylum. Diana tags along with them. Their mission is to rescue her from the asylum and take her to Budapest, where the next meeting of the Alchemical Society is held and her father Prof. Van Helsing would be proposing to allow human transfiguration/mutation. Sherlock Holmes aids them financially and introduces these girls to Mrs. Irene Norton, who stays in Vienna. With the help of Mrs. Norton and her clever network of spies, they are able to rescue Lucinda from the asylum and are on their way to Budapest when they get kidnapped.

On the other hand, Holmes disappears too without a word. Now, it’s up to Catherine and Beatrice to find out what happened to their club members and they too embark on a journey to Vienna and then to Budapest.

What follows is an interesting journey where the girls meet spies, vampires and a lot of unexpected benefactors. You really have to read the book to understand the mishmash of characters, the travel, the history and the places.

I liked the title of the book and it was also a factor for me to pick up the book – European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. Travels in the continent I love and oxymoron-ic monstrous gentlewoman.

The story takes you on a historical ride on the Orient Express, the iconic train journey from Paris to Istanbul has suspended its operations, and then through the beautiful and colorful streets of Vienna and Budapest and shows you some curious delights. It has Sherlock Holmes in the beginning and Count Dracula at the end and so many colorful characters in between that your mind does get overwhelmed for a bit – but it’s a happy overwhelm because you still feel like going on and on to find out who are you going meet next – a spy, a vampire or a monster created in a laboratory by power hungry scientists.

The book is a 700-page story and not once did I feel bored or have the urge to put the book down. It was interesting and gripping from the very first word. All the characters are interesting, and the narration of the story is witty. Be prepared to let out more than a few chuckles. However, there are a few drawbacks.

Sherlock Holmes has a very brief appearance and then disappears for the entire length of the book. I found it strange given that he funded the travel of Mary, Justine and Diana to Vienna and had instructed them to keep him informed of their findings. For a person who likes to be on the top of the things, his mysterious absence disconcerted me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it’s a story of female protagonists, there are male characters too, but they are more to help than to lead.

Secondly, whenever the chief characters find themselves in a soup, they are marvelously rescued by a team of their well wishers whom they don’t even know. It happens every time in the story due to which my heart, which would start beating faster every time the protagonists got in trouble initially, stopped getting excited later on.

The story has a medley of characters, all of which have been written upon by various writers – Sherlock Holmes, Justine Moritz aka Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Catherine Moreau, Beatrice Rappacini, Count Dracula, Ayesha – the Queen of Kor, a vanished African city. The author, Theodora Goss has done extremely well to bring all these characters together in an interesting manner in her story.

This is the second book in the Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club. I would recommend you to pick up the first book – The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, to understand the depth of the characters.

I am taking part in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge and I have opted to read 24 books this year (though I am hoping to read more). There are 24 prompts given, and this book adheres to one of them. Seriously, only one!!

2. A book written by a Female author

6. A retelling of your favorite fairytale/classic

10. A book set in a country that you visited/want to visit

22. A book that has a mythical/imaginary creature

Book Review – The Signature of All Things

Posted on August 13, 2019 by anshubhojnagarwala

Book Cover of The Signature of Small Things — Image credit Amazon Uk

I haven’t read Elizabeth Gilbert’s most popular book Eat, Pray and Love. I watched the movie first, and once I watch a movie, I don’t feel like reading the book. It ruins my imagination. Anyway, I loved the movie so much, that I thought if the movie was even 10% authentic, the book should be a marvel. And I picked up her first book that I came across – The Signature of Small Things. Though it was a huge 500-page book, the excerpt was interesting which made the decision for me.

Alma Whitaker is raised in 19th century Philadelphia in a world of luxury. Her curiosity and unquenchable thirst to explore the nature are fuelled by her father, a botanical explorer and mother, a botanist in her own right. Alma’s father encourages her to speak her mind, while her mother ingrains into her the values of a good human being. But, after all she is a human and there are times when she falls short.

Alma grows up into a practical woman who is neither blinded by the wealth around her, nor who shies away from the realities of life. She invests her time wisely into digging the mysteries of evolution. At the prime of her life, she encounters a man whom she finds both her equal and comes to love, but little does she know that her affection for him would draw her into the world of divinity and spiritualism.

Leaving behind all her worldly goods, she embarks on a momentous journey from Philadelphia to Tahiti and then to Amsterdam. She meets some wonderful people in Tahiti and also finds the truth for which she had undertaken the journey. She decides to visit Amsterdam, the land of her mother and settle there. Not to sit idle, she takes up work and makes a name for herself in the world of bryology.

The book started on an interesting note. It talks about the humble origins of Henry Whitaker (Alma’s father) and how he made his fortune and a name for himself as a botanist. Then the book focuses on Alma’s childhood, her adulthood and her marriage. The later part of the story focuses on Alma’s voyage to Tahiti, her discovery and her last years in Amsterdam.

The characters in the story are very well built; even the characters who played a small role are well defined and leave a lasting impression. For example, the unpredictable but ever bubbly Retta who ends up in an asylum, the beautiful but cold Prudence, who surprises everyone by marrying her tutor, Beatrice – the stern but practical mother of Alma, who doesn’t think twice before adopting Prudence, a maid’s daughter and treating her as the child of her womb or Hanneke de Groot, the handmaid who follows her mistress, Beatrice from Amsterdam to Philadelphia and runs the Whitaker household single-handedly.

However, for me, there are three heroes in the story. Alma Whitaker, Henry Whitaker and Ambrose. Alma is the protagonist, but she is not your regular spoilt rich kid. Even surrounded by wealth, her only passion is knowledge. However, she has her own faults. She is shown beseeched by jealousy when she finds Prudence in her home. She is upset when her friend Retta marries Georges, her first crush. She is overcome by anger and hatred when her husband, Ambrose disappoints her in their marriage. However, I found Alma to be boring. She lives a life sans adventure except for the last part when she undertakes a journey to Tahiti and then to Amsterdam. Also, I didn’t feel Alma endearing or engaging, and maybe that’s the reason I couldn’t feel the personal loss of Alma.

Ambrose is the husband of Alma, but only in name. Alma could never understand her husband – the strange but always happy man who talks about divinity and spiritualism. Though Ambrose plays a small role in the book, he overshadows a major part of the story.

I found Henry Whitaker to be the most interesting of the lot. He is an uneducated man who makes it big in life, both in terms of money and name. He is quirky and unapologetic, and that what makes him endearing to the reader. One never knows what to expect with him around.

Enough about the characters, let me talk about the writing style of Gilbert. Gilbert’s narrative is simple and witty. However, the plot slows down in the middle and there are times when exasperated you feel like putting the book down. A reader comes up with a lot of questions which sadly get answered a little too late, by the time which the reader has already moved onto the next plot and raised another set of questions.

The book is undoubtedly well researched, but I found an overabundance of historical facts and scientific research which intrigues the reader initially, but ends up frustrating him. At the end of the book, Alma is shown to be a contemporary of Darwin and anticipates Darwin’s work. I mean I am already exhausted by the many plots and subplots and didn’t want another one opening right at the end of the book which served no other purpose than to show one more failure, this time professional, that Alma went through.

Gilbert is a brilliant and talented writer, and she has put a lot of time and research into the novel, but a surplus of facts and details might have just killed the book.

I wouldn’t recommend the book unless you like big fat books with history, facts and details.

2. A book written by a Female author

Book Review – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Posted on June 5, 2019 by anshubhojnagarwala

I am taking part in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge and I have opted to read 24 books this year (though I am hoping to read more). There are 24 prompts given, and this book adheres to three of them:

8. A book with a name in the title

9. A book with orange cover (I finally got it 🙂 )

10. A book set in a country that you visited/want to visit

I must confess that I finished reading this book in 4 months, though I read 95% of the book only in the last 4 days.

It’s my good fortune that of late, I have been coming across beautiful books. The credit goes to my blogger friends who read and recommend these books.

So, without further ado, let me write about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Plot

One morning, Harold Fry, a former brewery manager recently retired, finds a letter from an acquaintance, Queenie Hennessy, he hadn’t heard for over 20 years. The letter said Queenie was dying of a terminal cancer in a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Harold Fry was shaken. He wrote her a reply and started out to post the letter. However, when the post box cropped up, he didn’t feel like posting the letter so soon, so he decided to walk till the next box. But he still didn’t post and walked till the next one. He even walked past the post office and didn’t post the letter. A chance meeting with a girl in a garage shop who said how keeping faith and being positive helped her aunt (who had cancer), showed him the light. He decided to walk the length of the United Kingdom (from Kingsbridge at the south of England to Berwick-upon-Tweed, the most northern town in England) to meet Queenie, the woman who had once saved Harold’s life and had got nothing in return.

It didn’t matter to him that he was wearing yachting shoes and not walking shoes, he was not carrying any change of clothes and that he was not even carrying his mobile phone. He didn’t think of much except putting one foot before the other. Even when his feet developed blisters and were bleeding, he continued walking. Initially, Harold was too shy to ask for help. However, he met some very kind people on his journey and started believing in the genuineness of humanity.

Soon, he realized that it was not right on his part to squander his retirement fund on guest houses and daily meals. He decided to reach Berwick upon the largesse of the nature and people. He drank spring water, fruits from the fields and wild mushrooms foraged from the forest. He humbly accepted whatever people offered him and made sure he never took more than required.

Harold’s journey became a sensation in England and people in every city and town that he visited came forward to help Harold. In his journey, joined a motley of characters; all had a different purpose, but they made Harold’s journey their own.

At the end of 87 days after walking 627 miles, Harold reached Berwick to meet Queenie.

Review

If you start reading the book, you will find it very ordinary. A retired old man starting a journey to meet a long-lost friend – what’s so extraordinary about it?

Well, the extraordinary is not in the man – but in the faith of the man that prompts him to make a tediously long journey. The extraordinary is in the humanity that picks up the old man whenever he falters. The extraordinary is in the learning that the man receives during his journey.

The title of the book is apt – it may be journey for some, but for Harold Fry it was a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage he needed to make to atone for his past sins, to be free of the guilt and burden of them and make peace with his present.

I liked Harold Fry for who he is – an honest man who doesn’t like to break his promise. But I also like the other characters in the story who are as lovable as Harold – Rex, who has recently lost his wife and is very helpful to Maureen deal with the absence of Harold and Kate – the only sane person who joins, albeit briefly, Harold in his journey.

I liked the book because of its simple writing, unassuming humor and not-over-the-top emotional drama.

Book Review – Ikigai

Posted on February 28, 2019 by anshubhojnagarwala

Blue book with sakura flowers and Ikigai written on it — Ikigai – A book review

3) A book written by someone of a different nationality/color/ethnic group than you

1o) A book set in a country that you visited/want to visit

23) A book you bought just because of its cover/a book with a beautiful cover

————————————————-

For a few months now, I have been thinking this and thinking a lot –

Why am I put on this earth? What is the reason behind my living? What is the purpose of my life?

We all have been told since childhood that we come to this earth for a purpose and as soon as we finish it, we go back to where we come from.

Well, I am approaching midlife and it is extremely painful to admit that I have not realized the purpose of my life. So, when I came across this book, which came with high recommendations, I thought let me give it a try and see for myself.

You must be wondering how a book could have helped me find the answers to my questions. Well, the book is called Ikigai – The Japanese Secret To A Long and Happy Life.

With a title like that, I thought I had stumbled upon the philosopher’s stone. So I started this book on a high note and with high expectations.

About the book:

Ikigai is a Japanese term which is French for raison d’etre – the reason for being. It is written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles.

It talks about the Japanese island of Okinawa, which is known for residents who live longer than anywhere else in the world. They have found their Ikigai, their reason to live or the reason to jump out of bed in the morning. And that is their key to longevity and bliss. The Okinawans are simple people who work in their kitchen gardens/farms, eat fresh produce from their farms, move a lot, socialize in their community and keep themselves busy with one thing or the other.

The book gives out 5 secrets to longevity:

Don’t worry. The secret to a long life is not to worry and to keep your heart young.
Cultivate good habits like waking up early, exercising a little, working in the vegetable garden.
Nurture your friendships every day. Get together with friends and neighbours.
Live an unhurried life. The secret to a long life is to slow down.
Be optimistic. Consider yourself young and stay positive.

What I like about the book

The book is written in a simple language that can be understood by all. The content of the book is well explained with the help of diagrams, charts, scientific research and well researched examples.

The book talks about simple but valuable life lessons that every person should follow to live a happy life. For example, it asks people to

focus on the present and enjoy each moment that life brings us,
not eat to the heart’s content, but practice the 80 percent rule, which is when you notice you’re almost full but could have a little more, stop eating.
smile, give thanks and reconnect with nature.

We have learnt these lessons while growing up, however we have lost touch with them.

One thing in particular made me stop and think. It was the chapter on Multitasking. Most of us are proud of our multitasking skills and don’t leave an opportunity to boast about it.

The book busts some myths.

“We often think that combining tasks will save us time, but scientific evidence shows that it has the opposite effect.”

Multitasking is not very productive. In fact, people who claim to be good at multitasking are some of the least productive people. Our brains can take in millions of bits of information, but can actually process only a few out of them at a single time. Hence, we end up switching back and forth between tasks. The end result – instead of focusing on one job and doing it well, we spend all our energy alternating between tasks.

Where I feel it lacks

While Ikigai has some very important life lessons to give, I was still not satisfied when the book ended. Because for me the book didn’t achieve its purpose.

The book says that we need to find Ikigai to live a long happy life. True! But that’s where I started, right. How to find my Ikigai and what are the ways to find one. The book doesn’t answer that.

Also, the book talks about the people of Okinawa who live a long life by tending to their vegetable gardens and eating fresh produce. But it’s not practical for city dwellers. I would have loved to know how people living in a city can still live a long life. Yes, quitting stressful jobs and going back to the village and farms would be lovely, but it is hardly practical for all.

Review:

Ikigai is an inspiring book, it will help you to leave the stress and slow down. While it may not help you find the purpose of your life, it will help you to nurture relationships and motivate you to follow your passion.

It will teach you to live your everyday life more joyfully.

#BookReview of war book - What the day owes the night

Book Review – What the day owes the night

Posted on January 4, 2019 by anshubhojnagarwala

1) A book that is a Translation

3) A book written by someone of a different nationality/color/ethnic group than you

21) A book made into a movie

I will be the first one to admit that I do not enjoy war books. They unsettle me for days on end. And then I reason that wars are a part of our legacy, it has made us what we are. I cannot just turn away from it all. Yes, wars have pain, suffering and loss, but they also have hope, love and courage. And these books show us all. So, taking courage in my hand, I read the English Patient. And I tell you, it was a beautiful book. I found a kind of ethereal beauty in suffering. Emboldened by my read, I picked up What the day owes the night by Yasmina Khadra.

Yasmina Khadra is the female pseudonym of Mohammed Moulessehoul, an Algerian army officer who wanted to avoid submitting his manuscripts to the army for approval. The book was originally written in French “Ce que le jour doit à la nuit” and translated by Frank Wynne.

Plot:

A debt-ridden farmer, Issa moves to a poor neighbourhood of Oran with is wife and two kids, Younes, a 9 year old son and Zahra, a 6 year old daughter. The dirty slum area of Jenane Jato is not for the faint-hearted. While the farmer goes at the break of dawn to search for work and comes home only once the moon is at its peak, young Younes comes across a strange medley of anti-social characters in the neighbourhood. From the orphaned Ouari who catches goldfinches in the scrublands to the war veteran peg-leg who molests young boys and Bliss, the landlord of the slum who later resorts to pimping.

Bad luck doesn’t leave Issa’s side and the obstinately proud farmer decides to give away his son to his brother, Mahi who is a chemist and lives in the affluent European quarter of Oran. The childless couple, Mahi and his French wife, Germaine accepts Younes as their own flesh and blood. Renamed Jonas, the boy gradually loses touch with his old life. Owing to an unfortunate incident involving his uncle, Mahi, the family moves to Rio Salado, a quaint little colonial town just 60 kms away from Oran, known for its vineyards, orange groves and happy boisterous inhabitants. In Rio Salado, Jonas forges a unique friendship with a group of boys that stands the test of time – World War II, love and break ups and the most frightening of them all – the Algerian war for freedom. He meets Emilie, a beautiful girl and falls in love with her, but destiny has something else written for him.

The book is about Younes’s journey from the slum to the countryside, from a young body to an adult, and from past to present and back, which builds his beliefs and reinforces them.

Review:

It is a book about a simple boy who is a hero in his own unassuming way. The book is divided into segments each marking an important milestone in Younes’ life. As you move from one segment into another, you feel the ominous change in the young boy’s life.

The first half of the book talks about the transformation of the young blue-eyed boy from Younes to Jonas, his coming to Rio Salado and finding life-long friendship. In the second half of the book, the story picks up pace. With the internal war as the backdrop, it touches on Jonas finding love, losing friends and his surprising stoicism in face of all odds.

Younes or Jonas is a very well-etched out character. The character is so relatable that it could be you, me or the boy next door. A Muslim bought up by a French catholic mother, Jonas has never paid much importance to religion or race. However, time and again, it is thrown in his face and his loyalty is questioned – whether it is by his own friends, the people of his race or the mother of his only true love, Emilie. A quiet loving person and a loyal friend, Jonas is misunderstood by the people he loves the most. A man of his word, he loses more into the bargain than he thought was possible owing to his silence. You can feel his dilemma when he fails to choose sides between the rebels and the France and you can feel his horror at the mindless violence. Your heart constantly reaches out to the young fellow who gives it all but asks for little in return except acceptance.

The author has a way with words especially when it comes to describing the human suffering. If you find the description of the underbelly of Oran beautiful, you will be moved upon reading the suffering from the aftermath of the war.

In Rio Salado, houses stood empty, shutters banging, windows dark, and great piles of clothes and chattels lay piled up in the street. …People rain about, confused, their eyes glazed, forsaken by their saints, their guardian angels. Madness, fear, grief, ruin, tragedy had but one face : it was theirs.

Families searched for each other in the crowds, children wept, old men slept on their suitcases, praying in their sleep that they might never wake.

It reminds me of this famous line from the poem Barbara by French Poet Jacques Prévert – “Oh Barbara, quelle connerie la guerre” (Oh Barbara, what madness is this war?).

Because be it any war, for right or for wrong – it is the humanity that comes out as the biggest loser each time.

Another thing that appealed to my romantic nerve is the way the author has talked about seasons without being lavish about them.

Winter tiptoed away one night.

The winter of 1960 was so harsh that even our prayers froze, we could almost hear them dropping from heaven and shattering on the hard ground.

If you have read and enjoyed Camus’ insights as an outsider, this book shows you the colonized Algeria of 70 years ago from within. Read this book to know the true meaning of love and friendship, and loyalty and promise.

Finishing a good book is like parting with an old friend. What the day owes the night is one such book.

Book Review – Eighty Hours to Save Karen

Posted on December 28, 2018 by anshubhojnagarwala

Eighty hours to save karen

Plot in brief:

Retired Air Commodore Mathew Williams is sitting on the verandah keeping a watch on his grandchild, Karen Lakshmi. For a few minutes that he takes off his eyes to take a short trip down the memory lane, he realises Karen is lying on the ground under the apple tree. She has taken a bite of rubber ball that looks like an apple. The ball is apparently drugged. There is blood on the child’s lips that doesn’t come off while it can be easily scrubbed clean from the hands of those who touch the ball.

Though Karen is hospitalized, her body temperature is continuously dropping. That is when Matthew meets an insane village fiddler who throws some light on the present condition of his grandchild. He comes to know about the horrifying details of the previous occupant of the villa who dabbled in the occult. He can save Karen only if he unravels this past mystery.

Mathew embarks on a dangerous mission where twice he has a close shave with death. Someone wants him dead. A false move and he could be dead and so would be his granddaughter.

Will Mathew able to save his grandchild? Read Eighty Hours to Save Karen to know how the story ends.

What worked for the book?

One always enjoys a taut and face paced thriller, but the best thing about this book is that it doesn’t make the reader languish waiting for the story to form and gather pace. The story picks up pace right from page one and keeps the reader hooked throughout.

The protagonist, Mathew’s character is well etched out. Though he is a forceful personality, I like the fact that he is not made into a fantastically nice person. He has his own set of prejudices which a reader could relate to.

The village setting with the mysterious fiddler is again something that goes in the favour of the book. Dangerous travelling in the middle of the night against the spooky hilly roads, attempts to murder and unexplained accidents add thrill to the story. Though there are deaths and accidents in the story, there is no stomach-squeezing mention of blood and gore.

Supernatural is something fascinating for most readers and this book based on supernatural and occult takes full marks for a gripping story.

What could have been better?

Though Karen is the central character of the story, her sketch lacks form and detail. She is only a child in the backdrop; though the reader empathises with Mathew, they fail to connect with the little girl.

The villain is an interesting character but lacks the force. The part where the villain actually helps Mathew to get on the right detective piste is a little unconvincing. Also, a bit of detail and research into the scientific experiments of the villain would have helped.

Verdict:

Pick this face paced psychological crime thriller. You wont be able to put it down.

About the Author:

Sitharaam Jayakumar is an Information Technology professional who has been working in the IT field for the past twenty-seven years. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi (formerly Institute of Technology, BHU) in 1988 with a B-Tech in Metallurgical Engineering. He joined the IT profession in 1991. He is a passionate reader of books on both fiction and non-fiction. He takes a keen interest in sports, especially cricket and tennis. In addition, he is also interested in politics and music. He started writing when a close friend who was deeply impressed by his versatile language urged him to do so. He loves to write about anything that catches his fancy in everyday life. His repertoire includes articles on social issues, crime, women’s empowerment, fiction and several other topics. He is a published poet.

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/sitaram.jayakumar

Twitter URL: https://twitter.com/SmallFryBlogger

Twitter Handle: SmallFryBlogger

Email: mailto:sitharaam@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.jaispoetryblog.com/

Goodreads Profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18051115.Sitharaam_Jayakumar

Book Review – Murder in the Palace and Other Stories

Posted on June 26, 2018 by anshubhojnagarwala

Author – Priya U Bajpai is a short story author and poet, with several of her past work

having been published in mainstream newspapers. A literature scholar, Priya loves writing fast-paced and layered tales across genres.

Book – Priya’s book is a collection of short stories which range from murder mysteries, sci-fi, historical fiction, horror to paranormal.

The book starts with a murder mystery ‘Murder in the Palace’ where Detective Anna Roy is called upon to solve the case of the mysterious death of Susanne Smith, a royal heiress. There are various characters like her husband, ex-husband, lover, friend and best friend in the story, and each one of them seem to have a motive to kill Susanne. The mystery is multi-layered. The characters develop with the story and the clues keep you guessing till the end.

Banon’s Conundrum is a sci-fi that talks about the Sun dying and a new star Banon replacing it. I liked the story for two reasons – firstly, the Earth has rejuvenated its natural resources and has reclaimed its old beauty and charm, and secondly for the strong-willed female protagonist Kwakan.

In Blueprint, you actually admire the perfection-seeking Dr. Tanya Jacob and her obsessive love for Fibonacci sequence that makes her stop at nothing. However, a reader is left wondering who is the bigger protagonist here? The scientist or Fibonacci.

Geisha as the title suggests is a story of a geisha, who stands by her principles and gets her heart broken because of it.

Much has been written about one of the darkest periods in the human civilisation, the holocaust, however it is poignant and shameful to read every new one. Priya’s Horrific Holocaust talks about how a girl is not only not able to keep her promise to a Jew friend in the times of Nazi occupation but is also not capable enough to save her from death in the concentration camp. A simple story that makes you feel as helpless as the girl in the story and horrified at the inevitable end of the Jew girl.

I am II is again a sci-fi that raises the worrying question that was first put forward by the movie – I, Robot starring Will Smith where humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence come together to take over the world. However, Priya’s II is not AI, but a step further. It is Infinite Intelligence which is more intimidating because of the dispassionate manner in which the machine thinks.

The Mysterious Globe and Neil’s Shoe, two of my favourites are not at all what you expect. Quite a twist they have and scary too!

Killer keeps you hooked till the end. Just when you thought you had solved the murder mystery, you find out it wasn’t what it seemed to be.

What I like – Priya’s versatility is commendable. Every story is different and interesting that it makes the reader sit up and think. Priya has good writing style and her characters are well developed. Dr. Tanya Jacob’s sinister character in Blueprint actually sent the shivers up my spine while I sympathised with Neha in Neil’s Shoe. Detective Anna Roy is a tough lady and doesn’t scare easy. I would like it if Priya can develop more stories around her.

What could have been better – Some of Priya’s stories especially The Dazzled, a story of a masseur and a mysterious lady on the metro, are short and less detailed which leaves the reader wanting for more.

This book gets a definite thumbs up from me. There is a bit of everything for every kind of reader, and the best part is it is entertaining to the core.

Download Priya’s book from here.

Book Review – Parenting & A Slice of Everything

Posted on June 19, 2018 by anshubhojnagarwala

Author – Anupriya runs a blog mommytincture wherein she shares her experiences and thoughts as a mother, a daughter, a woman and a conscientious human being.

Book – Parenting & A Slice of Everything is a collection of 26 stories that portrays various incidents and emotions related to pregnancy, parenthood and relationships.

It showcases the life of two sisters, Smita and Amrita, one who chooses to not have a child and the other who has a 5-year old and is pregnant with her second baby. However, the story is not restricted to Smita and Amrita alone but talks about other people in their life too.

The book touches on relevant topics of both pregnancy and parenting such as a successful career woman Smita is bullied by her mother to start her family, an extremely pregnant Amrita feeling inadequate and jealous when she sees her husband paying more than necessary attention to his slim and svelte colleague, her genuine confusion on how to introduce certain topics like death to her young son or how to behave when her son throws a massive tantrum in the mall for a chocolate, Amrita and her husband Raghav stealing moments of passion on their date night, potty training, the nanny who becomes a surrogate to Amrita’s elder son Nik, and so on.

We also come across endearing stories of Smita and Amrita’s mother, Mrs. Gujral who has been dominated all her life by her perfection-seeking husband and a single mother who is raising her son all alone trying her best so that her son doesn’t take after his father.

Review – I had expected this book to contain only advice and tips on parenting. However, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The book is in the form of a story that doesn’t restrict itself to parenting, but also talks about life and relationships in general. Every chapter raises a pertinent question about parenting and life which makes the reader take a moment and ponder. I found it very innovative, as admit it, tips and suggestions even when given out in good faith are both condescending and boring.

What I liked –

I found this chapter very endearing where Smita’s mother in law is jealous of Smita for usurping her son. She clings to her son whenever he visits her. Smita understands the feeling of loneliness and desperation that the older lady is going through. She extends a hand of friendship and lets the mother in law know that she can never take her place – the place of the mother.

These lines will give every couple who ever argued about not having a second baby quite some food for thought –

With a single salary, this lower middle-class couple had nurtured two saplings into full blossom flowers – confident, capable and financially independent. And here she had in front of her, a couple who earned a six-digit monthly salary each and yet could not afford parenthood.

What I didn’t like –

Some grammatical and spelling errors though it doesn’t affect the reading pleasure.

In all, Parenting & A Slice of Everything has a bit of everything for a reader. If it gives you an insight into what parenting can be like, it also reveals the intricacies and complexities of relationships.

To read the book, you can download it from here.

Book Review – That Year I Found Me

Posted on June 12, 2018 by anshubhojnagarwala

Author – Dubai based Dr Ruchi Chopra Nasa is a Pathologist by profession. She loves to scribble on her blog, and you can find her writings on website: https://thevagabond.me/.

Plot – Neha, a doctor, is happy and secured in her loving little family comprising her college sweetheart turned husband Akash, also a doctor, and her son, Pihu, till one day she comes to know that her husband had cheated on her. Though Akash confesses to the extra marital affair being long over and apologises for his mistake, Neha finds it difficult to come to terms with this breach of trust and runs away from home. However, she realises that she still loves her husband and running away is not the solution. She returns and both husband and wife make an effort to work on their relationship. This is also the time when Neha decides to quit her job as she is not happy in her profession and takes up studies again. Both her husband and young son encourage and support her. Years later, Akash’s past knocks at his door once again.

Review – The story is written in the form of a personal journal. Though Ruchi took part in the A to Z blogging challenge, the book’s chapters are not titled alphabetically. It’s neither here nor there; it’s just something that I happened to notice.

I will tell you a few more things that caught my eye while reading the book.

Firstly, Neha gets married when she still wanted to enjoy life, gets a child because her parents and parents in law told her it was the practical thing to do and quits her job to take care of the child because that was the right thing to do. She has always bowed down to the pressures of the society and is therefore bitter about it. This is a very pertinent subject as more or less every Indian girl experiences this in her life and questions it at some point.

Ruchi has given a glimpse into the world of medical doctors. Instead of glorifying it as it is usually done, she has indicated that how when their peers are already into the family way, have a car and are steadily paying towards their home loan, MDs who have recently post graduated have not even thought of starting a family and have zero bank balance for having lived on meagre stipends.

The premise of the story is so relatable because every woman at least once in her married life asks herself what she would do if she ever finds out that her man is cheating on her. Would she leave him or see it as a signal that her marriage needs to work upon? Neha once tells Akash that she would definitely leave him should the situation ever arise in their marriage. However, when she is faced with it in reality, she is not able to run away but sticks by her husband.

Ruchi has woven a lot of wisdom in her story.

“It is so surprising over the years, we humans accumulate so much of unnecessary egos, negative thoughts, and negative people. An excess baggage of all sort as we age! Yet we never bother to do that cleaning in our lives.”

“You don’t get old when you are certain age, you get old when you start resisting the change. You get old when you stop celebrating the wonderful gift of life. You get old when you start waiting to die. You get old when you stop believing in love.”

And my favourite of all – “Love is not about candle light dinners, and precious gifts. Love is not just going around each other arm in arm. Love is holding the other when they themselves are not able to.”

That Year I Found Me is not a love story, but much more than that. It talks about marriage, the highs and lows that a couple experiences and their struggle to keep the relation-ship afloat. It is an eye opener for couples who think of taking the easy way when their marriage hits choppy waters. It is also inspirational for women as it shows Neha quitting her high paying job because she was not happy in it and finding happiness in studying again.

Download Ruchi’s book here – https://www.theblogchatter.com/download/that-year-i-found-me-dr-ruchi-chopra-nasa/

BTW, I have released my ebook too. It’s called Tara – https://tinyurl.com/y8gvc5gr

Do download and show it some love, love!! –

Book Review – The Last Seychelles Flame

Posted on June 9, 2018 by anshubhojnagarwala

medha nagur

Author – The Last Seychelles Flame is written by blogger, Instagrammer and Zumba enthusiast, Medha Nagur.

Plot – Adrija is a photographer by profession who has big dreams. However, she belongs to a low-income group and lives in a small town which has no prospects career wise. Furthermore, By the virtue of being a girl, she is also seen as a burden by her parents. Her father refused to finance her dreams and doesn’t endorse her profession of a photographer either. Her mother taunts her for not getting married even when she has crossed 30 and her friends are not only married, but also in the family way. But, Adrija pays no heed to them and quits home to pursue her dreams.

In her new job in the city of dreams, Mumbai she meets some interesting people. And, soon she travels to Seychelles for an exciting fashion assignment, where she meets Omkar Arora, an irritating but lovable man. The two of them share a great chemistry. The world might have been hunky dory had been her ex-boyfriend not re-entered to haunt her.

Will Adrija be able to get free of her terrible past. Will the flames kindle between Omkar and her? Will she be able to soar high professionally, something for which she fought with her parents and quit home? Will she find her true love and live happily ever after?

Anshu Bhojnagarwala

Fiction Buff, Agatha Christie Fan, Pani Puri Lover, K-Drama Addict

Tag: #amreviewing