Book Review – Beyond Scars – by Alka Dimri Saklani

I have read and reviewed the Author’s previous book “Beyond Secrets” and I loved it…So, when I got opportunity to review this book, I was happy.. This book is so engaging to read that I completed reading it very soon…

I strongly believe that childhood plays an important role in our life..The way we grow up and the experiences we face at that time, whether it’s good or bad, affects our future life.

In this book Author talks about the lives of Avni, Vivaan and Avinash and the scars created in their lives due to bitter childhood days..Avni and Avinash are twins who deeply care for each other and Vivaan aka appu is a college going student and a painter..Author had penned appu character as a continution from her previous book “Beyond Secrets”.

Vivaan couldn’t come out from dark younger phase of his life though his adoptive parents love him a lot..He feels that he doesn’t have the capacity to connect with others..His raw emotions are reflected in his drawings and his search for missing part in life makes him unhappy and gloomy..

Avni and Avinash are inseparable twins who study in same college..They face severe problems in home due to their abusive father..Avni is very deeply affected due to an incident in her younger days which badly affects her present life..Avinash is over protective and over possessive towards his sister..

Avni meets Vivaan in his painting exhibition and he feels strongly attracted towards her..She admires his paintings and is able to understand the hidden meaning in all his drawings..

Avni also feels attracted towards Vivaan but he tries to avoid her due to his dark past..Whether their love succeeds against all odds or not makes this story an interesting read…

Relationship between Avni and Avinash is beautifully portrayed by the author..Their affection,fights and joyful moments together is refreshing to read..

Vivaan’s love and affection towards Avni and his reaction towards sudden and difficult situations makes the reader glued to the story..

Author talks about scars in our life and how we have to look beyond scars to live peacefully..The twists and turns in this story makes it an engaging read..

Author has explained various emotions like love, friendship, relationship, guilt and revenge faced by all these characters in detail.

I loved reading this book and my rating is 4.5/5.

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Book Review – Friendship Calling – by Sayan Bhattacharya

There are some phases in our life which we wish to relive again..It can be our childhood, school or college days..Our old memories are triggered even by small happenings in our current life..Reading this book had this effect on me and I am reminded of my college days and friends I had during that time..I enjoyed a lot with my friends and that happiness I felt is irreplaceable in my life..

In this book, Author talks about friendship between four friends -Sayan,Bijoy, Kaushik and Debasish. They all meet at a college in Calcutta…The way their friendship starts and their relationship is good to read and I could connect it with my own experiences in my college life.

All the four friends are in touch with each other after their college days..But suddenly Kaushik disappears mysteriously and cuts contact with others..Sayan takes effort to track the whereabouts of Kaushik..He meets Manisha, Kaushik’s fiance..She too is unaware of Kaushik’s status..They both search for him and whether they are able to find him or not and the reason behind his sudden disappearance makes the story engaging to read!!!

While reading this book, I was reminded of the movie ” Three Idiots”.. Author himself says that he and his friends are ” four idiots”..The storyline is slightly similar but reason for disappearance of one friend is different in the book..

Author had portrayed the character of Kaushik very beautifully..His feelings, emotions, friendship, relationships, fear etc are penned in detail.

Manisha’s love for kaushik and the way she handles herself after knowing the reason for his disappearance is commendable.

Sayan tries hard to track Kaushik..His love and friendship with Kaushik is so deep and is understandable…Further, Kaushik’s parents characters have also been portrayed well by the author.

Author also talks about practical situations in which we lose contact with our friends after we leave college..Our own professional or personal commitments make us do so.

The excitement we feel when we go for an education tour with our friends is depicted clearly in the book..I was so nostalgic while reading this book.The uncertainty of life causes fear but it also teaches the fact that we have to face problems with strong will power and try to move on in our life.

Overall, this book is an interesting and an engaging read!!!

My rating is 3.5/5.

Book Review – I am M-M-Mumbai – by Rishi Vohra

This story is about Rudra, a young man, who dreams to act in movies, but doesn’t pursue the same due to his low self esteem..He stammers a lot and  faces a lot of criticism,teasing and humiliation from his childhood days..Due to his low self confidence, he works as an assistant director despite his passion for acting.

His father doesn’t approve his choice of career though his mother supports him..His neighbour Shibani and friend Ankur support and motivate him a lot..His life changes when he meets Richa and falls in love…When life takes a U turn, Rudra is depressed and fears a lot..He has to overcome all his insecurities in order to succeed in his life..Whether he is able to overcome his weakness and achieve his dream or not makes this story an engaging read!!!

Author has weaved the story very beautifully and all the characters have been portrayed really well..Childhood plays an important role in all our lives and the way Rudra gets affected due to his stammering and how it influences his future is depicted clearly by the author…The struggles faced by him in Bollywood is also explained in detail..The way Rudra falls in to depression due to constant failures and how he fights to come out of it is inspiring to read..Romantic portion in the book is  handled well by the author..

Overall, this book is a light, interesting and an engaging  read…Though the story may seem to be simple, narration style of the author is superb and it makes this book a good read!!!

My rating for this book is 4/5.

Book Review – Elephants In The Room – by Suraj Laxminarayanan

I was intrigued mostly by these two factors before I started reading this book – (1) Title and cover of this book  (2) length of around 600 pages.. To be honest, I had a small doubt whether I would be able to complete reading this lengthy book .. But, Kudos to the author, this book was so interesting to read that I really didn’t mind about the number of pages..

This story is set against the backdrop of  Chennai and is mainly about a bank robbery planned by a group of friends due to their cash crunch..Nari, Vel, Assam, Ashok, Shankar and Sarathy  have their own monetary needs and they believe that all their problems would be solved by planning a bank heist..Author has explained their backgrounds in an elaborate manner and also about their fear, insecurities, love, greed and their flaws…They believe that their plan is fool proof  but everything changes all of sudden at the D-day.. They are shocked when they  finally realize that they are not the only ones who had come to rob the bank that day..

Nari and his friends meet another two groups in Bank on the day of robbery  – One is led by Dhantha and his men and another is a  group of professional terrorists who have their own demands and expectations from the government..What happens next, makes this story engaging to read..

Author has weaved all the characters in this story very well…There are many who plays an important role in this story – The three groups, the policemen who handle the negotiations and also the staff and customers of the bank..The feelings and emotions of these persons are depicted clearly in this book..Author had explained the way in which some situations force people to change their views completely..The fear to survive defeats all our other desires and  at a particular stage of life, we want just to breath and survive….Nothing else really matters…

Overall, this book is interesting, fast paced, thrilling and engaging to read!!!

My rating for this book is 4/5.

Back again…

I haven’t written anything here for more than five months..

So, What happened??? I was busy handling some personal matters and didn’t get time to blog…hmmm.. Life is full of sudden changes and surprises…I don’t want to sound philosophical, but, I have understood that best way to enjoy life is to live it fully and be grateful to God always..

As I have already mentioned, I love reading books and I have got many books to read…I hope I would be able to complete reading those soon!!!!

I love my blog and I hope I will start writing frequently here.

Book Review – A Time To Burnish – by Radhika Nathan

Are we fully aware of the history of the place that we live in?? We might live in any Country and each one has its own culture weaved beautifully..At times, we take things for granted and most of us never fully understand the significance of our own past glory…In this book, the Author talks about archaeological  and historical beauty of our Country in interesting way and it’s not boring!!!

Tom Winslow, who works in a museum is deeply interested in culture and history of India..He receives a Nataraja idol and is intrigued by its connection to Chola period..As he is confined to a wheel chair, he asks his brother Josh Winslow to explore the idol’s origin..Josh doesn’t care much about old idol and reluctantly visits India to help his brother..Tom also asks Vidya Thyagarajan, his friend from Chennai to help Josh..Whether Josh and Vidya find out the true origin of the idol or not, makes this story an interesting read!!

Author has explained the feelings of Josh in a beautiful manner…The way he feels when he first lands in Chennai and the experiences which transform his beliefs in the end are penned clearly by the Author..Further, the characterization of Vidya, is also good and her relationship with her father is interesting..Josh’s love for his brother in spite of many differences is refreshing to read..Romance between Josh and Vidya has been depicted well by the author..

This book is a mixture of love and mystery in background of art and history..It is interesting and engaging to read!!!

My rating for this book is 4/5.

Book Review – If You Only Knew Me – by Divyata Rajaram

Do we really and fully know about a person who is close to us?? That person might be anybody – Our family, friends or co-workers, neighbors, etc..In this book, Author explains about how difficult it is to fully understand a person in our life..

We, human beings, are full of surprises and we may have our own dark secrets which we don’t easily  reveal to others..It is difficult to trust a person completely as appearances may be deceptive..

Rupali, Anjali, Dipika, Sakina and Monica are five NRI women who are close friends living in Dubai..Their lives are exciting with a rich lifestyle and they love spending time with each other..All of them have some problems and they think that they can depend on each other during uncertain times..

But fate plays a cruel role and a grave tragedy happens to one of them..Others are totally  shocked and worried a lot..An investigation to this  tragedy by police opens up a bag of ugly secrets which makes their life totally miserable..Trust is completely broken and they are confused as they can’t believe each other..They realize that they have been cheated totally..What happens next  and whether they overcome their problems or not makes this story worth reading..Author had explained the individual lives and relationship of these five friends in detail..Further, many details about various places in Dubai is also interesting to read..

Overall, this book is a good and an interesting read.. A small  suspense and thrilling factor engages the reader a lot…I enjoyed reading this book…

My rating is 4/5.

Book Review – Mango People in Banana Republic – by Vishak Shakti

Before I started reading this book, I was intrigued by it’s title and also cover.. When I finished reading, I felt that Author’s narration of story and characterization has made this book a very interesting and a good read!!!

Ravi Bhalerao works as a Strategy Consultant in one of the bigger firms and  he feels that his life is purposeless and boring..He realizes that he misses something vital in life and he also suffers from severe physical pain due to anal fistula..His physical pain and office politics makes him fully depressed and he quits his job..He travels to new places seeking answers to numerous questions..He is worried on seeing the poor status of farmers in his village and he tries hard to help them..This leads him to cross paths with activists, political parties, maoists, communists and spiritualists..Whether he finally gets answers and the way he gets transformed in the end makes this book an engaging read..

Anand Reddy, a former NASA scientist, comes to India on a spiritual quest..He visits various ashrams in search of true realization and liberation..He finally realizes that everything is within an individual and it requires greater sacrifice to achieve his wishes.. Author had told this story through  Ravi and Anand..The way both these characters meet is interesting..

Author explains about various problems faced by farmers and also politics in our country..Many politicians, activists have their own understanding of core issues and they believe that only they can provide solutions!!!! But in the end, problems are not solved and it becomes complicated..

This story revolves around lives of Ravi, Anand and Author talks about important issues in our country with humour, sattire and  also about role of spirituality and self realization in life..

Overall, I feel that this book is a good, interesting and an engaging read and  I enjoyed reading it!!!

My rating for this book is 4/5.

Book Review – The Game Of Secrets – by Saurish Hegde

In this book, Author talks about the life of a young oncologist Nishanth shetty…Nishanth’s father Dr.Vittal, famous oncologist, manages a chain of hospitals in Mangalore and also in other cities..Nishanth loves his profession and he wants to help needy people a lot..So, he joins Politics along with his friend Kashyap and decides to form a new political party..He supports Kashyap in his political activities and faces problems from Adishakthi and Dhanush, who belong to another rival political party..

Further, he meets  Navya at first time in a party and is madly in love with her..He is very serious about their relationship, but a call from Dr.Ramdas,a scientist, changes everything in his life..Nishanth respects Dr.Ramdas a lot for his knowledge in the field of science..Dr.Ramdas asks Nishanth’s help in a research which is very vital for mankind..Nishanth accepts the offer and he starts helping him in his research..

Ramdas and Nishanth are  happy due to positive outcome of their research..But, Nishanth suddenly  gets a phone call from a stranger who asks him about research and warns him of serious consequences if he didn’t share details about his research..Both Ramdas and Nishanth are shocked and confused and they also face problems from Adishakthi…They don’t know about their enemy and are worried and they couldn’t believe anyone..What happens next makes this story interesting to read..

I liked reading this story but I personally feel that this book could have been edited and proofreaded better…Author’s narration of the story was good, but I feel that some characters could have been portrayed better..

My rating for this book is 3.5/5.

Book Review – Small is Big: A collection of 100 micro tales – by Rafaa Dalvi

This book is a collection of 100 micro tales of different genres..I  feel that it’s difficult for an Author to write a story within 140 characters (It’s my personal opinion)..So, when I started reading this book, I was amazed at how the Author had written all these stories..There is so much said and also not said at the same time and as a reader, I liked imagining about the flow of these stories..

Author had written about diverse topics – Love, relationships, thriller, humor,horror mystery and loss.. I liked all stories but my personal favorites are  – Always, Barren,Busy, Birthday special, Compliment, Confiscate,Contest,Cry, Gift, Grasp, Last, Liberated,Manage,Management,Missing,Murder,Saw, Tell, The Memorial,Trapped and Trust.

This book is a quick, interesting and a  good read..

My rating is 4/5.