It's All About Books!!!: March 2019

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Sadhana Who Stalked Her? by Spandana Chakradhar (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

It becomes very critical to choose a book in a thriller genre from an author who is writing for the first time. I don’t know what made me pick up the book named “Sadhana Who Stalked Her?” written by the debutante, Spandana Chakradhar but now that I have completed reading the 260-pages book, I must say it was a thrilling and distinct feeling to go through a book of such kind. I remember reading one of the books by Novoneel Chakraborty, one of my favorite authors, based on the similar concept. The way that book gave me the chills, no other book has been able to, but this one really came close by.

The book is about a girl named, Sadhana, who is living a great life and has beautiful people with whom she is teamed up with but one thing starts spoiling her wonderful life. She is being stalked by someone whenever she goes to sleep in night. In spite of all the precautions and arrangements by her and her friends, they are unable to trace the person behind this. They start guessing the stalker with whom they can raise their doubts upon. They doubt everyone but not the person who is really behind it. This is always an important part in a thriller where the climax should reveal something that really comes up as suspense and not that can be predicted. While reading, even I predicted who could be behind the protagonist but I had not gone close to the person who turned out to be the real criminal behind everything.

The characterization done by the authoress is great. Though the story has too many characters who are introduced in first 5-10 pages itself but the way each of them are given attention throughout the story is commendable. There are very less authors who can manage to do this. Regarding the narrative used to describe the stalking segment, it is very well written and actually makes you feel as if it’s happening in front of your eyes. The romantic angle given with both- Manav and Abhinav of Sadhana was a great idea to keep the story light with those little conversations full of love.

The message that authoress has tried giving with the book is nice. Why self-defence and confidence as a girl is necessary to fight our own battles is nicely portrayed in the book. As the book says that it has been inspired by a true incident, this book could become a motivator to many. There are many in our country who are stalked, bullied, molested, harassed, troubled on regular basis. Reading something like this can surely motivate anyone to go ahead to develop themselves to fight against such people.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, the first thing is: - the book could have been composed in 200 pages against 260 pages. Secondly, the narration is made quite in a hurry state where if you get busy in some thought, you would find yourself reading something altogether different than what you were reading five sentences back. Lastly, I didn’t like the over-confusion of the protagonist regarding which partner to choose out of two and getting romantically involved with both of them for quite some time. Reading those parts felt weird where even both the boys are aware of this. May be, I am still close-minded.

Overall, this book is a page-turner for sure. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA

Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Man vs Wife by Ashish Srivastava (Book Preview) !!!

The story is a sweet and sour narrative of a young, impulsive IT professional who wants to divorce his wife. Having come across the draconian Indian laws highly biased in favor of his wife, he teams up with a middle-aged struggling lawyer willing to go to any extent for greed. The lawyer advises the husband to break the seven vows of marriage one by one, so that his wife starts hating him and agrees for mutual consent route, even before they decide to go for a contested divorce.

Will this husband be able to break the seven vows of marriage, at last?

And the greedy lawyer... will he be successful to break this marriage off?

Catch the book's teaser here:

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Author Website:

https://www.ashishsrivastava-official.com

Buy the book on Amazon by clicking the Banner below:-

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA

Monday, 18 March 2019

Suvarna Mohur : India's Glorious History Illustrated through Rare Coins by Arun Ramamurthy (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

I don’t think I have ever invested my time on any Coffee Table book except one before reading this latest book named “Suvarna Mohur” curated by Mr. Arun Ramamurthy. The cover page of the book is so colourful and bright that you would keep looking at it for some time before realizing that it also has great pages embedded within both the hard pages. I have been very bad in history since childhood and always avoided reading books having any kind of historical elements until it has not been represented in an easier manner. This book talks about history of 2500 years through the coins which were used during those contemporary times respectively which really made it very easy for me to digest the facts and years.

I liked the kind of details author has managed to collate together to make this book possible. It is not an easy task to get such minute details about each era and then their relation with the coins. Even researching about all the coins mentioned in the book must have been a herculean task for the author. Many kudos to him for managing the same. The book is printed on shiny pages which makes the images of coin and other arts, paintings and pictures look very aesthetic and beautiful. The author has discussed different eras in history when India has been ruled by certain dynasty or king. The main milestones of their era have been talked about summarily to give the readers essence of their time and understand how they conquered India or the certain parts by raising wars against whom and with what kind of morality.

I liked understanding how in a small piece of coin, the basis of their whole premise is depicted either in the form of an image, scripture or art crafted on it. Author has very nicely covered many kingdoms right from the Mauryan and Magadhan empire to Sangam era to Gupta era to Mughals to Rajput’s to Shivaji Maharaj’s arrival as a ruler to British India and finally the independent and Republic India. The author has done justice to every era described in different chapters ensuring that all the important facts are covered. Author has also written separate articles on some famous incidents from the respective eras too. The map is shared with each chapter to make it easier for the readers to understand which parts of India were covered during the respective reign.

This book feels as if you have entered in a very big museum where all the historical characters are alive and are passing on their ruling powers from one dynasty to the other in front of your eyes. Also, you can imagine all these coins in your hands as author has described right from their size to their dimensions to what has been carved or scripted on it. I am glad I have this book in my shelf. I shall ensure that I manage to go through it every now and then to ensure I know everything about India and its rulers right from the beginning. This book is special and distinct for sure. I liked how author ended the book telling the readers about how time has changed where coins are becoming irrelevant and digital transactions such as cashless arrangements and bitcoins are gaining the momentum. Author should be appreciated for making this non-fiction book bifurcated into different chapters sound like a continuous fictional story. I give this book 4.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA

Saturday, 16 March 2019

The Light Catcher by Sameer Chopra (Book Review- 4.25*/5) !!!

Whenever a book crosses its thickness above 250 pages, it needs to be very engaging, riveting, appealing and interesting to keep the readers excited to turn every page until the story does not end. And when the book crosses the mark of 300-pages, then it absolutely brings with it lots of expectations and hope for the reader that at the end of the story, it shall definitely give something to the life of the reader too. Not many books are able to impress the reader but one book which has recently surprised me with the way it is written is “The Light Catcher” by the author, Sameer Chopra.

The cover page describes the whole essence of the book which shows a great city with skyscrapers staying awake all the night, the protagonist standing alone and observing the city with a camera in his hand in a hope to get famous and mark his existence in the maximum city. The tagline says “A vicious circle and a thrilling redemption”.

The narrative used by the author to tell the story is one of the bests I have experienced by a debutante. Not even once did I feel that the book is written by someone who has just come into the writing world. When I read the bio of author, I understood that most of the parts in the story must be inspired from his personal experience which is why you find the story realistic covering incidents which are full of failures, full of moments coming in the hands and slipping away, full of passion of going against the world to prove oneself, the love for mother like a middle-class boy, the frustration at office, the heartbreaks etc.

The characters are so nicely elaborated that you understand the pain and confusion of each one of them. Specially, the protagonist, Purab, becomes a part of yourself as the way his thoughts and approaches are discussed makes you relate yourself with him after every 2-5 pages. The way he faces rejection at office because of being straight-forward or the way he is ignored by Professional Photographers irrespective of the commitment he shows in photography makes us feel for him but I am glad author kept the whole thing crude and practical rather than showing unreal and overnight success kind of a fairy-tale. The characters of Trisha, Rati and Sneha fits so well in the story that you would love and hate them with times when they understand and misunderstand the protagonist respectively.

The way book displays the two world- one of corporate in the first half and then one of the art in the second half is done with such distinctness that you can feel you are at both the places with the character. The injustice one has to go through to finally land upon success is nicely portrayed for both the worlds and essence can be truly felt as a reader. I am myself been experiential of both of these worlds hence I could feel how perfectly author has woven the same in his book. The details of photography are also mentioned in a way that non-photographers will also enjoy how a photographer has to get into details before clicking a picture of yours. Talking about the climax, it is very well ended with such emotions that I wasn’t able to stop thinking about everything for at least 3 hours after finishing the book.

Talking about the drawbacks, I could feel that author ended up making the protagonist think about his 1^st love quite sometimes even after he gets into a lot of things and people which makes it little cheesy at times. Also, at few places, the details of photography are explained too much that you would even want to skip it if not interested as it does not take the story forward. The success of Purab is nicely discussed but how he takes certain decisions as an entrepreneur should have been part of the story to make it more exciting. The book could have been kept little shorter if a crisp editing could have been done. Except these few points, this book is a wonderful experience to be read. I will give it 4.25* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Travelthon Tales by Tikku's Travelthon/Anuj Tikku (Book Review- 2.75*/5) !!!

This is the 3^rd book of Mr. Anuj Tikku which I have completed reading named “Travelthon Tales”. Anuj has published it under his publishing banner name “Tikku’s Travelthon”. To start with, I must say that the Cover Page of the book is very creative and beautiful which made me pick this e-book for reading. Anuj Tikku has shared his personal experiences of Traveling through this book which either consists of his personal account and other short stories which are based upon the people, locations and the conversation Tikku had with people he met while traveling. Some chapters are written as fiction stories which are also interesting to read.

After reading this 3^rd book by Anuj Tikku, I am sure that he should move out of e-book now and start getting his thoughts published as paperback too because his books share the kind of experiences and tales I believe I have never found in the work of any other author. This book is of just 70-odd pages but at the end of it, you shall feel as if you have read a long autobiographical account of a traveller.

There are few important chapters/sections that I liked in this book such as the one where the monk and prostitute’s reference is nicely given. Another chapter is quite spiritual which is based on a popular monk and tells us about the power of within. It is very nicely conveyed. The climax of two chapters where sex gets attention is so nicely scripted that you want to learn what happened after that. Haha! The few chapters which are based on locations such as Kedarnath, Ganges, Kapil Muni Temple has done total justice to the background of the spots. Being a Mumbaikar, reading the chapter on Mumbai which is based in the old times was an interesting read. The last story which is based on thriller aspect is also interestingly crafted.

Now, talking about the drawbacks of the book, I must say that because the book has been projected to be based on traveling and because the author also owns a Youtube channel based on traveling, I had expected more about his personal experiences on traveling or the way he travels different cities differently considering the distinctness of each of them. The book is very short considering that and very less chapters express such detailing. Also, author, when, writes Hindi words and sentences in English generally does not write in the spelling which are popular in Hinglish which becomes hard to read and enjoy those sentences as they are not always translated in English by him. Except this, I must say this book is a light read between heavy literary books if you are on a reading marathon like me. I give this book 2.75 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Tuesday, 12 March 2019

The Break-Up Clinic by Dr. Govind Sharma (Book Review: 2.75*/5) !!!

I shall always remember the author, Dr. Govind Sharma, for writing short books of less than 200 pages. “The Break-Up Clinic” is the 3^rd book I have read written by him and like the last two books, this book is also a very short story which can be read and completed in a single sitting. This book comes with a tagline “You only live once, but if you do it right Once is Enough”. I didn’t understand why this quote has been given a place on its cover page considering the book is more about a dark topic based on certain situations few youths end up in rather than a motivational/inspirational book.

The book is based on few characters such as Ajay, Karan and Nisha where all of them have been ditched by someone in the love relationship some or the other way. All of them are either heartbroken or turned into an aggressive person or wishes to take revenge. The two doctors who play the important part in this book, Doctor Dev and Shweta, are the ones who apply different kinds of therapies on these characters and ensure that they come out of their current victimhood situation and get back to their life in a very powerful manner.

The book has discussed about the psychotherapy and behaviour therapy implementing which the people who have been affected by the end of their love relationship can be treated in a very safe and familiar way. Hence, you shall go through many related words such as psychoanalysis, cognitive behaviour therapy, Freud, Transactional analysis, Gestalt Psychology, Non-directive Therapy etc. The book definitely gives many information that I wasn’t aware before this. This book is an awareness for these kinds of therapies which can be used on depressed people who are impacted by their love relationships.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, the book is not written in a very exciting manner the way author has written his last two books. The book is quite straight where either the therapies are discussed or the case history of each of the characters are narrated rather than building a great plot keeping the whole play of story in the front with these elements of therapies in the background. Also I felt that author could have played wonderfully with the characters which he missed in his motive of writing this book. Overall, I shall give this book 2.75* out of 5 only for the awareness that it provides with its short read which can be finished within 2 hours.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Monday, 11 March 2019

The End Of Romance by Amitabh Satyam (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

There are rarely books which hits you hard because of its gutsy representation of the issues it wants to discuss with its readers. One such book that I have just ended up reading is “The End Of Romance” written by the 2^nd time author, Amitabh Satyam. The book also stages a tagline: - “Lessons in Patriarchy, Feminism, Rights and Privileges”. The cover-page of the book is all black with an image of a person having tears in eyes which essays that the book is on a very dark subject which might be depressing or discouraging for some. To protect you from not picking up this book in case you can’t handle it, author has very widely mentioned the segment of people for whom the book is written for.

As the title of the book says, this book can seriously lead to the end of many romances if things are actually thought the way author has discussed this debatable topic with such confidence and fearlessness. The book basically talks about the injustice and extreme take women have on men these days because of which they either start abusing them directly/indirectly, asks for certain privileges which is completely invalid considering society as one, blackmails men just because they know they have an upper hand considering the kind of laws implemented in India where the men are directly accused without any kind of witness or proof.

The accountability of feminism is questioned so severely that while reading the book, you would want to share every page with so-called feminists and tell them what exactly this wrong class is doing in the name of feminism rather than the things that should actually be done to embrace the right to equality. In the name of feminism, how women have forgotten that it’s about equality and not getting privileges just for the sake of what happened with women years and centuries back. Right from the 1^st page author has started discussing incidents where men have been treated badly, violently or aggressively just because he did something which women thought is not as per their expectations.

Author starts the book very well describing how the two genders kept getting far from each other up to the mark where one of them have started hating the another up to such an extent that they are ready to kill and accuse even the gender lying in their direct relationship. Author has done an extensive research and mentioned many reasons why women turn abusive towards men. Author has also given examples of different types of abuses women does upon men. Author has also given references and statistics to prove his words. Even the privileges and entitlements are mentioned in one of the chapters while reading which I was completely shocked to know the kind of laws India have got submerged into that has made achieving this gender-equality almost an impossible thing.

This is one of the most hard-hitting books I have ever read. There has been many articles, blogs and books about women suffering but there was none about men as per my limited knowledge. The new perspective that this book gives is a surprise and a new angle through which you can see the same scenario. The way the whole thought process and psychology of women are changing due to this thing called Feminism is only been touched upon from an Eagle’s height by these ladies is very well covered in this book. The good part about the book is the way author has written it:- Section-wise, chapter-wise, pointer-wise to make it more specific to prove his points.

After saying all the good things about the book, there are certain things I would like to talk as the drawback of the book: - The book obviously is quite biased as author never talks about the ill that some men also perform to make the resolve of women stronger of getting more emotionless towards men. After some point, it feels that author is cribbing against women way too much. Though the book is surely very well researched but at some places, author has for certainly made generic statements. And then there are certain crimes against women which has been justified which looks wrong if you read the book neutrally. The only biggest problem this book can cause is either making the men too hateful towards women or making women think that men actually don’t think good about them as it is already said everywhere.

Overall, this book will either be completely loved by the readers or completely thrashed. There is no middle-way as it has been written in such a challenging manner. This book is a great read post which you would enjoy debating on this topic as you get to learn a lot. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. It’s recommended if you want to read something very different and straight-forward.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Friday, 8 March 2019

Upside Down Fitness by Manisha Israni (Book Review: 4.75*/5) !!!

The books on fitness are hit these days in the bookshelves because of new inclination towards health and lifestyle of the new generation. Since last ten years, I have come across many fitness books but not much of them have stayed in my mind for the sole reason that they suggested something following which is so difficult and impractical that you would want to live the way you are than making any changes to your daily routine. But surely there are few fitness books which makes things easy for you by giving you practical and simple solutions to be healthy, cutting your fats, getting rid of the unwanted belly etc. that you actually end up noting down and implementing it in your day-to-day life. One of such fitness books which has already taken place in my favorite shelf is first-time author, Manisha Israni’s “Upside Down Fitness”. The greatest confidence shown by the author is that her name is not mentioned on the Cover page at all but completely focuses on the topic.

The cover page and the title of the book shall make you little resistance in picking it up as you might presume the book to be displaying the impossible postures as the way to be healthy but this is not the case at all. Authoress is just trying to tell us that her version is completely different from others which is practical, doable and manageable. Manisha Israni’s book is very interactive. You can easily complete this book within a single sitting because of the way it has been written where you feel someone has actually understood your nerves and telling you only things which are specifically meant and customized for you. Right from the 1^st chapter to the last chapter, author has shown wonderful display of experiments, researches, knowledge and practices that she has herself gone through to understand the benefits of certain lifestyle and activities in our lives.

The book talks about how to create SMART goals with the same explanation of SMART as we are taught in our MBA books. In the very next chapter, she has introduced us with some interesting facts about how we can instantly replace certain unhealthy foods with the healthy foods without actually cutting down our appetite but enforcing ourselves in eating more healthy stuffs. Author then talks about how we should make our exercise routine interesting rather than making it a TASK for us. She has introduced some great exercising methods, meditation techniques etc. with tips on how to exercise in a shorter time to gain maximum effect rather than scheduling it for an hour and never ending up accomplishing it.

In one of the other chapters, she has given us the list of supplements that we should have as per our bodily needs. In yet another chapter, she has given list of multiple recipes for every type of people- vegans, vegetarians, non-vegetarians etc for all types of eating time- breakfast, lunch, dinner, tiffin, snacks etc. One of the chapters similarly comprises of the Workout Plans for the whole week again for different reasons for why you would like to exercise:- Losing fats, gaining weight, maintaining weight, want of flat tummy etc. My favorite chapter is the one which is written about redefining happiness. The wonderful tips given and explained in this chapter for always being happy assures me that author can end up writing another book only on happiness, self-help, motivational topics.

This book is one of the best books on fitness but let me also talk about certain things which did not go well with me:- In the chapter where author has explained Workout Plans, some jargons are used for the Workout activity which a general person would not understand and shall have to google which takes away the charm from the chapter. Similarly, in the chapter where smart meals are discussed, there are no images for the recipes discussed which makes it difficult for anyone to try preparing it without knowing how it should end up like. Author could have at least given some QR code or Youtube link where she could have shown the whole preparation method. Similarly, some ingredients are totally unheard of. Their Hindi names could have also been mentioned for ease of understanding. Other than these petty points, there is nothing else which stops this book from surprising you. I give this book 4.75* out of 5. Yes!

It's a great co-incident that on this Women’s day, I have ended up reading a book by a female author and giving one of the highest ratings. Waiting for 2^nd book by Manisha Israni now.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!