It's All About Books!!!

Monday, 12 November 2018

Swami in a Strange Land by Joshua M. Greene (Book Review:- 2.5*/5) !!!

It is quite evident to all of you who have been following my book reviews and personal blog that I am quite attracted towards spiritual concepts and the first thing that attracted me towards mythology and spirituality was when I picked up a copy of Bhagavad Gita: As It Is being sold by Iskcon volunteers on a Mumbai local railway station. This version of Gita is written by Iskcon founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And who would not want to read about the personality which introduced you towards a new concept in life. Jaico Publication published the biography of Swami Prabhupada written by Joshua M. Greene recently which has become the 52^nd book I read this year thus completing my annual target of 2018.

The book covers the spiritual life of Prabhupada on his devotion towards his Guru and how he ends up reaching overseas just to fulfil his Guru’s wish of spreading the Krishna consciousness all over the world. The book is divided in three parts- Prabhupada’s life in India, America and the World. The most interesting one that I personally liked is the one in America which discusses his struggle in gaining the followers and popularizing the Krishna consciousness and the Hare Rama Hare Krishna chant. The impact of these two sentences is nicely discussed throughout the book. The biographer’s research on the life of Swami Prabhupada is commendable and covers many such personal events which is nearly impossible to bring out in public or say, even know about it. Kudos to author for the same.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, I must say that author should have divided the book in small chapters rather than three vast sections. This made the reading experience quite hectic where author just kept speaking continuously which becomes boring after a point of time and remains just a drag. Also, regarding the spiritual concept and belief or the meditation techniques that Prabhupada himself followed is nowhere discussed which is a very big setback for a spiritual reader who went through these 300+ pages to know new ways of meditation and spirituality. Even regarding the struggles in opening the first few centres is hardly discussed. The book just keeps on speaking the same thing for most of the middle section of the book which took me 10 days to complete this book. One of the struggling reads ever. I give this attempt 2.5 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Beyond What Meets The Eye by Sameera Kotta (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

As you guys are aware that I do not often fall for e-books considering the strain it causes to my eyes but still I keep trying some of them because for books, I can give away my eyes too. Haha! Well, sorry for the bad joke. Today, the e-book which we are about to talk is Sameera Kotta’s “Beyond what meets the eye”. Considering that the authoress is a debutante, this 165-pages book is very well edited and kept up to the mark without dragging it to the boring level which many debutante end up doing in the passion of writing as much as possible in their first book itself. The two things which attracted me towards this book were the cover page and the title of the book. It is very necessary for the debutante to come up with a little different perspective when they write their first book and I am impressed that Sameera has been able to qualify in this aspect as her story is not the regular stuff which people are writing these days.

Sameera’s writing style is simple which makes it easy for new readers who are just starting with books to complete the book within a sitting or two. Sameera has kept her book so well-edited as I have already mentioned above that it doesn’t make you want to skip any sentence or paragraph. Every word in the book takes the story ahead. The best part about Sameera’s writing is her characterization. Right from the protagonist, Majnu’s character to Varsha’s character including Soumya’s cameo, all of which is covered so nicely that you are able to connect with each one of them. The struggle of people living without parents, the students studying tough subjects like medicals etc, the pain they go through because of the tough past they have been subscribed to, the revenge that they want to take going out of their way etc. is very well handled through characters.

Talking about the drawbacks of the story, I would say that author could have worked little more on developing the twists and turns in the book. Though the book is written in a manner where certain suspense’s are held up and revealed at some certain point trying to maintain the thrilling aspect of the story, but still, they are unable to make the reader jump off their seat or stagnancy of mind. If the book is supposed to be a thriller involving murders, death, goof-ups etc, it should be chilling and frightening. Overall, I would rate this book 3 star out of 5. Having good expectations from the authoress in the future.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Friday, 26 October 2018

VOYAGES Volume I : A Collection of Poetry by Debjeet Mukherjee (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

I had never thought that my 50^th book of the year would be an e-book or a collection of poetries. And surprisingly, it was the combination of both written by Debjeet Mukherjee named “Voyages: Volume 1” with a tagline “A Collection of Poetry”. The cover page justifies the title of the book and looks excellent which makes you pick this book from your digital shelf out of all the books. This collection of poetry is of 91 pages with different poems which can be completed in a single sitting of 1 to 1.5 hours.

This book comprises of poet’s work from the year 2011 when he was just 14 years old to 2018 when he reached into his 21 years of age. The good thing is that author has started book from the poems he had written recently and ended up with what he wrote at the age of 14 and yet in my opinion, the quality of poems only kept getting better. The author talks about his emotions very vividly and beautifully in these small poems and ensure that you are able to live with them while reading the same. In such a small age, the way poet has been able to scribble such deep and emotional words is commendable.

The poet has touched the topics such as friendship, nature, experiences, drama of life, desires, lonely thoughts etc. One of the very different implementation by the poet is that after every poem, he has mentioned a quote which is in relation with the poem but in some cases, I liked the quote more than the respective poem. Overall, reading this book is like going on a voyage just like its title. I give this collection of poetry 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Thursday, 25 October 2018

Fluid by Ashish Jaiswal (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

When I read about the book “Fluid” which has released in the Mid-October recently, I was very sceptic about what it is all about. The book has testimonials on its cover page from none other than personalities like Amish Tripathi and Sam Pitroda. The book is written by the author, Ashish Jaiswal, and now that I have completed reading the book, I can say that this is a very well researched and worked upon stuff. Author had certain perception in his mind about how people are blocked in thinking and doing stuffs related to their field and specialization only and they can perform brilliantly in other sectors too. Author has kept his agenda clear throughout the book to make his readers understand that despite what people tell you about what you are good in, you can always try in different areas and still excel in both the departments.

The book is very well-written in a simple English language whereas I had assumed that I will need dictionary in every paragraph judging the book from its cover page and title. This is the reason we are asked not to judge a book by its cover. The tag line of the book says, “Be more than what you are taught to be” and it clearly denotes this point in every chapter that it speaks with its audience. The book is divided in different sections such as Anti-fluid, the dangers of entering machine age with an Anti-fluid Mind. Specialization and the last section being, the bigger fluid questions. The title of the book was initially not clear to me about what it is about, but author has explained it well letting us know that it is kept so considering that our approach towards life should be fluid and we should not be adamant about sticking to one field and not exploring the other areas of this universe.

Author’s research and hard work behind this book is visible from the examples and case studies described under each section with perfect orientation of each of them. The examples based on the famous personalities are seriously a surprise for readers as we never knew about the other side of these legends and knowing about their extensive commitment and achievements even in those areas is an experience. Talking about the drawback of the book, there are various typos in the book. I observed that in whichever word, wherever “eh” and “ek” words came together, it got replaced with blank space. Also, I felt that the book is written in a very formal manner. It could have been little more interactive and fun. It also ends up explaining one concept for quite some time which becomes obvious and understandable in the mid-way and post that, it is just a drag to read and nothing else.

Otherwise, this is a book which speaks of this unique topic with great examples. I give this book 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Sunday, 21 October 2018

F?@K Knows: Dead or Alive by Shailendra Singh (Book Review:- 4.75*/5) !!!

There are few books where the author chose to go the non-fiction way as they have many random things to talk about but they are unsure about how they are going to put all of them in the confinement of a book. Such books are like a personal diary stuff or a blog where the person talks about any random topic in each post but all of them contribute enough to make you know the person very well and also look at your life and think if whatever you have been doing till date is okay or do you need to make some steps to change yourself. It is very hard to make a reader think like this through a book which is written in such a manner that author is trying time and again that he is not a perfect person and should not be taken seriously. I have just ended up reading one of the best books I have ever read by Shailendra Singh named “F?@k Knows: Dead or Alive”.

This is the second book in the F?@k Knows series. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the first one but after reading this one, I am definitely going to have it soon to read it when I would be depressed sometime in future. After completing the book, I was confused as in which genre the book is in and I was confused between humor and self-help but betted on humor first but when I checked on the back-cover of the book, surprisingly, it is listed under self-help which I believe is correct. Because more than the laughs, giggles and smiles this book gives to the reader, it ensures that it gives lessons of life more than that to keep up the balance which ensures in the end that the reader has definitely received something very impacting which can change life along with light moments of laughter.

Author has opened his heart regarding many topics which are related to his personal life and the concepts that he believes in. The way he talks about his family; specifically, brother and mother are what many authors cannot dare to do in a book. The way he talks about his friends and how they faced ups and downs in their life which impacted even the author’s life tells about how transparent this person who is writing this post is. Similarly, the spiritual and concepts related to God, the way author has experienced himself is shared with us and I can tell you all those chapters are so apt that you will want to read them daily in the morning before starting your day.

Then author has talked on several topics on which he had his own opinion and made sure that he keeps it in front of all of us, either it is about demonetization, politics, country, sex, gender, social media, privacy, drugs, success, failure and what not. But rather than getting preachy about any of the topics, author choses to write it in a funny way which keeps on making you laugh and giggle and know about his perspectives too. None of the topic is just lightly handled but author has ensured that he gives some conclusive moral about each of them. His clarity in thoughts is evident in every sentence. And let me tell you, this is one of the most humorous books I have ever read. The funny chapters are all and out comedy and it can fail many popular stand-up comedians of India. And the way author ends the book with the chapters and basically the last chapter is how a book of this type should be ended. This book is an example on how the non-fiction books should be written. I give this book 4.75* out of 5. Recommended like f?@k as the book is f?@king hilarious.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Life's Amazing Secrets by Gaur Gopal Das (Book Review: 2*/5) !!!

There is so much about spirituality going on in timelines and feeds on our social media that almost everyone is aware of the concept even if they practice it or not. For a person like me who is regularly following and reading about the stuff, keeps knowing new things every day and also getting refreshed with all the previously learnt concepts. Every time, I pick up a spiritual book or a book by a spiritual personality, it is my basic expectation to learn and know something new which can surprise, shock, astonish and mind-boggle me. If nothing of that sort happens, the book is a failure for me which is written not to introduce new concepts to human beings but just for sake of writing a book to accomplish one of the personal goals and yearly resolutions.

Same has been the case after reading “Life’s Amazing Secrets” written by none other than one of the most popular spiritual personality on Youtube- Gaur Gopal Das. I have been following two personalities on Youtube when it comes to spiritual knowledge- No one can beat my following for Sadhguru and 2^nd, this gentleman- Gaur Gopal Das. He has such a polite and well-speaking oratory skills that you can hear him for hours. Also, his concepts, examples and logics that he gives in his videos are so up to the mark that it teaches you something new each time you watch one of his new videos. Though I do not like the way ISKCON endorses spiritualism by circulating the knowledge only from the one dimension that they believe in but still, this man speaks individually by not bonding himself under the premise of the institution’s agenda. Unfortunately, everything that I have spoken about his powerful knowledge sharing capacity in his videos cannot be said for his debut book.

The book gives me a very basic knowledge of how to lead life which you have yourself kept hearing since childhood from your parents and colony’s uncles and aunts. Not a single chapter in the book is as impactful as such self-help and spiritual book are expected of. As Das has himself said in the start of the book that writing the book was not his original thought, but the publisher asked him to, this book also displays the same that author just completed it for the sake of at least start with writing books. Author has gone the Robin Sharma way where he has written the book in the conversational format still dividing it into different chapters but couldn’t deliver the same simple keys that can help us in changing our lifestyle and approach towards living.

The author has spoken about the four basic wheels of life in the book:- Balancing personal life, maintaining relationships, regulating work life and managing social contributions. The only section that I found little different than what I have regularly read is the one talking about managing work life. Except that, there is a section in which the author has described how should one sit in an asana and release the stress off which also sounded solution-proof. Otherwise, at the end of each chapter, author has summarized the whole chapter, and I am sorry to say, but if you only read those 4-5 bulleted points in the summary, you are done with the book as it has nothing more than that. This is a very confused book where author has also ended up giving examples or real-life scenarios which are not even completely relevant to the stuff he is talking about. Overall, I would say a very disappointing debut and I give this book only 2 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Ashwatthama's Redemption: The Rise of Dandak by Gunjan Porwal (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

It has been a long time since I have read a mythological fiction and I miss those days when I used to receive the books in the same genre just after Amish’s Shiva trilogy garnered indefinite success. Now people have moved to other topics again and whichever book comes out under this genre tastes like a half-baked cake. I picked up a book whose cover page attracted me towards it on this Sunday and finished the book by today within a day. The book is “Ashwatthama’s Redemption: The Rise Of Dandak” written by the debutante author, Gunjan Porwal. I must say that I haven’t read more captivating and emotionally-submerging book this year.

Let’s start with the subject on which the book has been written. It is more about what happened after the epic war of Mahabharata and it discusses the character of Ashwatthama briefly and tells every detail about his past and involvement in the mentioned war. He is already living in guilt of doing some bad karma during the war time but now there is a new challenge thrown upon him where he must fight the super-devils with extra power. He comes to know about a bow which if he gets, he would be able to defeat these super-powers and there starts the whole foundation and basis of this book.

The first half is very superb where the characters and their background is introduced. Each and every character is so nicely described that you can relate with them immediately. All the kings discussed in the book, majorly, Rana and Vikram, are very nicely handled throughout the book keeping their dignity in dialogues and conversation intact. Their chemistry with our protagonist is also very beautifully handled. The love angle between Urmila and Rana is also respectfully portrayed. The second half is more about the actions involved and has many such sections where you must play with your imaginations and relive every moment discussed in the story. The anti-climax and climax are beautifully closed out which also gives hope of the sequel and I must say which I very rarely feel, that I am wanting to read the 2^nd part as soon as possible.

The mythological and fictional mixture is very perfectly handled by the author which does not insult one of our epic books, Mahabharata. Author has discussed Mahabharata in various parts as a conversation and through it, also tried to explain many spiritual and human concepts like karma, life, death, guilt, ego, mind games etc. Every instance of Lord Krishna is worth reading and re-reading in this book. Even the mention of Ramayana comes in between which is also interesting to read and how the karma of people in both the stories are connected due to being Avataras of the same God is an intriguing read altogether. Best part for which I would remember this book is whenever the Mahabharata is dictated in a conversation to any of the characters.

Talking about the drawbacks, I just felt that there was certain characteristics of each character being discussed initially but author could not do justice to everything that he mentioned about them. Except this, I believe this book is a must read for sure. I give it 4.5* out of 5. Recommended like anything.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!