It's All About Books!!!

Sunday, 11 March 2018

Emotion and Relationships by Sadhguru (Book Review- 4*/5) !!!

Talking about modern spiritual gurus, Sadhguru a.k.a Jaggi Vasudev has always fascinated me. The way he shares his wisdom and shows us our true colours, no other person is capable of doing it. I make it sure that I regularly follow his videos and read his posts regularly on Internet. I also manage to read a book of his slowly page by page on daily basis and complete one every 2-3 months. This time, I have managed to complete his latest book published by Jaico Publication named “Emotion and Relationships”. This is basically two books merged into one biding where the first part talks about Emotion being the juice of life and the second book talks about Relationships and discusses if it is a bond or bondage.

Once again, Sadhguru speaks of things that we think about only from above without diving deep and knowing about the concepts. He has cleared many concepts in this book with his easy language which is easy to grasp and understand. The book is written in the form of Questions-and-Answers where his followers/disciples are asking him questions and he is giving answers to them through his spiritual perspective which is very interesting for the readers to know as his answers are not just straight statements but comes with wonderful and interesting explanations.

The best part about the Sadhguru’s approach in giving answers is that he also adds humour in between which keeps your focus concentrated on each and every sentence of the book rather than getting distracted because of monotonous voice. I have personally liked the book on Relationships as it really discusses the basic problem we, Indians, are having in our day-to-day life and give nice solutions which if followed will really give us new dimension of thinking about our relations. In the book of Emotion, the “Isha Kriya” is discussed in the end which is quite powerful yoga tool to be followed. Overall, this book is a nice light read by Sadhguru and I give it 4* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Deendayal Upadhyaya by Shiv Shakti Nath Bakshi (Book Review- 3.5*/5) !!!

There are very few personalities in the world of Indian politics who can be respected. And reading and knowing about such politicians or ministers is always a great experience. I am just done reading the book written by Shiv Shakti Nath Bakshi on the life of “Deendayal Upadhyaya” titled on the name of the personality himself with a tag line “Life of an ideologue politician”. Since BJP has come into power, many people have come to know about RSS and its history but still people want to know how did BJP form and come into power since all these decades. Pt. Deendayal being one of the pillars in the formation of the party had a wonderful journey as the politician who never gave away his principles for winning an election.

Generally, the biographies are written in very tough language but this book is written in a very simplistic manner which can be understood by any reader who knows English language. The author did not know much about Panditji which is quite evident from each and every chapter but the way he has gathered the information is worth-applaudable. The research put behind this book is very clear from every paragraph. The way all the lectures, columns, speeches, interviews are compiled to gather the timeline and fact about Pt. Deendayal’s personality is excellent for which author should be mentioned highly.

This book cannot be called as biography of Panditji as it mainly focuses on how RSS turned into the biggest political party- Bhartiya Janta Party today. Whatever contribution Pt. Deendayal had during this process in mentioned as and whenever possible but there is no focus specifically on the timelines of his life. Also, author is quite biased towards the personality and the political party which is quite observable as he has never discussed about the negative points of Pt. Deendayal or BJP and only spoken highly of them. This book will be loved by BJP followers more than anyone else. Also, this book must be read by all the young and aspiring politicians as it teaches how to be a politician without breaking the principles and integrity of your country. I give this 3.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Happiness Is All We Want! by Ashutosh Mishra (Book Review- 4.5*/5) !!!

There are several books written on spirituality, body and mind separately whereas you will rarely find a book talking on all the aspects together. Ashutosh Mishra’s “Happiness Is All We Want” is one such book I have come across which provides you wonderful solutions to achieve happiness. I have been a big Robin Sharma’s fan because of which I generally do not like self-help book written by any other author but after reading Mishra’s first book, I can claim that his intentions are visible in each and every word written in the book. You can feel the good soul behind the book and thus, you ill enjoy reading it.

Reading this book has been a wonderful experience and thus, I read only 10 pages per day in the morning which actually made it very easy for me to pass rest of my stressful day by applying the ideas provided by the author. The best thing about Ashutosh’s approach is that he not only discusses the issue but provides solution to it and also shares some experience of his or his acquaintance who was suffering through the same patch but recovered by applying the suggested tips.

The book is nicely divided into three parts- Mental, physical and spiritual well-being and each of them provides some specific points which is summarized in the end of the book which you can refer every week and check mark if you are following the same or not. Every author is able to provide better solutions on any one part of the three mentioned above but Ashutosh Mishra is one of those authors who have been able to write about all the three topics equally good and effective.

The book provides the reader enough motivation to stop reading in between itself and first accomplish all the tasks that have been kept behind due to procrastination. I have personally liked the last session of spirituality more because I was searching for solutions and the book has been able to provide the same. My suggestion to all the readers picking up this book would be to read it slowly rather than completing it in one sitting. This book is meant to be absorbed rather than keeping it in shelf. I give this one 4.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Monday, 26 February 2018

The Buddha Of The Brothel by Kris Advaya (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

I am just done reading the book with one of the most interesting titles “The Buddha of the Brothel” written by the debutante, Kris Advaya. The title and the cover page of the book, both are enough interesting to not let you pick it up. The book took me more than a week to complete because of the author’s style of writing English and narrating the story. This is the first time when I have read such kind of a narration of a story which could have been written in a simpler language. I found it little tough but the readers into English authors will love reading this book.

The story is said to be true and author’s own tale but the way this non-fictional plot is given a fictional narration and styling speaks about the skill the author has. Initially, it is quite tough to get into the flow of the story but once you get used to author’s writing style, you will start enjoying the tale. I believe that author could have edited the book a little more as I found several plots repeating itself in the first half of the book which makes it quite boring for the reader.

The characterization is nicely done and the best part about author’s style of narrating the conversation between two characters is incredible where he uses less dialogues and more emotional verdicts. This book is full of emotions, self-realizations, confusions, love, lust, belongingness, helplessness etc. Every emotion is nicely projected by the author which directly touches the reader’s heart. This book is unique in its very own way. I give it 4* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Saturday, 17 February 2018

I Owed You One by Madhu Vajpayee (Book Review- 3.75*/5) !!!

I am finally done reading Dr. Madhu Vajpayee’s 2nd book named “I Owed You One”. The book is published by Lifi publications and consist of almost 260 pages. Being a female, authoress have chosen to write the book in first person for a male protagonist. Nowhere while reading can you guess that the book is not written by the same gender considering how the authoress have managed to get a male protagonist’s emotions right. The book is very dark as it’s about a boy who has suffered all his life due to his father’s cold attitude towards him and his mother. And that particular thing leads to one and other events in life which does not leave him till a long time.

Madhu’s writing style is very intriguing and impresses the reader with the first chapter itself. The timelines in the book is nicely managed which does not confuse you because of several characters and multiple twists and turns. As this book is more about the emotional journey of a boy, authoress has very nicely captured all of them. You will be able to relate with the character and his pain. The good thing about the book is that it keeps changing its plot every 30-40 pages in the first 60% of the book while the rest 40% is about one particular plot that is been discussed. All the characters are treated very well and you won’t find any character disappeared at all after a point of time.

The pre-climax does get little slow and uninteresting as the story gets stuck at a particular instance and could not grow due to the limitations in the plot written by the writer. But the climax is ended well without making the book seem incomplete. Though I expected a lot from the story the way the first half was going but second half is little boring when compared to that. Overall, the book’s narrative is very poetic and you can feel the emotions throughout. I give this 3.75* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Let Me Go by Shriram Iyer (Book Review- 4*/5) !!!

There are plenty of books upon love and friendships in the Indian market but very few are able to generate emotions among readers. I am just done reading another book based on the same genre written by Shriram Iyer named “Let Me Go”. The book also has the tagline which says “To Friendship… With Love”. By the title, I had termed this book as another cheesy stuff by an Indian author but after completing the same, I am surprised by the fact that this is one of the best books I have read which is purely based on the concept of deep friendship along with a backdrop of a love story.

Shriram Iyer’s writing style is very intriguing which involves the reader and enables him/her to concentrate on the story without getting distracted with uselessly added difficult words or over-exaggeration of not-so-important events in the book. The author keeps the focus on the story itself and gives the backdrop of each instance in such a perfect manner that you won’t feel that you have joined the story through this book but feel as if you were already a part of the story. The characterization is very nicely done where each character is given undue importance which makes you understand each one of them completely.

The way different timeline of 2-3 decades is presented tells how skilful the author is. The way book provides twists and turns and also manages to sustain small suspenses keep the interest of the reader and makes this book a perfect page-turner. The climax is also very nicely handled and justifies the long story perfectly. Talking about the drawbacks of the book, I would say that the story is quite predictable at times and thus, makes the whole purpose of those long chapters null. But overall, talking about the book, do read it for the emotions that it displays through words and scenes that can take you in the world of imaginations and empathy. I give this book 4 star out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!

Monday, 5 February 2018

Let's have Coffee by Parul A. Mittal (Book Review- 3*/5) !!!

There are few authors whom you have seen progressing in the field of writing since their 1st book itself. Parul A. Mittal is one such author whom I am following since her first book itself. I am just done reading her latest book “Let’s Have Coffee”. By the name, it sounds as if the book is very casual in terms of story but I must say the story has enough ingredients to keep you interested. Parul’s writing style is still very friendly that makes it easy for readers to understand the pace of the story and thus, complete reading the book in a single sitting itself.

The writing style of Parul is very natural and you can feel the ease with which she pens down her stories. The book starts describing how two individuals meet in a wedding where surprisingly, their respective ex-es are getting married to each other. This is quite undigestible but the authoress takes the plot ahead in a very interesting manner where these two individuals start showing interest in each other i.e. Meha and Samir. Later on, Meha comes to know that Samir has been using her for his own writing project and her heart breaks. Co-incidentally, both of them meet each other again after years in a wedding. The story is totally Bollywood-ish and anyone who loves Hindi films’ drama will love this book.

The book is edited very well without overly describing small incidents or segments. Authoress has kept her story focused on the characters and maintained the same very well. Talking about the drawbacks of the story, I would say that it’s quite predictable and to make the story sound very fancy, authoress has written some parts which are hard to related with reality. But overall, the book is a nice read which you will enjoy once for sure. I give this book 3* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!