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Showing posts from May, 2016
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Bachelor's Marriage by Akshat Pradeep Solanki My rating: 1 of 5 stars Thanks Mr Solnaki for providing a review copy. It is my belief that I should not write negative reviews. That is way I did not write any review for this book because I did not like it. But the author prodded me to write a honest review no matter how bad it might be. So here goes: The language and grammar is atrocious and that is totally off putting. Nobody expects every Indian writer to write like Shakespeare. But if you want to write an English novel you should know the basics of the language at least. The blame also goes to publisher who published this cacophony of some English words without any editing. The story is meandering and very childish. I neither know how it ended and nor do I want to know because it was a torture to read it. It has become fashionable to write a college days novel for every engineering student after Chetan Bhagat's five point someone. Not every engineer can be a writer and it
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The Second Coming by Shubha Menon My rating: 5 of 5 stars Shubha Menon did a fantastic job. This is rom-com with a lot of comedy and lot of romance. In fact it has more humor and satire than comedy. Our heroine Mrinalini Mehta aka Mini is a happily married woman who is also regarded highly in her office also. She lives happily with her hubby Shyam Mehta who is a cricket enthusiast. Her boss Mahatta calls her Mrinalini and regards her as a top notch wedding planner. But is she happy? No. why? “It was not as though Shyam was a bad husband. Far from it. He was a good provider. They lived comfortably. He made a loving father to polka, spoiling her, bending backwards to fulfil her every whim. Mini cared for Shyam and was dependent on him in many ways. It was just that their marriage had degenerated into some kind of listless, mechanical routine, where they went to office, came back, ate, slept and then left for work again the next morning. The excitement has fizzled out, never to retur
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Keeping The Promises by Dhruv Gajjar My rating: 2 of 5 stars Thanks Goodreads and the author for providing a review copy in giveaway. I would not suggest it to anybody. If you have read Love Story by Erich Segal or watched Schin-Rajeeta starer 'Ankhiyo ke Jharokho se' you can safely avoid it. The story is cliched and not even better than by any Mills and boons, forget about the classic of Segal. No need to tell the story after pointing out the above and reading the blurb. The promises are flimsy and the Hero Dhruv Gajjar aka Gajju would have moved on anyway after the usual grieving period. These kind of love story are being written by writers like Rabindra or Durjoy Datta and they do a far better job than this. If the story is partially autobiographical as the name of author and protagonist is same then I feel sorry and sad for the author and M (Mystery girl i guess). Also it is a debut novel. But it still can't redeem the book. The language/ grammar is bad. The way st
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I of the Storm:Discover your True Self by Anju Sharma My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thanks Goodreads and Ms Anju Sharma for providing a review copy in giveaway. Ms Anju Sharma is very well read in spirituality and philosophy. The author has presented the complex subject in a very easy form. The author has read extensively on the subject from various sources and gurus/ authors like Rumi, Geeta, Buddha, Vipasana of Goenka, Freud, Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kobat Zinn to name a new. The author has understood them in depth and taken what she experienced as right. To quote Kabir here साधू ऐसा चाहिऐ जैसा सूप सुभाय सार सार को गहि रहे थोथा देय उडाय Saadhu aisa chahiye, jaisa soop subhay Saar saar ko gahi rahe, thotha de udaay A gentleman is like a thresher in character As it absorbs the core fluff it lets skitter The author is just like the Sadhu in the above doha. The author also makes this point as told by Buddha in kalamas: “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do no
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The Case of the Empty Tin by Erle Stanley Gardner My rating: 3 of 5 stars The story is simple. Mystery is simple. Setting and characters are light unlike now a days. I like the light tone and playfulness of characters. Now the novels are so dark and depressing. Chemistry between Perry and Della is crackling. Paul Drake is very supportive and hapless in front of Perry's antics. Some things remained unanswered and some loose ends were not tied. Still a very enjoyable story. Some excerpts: That's one thing about my husband. No matter what happens, he can sleep like a log. I don't think he ever actually worries about anything. I don't mean by that he isn't concerned over the situation. He simply doesn't worry about it. If he knew he was going to be executed tomorrow, I don't think he'd lose a minute's sleep. He'd simply say, 'Well, if it's going to be that way and there's nothing I can do about it, there's no reason for losing an