Kabira khada bazar me mange sabki khair; Na kahu se dosti na kahu se bair.

About the Book: Doubt has pivoted many a relationship across the centuries. Whether it is Othello suspicious of Desdemona or through the rise of paranoia as a trope in twentieth century writings. While paranoia naturally suggests the vulnerability of individual mind to social rhetoric, it is also the space for deep interrogation of the individual that renders him/her to paranoia. This novel presents that doubt has the potential to be a space of liberation. Madeeha works in Jordan to rehabilitate Syrian refugees. Zehen, a political analyst from India, meets her in the US during their social impact program. He is intrigued and charmed by her, and falls deeply in love. But the world political climate, with its accompanying cultural narratives about terror and pain, infects Zehen’s mind. Zehen begins to suspect Madeeha as a possible mujahid. Will he find his truth? Fear doesn’t devastate; it stirs the inner pot. It is a tender love story that triumphs heartbreaks and sets...

Magic & Survival by Ilana Cohen My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is part IV of a series. This is called (something) and survival series. This novel is Magic and Survival (part IV). Alex is a scientist also. He is working in top university in Russia and as always there is no dearth of beautiful woman. HE meets Julia, his future wife there. He wore suit twice and one occasion was his wedding. Coincidentally Edith son’s name is also Alex. He is busy I his own life. Her daughter Ruth is working for Army and living with his boyfriend. So that leaves Edith alone. So she gives Alex ultimatum. Come to me fully or end it. What will he do and how will Julia react? The two air hostesses give useful tips to Alex to woo woman. Here are these six rules in brief; 1. Never chase woman. 2. Not interested, keep her away and vice versa. 3. Always choose woman older than you. 4. To get rid look her down. 5. Avoid pregnancy. 6. Never give her any presents. To know more about these rules read the ...

Charm & Survival by Ilana Cohen My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is part III of a series. This is called (something) and survival series. This novel is Charm and Survival (part III). Alex meets with an accident on a way to his another lover. Edith takes care of him. She rues the fact but she craves the incredible sex with him. Alex says that Russian men cannot be monogamous and he is capable of satisfying more than one women sexually. Edith wants him totally but has to accept that he will go back to Julia. She is not happy with the arrangement but cannot say no to incredible sex. Alex tells her the stories from Siberia. The pace of book is erratic. It moves back and forth between Israel and Siberia. Alex tells so many stories. They have no connection and it seems that they are of different persons. Alex has multiple personality disorder it seems. No details of business dealings are given. Book is long and protracted and has no plot whatsoever. It read like a documentary on Si...

Mystery & Survival by Ilana Cohen My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is part II of a series. This is called (something) and survival series. This novel is Mystery and Survival (part II). Edith is a widow who is living with her mother in law and two kids. She starts affair with Alex and they have passionate sex. But is it a good idea to be a business partner of your extramarital lover? Alex pitches her a business proposal. He says that Siberian wood of top quality and they can sell it here and get commission. She laps up the proposal and they start the business. Alex’s wife Julia and Edith becomes partner in the firm. Story moves in the flash back and we get t know about difficult child hood of Alex. He is not very bright but was hardworking and survived harsh Siberia. He gets a degree also and have sex with air hostesses. Some witty one liner are: 1. Israeli tax authority was much more forgiving of self employed people than it was for salried employees. 2. Behind every successf...

From Siberia With Love: A Women's Fiction Novel by Ilana Cohen My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am getting books from Israel and find that they have different flavour. They are unlike Indian or American books. This book is part I of a series. This is called (something) and survival series. This novel is Joy and Survival (part I). Edith is a widow who is living with her mother in law and two kids. He yearns for male company which is evident from the fact that she feels attracted for married men. First it is Dr Janusz Zuriel who is older than her. Then after 10 years she meets Alex. He emigrated from Siberia and is a hunk. They start and affair have passionate sex. One passage from the book which I liked: “An affair with a married man is much like Swarovski jewellery. It is like a dream—beautiful, shiny, and pleasing to the heart of a woman. But eventually, it turns out to be unreal. Edith fell in love with the renowned doctor, a man filled with charisma. It was the first time she’d fa...

The Royal Roommate by P.G. Van My rating: 3 of 5 stars Life of royalty is not always a bed of roses. We find that they get everything easy. They are born with a silver spoon in mouth and live comfortably till death. But is it the case? Amy is a happy go lucky girl living peacefully and pursuing her law degree. Her life takes a 180 degree turn on the fateful day when she helps a badly injured stranger. The stranger is a fugitive of another country. In come dashing Sid who pies on Amy due to this action of hers. He moves in as her roommate and falls in love with her the attraction is mutual and they start making out passionately. Then Sid finds out that Amy is royalty. The book is essentially a romance of Mills and Boon variety. Some element of action and conspiracy is thrown in but central motif is romance. Chemistry between Sid and Amy is great and attraction is electric. Some issues are apparent. The way he spies on Amy is reprehensible with total disregard to her privacy. Sid al...

ROOH SE ROOH TAK by Vinit K. Bansal My rating: 3 of 5 stars मोहब्बत क्या है? ये पाने का नाम है या चुपचाप दर्द झेलने का? सच्चा प्यार किस्से कहानियो मे ही होता है. कुछ ऐसा ही वर्णन इस पुस्तक मे है. नील एक इंजिनियरिंग कॉलेज मे प्रवेश लेता है. पहुचते ही वो एक दबंग अमीर जादे की जान बचा लेता है. रणवीर उसे अपना छोटा भाई बना लेता है. नील उसके परिवार के सदस्य की तरह हो जाता है. जैसा की कहानियो मे होता है नील को अपनी सहपाठी अदिति से प्यार हो जाता है. परंतु एक खूबसूरत मॉडेल जैसी लड़की जिया स्थिति को जटिल कर देती है. जीया, नील को प्यार करती है और रणवीर जीया को. इस सब के चलते रणवीर शराबी हो जाता है और नील व अदिति के जीवन मे भूकंप आ जाता है. कहानी मे जिस प्रकार के किरदार है , वो काफ़ी पुराने अंदाज के है. ऐसा ७० के दशक के मूवीज़ मे होता था. एक बेहद शरीफ हीरो. प्यार मे पागल हेरोइने.एक दोस्त जो कालांतर मे विलन बन जाता है. तथा अंत मे एक पागल सुंदरी. और निखिल के रूप मे एक वफ़ादार मित्र. कहानी मे कुछ नयापन नही है. ये सपाट चलती है तथा अंत मे प्रिडिक्टबल होने के कारण नीरस बन जाती है. कहानी इतनी नाटकीय ...

The Colours of Passion: Unravelling Dark Secrets behind the Limelight by Sourabh Mukherjee My rating: 4 of 5 stars A good murder mystery is a page turner. There are many writers who excel in this genre. Yet it is very difficult to keep the identity of real culprit hidden till end. Many red herrings are to be planted and it is a cat and mouse game between author and the reader. In the very first scene Tollywood’s (Bangla film industry) heartthrob Hiya Sen is brutally murdered. The identity of killers is no secret and they are apprehended. She recently married Manav Chauhan a business tycoon. The case is not as simple as it appears, so it is given to ACP Agni Mitra and inspector Arya. The marriage of Hiya and Manav took place after he broke up with a spoilt brat of a rich dad. There are many unanswered questions. Can Agni find out the truth? This is the second book of Sourabh Mukherjee which I read. First one was “In the shadows of death”. I liked both. The qualities of good murder ...

The Mahabharata Code by Karthik K.B. Rao My rating: 4 of 5 stars “...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again. That is their mystery and their magic.” ― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things I am tempted to open the review with these words. Mahabharata is a great book. It inspired countless authors to retell it in myriad ways. Everyone has their own interpretation. Yet we are not tired of reading it....

The Hidden Spark: Ignite The Passion For Your Amazing Life by Vikas Trivedi My rating: 3 of 5 stars All of us want success. The world is running after success. But very few maybe 5% of world population is successful in true sense of the word. All other are just running in a rat race. It seems they are plain lucky. Or is there some formula to success? This book tells us some time tested methods to achieve success and happiness. The book gives techniques for success and happiness. There are many approaches to this and each chapter gives a different one. These are interconnected and part of a whole. The noteworthy ones are given below: 1. The law of attraction: What we think, positive or negative, we attract. 2. The law of you: There is no problem in the world where answers are not known to your inner soul. 3. The law of echo: This is the power of spoken word. 4. Karma: Karma is a force. It has repercussions good and bad both. 5. Switch words: These are words to trigger subconscious ...

Mona Lisa's Secret by Phil Philips My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Mons Lisa by Michael Angelo is the most famous painting of the world. What if the painting in the Louvre, Paris is fake. Joey great grandfather stole the original Mona Lisa. His girlfriend Marie knows Pierre the curator of Louvre. She advises him to return the original to Paris. They fix the return with him on one condition that they return it with after a press conference. It will clear Joey’s family name. But they are double crossed by Pierre once they reach there. It is claimed that fans of Dan Brown's, da Vinci code will love Phil Philips Mona Lisa's Secret. The story is good initially. But it is stretched too much. The plot is wafer thin. Nothing much happens and the motivations of key characters are childish. So is the tactics employed by Joey and Pierre. Pierre sidekicks though ex-military are all morons. The twist which came (in shape of a hidden code in the paining) was a case of too little too lat...

Finding The Angel by Rubina Ramesh The love story of a prince charming and a pretty girl next door is intriguing. As this is a modern day romance prince charming comes in a private jet and not on horse. Though he rides a horse. Faberge the angel is a rare diamond. It is property of Aryan Ranuat the prince. Shefali works for an auction house and is called by Gitanjali Devi to catalogue the artefacts in the fort. Gitanjali Devi is friend of Kalpana who brought up Shefali. Shefali comes to fort is enamoured by Aryan’s charms. They come close briefly and then the unthinkable happens. Angel is stolen and by chance Shefali leaves fort the same time. She does not inform anyone. Aryan is furious and thinks that she did it. He goes to Bombay after her and confronts her. She denies everything of course but finds Aryan irresistable. They share a uneasy romance and what happens next? Will they recover Angel and unite or go apart? Now a days there is a trend of showing broken, psychologically ...

Bramahatya is composed of two words meaning killing a priest (Brahman+ Hatya). Hinduism has four main Varnas (loosely translated castes) and Brahmins i.e. priests are at top of it. The act of killing a Brahman is considered utmost vile and punishment is condemnation to hell till eternity. Ravi is an obedient son working in Dubai and his father is in India. He tries to put him in GMR, an old age home but due to one Dr Chari his father dies. Dr Chari is a Brahman and Ravi vows revenge. He enters the old age home in disguise of his father and helped by Bhawna. Bhawna is an employee of GMR and has a very sick daughter. She is alone as his husband left her due to sickness of the daughter. Will he be able to take revenge? The book is meant for upper caste readers. Almost all main characters are depressed. So naturally the story is depressing. It is slow, boring and has no pace. Nothing happens till the end. Even the romance angle between the two is not developed. There are many...

The Blue House in Bishop by Sunanda J. Chatterjee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book is a double bonanza. It has romance and suspense (say in 70: 30 ratio). There is the genre called cozy mystery. This book can be called cozy romantic mystery. There are four main characters. Alisha is an Indian lady cop who has a broken heart. Sunil is a doctor who is also having his secrets. Duke is ex-military who, is retired hurt. And Jenny is a mysterious lady who claims to be wife of Sunil’s friend Todd. Alisha was in love with his senior who ditched her for a politician’s daughter. She resigns from the force. To top it she lost his brother to a drug overdose and she hates drug dealers from bottom of her heart. Duke is distraught due to a failed mission and adultery of his wife. Sunil’s mother has cancer and forces him to marry before she dies. So she arranges marriage of Sunil and Alisha. Both don’t want to marry, but it gives them a good escape. She comes with him to Bishop, a prosaic town. D...