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Showing posts from July, 2018

Review: The Myth of Hastinapur

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The Myth of Hastinapur by Rahul Rai My rating: 3 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 Mahabharat is an epic which inspired generations and writers. Rahul Rai also tried to weave stories around the happenings of Mahabharata. We want to hear these stories countless times. B

Review: My Mute Girlfriend

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My Mute Girlfriend by Himanshu Rai My rating: 3 of 5 stars does love mean being together happily ever after? Or it can a sweet memory? Varun and Vaidehi were in love. She was an attractive, intelligent and confident girl. She was no nonsense and it was impossible to flirt with her. then she becomes indifferent and mute. Varun fails to understand the matter. Then after five years he gets a call from her but his phone breaks before replying. This is simple love story set in an engineering college. There is nothing new and this is like many other books. Lovers of romance will like it. 3/5 stars. View all my reviews

Review: Connecting with Yourself: Why We Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do

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Connecting with Yourself: Why We Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do by Vishal Jacob My rating: 4 of 5 stars people are different and complex. So human interactions are more complex. Degree of complexities increases as the participants increase. Can something be done if know the processes at work. Women are emotional beings. She doesn’t always does the logical things. We feel with our heart and think with brain. Though it is a misconception too. Feelings also reside in brain. The book tells us how the thinking and emotion play out and interact. Different people interpret things differently based on their life experiences. Intelligence, learning and habits play an important part. Every person has different kind of intelligence and traditional IQ scales doesn’t help much here. Habits are formed by repetition and unconscious processes. Chapter 9 is most important which tells about happiness. As per Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky happiness is dependent on 1. Life’s

Review: Trade and Grow Rich : Adventurous Journey to Successful trading

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Trade and Grow Rich : Adventurous Journey to Successful trading by Kirankumar Nayak Indrazith Shantharaj My rating: 4 of 5 stars Trading is risky. Not everyone can make money. In fact, very few are lucky in making profit. Rest are losers. It is a complicated job and people who dive without knowledge and preparation are just gamblers. This book gives us insight into the technicalities of trading. One good rule is not to risk more than 2% of your trading capital per trade. The trade should be hold for long time and no overnight gains should be expected. Chapter 9 tells how trading can be run like a business. The book can be a good starting point for starters. Recommended. 4/ 5 stars. View all my reviews

Review: Hope and Sunshine

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Hope and Sunshine by Debasmita Nath Ghosh My rating: 3 of 5 stars Blurb of the book: Naina Grover has an imperfectly perfect life, or is it perfectly imperfect? A Punjabi kudi from Delhi working in the city of joy, Kolkata is joined by her crazy cousin, Arjun and his sober friend Aditya to come of age while at a long - distance relationship which seems to be going nowhere. She knows it is a recipe for disaster but should she let go or not? Should she hope for the best? Hope she will be accepted? Hope she can settle down? Hope she can come to terms with a family secret bothering her for years now? Just hope. Keep hoping? And then, Hope welcomes a ray of sunshine. Naina welcomes you to look at life from her perspective. 'Hop'e On!' Review Long distance relation ships can be tricky. It might or might not work. Especially in modern times. Naina is in love with Ved. They live apart in Kolkata and Patna. They met during MBA and fell in love. Ve

Review: Till the End of Forever

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Till the End of Forever by Vivaksh Singh My rating: 3 of 5 stars The scars of childhood chase you till death. Child is the father of man. Sigmund Freud said that in his psychoanalysis that the repressed memories and childhood trauma shape our life. Can two broken people become whole when they meet? Ayaan is an atheist who likes to chase his dreams. His mother was killed by his father for being involved in tantric rituals. That damaged his psyche and turned him against God. Avani is an orphan who come in his contact through common friend. The boy meets girl and they fall in love. But Ayaan’s friend Livleen’s sister Luv is brutally murdered. His drunkard father Joban accuses Ayaan of her murder. He has to leave from there and later on another girl accuses him of molestation. The story tries to cover many bases. One is atheism to which many chapters are devoted. Some arguments are forceful. The love story of Ayaan and Avani is rocky. The story moves fro

Review: Not Worth Living

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Not Worth Living by Shreyan Laha My rating: 3 of 5 stars Science fiction and mystery are a good combination sometimes. There is a mystery of rape and assault on a girl. And on the other hand, there is a story of a distant planet Isthenope. Ishita Singh goes to a prestigious Saint Pierce’s college for studies. There she make many friends but a creep from her past stalks her. One day she is kidnapped and raped brutally. Narayan is the police officer in charge of the investigation. On Isthenope a girl Shweta wakes up with throbbing pain in forehead. There she meets Alexander a past secret service agent. The story has two parallel tracks where one is on earth and other one is fantasy. The tracks do not intersect (or maybe towards the end). Mumbai story is like a thriller whereas the Isthenope story is more like a romance. Rape is a blot on humanity and the horrors of that is brought out. There are many inconsistencies in the story. Editing could have bee