...shoOOonya...

Book: The Professional Freelancer Author: Rory Scherer No. of Pages: 114 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Self Published using Amazon Digital Services   A nice little short novel - in fact, a surprisingly good Novella The setting was unique and very interesting. The narration style created the right sense of suspense and kept you glued to the pages and made it difficult for you to stop reading until you finished. The highlight for me was the fact that it was written in first person from the point of view of the protagonist. It's been some time I have read a story in this format and I have always been biased towards it. I kinda like to see the story unfold from an individual's point of view. Another thing was the attention to detail that Rory has given to the setting and the storyline. I can hardly describe it. You better read this one to know what I am saying. I enjoyed reading it and would easily rec...

  Book: The Threshing Circle Author: Neil Grimmett No. of Pages: 294 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Grimpen Publications   It was a strange book to read and review. A pretty much twisted revenge and vendetta story with some clearly identified actors and 2 families guarding and defending their honor. But that's not the key to the book. Neil Grimmett spends a lot of effort to give you a deep insight into the thoughts and feelings of the people involved and how their perceptions, decisions and actions are defined by the deeply ingrained virtues as well as what they see first-hand. How new info is interpreted and often misunderstood and how it impacts the earlier formed perceptions. Neil uses the central character to display these vagaries of being emotional and I would say he has done a decent job of it. The village setting was also well-used in the story and one could see how it impacted the thi...

  Book: The Nidhi Kapoor Story Author: Saurabh Garg No. of Pages: 316 Genre: Fiction, Murder Mystery Publisher: Grapevine India   This one was not easy to review. I liked the book when I started reading it and then it became slow. I began to think that the author was losing it, when some twists in the story brought me back into it and I was interested. It again began to lose pace and I was rapidly losing interest but the climax was near and I wanted to know 'for sure' who-dun-it (I had already guessed it long ago in the book). Right then, the author killed off a key character and I was stumped. The climax was as expected but pretty much anti-climactic. At the end, I was left with the feeling of incompleteness. I felt that the book could have been much much better. I even picked up several flaws in the narration and several things did not seem logical to me. So I wrote to Saurabh (the author) and he grac...

  Book: Transactions of Belonging Author: Jaya Padmanabhan No. of Pages: 197 Genre: Fiction, Short Stories Publisher:  Leadstart   I have reviewed short stories collections but this one was different. Intense, Unpredictable, even Strange at times. The stories had a strange tranquil quality to them. They had some substance and had a slow pace with some of them striking your heart in the right manner, while others hitting hard. I liked the collection although I won't say I loved it and would g ive it 5-star ratings. But that's more to do with me than the book. I enjoy action thrillers and even in case of short stories, I prefer the ones which surprise me rather than move my heart. But an occasional sensitive read is always good for the mind and the soul ... and the intellectual and spiritually inclined self. A nice collection of short stories none the less. Anyone can pick this one up and ...

  Book: The Einstein Pursuit (Jonathon Payne & David Jones #8) Author: Chris Kuzneski No. of Pages: 432 Genre: Fiction, Action Thriller Publisher: Headline   Started and completed over the weekend. Completed the book even before I could actually 'start reading' it on Goodreads. This was my kind of book and Kuzneski is my kind of author :) Fast paced action packed thrillers with a sprinkling of humor ... that's what I loved about Robert Ludlum, that's what I loved about Matthew Reilly and that's what I love about the Payne and Jones series of Kuzneski. P&J offer the right amount of action with their own version of humor in their conversations. Even in the most threatening of situations, the humor is a constant companion and a relief for the reader. Acts like a pressure valve and reminds you (the reader) to smile, laugh and yes, BREATHE. The action is believable and ...

      Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I have been very very particular about it all through my life. A habit formed in early childhood, reinforced by parents and grand-parents. Incidentally, what also got reinforced in the process was my breakfast routine … tea with 2 khakhra. It does become boring at times to have the same breakfast over and over again so it is a relief to have upma, poha, those thin noodles (namkeen sevaiyya), sweet breakfast like sheera, occasional parathas, and even sandwiches etc. When I was staying away from home, I ended up with the cornflakes and bran flakes and rice flakes and the entire variety around it. Frankly I was never satisfied with them since the habit was to have hot tea and breakfast (which was also often hot) in the morning. The cold milk + breakfast cereal combination was never satisfying. But I did not really have an option so that was what I had. It was always good to come back home...

I have written a lot about my daughter recently and how can I even begin to write about happiness without thinking about her and without mentioning her. At this stage in life, ALL my happiness originates from her. As if my world has shrunk to the size of her fist. If I were to make a list of things that make me happy … she is right on top of it and crawling all over it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the world makes me more happy than her presence. I am still waiting for her to say 'Papa' clearly. She said 'dada' several months ago and soon afterwards, 'Nana' followed. Next came 'Mumma' but 'Papa' is still elusive. Everyone in the house has made their fair share of attempts to make her say 'Papa' and a few accidental occurrences would have happened too. But, I still wait for the day when she would look at me and say 'papa' without any prompt. My happiness will limitless when I hear that one ...

  The past one year, the entire 2014, was pretty travel heavy for me. I was flying in and out of the country every month spending 2-3 weeks outside and only 1-2 weeks at home. It was taking a toll on a lot of things – my health, my relationship with my pregnant wife and my state of happiness in general. I wasn't able to give my wife as much time as I wanted to and she desired … that too at a crucial juncture of life. There were so many times I was visiting the doctor either just before flying out or right after landing. There were times when I missed the appointment or an important sonography since I was not in the country. I was getting extremely uncomfortable with this mode of living and this phase of my career. I needed a job which kept me with my family. At least with my wife, if not parents. If it could give me a geographical stable role in Mumbai … where I could stay with my parents and wife (and kids); I would love to take it up. ...

    No ... Really. The #ShareTheLoad concept is nothing new to our family and that is Thanks to my grand-father. I have seen him washing his dhoti and other clothing himself even at the ripe age of 70+ and since all of his clothing was white; he had been using Ariel for washing them ever since it was launched in India. He kind of migrated and upgraded from Nirma to Surf to Ariel and then there was no looking back. The #ShareTheLoad or #WashBucketChallenge were an integral part of his life rather than a challenge or a one time thing. And that's where Dad got it from. Even after the introduction of the washing machine in our homes, there was always some clothes washing that we regularly had to do. Not the big ones but smaller pieces … just to stay in the habit of washing clothes. In fact, whenever he visits our native home in Rajasthan, he washes all the clothes himself … and whenever I have travelled with him, I (have to) join him in the t...

  Book: The Seal of Surya Author: Amritanshu Pandey No. of Pages: 272 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Pirates   WOW !! That's what I will say for this one. Pirates have done it again. They have pleasantly surprised me by publishing a book that is a challenge in itself. I wish them all the luck in this and also wish luck to the author who has begun writing a grand epic of gargantuan proportions … something like a cross between Mahabharata and Lord of the Rings. I just hope and wish the author's first book is well received and he is encouraged to write further and complete the series. The incredible universe that the author has created is full of possibilities and a truly grand epic can be woven out of it. The potential is immense and I seriously hope that the author is able to 'milk the cow' to its full potential and then some more. The author has begun the epic talking about the life and ...

  For a change, this is not a book review post in the general sense. Instead it is the review of two short 'books' (each around 40 pages) by Douglas Misquita … and both of these are not even from similar genres. One is a fiction thriller (Know Thy Enemy) while the second is a kind of travel memoir (Impressions of Egypt).   Book: Know Thy Enemy Author: Douglas Misquita No. of Pages: 40 Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Short Story Publisher:  Self Published   Know Thy Enemy is a short story which is acts as a prelude to 'The Apocalypse Trigger' which is Douglas Misquita's full length action thriller. You can download it for free from the author's website www.douglasmisquita.com    The Book Description reads: An artifact from the Baghdad National Museum could justify the coalition invasion of Iraq. But the artifact is among items looted from the Museum just before the invasion. CIA ...