...shoOOonya...

​   Book: The Cuckoo's calling Author: Robert Galbraith / J K Rowling No. of Pages: 455 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Mulholland Books   This has long been on my to-read list … finally picked it up and read it. Liked it but not too much I love mysteries and murder mysteries are included. I like the suspense and how things tie up nicely in the end and the murderer is revealed to be someone who is least expected to be one and whom you might have chanced a guess without any strong line of argument. But I don't like it when the author decides to write a looooong novel when an average sized novel would have been just fine. Why 450 pages when a 250 page novel would have done the job nicely and succinctly. I loved the first 4 harry potter books but did not like HP part 5 onwards simply because the books went on and on forever ... interest begins to fade if your novel is long and your story is not moving fast enough. That's w...

​   Book: Daimones   (Daimones Trilogy #1) Author: Massimo Marino No. of Pages: 330 Genre: Fiction Publisher: FoS     Usually, I avoid the doomsday / apocalyptic themed novels but something about Daimones made me read it. Although I don't really like the apocalyptic stories and novels; I liked Daimones. Yes, the stage is set when a man discovers one fine morning that everyone (yes, literally everyone) is dead except his own family (wife and daughter). Most part of the story is about survival in such a scenario and what can happen when you discover that someone else is also out there (and someone is out there who cause this apocalypse) Nice written - I liked the various perspectives expressed in the story. The first phase of the book is about the realization that 'rest of the world' is dead. It was beautifully written and brought out nicely. How the protagonist makes the connections and panics and then takes hold o...

    Book: Bootstrapping With A Paycheck: Entrepreneur Journeys Author: Sramana Mitra No. of Pages: 207 Genre: Non Fiction, Business Gyan for Entrepreneurs    Publisher: Self Published   Sramana Mitra interviews founders who started their company or product development while still holding onto a full-time job (albeit after clearing it from employer and ensuring that there was no conflict of interest). It is interesting to read about the entrepreneurs who funded their business dreams with their own paychecks and their struggles as well as jubilations. Most important, the book reminds the reader again and again that "bootstrapping with a paycheck" is not only possible but you can actually end up building a very large business starting like that. Nothing to stop you from doing that. At the same time, its going to be a bed of thorny roses and a very rough ride. There will be failur...

  Book: The Lunatic from Multan Author: Rajeev Jacob No. of Pages: 217 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Lancers Books ------------- Apologies are in order first. Like most of the book reviews I am posting these days, this one is also pending from last year. The book was delivered in February last year and I was able to read it by July … but the review took almost 8 months to arrive on my blog. Apologies to readers as well as the Author (and authors of other book reviews I am posting) . This is way too late.   ------------- The Lunatic of Multan is a nice well-written book with some good amount of thrill drilled in without being a very exhausting action paced thriller. I liked reading it. Here is what the book blurb say: Why does a lunatic's escape from an obscure mental home in Multan cause so much anxiety among top officialdom in Pakistan? Who is he? What dark secret does he concea...

  Book: Kamadeva: The God of Desire Author: Anuja Chandramouli No. of Pages: 326 Genre: Mythological treatise Publisher: Rupa Publications India   Important and Interesting Note: This review is in 2 parts (first of its kind on my blog). I did not like the book initially and gave up half-way. Wrote a review and sent it to the author. While she did not ask me to 'not post' the review, she did mention that I gave up too early. Well … I decided to give it another shot and then wrote the second part of the review. Did my views about the book change … well … read on)   Review – Part 1 – after abandoning the book half-way I am kinda confused about this book. It was an excellent opportunity to read and learn about a less-talked-about character from mythology. And he is no less than our Hindu Mythological Cupid ... of Godly status. So it started out fine but then things started to dera...

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...