Review: Unns-The Captivation

Unns-The Captivation by Sapan Saxena
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Note: I won this book in Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review of the book]

This book Unns by the author Sapan Saxena is pacy read.
The story of the book is based on a love story and a couple of spy missions woven around it. Atharva and Meher are in the same school and they love each other but Meher decides to break it up after her parents come to know about it and coerced her to think about her career and future first. Atharva joins India's spy service and meets her again during a spy mission in Germany and the story takes spin from there.

The story is OK and the narration is pacy . I didn't found the character of Meher convincing and at times I found her stupid. I found the book a bit slow in beginning and towards the end. The end could have been faster.

Overall I liked this book and rate it 3/5.


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Review: Why Should I Love You...???

Why Should I Love You...??? by Kamal Paneru
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

[Note: I won this book in Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review of the book]

This book by Kamal Paneru is a love story between Raunak, Juhi (and Megha).Raunak and Juhi talk over a wrong call and they exchange SMSes and their relationship grows. There is Megha, who also loves Raunak. Juhi separates from Raunak and Raunak moves to another city. there, Megha expresses her love for him. Raunak accepts it but one day Juhi meets him again in a marriage party and the story spins.

The story of the book is OK. The book is dead slow barring the beginning and the end. Unnecessary details , incidents have crippled the narration. Also, the author's writing style didn't go well with me.

It's a poorly written book.I rate it 1/5.

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Review: Monsoon Minds

Monsoon Minds by Ravi Nambiar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Note : I won this book in Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review of the book]

This is a short story book by the debutant author Ravi Nambiar. There are 18 stories in the book and nost of them are setup in a village. The stories are sensitive and are of very high quality. The writing style of the author is Lucid and kept me glued to the book throughout.

The best part of the stories is that they have rural background and captures the essence of what the author wants to say.

The God of mason, The last Pilgrimage and, the divine bonding are some of the stories which I liked the most.

I liked the author's writing style. It flows smoothly and there is never a dull moment in the stories.

I rate this book very high and give 5/5 stars.

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Review: A Way to the Infinity World

A Way to the Infinity World by Narendra Singh Nathawat
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

[Note: I won this book in Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review]

I have mixed feelings about this book by Narendra Nathawat & Vishvendra Nathawat.

The story is about Alfred who transcends to a infinity world which his father , a scientist, wanted to go and went as well. The story crumbles here. There is nothing much for Alfred to do here. He roams around this world with Avya. He also meets his grand father. But there is not much in the story. The story starts well but it's almost lost After Alfred reaches the infinity world.

The formula Y2Y was too immature as author is not able to portray a eco system around it.

Overall I didn't like the book and I rate it 1/5.

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Review: State vs Amrit Kumar

State vs Amrit Kumar by Govind Sharma
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Note: I won this book in Goodreads giveaway and this is my honest review of the book]

This is the second book, which I have read, by the author Dr. Govind Sharma.

The good thing about this book is that the story is good and it's pacy after initial slowness in the narration.

By looking at the title of the book I thought that this book would be some sort of court room drama but I didn't find that.

The story has many characters where a pujari is murdered to usurp the unused land of his temple and his nephew is also falsely implicated for his murder.the nephew is also murdered in jail. Now his young wife with just born kid moves to live with her brother but her brother is also murdered by the same gang. Her son Amrit goes on to become a police officer and the story ends with some more killings where Amrit is implicated for wrongly conducting a raid on a businessman and during the process the businessman gets killed.

So, this is the story. The narration was pacy barring the initial 50 pages where the author took the liberty to build up the story. After that, the story has pace. There is no suspense in the story and it is narrated as it happens so as reader I know everything that is going on but the Amrit and his mother Madhu would never know who killed his father.

Also, the name of the book is inept and doesn't justify the story. There are no court room discussions to suggest that there is case a person is fighting against the state.

I found this book pacy mad, interesting and I rate it 3/5.

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Review: A primer on Yoga theory and practice

A primer on Yoga theory and practice by Ramesh Bijlani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All life is yoga - Sri Aurobindo

This book is a primer on yoga but gives substantial information about it. All the chapters in the book are already published as a blog in speakingtree.in by the author.

The book starts with a general definition of yoga and goes on to discuss Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga in a detail. It also talks about Bhagwat Geeta's take on Yoga. there is one chapter on Tantra Yoga where it explains all the Chakras and Kundalini and dangers if not practiced well.

While talking about RajYoga it talks about eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. In the whole book, the author has emphasized that yoga is the process of self-improvement and the pinnacle is to become one with the divine. Bhagwat Geeta emphasizes that each person is different and they can choose one from GyanYog, BhaktiYog, karma yoga and follow it in their life and reachh the divine. The Author also goes on to claim that Gita has probably prevented more mental breakdowns than any psychiatrist.

I kind of agreed with the author that yoga is also a great source of self help. If we look at the Yam, Niyam part of the Ashtanga Yoga you will see that all the Niyamas are a way to help us be better . There are 5 niyamas -
1.) Shauchha (Cleanliness) - keep your self clean in body and mind
2.) Santosha (contentment)- Be content with what you have but keep trying to be better
3.) Tapas (concentration of effort) - Apply yourself fully to achieve any goal that you set. in yoga it is to be one with divine
4.) Swadhayay (Self Study) - self-study of scriptures and making your own opinion about it.
5.) Ishwar Pranidhana (surrender to the divine)

The niyamas - Tapas and Swadhayay can be applied in other fields of life as well.

The book, as said , is a primer on yoga and doesn't give much info about the Asanas. it talks about around 20 asanas and Surya Namaskar and briefly talks about the Pranayams and lists some easy to do Pranayamas.
The book also has a section on FAQ which is OK. it has One-hour Practice Protocol which I think is also OK.

I liked this book because it gives a lot of information about Yoga. The book also comes with a CD which shows around 20-30 Asanas discussed in the book and Pranayamas.

I rate this book 4/5.


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