Review: Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book . The story of the book is OK , first part is also pacy and it kept me glued. But the second part dragged and in third part is hazy.

Margo and Quentin are childhood friends and towards the end the high school Margo plans an adventure with Quentin to take revenge from the her classmates who had hurt her at some point of time in the school specially her boyfriend Jase. And after that Margo disappears. now the second part of the book is all about putting together all the clues Margo left behind to find her current location by Quentin and his friends. (view spoiler)[The third part of the book is about how Quentin and his friends reach Margo. (hide spoiler)].

Over all I rate this 2/5.






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Review: Of Aakash and Aarti

Of Aakash and Aarti by Govind Sharma
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book by Govind Sharma is about about Aakash and Aarti. One had troubled childhood and moves towards drugs and spoils his life . And, another one is stricken with poverty and moves towards trapping a wealthy person.

The story of the book is good but could not hold me for long. The writing style of the author is good but it fails to keep me glued to the book. The book is neither a crime fiction nor a love story but has a little bit of both and probably because Of that There is no strong character in this book.

The story just moves on without causing any excitement.Inclusion of notebandi in the plot was interesting. I thought that character of Rajeshwari could have been more powerful.









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Review: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book talks about concentration of mind and distractions that we face in our work life as well as in personal life.

The idea that this book puts forward is to minimize the distractions or the shallow work and do more DEEP work. The books tells some strategies about how to do it.

Also, this exhorts the reader to quit social media which kind trains the brain to be distractive most of the time.

I liked This book andand rate it 5/5.

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Review: Catalyst

Catalyst by Chandramouli Venkatesan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those great books that make profound impact on ones life. The author talks about why some people succeed and some fail at work and in life.

Almost all people succeed in the first half of their careers but fail to succeed in second part. The author explains some reasons for it and those are full of wisdom. He simply Said that working for 15 years doesn't mean that you have become expert in your work. You have to continuously work on your productivity otherwise there will be chances that a person with lesser experience but with better productivity will be more suitable for the next level.

And, author gives equal weight bumblebees and honesty in work culture. Without it their can be downfall in your career.

I liked This book a lot and rate it 5/5.

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Review: Listen to my Heartbeat

Listen to my Heartbeat by Prajna G.S.
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 by Prajna is a story of a group of friends in a college. The girls are in first semester and the boys are in final semester. They spend time together in The college for almost six-month And then move on in their respective lives.

Trisha and Aysha are school friends and together they get admission into a top class college . There they meet Rohan, Danny and Aryan. And they come together as group and spend team together. Aryan expresses his love for Trisha to her , she doesn't reject it but takes a while to make up her mind. Aysha and Danny also come together after some hiccups. Trisha wants to take care of her mother first and then think about her relationship with Aryan. And after one-day when she finds her mother admitted to hospital by her neighbour as she was out on a college tour she is filed with guilt and asks Rohan to leave her so that she can focus on career and mother with undivided attention. After some years everybody is settled in their jobs and Trisha meets Aryan again at Aysha and Danny's engagement and they decide to marry along with Aysha-Dannny's marriage.

The story of the book is Ok .it could have been more Pacy.

I found Trisha's decision to leave Aryan a bit amateur. Also they didn't have to wait for 7 Years to meet again since both of them were in touch with their common friends.

This is OK book. I rate it 3/5.


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Review: At CrossRoads : Greed for Love and the Love of Money

At CrossRoads : Greed for Love and the Love of Money by Smita Maheshwari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

The book is about Frank and Lydia and people around them.

Victor is dating Lydia despite being engaged to Amy and Frank informs Lydia about it and Lydia finds herself in deep turmoil. and she leaves Glensefield. Frank was not able to find her next 5 years until he visits St. George. He meets again Lydia and their love blossom again. Everything is fine but Frank's wife comes to know about it and she visits St. George and insults Lydia. In response, Lydia marriages to another businessman. But fortunes turn in such a way that her husband dies and Lydia is all alone again and Frank is beside her but she is not interested.

The story moves smoothly. In the hustle bustle of the business deals, the focus is always on Frank and Lydia. The story also talks about how the greedy financial corporations caused the 2008 financial meltdown across the world.

I liked the book. the author's writing style is also good and I liked it. I rate this book 4/5.

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Review: Maya: Seven Wonders of Life

Maya: Seven Wonders of Life by Sidhartha Satpathy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This Book has a good collection of short stories. There are seven short stories in the book. some of them are heart-warming. there is one character called "Maya" in almost all the stories.

It starts with the story of Rohan who is born into a family of doctors and is not willing to take the family profession forward and leaves his parents home. then there is the story of Mahavira who had to leave his house because of the political violence due Kaveri water issue between Karnataka and Tamilnadu. On other note, the story has strengthened my belief that no violence can happen in our country without the political patronage. politicians always find a way to put the people against each other in the name of states, religion, language etc .

Then, there are a couple of stories of young lovers who try to cope with the failure, some, even after years.

In the end, there is a story of Ele, an elephant. who probably, in the end, realised that there is a cost to pay for independence.

The writing style of the author is good and all the stories are good. I couldn't select a favourite story from this collection as there are two contenders - Horata and Love it flow !!! - Ele .

I rate this book 4/5.




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Review: THE LUTERON KA TEELA

THE LUTERON KA TEELA by Ravi Ranjan Goswami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a small story about a bandit in the Chambal. the story is good and author's writing style is also good.

Kailash Pandey, a bandit, abducts a bunch of people who were returning from a marriage. the bandits leave the bride but abduct the groom, his father and few more people and demand ransom. meanwhile, Kailash Pandey has an old clipping of a newspaper which contains details about his grandfather and he asks one of the captives, who was a Teacher, to read it for him as it was in English and he was not able to read it. After knowing about his Grandfather he becomes restive. and the story takes an unexpected turn.

I would like to see more books on this subject from the author.

this is a beautiful story and I rate it 5/5.

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Review: Bayaan-e-Shikhar

Bayaan-e-Shikhar by Shikhar Balwani
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a good collection of Hindi/Urdu (also typed using Roman Script so if you can't read Hindi letters you can read it in Romans) poems by the poet Shikhar Balwani. He has written the poems on some very general topics - Love and Separation, Society, Relationships, Friendship, and Loneliness.

I found the section on Love & Separation quite Good and this section has some really good "Shers" or couplets. look at the following -

Tere Intezar mei Din Raat me tabdeel ho geya,
Ab tou aaja ki dil bahlane ko meri Parchai bhee na rahi |

It was really romantic !!!!

While Talking about Society he says -

Bada Badnaseeb sa Lagta Hai ye shehar,
ghar to chote the hee, Dil Bhi Chote ho gaye hain.

Its really true about the big cities where people live in apartments and do not know and do not want to know who their neighbour is.

I liked the other parts of the book as well where he talks about relationships, friendship and loneliness.

I found the couplets or Shers original. I liked them a lot and rate this book 5/5.

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Review: 03:02

03:02 by Mainak Dhar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story of the book is about a terrorist attack by ISIS on india specially at Mumbai though that the attack takes place all over India specially in the major cities.

The attack starts with a complete blackout where electricity supply, modes of communication radio, tv, phones stops working. And we have a hero in Mumbai who organizes the common people and fights these highly trained army .

The story of the book is good and narration is also tight. As the story is built around one protagonist, so, it only talks about the things done by him though it had enough scope to get into some more powerful character and get into the picture some more people. With one protagonist the story could not do justice to the event , the attack, fully.

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


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Review: Destiny of Shattered Dreams

Destiny of Shattered Dreams by Nilesh Rathod
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 debut book by the author Nilesh Rathod and it is impressive.

Synopsis:

Atul with some of his friends starts a telecom company after Woking in another for few years. This is a startup company and provides services only in one city. He also faces the challenge of getting the funds to expand the operations of the company in others states. He gets an offer from a politician, who is also a minister in the central govt, to invest a huge amount on his company. Many of his colleagues are against it but finally he goes ahead with it. But very soon he realised that this is not good money for the growth of his company. And then he gets a deal from a bigger politician and the finance minister of the country and that money is invested through FDI. The company starts growing fast and it expands all over and it becomes a billion dollar company.

So far so good, during this whole thing Atul ignores his wife completely and after she gives birth to his daughter she starts living separately. And finally divorce happens. Meanwhile Atul gets involved with Aarti and they decide to get married after Atul's marriage but after the divorce Atul stops believing in the institution of marriage and a hurt Aarti marries someone else and moves to South Africa. During this, Enforcement Directorate smells something wrong in the finances of the
company and starts investigating it and finally CBI also gets involved and Atul is imprisoned for 18 months for using dirty money.

The story gives ample idea to an outsider about how the corporate world runs.
The narration of the author is very tight I didn't find any dull moment in the story.

I liked this book a lot and I rate it 5/5.

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Review: Zindagi Aais Pais

Zindagi Aais Pais by Nikhil Sachan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of short stories by the author Nikhil Sachan. There are nine stories in the book -

1.)Phir ek Parvaz
Nanu and Subu feel threatened after a new boy Vicky comes to live in their locality and they plan to hit him someday but then they realize their mistake.

2.) Vicky Malhotra ka pyar
A young boy changes his name from Sudhir Kumar to Vicky Malhotra assuming that it will create a better impression on his girlfriend but ...

3.) Unneesh tiya sattavan
In this story a young boy sees his father as a superman as for him his father can do anything but once he fails to do and the boy realizes that his father is not a superman but later his faith in his father returns. a cute story.

4.) Basti Basti dher Udasi
This is a story about Chirag, who wants to be a writer but somehow is stuck in his corporate life. and he loses focus in his job and personal life.

5.) Ataria pe lotan Kabootar re
this is a small cute one sided love story of a boy who takes lessons from another boy to impress upon his to-be girlfriend but in the end, he makes a mess of it.

6.) Balamva tum Kya jano preet
this is a story of a Gay boy and how he comes out of the stigma of being a Gay.

7.) Cute Mohar Singh
Mohar Singh is Dabang and famous for his Dabangiri but changes completely after his marriage and his followers want him back but luckily they didn't succeed. On lighter note, this story shows the power of woman ..

8.) Bin poonchch ke Tadpol
This is the best story I found in the book, Kaju and his mother are poor. Kaju is 10 year old and when he sees his mother going out for work without any shoes then he decides that he will buy one for her and starts working on a tea stall. (view spoiler)[One-day police raids the tea stall as it employes minors and Kaju's dream of buying a shoe for her mother gets shattered (hide spoiler)]

9.) Canvas me Joote or ratrani ke phool
This is also the story I liked the most. where an old couple, who do not have any children of their own, work in school and one day the school fires the old man because he is not able to clock the timings the classes correctly.

All the stories are OK but Bin poonchch ke Tadpol and Canvas me Joote or ratrani ke phool will remain close to my heart for a long time.

I liked this book a lot and I rate 4/5.




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Review: Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen by O. Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story is about feeding the poors on thanksgiving day in U.S. . Irony is that poors get so much to eat on this single day that they fall sick and rich,supposedly, in the name of tradition want to feed poor even if they no longer have the means to do it.

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Review: Baaki Ki Baat

Baaki Ki Baat by Nandini Kumar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is collections of short stories by the author Nandini Kumar.

Almost all the stories are good. But I liked raj ki bat and
Ladkiyon wale the most. I found Raj ki bat hilarious and ladkiyon wale a bit sad .

In Most of the stories the central character is a woman. One of the story Bhookh is bold.

I liked the book a lot and I rate it 5/5.


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Review: The Dev Anand Story

The Dev Anand Story by Govind Sharma
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Note: I got this book from the author in return of an honest review]

This book by the author Govind Sharma is a biography of the famous Bollywood film star Dev Anand. the content of the book is based on media reports, author's interaction with actor's fans and social media.

The book has 11 chapters, and the last chapter talks about various awards Devanand won and lists his films in chronological order.

First two chapters of the book, start with his death in year 2011, and moves on to his early life in Gurdaspur then his graduation from Lahore Govt College, Pakistan. He was brilliant in studies.

It was a news for me that his elder brother was a freedom fighter and went to jails as well during Quit india movement started by Gandhi ji.

The missing part here is that there are no anecdotes from his childhood.

After the first two chapter the book directly moves to his struggle in Bombay and how he meets other talented people and gets work.

The next chapters talk about all the movies done by him under his banner Navketan films or others. And, how Devanand remained active till his date. When he died at the age of 88, he was still working on in one of his films which was released a few months later after his death.

The book is written very nicely, I never found a dull moment. The book is compact.

But the most important thing in any biography is anecdotes associated with the person. I didn't find many. Also, nothing much is discussed about the personal life of Devanand.

I liked this book for covering Devanand's films career nicely. And, I rate it 3/5.



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Review: The Olive

The Olive by Algernon Blackwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nice cool Story. written around the 1920s. He and she meet at a hotel 's dining room when she throws an olive inadvertently towards him after that a spell of companionship begins between them. the interesting part is that the thrown olive could have gone anywhere in the dining room.

I rate it 4/5

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Review: It's Never a Fairytale : When the Struggle Is Real

It's Never a Fairytale : When the Struggle Is Real by Madhuri Wankhede
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 the author is a love story which is quite obvious from thethe ttitle and the blurb.

The story of the book is very common where girls parents are orthodox and do not agree to her marriage to the person of her choice.

The role of girls brother is somehow missing in the book and I thought probably he will pitch in somewhere and act as a savior. But that didn't happen , his references disappear after the few pages of the beginning.

I didn't like the author's writing style. In the first half of the book you will find someone is always going out for a coffee on every second page.

I also think that, probably the author didn't do any research on love stories other wise she would have titled this book as "it's a fairytale" instead of "it's never a fairytale". Because, the couple nearly had a cakewalk and got married easily.

This is small book , if you have never read a love story you can give it a try. I didn't like it. I rate it 1/5.

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Review: Luteron Ka Teela, Chambal

Luteron Ka Teela, Chambal by Ravi Ranjan Goswami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a small story about a bandit in the Chambal. the story is good and author's writing style is also good.

Kailash Pandey, a bandit, abducts a bunch of people who were returning from a marriage. the bandits leave the bride but abduct the groom, his father and few more people and demand ransom. meanwhile, Kailash Pandey has an old clipping of a newspaper which contains details about his grandfather and he asks one of the captives, who was a Teacher, to read it for him as it was in English and he was not able to read it. After knowing about his Grandfather he becomes restive. and the story takes an unexpected turn.

this is a beautiful story and I rate it 5/5.

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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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Review: The Break-Up Clinic: A Novel

The Break-Up Clinic: A Novel by Govind Sharma
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

The saddest three words for a person in love are 'It is over', and the rejection by the loved one can be the most painful emotional moment of life. - Dr. Gemini (from the book)

This is the third book by the Author Govind sharma ( a former IAS officer and MBBS in medicine.) the other two books are - State vs Amrit Kumar , Anant Dot Com .

This book is about a hospital called "Breakup clinic" . The main function of the clinic is to offer psychotherapy and counselling to those suffering from depression following a relationship break-up. The admission policy of the Break-up clinic gave priority to the suicide attempt survivors. doctor Dev is in charge of this clinic.

There are three suicide survivors in the story and each one has his own story and Doctors try to cure them through therapy and counselling and sometime through medication. psychoanalysis is used to unravel the hidden emotions in the unconscious mind and cognitive therapy is used to help patients control their thoughts, feelings and behavior.

The book gives some basic understanding of why people in failed relationship still cling to it even if it hurts them badly and it even forces them to hurt themselves and sometimes attempt suicide to gain sympathy from their tormentor. the tormentor also takes advantage of it. The author has nicely explored the thought process of the three survivors. but i wish that the author had explored the mindset of the three tormentors of the three patients in the book as well and that would have given both sides point of view.

Were the tormentors really selfish people ? not sure. when one dumps another, can (s)he be accused of guilty ? not sure.

The book talks about ego defense which is unhealthy way of handling your emotions.

This book surely helps to understand the various dimensions of a failed relationships and exhorts readers to take medical help to overcome. and, it says life is always beautiful and - The first and fore-most thing is to forgive and forget your ex...and never go back to him/her.

The writing style of the author is very good and he has narrated the story very well. I rate this book very high and rate it 5/5 .

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Review: Chasing 33%

Chasing 33% by Jitendra Jain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This is really a funny book if you can pass through the first 20 pages. The Story is very simple where a bunch of guys are appearing for their 10th board exam somewhere a remote place in Assam.

The story of the book revolves around the exam days and there is chapter for each subject and it has some incidents between the friends and talks about the protagonist's hate and love for certain subjects. finally the exam is over and the results are awaited.

What I liked most is, the protagonist, who is always full of wit and and always up to something. There are occasion I could not stop from laughing for minutes.

I rate this book very high 4/5 despite a bit slow beginning.





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Review: A Love Letter to Death

A Love Letter to Death by Nicko Shoid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[note : I won this book in GoodReads Giveaway and this is my honest review ]

Let's burn love with our ego. Our ashes would unite us. - from the book

This is the first book by the author Nicko Shoid. its a collection of poems. Poems have to connect with the readers otherwise it becomes worthless. it easier to understand a poem if recited by the poet or someone who understands it but equally difficult to understand from the written letters. but written letters have a different kind of beauty when you can have all together a different meaning what the poet originally thought of.

any way, this book by the author has a mix collection some of them I found with good message and with some of them I just could not connect.

A couple of poems Forbidden Mother and Lost childhood have raised some difficult questions to be answered by the society or the Govts.

The Author says the "Madness" is all over the world and then goes on to say that -


People are born wise,
age makes them mad.
They are born with tears,
with age comes sadness.

Madness makes people sad over the time.

In Brewery of Mortals he talks about how sorrow and old good times go hand in hand always together. in sorrow, you can always think about old good time and get some comfort in it -

The neat Gulp of sorrow burnt my voice.
Flashback of good times swirled with a flavour of rejoice.

There is one poem on Gulmohar which is quite interesting. the poem Dancing Quill has some profound lines where the author exhorts the Quill to Destroy everything that hides the truth and Keep dancing for someone innocent.

I have read these poems multiple times. it gave me a feeling that i didn't reading anything new barring some thought provoking lines here and there. The poem "Who am I" was bit disappointment, I could not figure out what the author is talking about in the quintet towards the end.
In the poem Birth of a poem one specific line put me off where he says - I wept burying my head in her breast . poets use indirect words instead of using such words. that is the beauty of the poetry.

Over all this collection was OK and I rate it 3/5.




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Review: A Tribute to My Dreams

A Tribute to My Dreams by Balachandran Kodandath
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 by Balachandran Kodandath is about a father's quest to get parental rights over her daughter after his failed marriage.

Abhay and Shweta's marriage is in trouble after a few months of their marriage and meanwhile they also become parents of a girl. and, after a while it becomes unbearable for Abhay to stay with shweta and he files case for divorce and custody of his daughter. the court case lingers on for 3-4 years due to delay tactics used by Shweta's lawer. finally the verdict comes.

Story of the book and its narration is OK. The focus of the story is completely on Abhay, and, Shweta is conspicuously missing from it. Also , I felt that the character of Anita is forced into the story without any logic. the book is pacy in the beginning and end but slogs in the middle.

Overall it was a good read and I rate it 3/5.

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Review: 8 Days A Week

8 Days A Week by Niraj Satnalika
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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

"Sales people need the endurance of Hercules, the brass of Barnum, the craft of Machiavelli, the tact of a diplomat, the tongue of an orator, the charm of a playboy, and the brain of a computer.
They must be imperious to insult, indifference, anger, scorn, complaint, and be razor-sharp, even after drinking until dawn with a customer. They must have the stamina to sell all day, entertain all evening, drive all night to the next town, and be on the job fresh at 9:00 am " - (from the book)


This book "8 Days a week" by Nirahj Satnalika talks about life of a salesman. Rohan is an MBA from a reputed B school and gets his first job as sales manager in a bank at Mumbai. he is assigned to sell bank products and meet deadlines. sometimes he meets the deadlines and sometimes not. during this process he also meets some girls with whom he gets intimate. After a while he gets frustrated with his work and moves on.

The good thing in the book is that it gives some idea about the life of a salesman. next time when I meet a salesman then, probably, will have a benign attitude towards them. I am generally very rude to the tele marketeers because they call me and send me messages despite me being registered with the DND (national register of do not disturb).

The story of the book is not something extra ordinary, the presentation is also mediocre , few things have been dragged in the narrative. The description of his friends when the are separated probably didn't fit in the story and was unnecessary. Rohan's affair in the college also didn't fit well and I felt that it was taken only to add more pages in the book.

In the end I found that the author could not justify the "8 days a week" for salesman.

I rate this book 2/5 .

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Review: The Break-Up Clinic

The Break-Up Clinic by Govind Sharma
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

The saddest three words for a person in love are 'It is over', and the rejection by the loved one can be the most painful emotional moment of life. - Dr. Gemini (from the book)

This is the third book by the Author Govind sharma ( a former IAS officer and MBBS in medicine.) the other two books are - State vs Amrit Kumar , Anant Dot Com .

This book is about a hospital called "Breakup clinic" . The main function of the clinic is to offer psychotherapy and counselling to those suffering from depression following a relationship break-up. The admission policy of the Break-up clinic gave priority to the suicide attempt survivors. doctor Dev is in charge of this clinic.

There are three suicide survivors in the story and each one has his own story and Doctors try to cure them through therapy and counselling and sometime through medication. psychoanalysis is used to unravel the hidden emotions in the unconscious mind and cognitive therapy is used to help patients control their thoughts, feelings and behavior.

The book gives some basic understanding of why people in failed relationship still cling to it even if it hurts them badly and it even forces them to hurt themselves and sometimes attempt suicide to gain sympathy from their tormentor. the tormentor also takes advantage of it. The author has nicely explored the thought process of the three survivors. but i wish that the author had explored the mindset of the three tormentors of the three patients in the book as well and that would have given both sides point of view.

Were the tormentors really selfish people ? not sure. when one dumps another, can (s)he be accused of guilty ? not sure.

The book talks about ego defense which is unhealthy way of handling your emotions.

This book surely helps to understand the various dimensions of a failed relationships and exhorts readers to take medical help to overcome. and, it says life is always beautiful and - The first and fore-most thing is to forgive and forget your ex...and never go back to him/her.

The writing style of the author is very good and he has narrated the story very well. I rate this book very high and rate it 5/5 .

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Review: A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

This book by Fredrik Backman is path breaking. Fredrik Backman is a Swedish columnist, blogger and writer. The original book is in swedes but I found not much lost in the translation to English. So a good credit goes to the translator Henning Koch.
Fredrik Backman is also the author of "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry" and "Britt-Marie Was Here" etc. Which I want to read now.

This book about Ove ( pronounced as OO-veh) is funny and thoughtful both at the same time.

The Story of the book revolve around Ove. Ove's mother was dead when he was young and his father never married again. his father was a hard working man and he has a full influence on Ove's personality. After Ove's father dies, Ove drops from the school and starts working for the same company where his father once worked and he does a good job there. he is considered to be an expert in automobile which he partially learnt from his father and through his own love for the machines. Ove despises the people who can't drive, people who can't mow their lawns properly, people who do not read the sign boards properly and park their vehicle any where and so on. and his motto in life is do the things rather than telling the tails about people. In short, on surface he is a boring personality and one needs to understand him before can enjoy his company. Ove moves on to do a cleaning job in the same company and he has to travel in the night and then one day he meets Sonja (pronounced as So-n-yaa) and finally married her. there is a bit of story here and it explains why Sonja starts liking a person like Ove whom others say is a dour personality. Author describes their togetherness with some thing like this - People said Ove saw the world black and white. but she (Sonja, Ove's wife) was colour. all the colour he had.. The rest of the story is revealed in a structured manner by the author and If it is revealed I may end up spoiling the story here. but in nutshell the way the author has structured this story is also one of the reason I liked this book so much.

The story uncovers many traits of Ove's personality one after another and finally I found why actually Sonja loved Ove so much.

The USP of the book is the way it is structured and the way the author has revealed the personality of Ove in simple words. Some time this book made me laugh and some time smile and some times tears will just roll down from the eyes. such is the personality of Ove in this book. sometimes he looks stupid and the very next moment your heart is full for him. isn't that a rare feeling coming from a book ? I have not felt that for a long time but Ove made me feel like that.

Its my one of the favorite book now and I rate it 5/5.

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Review: My Jiffies: Narration of Moments, Unadulterated and Unpackaged

My Jiffies: Narration of Moments, Unadulterated and Unpackaged by Priyanka Sharma Kaintura
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 is a collection of observations, short stories and poems. Author has used several names for those categories. There are seven categories in which the author has put forward her thoughts. And, towards the end the thoughts become smaller and become aphorisms and some sharp observations.

The book starts with a thought on partition of Indian subcontinent. And, how her grandmother would treat her with her childhood stories and other anecdotes. Then,there is one which explains why Lord Shiva so desirable.And when she talks about love she says - "love is the only sensation in the world,which enables us to live in the moment ".. well, may be true...

The book is full of such sensitive thoughts.
Some of them really made me think why I never observed those though those kept happening around me all the time.

I found the poems in the book ordinary barring couple of them - let me be a nameless face, Spaces.

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


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Review: The State of Wildlife in NorthEast India - 1995-2011

The State of Wildlife in NorthEast India - 1995-2011 by Pankaj Sekhsaria
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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

This book is some sort of academic book , and it means boring :), and it talks about facts, news stories around the wild life in North East India.

The book has two major sections, first has the News paper reports about the protected areas and second section has some essays about some of the wild life areas in this region.

on positive side, The book is has interesting facts to ponder on for a wild life enthusiast. The essays are also informative.

The second part of the book which contains essays was more informative for me. The essays are about following -
-- media's obsession about Kaziranga national part due various reasons.
--Replenshing the Empty forests of Western Assam and it's challenges
-- About Snow leopards and how to protect them
-- The forests of Karbi Anglong.
-- Garo hills
-- How new hydro power project are going to impact this ecologically sensitive area. Around 168 hydro power projects are coming up in this area.
--How local communities are protecting these areas and their limitations.

On negative side, the book doesn't have photographs.

After a point the first section of the book becomes repetitive as they are mere copies from the news papers. Author has left a lot of data or information for the readers to comprehend. and I think that is too much to expect from an ordinary reader.

I didn't expect it to be on par with "National Geographic" but at the end I found it a bit outdated and boring.

If you like wildlife you can read it once and get the pulse of the wild life/forests in North East India.

I rate this book 2/5.


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Review: The Rise of Sivagami

The Rise of Sivagami by Anand Neelakantan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

This book is a prequel to the blockbuster movie Bahubali. It has so many characters in it. A daughter Sivagami who is out to take revenge of his father's killing, her father Was killed by the state for treason. There is a conspiracy to dethrone the king of the Mahishmati and there are many characters involved in it. There are Vaithalikas who are yearning to be free for last 300 years. The slave brothers Kattapa and Sivappa on opposite side of the fight.

The story of the book is good and the characters are also portrayed well. The character of Skanddasa and Kattapa are portrayed nicely. Their sense of duty and dedication for their job was great.

The book also talks about statecraft, it's dark sides and bright sides both.

There were some interesting thoughts on greed and cunning, ambition and strategy .

"Greed and cunning for a man are like two horns of a bull. Without those, a bull may be powerful but would never survive in the wild " - Pattarya to his daughter

"Ambition and strategy were two wings of an eagle, a politician is a flightless bird without them." - Pattarya to his daughter.

I liked the character of Skanddasa the most. For me, his sense of duty was paramount of the story.

I liked the book overall and I rate it 5/5.

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Review: No Matter What I Do: I End Up Falling for You

No Matter What I Do: I End Up Falling for You by Devanshi 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 first book I have read by the author Devanshi Sharma.

This book has couple of nascent love stories in it. Kabir and Suhani have one which is a typical love story and Amaira and Kushank's has a bit of events but I think their togetherness cannot be called love story but may be it can be called :).

The character of Amaira is strong and impulsive and kushank is timid. Suhana could have been more powerful had she not gone to Kabir's house after she broke from her parents. Kabir is carefree but sensitive.

I liked Amaira and I wanted her to be more powerful. She could have been a powerhouse and her story could have ended in a better way.

I found the story good and flowing but the narration could have been pacy. I also liked the author's writing style.

I rate it 3/5.


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Review: The Book of Summer

The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Note: I thank to NetGalley and St. Martin press for ARC and this is my honest review of the book]

This is the third book from the author. The story has easy flow and no hiccups or dramas and has narration of two intertwined stories in parallel.

The story begins with Bess getting a call from her father to immediately visit her Mom,Cissy, who lives alone at Cliff House in Sconset, Nantucket, and persuade her to get out of the Cliff house. the Cliff House can collapse any time due to erosion. While cleaning up the Cliff House, Bess comes across a book "The Book of Summer" and the book has the memoirs written by the people who visited this house . Through the book Bess comes across to know more about her Great grand parents and other members of the family.

The character of Ruby could have been given more space. and, certainly she is one of the more powerful characters in the book.

There are some good one liners in the book coming out from Ruby in the context of her husband -
" who needed alcoholism or drug addiction ? Become a workaholic and enjoy the twin benefits of ignoring your problems and earning a paycheck."

and another one -
"A person doesn't generally self-medicare unless there's pain to chase away."

I liked the author writing style and the duel narration of the story as well. I liked Hattie and Ruby.I wish Sam's , husband of Ruby, condition was explored more .

The story is OK and I liked. Towards the end, I was expecting something surprising to come out from the "The Book of Summer" but that didn't happen. The end could have been better.

I rate this book 3.5/5.


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Review: Guru with Guitar

Guru with Guitar by Vikrmn
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 a OK book. The narration is laced with some good quotes and author's writing style is also good. But, the story is predictable.

The story begins with Viktor and Kim , Who work in the same office, meet to each other awkwardly in the beginning and end up liking each other and finally they are in love. Viktor , though he earns enough,is not happy with his life and Kim helps him to find out that missing piece and fits that into his life.

The beginning and end of the book is good but it drags a bit in the middle. And sometimes I felt that the middle part was unnecessary.

The book could have captured the chemistry between Viktor and Kim a bit better.

It could have been a better book had the middle part of the book were tightened a bit.


Still it's a good read and rate it 3/5.

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Review: Blinks in Blackout

Blinks in Blackout by Hari Parameshwar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[I won this book in GoodReads giveaway and this is my honest review of the book]

This is good a book and my first from the author Hari Parameshwar. The book tries to reveal about the inner conflicts of Vikram, the main character of the book, and people around him, be his wife or girl friends.

Vikram has an accident at his home and remains unconscious for some time and during this duration he revisits his life from childhood to current date. he talks to himself during this period and at the end of it he recognizes whats wrong with his life. Story is good and at times the narration turns philosophical while talking about the life of Vikram and his girl friends or his corporate life. but the main focus of the narration is on the personal life of Vikram and his inadequacies.

Sometimes I found that the sub stories were slowing down the narration and sometimes it dragged.

The end of the book was quite predictable but still i wish the author had stretched it a bit more to reveal the good part of Vikram.

I rate this book 4/5.

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Review: You Can Be Rich Too With Goal Based Investing

You Can Be Rich Too With Goal Based Investing by P.V. Subramanyam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

The book gives a good insight into "money" part of our life. we earn and we spend and we save/invest as well. of late, spending habits in India has changed significantly and people do not think twice before spending. I find this true , especially, for the current generation who are in their twenties and do not take savings seriously.

The book starts with a little bit of calculations from you and author wants you to check where you stand financially and then slowly and slowly exhorts you to identify the points in you life which are hurting you financially and tries to convert you to become , if you are already not, a habitual money saver. He also pushes you to identify your unnecessary spendings through maintaining the account of your spending or rejecting the new products that you do not need and so on.

I found the explanation in the book simple enough to understand. the author also talks about the mutual funds , insurances and how to build a good portfolio.

The author has also listed some calculators at goalbasedinvesting.in which can be used to calculate how much you need to save for various goals you may have in life.

This is a very good book to understand the basics of investment and talks about various tools available in the market to do it.

I rate this book 5/5.

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Review: Anger: Taming the Beast

Anger: Taming the Beast by Reneau Z. Peurifoy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Note: I got this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review]

This book is about Anger, which is one of the most powerful component of human behavior and weakest as well if not handled well. the main theme of the book is - how to experience anger at appropriate level and make it constructive.

The author starts with a question - what is anger ? and takes us through the reasons behind it and repercussions of it. What are the various ways a person responds when s/he is angry. the author has discussed four patients , coming from different backgrounds. these patients are discussed in almost all the chapters and through them the author has tried to convey minute details which were probably not possible without them.

The author has emphasized that anger can be controlled and this book is a kind of a workbook which demands you to take charge of your life and track all the details in your daily life that can cause anger. It also talks about how to know early if you are going to get angry by keeping a close watch on your body sensation, your behavior etc. almost each chapter has some sort of exercise to know your self more and to understand your relationships which are getting spoiled because of anger.

The book talks about how distorted thinking and stress cause inappropriate anger. there is a chapter about how the past of a person can cause it .

There is a very good chapter on how to handle kids and their power struggle with parents. these chapters are full of wisdom. after reading this chapter I realized what I should not do to encourage my kids.

The book also talks about conflicts and how to resolve them. how to handle shame, embarrassment, envy, jealousy, resentment.

I would be reading this book again after few months, as author has asked as well, to make sure that I do not forget the things I learnt from it.

This is a great book and I rate it 5//5.

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Review: OPEN-EYED MEDITATIONS Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life

OPEN-EYED MEDITATIONS Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life by Shubha Vilas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Note: I won this book in GoodReads Giveaway and this is my honest review]

This book has about 62 chapters and each chapter talks about some specific aspect of human behavior. there are chapters about managing your self and about leadership skills.

while discussing all these, the author also refers to incidents in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. at times it feels like that incidents are just pushed into the narrative even if it is not needed.

The book is full of wisdom and each chapter in the end has a terse summary which I liked more than the chapter. while reading about the relationships and people it reminded me of the Dale Carnegie's book - How to Win Friends and Influence People.

There are some good chapters on Leadership skills and how a leader should act in bad times. I feel that this book has to be read and read again by me, specially the summary of each chapter towards the end of it, to make sure that I can recall these ideas when needed.

I rate this book 4/5





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Review: JavaScript for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming

JavaScript for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming by Nick Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I knew a bit of java script before reading this book and the last time when I did the coding in pure java script was around 12 years back. After that all kind of new frameworks like struts, JSF ,ADF hit the market and people like me who were on product development easily made that shift and stayed away from working in JavaScript for years.

Now again, everything is moving onto cloud and we need far better libraries , frameworks to meet the requirements and going back to basics.

I needed a kind of crash course in JavaScript and this book was a good one to start with. I took the baby steps while reading this book and wrote almost all the code mentioned in the book , in my browser and now after finishing the book I feel good and confident about JavaScript.

This book has set a good foundation for java script and I think that now I can read and understand JavaScript libraries better.

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Review: Why Motivating People Doesn't Work . . . and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging

Why Motivating People Doesn't Work . . . and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging by Susan Fowler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a good book to understand how motivation, and its regulation and shifting from one motivation level to another, works.

The book talks about various levels of motivations. And, assumes that every person is already at some level while doing a specific task or doing any general work in life. Now, there are are suboptimal motivation level and optimal motivation level. Suboptimal motivation works but works only for a small amount of time and it needs continuous impetus. On the other hand optimal motivation is self regulated and most of the time it works very nicely and keeps people stress free and more productive.

The author also talks about how to achieve self regulation by using mindfulness,values and purpose in your life. It took me a while to relate these ideas.

The book is engaging and It required me to do some really hard thinking to understand some part of it and correlate the concepts.

I rate this book 5/5 simply because of the novel ideas it puts forward about motivation.

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Review: A Short Life of Swami Vivekananda

A Short Life of Swami Vivekananda by Swami Tejasananda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book nicely captures the life of Swami Vivekananda but is devoid of the details of the spiritual practices that Swami used to do. So, it can be read and understood by everybody.

Swami's life always inspires me to do something good in life.

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Review: Born to Run

Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a nice book.

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Review: Our Friend the Dog

Our Friend the Dog by Maurice Maeterlinck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

its Ok.

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Review: दर्रा-दर्रा हिमालय

दर्रा-दर्रा हिमालय by Ajoy Sodani
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this book the author talks about his 2 expeditions in Himalayas along with his family.

The first expedition is from Gangotri to Badrinath via Kalindi khal and The second one is to Auden's call.

Author's writing style is OK but I expected the places to be captured well in words but I do not see that.

I rate this book 3/5.

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Review: B Ground West: ..a drift into kgp..

B Ground West: ..a drift into kgp.. by Siddhartha Bhasker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

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

This is one of the bad books which I have ever read. It is poorly structured and the story wanders randomly and, sometimes, I felt there was no story at all. The Narration of the incidents is poor.

I couldn't fathom the end as well. Probably I am not the right reader for this book.

I rate this book 1/5.

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Review: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is written in completely American context but is applicable to any country which have people with lower income and a part of the society where crime is higher.

The book talks about what it takes to kids from the lower strata of the society to complete their schooling and then gradua tion and finally succeed in life .

I may not agree with ideas presented in the book but they force you to think and think deeply to understand them better.

In short, to succeed in life a kid need to inculcate self discipline , perseverance and proper guidance at the right time and this is what the books talk about through its all the stories and incidents.

I rate this book 4/5.

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Review: Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book reestablishes the fact the life becomes what you focus on. So if you focus on the good thing you will never have dearth of it and of you focus to solve the problems then too there are high chAnces that you will be able to find the solution.

The book looses its focus in between and drags the topics.



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