Category: From My Bookshelf

There are lots of books stacked on my bookshelf. When I pick one of them, I dive into the amazing world created by an author as soon as I open the cover. However, there is always “the end” written on the last page of the book. Have you ever felt that you are in the same world with those characters? Witnessing those scenes written on pages in your hand, hearing voices of characters speaking dialogues scripted for them? There are a few books which have taken me in their world. And I must say, they are magnificent. Valentia created by Rajamayyoor Sharma is on top of my head as far as Indian fiction is concerned while James Clavel has taken me to mediaeval Japan. I have roamed around London with Sherlock and Poirot.

And yet, the journey in those realms, started from the cover page, has its end marked. The author takes the characters by hand and takes them to their destination by the end of the book. They fulfil their destiny. If a writer chooses to give happy moments at the end, we enjoy them. If it’s a tragedy, characters at least get closure at the end. Many times, I wish to ask the author if he or she has forgotten to write something for me? What about my destiny at the end? What about my share of the closure? Haven’t you thought about me as an uninvited traveller on this journey when you wrote a book?

Here you will find my reflections on my readings. Hope you will also enjoy these stories as much as I did.

  • Reflecting on our common life in 2020

    Reflecting on our common life in 2020

    March 2020 hit us all badly. That microscopic thing crushed all our plans for the that summer and some more. We got stuck in our apartments, bungalows and buildings for indefinite time. Everybody’s life was limited to a specific area and our experiences were almost similar. Calling to friends, drinking weird coffees, cooking all sort of things which internet showed, getting yourself a new haircut, moving from balcony to living room, pacing to and from in the loby and what not.

    And this is exactly why this book is so relatable. We all have shared the same routine during those times. Yet we couldn’t document it nicely so that others can read and relate to it. Nino Gugunishvili had done that job for us. So when humans from future looked for the past pandemics, they will have some documentation for this time.

    What to expect from this?

    Not all would like to go back and revisit the memories of pandemic. And yet some will find it helpful to know that they are not alone in this. This book gives a sharp sarcastic touch to our common life which was forced on us. Nino has put a humorous spin while talking about her life which she spent in her apartment in Tbilisi during the lock-down of 2020. These are the thoughts in your mind when you spend most of your time in the balcony trying to connect with streets below, empty car-park of adjacent commercial estate or a lone dog-walker in the park, or someone standing in the opposite balcony.

    One paragraph from this personal account of events stayed with me.

    “Will we be different when the Coronavirus outbreak passes? Are we going to change our habits or goals and ambitions when it’s over? Or are we going to stay just as we are? What are we going to gain from all this experience? Something? Anything? Are we going to hate Mondays again collectively?”

    From my balcony to yours – Nino Gugunishvili

    From the blurb

    Canceled Plans? –Check!
    Panic and Fear? – Check!
    Self- Isolation? – Check!
    Missing Friends? – Check!
    Gaining Weight? – Check!
    Binge-Watching TV? – Check!
    Lengthy Self- diggings? – Check!
    Hope? – Check, check, check!
    Who would have thought that Global Pandemic, Self-Isolation, Cluster, and a Lockdown were to become the trendiest words in 2020? Who would have imagined the world would freeze and people would stay home shattered with fear, panic, uncertainty towards their future?
    How do we adjust to this changing reality, when none of our questions have answers when plans turn upside down, things get totally out of control?
    In her new book: “From My Balcony to Yours,” author Nino Gugunishvili shares her personal account during the first several months of the COVID -19 global pandemic in the form of short stories and observations.

    Nino Gugunishvili’s writing biography includes a collection of short stories “ You Will Have a Black Labrador” and a women’s fiction novel “ Friday Evening, Eight O’Clock.”

    About the book

    • Book Name: From my balcony to yours
    • Publisher: Independently published
    • Published on: 13th October 2020
    • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08L435PC8
    • ISBN 13: 979-8696966922
    • Length: 94 pages
    • MRP: ₹ 82.00 (Kindle edition)

    My Rating

    Writing style: 3/5
    Stories: 3/5
    Cover Design: 4/5

    Overall Rating: 3/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Experience of the pandemic is not a time which everyone would want to revisit. But this book still has some appeal if you feel better after knowing that you are not alone in the situation.

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.

  • An Extreme Love of Coffee: a gripping story for every coffee lover

    An Extreme Love of Coffee: a gripping story for every coffee lover

    Coffee is my choice of drink any time any day. If you have been following my socials, you would have already know about this. When i stumbled on the book titled “An Extreme Love of Coffee”, it was impossible for me to pass on without putting it in my cart before checking out. Harish Bhat, a corporate bigwig, managing brands for iconic TATA group has turned towards this new aspect of writing. He has already a few non-fiction books under his belt but this one is his first novel. I was kind of nerves to pick it up at first place, but my extreme love of coffee compelled me to go ahead.

    And I am very happy to admit that it was not a mistake. On the other hand, it was quite the opposite of it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book.

    What to expect from this?

    First of all there is a lot of coffee in this one. May be you will be high on caffeine by the time you reach at the end of this journey. Boy, what a journey it was! Story takes you to places. You will travel to very picturesque locations of South India accompanying a couple, a friendly ghost sprinkled with some magical realism and lots of stories about variety of coffees and their origins. There’s a thrilling Japanese connection to the story as a bonus.

    Cover design is very apt for the story which it binds. Narrative and storytelling in this book will never let you believe that this is Harish’s first novel. It comes as a surprise for a reader considering a corporate background of the writer. I simply enjoyed the every page of this story. It has everything which I like, coffee, travel, and a love story!

    From the blurb

    When they drink a cup of ‘magic’ coffee, Rahul and Neha are entrusted with a quest that promises to lead to great treasure. As they race from the plantations of Coorg to Japanese graveyards, they are trailed by the Yamamoto brothers-bearing grudges and carrying swords.
    Accompanied by a friendly ghost and armed with an extreme love of coffee, Rahul and Neha discover their passion for warm frothy concoctions and each other.
    But will they manage to evade their Japanese assailants and find the treasure they first set out for?

    About the book

    • Book Name: An Extreme Love of Coffee
    • Publisher: Penguin eBury Press
    • Published on: 15th October 2019
    • ISBN 10: 0143449117
    • ISBN 13: 978-0143449119
    • Length: 224 pages
    • MRP: ₹ 296.00

    My Rating

    Story: 4.5/5
    Cover Design: 5/5
    Writing Style: 4.5/5

    Overall Rating: 4.5/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    If you are looking for an extreme love for coffee, some magical realism and amazing travel stories…. That is the book you should pick up and just dive in. Sadly I had some other tasks to get done with, otherwise, I would have finished reading this book cover to cover in one sitting..

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Desire: A little nugget of Murakami’s Mastery

    Desire: A little nugget of Murakami’s Mastery

    Haruki Murakami has been an alluring name for me. A work of Haruki Murakami, ‘Kafka on the shore’ has been on my bookshelf untouched for a couple of years now. I had even picked it up but somehow couldn’t go beyond 5-10 pages and that book got left behind. However, this anthology of 5 stories came handy to start my friendship with Murakami’s literature.

    I had read this one in late 2019 has not yet taken my friendship with Murakami’s work further than another short story of his called ‘The Strange Library.’ But today, let’s focus on ‘Desire’. Vintage classic has created this Mini series dedicated to everything in human life from birth to death. Every book revolves around one aspect of life through the works of one of the world’s great writer. There can not be anyone better than Murakami to write about desires in human mind.

    What to expect from this?

    The way Murakami writes his stories is very engaging. Story keeps flowing and take you with it till the end. It pulls you in as you read it. His stories has an underlying layer of an alternate reality which keeps hinting through a suggestive atmosphere of a main story. but this reality will keep alluring you.

    This book is a collection of 5 stories. These are selected gems from three of his short story collections which deals with undercurrent of human desire. He has successfully woven these stories around hunger, lust, longing and love. I have one quote that remained with me till this date from the story Birthday Girl in this collection.

    “No matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves.”

    Birthday Girl, Haruki Murakami

    From the blurb

    You’ve just passed someone on the street who could be the love of your life, the person you’re destined for – what do you do? In Murakami’s world, you tell them a story. The five weird and wonderful tales collected here each unlock the many-tongued language of desire, whether it takes the form of hunger, lust, sudden infatuation or the secret longings of the heart.

    Selected from Haruki’s Murakami’s short story collections The Elephant Vanishes, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman and Men Without Women.

    About the book

    • Book Name: Desire
    • Publisher: Vintage Classics
    • Published on: 8th June 2017
    • ISBN: 9781784872632
    • Length: 109 pages
    • MRP: ₹ 199.00

    My Rating

    Storyline: 4/5
    Writing Style: 4/5
    Cover design: 4/5

    Overall Rating: 4/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Are magical realism, subtle hint of alternate reality and strong human emotions the ways to your heart? Then you should desire to pick this one up! Murakami’s words wont disappoint you at all. If you have already read these stories, do tell me how you like them.

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Cards on the table: Poirot’s one of the finest cases

    Cards on the table: Poirot’s one of the finest cases

    Her fans hail Agatha Christie as the Queen of Crime for her gripping stories written during the golden period of detective fiction. I am a fan of her stories. The way she develops the character and sets up the stage for her detective to shine is commendable. Among all her sleuths, Poirot has caught my eyes and mind the most. Legendary David Suchet has done such a wonderful job of bringing Monsieur Poirot to life. He will get a big part of my fascination towards this small Belgian gent.

    But this doesn’t make the experience of reading the books any less enjoyable. I started reading Poirot from the first title in series, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I was blown away with the story. This lead to the reading of subsequent Poirot books in all formats available, paperback, kindle eBooks and on Audible. And I reached to this title of “Cards on the table”

    What to expect from this?

    The reason I am talking about this book is very simple. First of all I liked the book, and secondly, the title starts with “C”, the third letter in A2Z challenge. Story of this begins with the Poirot getting invitation to a collector, Mr. Shaitana who collects a rare exhibits. He has a habit of collecting the criminals who has evaded the justice. Invitation to Poirot is of a dinner party to meet them. Guests for the party are four people who has a connection with crime solving and four others who are murderers in Shaitana’s eyes. During dinner, Shaitana taunts his suspect with comments which only concerned person will understand.

    After dinner a game of bridge is proposed and as the game progresses, Mr. Shaitana is found dead in his chair by fireplace. Four crime professionals, a Secret Serviceman, Scotland Yard Superintendent, a mystery writer and Poirot himself make their own queries to solve this brain scratching crime.

    Agatha uses all her magic to make these investigations interesting and nail-biting. But what made the experience of this story much more fascinating is the narration of this audiobook. Hugh Fraser, who plays a part of Captain Hastings in the television series with Sir David. His familiar voice took the experience one notch up and made it more interesting.

    About the book

    • Title: Cards on the table
    • Publisher: Harper Collins
    • Published: 5 October 2017
    • ISBN10: 9780008164898
    • Length : 272 Pages
    • MRP : ₹251.00

    My Rating

    Story: 4.5/5
    Narration: 4.5/5
    Production: 4/5

    Overall rating: 4.5/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Pick it right away if you already haven’t. This is really a great story by Agatha Christie. and I am not fanboying about this. I haven’t liked few of her novels. But this one, you shouldn’t miss.

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Byomkesh Bakshi – The Best Indian Crime Fiction

    Byomkesh Bakshi – The Best Indian Crime Fiction

    My interst in the crime fiction as a genre developed over the years of reading. I distinctly remember who introduced me to the thrill of solving the mystery. Rajit Kapoor playing Satyanveshi Byomkesh Bakshi got me hooked on this kind of stories. I used to watch this series religiously on DD National back when I was very young. Later the love for Crime Fiction developed and I discovered many more master storytellers like Sir Arther, Agatha Christie, Jeffrey Archer, Suhas Shirwalkar, Anita Nair and many more. But, Sharadindu Bandopadhyay, a Bengali writer of Byomkesh Bakshi had sadly left my mind. I wasn’t aware if his works are translated into English or not.

    When I started listening to audio books on Storytel and Audible, I suddenly remembered of him. I thought of checking if any of Byomkesh stories are available to listen to. I was happy to see not only his stories are translated but are even available in audio format!

    What to expect

    Sharadindu had written more than 30 stories but Monimala Dhar has translated only 7 of them in this book. I listened to the audio version of the book which was narrated wonderfully by Sumit Kaul. All the stories from the book are fantastic and give a full satisfaction of reading a crime fiction. However, a particular story has stuck with me. Story titled ‘The Avenger’ is translated from the original story with a title Achin Pakhi.

    When Byomkesh and his writer friend Ajit were invited to a wedding in a small town near Kolkata, they met a retired police officer who had settled down in that town. Officer narrate them a story of his last case before retiring which he could not have solve. Police had apprehended few suspects carrying a body of a dead woman on a cot. On investigating, nothing wrong was revealed and they were set free. However things took a sharp turn when the main suspect got murdered by unknown person. Police couldn’t get to the bottom of this. Now after every lead has gone cold, it’s up to Satyanveshi Byomkesh to take up a case or not to find the truth behind it.

    All the other stories from this collection are equally intriguing and interesting to listen.

    From the blurb

    Detective fiction has never lacked devoted fans. The undying popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot vouch for that fact. In the early thirties, a detective by the name of Byomkesh Bakshi made an unobtrusive entry into the world of Bengali fiction. He preferred calling himself a satyanneshi, a seeker of truth, and within days was a household name, courtesy his cerebral skills and the exciting situations he found himself in. In the tradition of Doyle and Christie, Byomkesh is accompanied on his adventures by his friend, Ajit, slightly obtuse and the perfect foil to him.

    About the book

    • Title: Byomkesh Bakshi Stories
    • Publisher: Roopa Publishing / Audible Studios
    • Published: 7 November 2018
    • ASIN: B07K6YDKQQ
    • Length : 6 hours and 26 minutes
    • MRP : ₹287.00

    My Rating

    Stories: 4/5
    Narration: 4.5/5
    Production: 5/5

    Overall Rating: 4.5/5

    Where to buy

    Should you read it?

    If you can’t read Bangla, this this is the best way to enjoy these master pieces written by Sharadindu Bandopadhyay. You will not regret it that’s my word!

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.

  • Frank Notes on Life in Khushwant Style

    Frank Notes on Life in Khushwant Style

    I remembered picking up this book from a newly opened crossword. Till that date, I had only heard name and fame of Khushwant Singh, a grand old man of letters. This was the first of his books I picked up. Though cover with a photograph of this old yet confidant man enticed me to buy, the book actually landed in my over-increasing pile of TBRs.

    His work is far from a light read and just for this reason, I had left the book once only after getting in just a few pages. But I picked it up once again after some years. This time, I decided to give it a serious read and man, I was blown away! His writing is so raw and true to his believes that some people will be turned away with it.

    What to expect from this?

    When he wrote this one, he was at the age of 96. He opens the book with this topic, about being old! In the later pages, he opens up about his views on sex, love and marriages. He talks about his relationship with his wife Kaval and the rough patch in their marriage. He also writes about his worries, insecurities and much more.

    Next he moves on to the people he came across in his life, few he liked, he respected and some whom he trashed with his pen. He had trashed the religious fundoos (his word for fundamentalists) from all the religions including his own with harsh strokes of his pen. Khushwant took a strong stand against Bhindranwale for which he was on their hit list for years. He shares his views about politics, terrorism and the riots of 1984.

    Even being agnostic himself, he writes elaborately on various religious scriptures and what he finds good in them. There is a long piece on Sikh community in the book along with one on the city of Delhi. Khushwant shares his love for Urdu language and especially for Urdu poetry, where he tells us how he enjoyed translating works of great poets in English and his favorites amongst those legends.

    From the blurb

    In Absolute Khushwant, India’s grand old man of letters tells us about his life, his loves and his work. He writes on happiness, faith and honesty. And, for the first time, about his successes and failures, his strengths and weaknesses, his highs and lows. He tells us what makes him tick and the secret of his longevity; he confesses his deepest fears and what he holds dear. He writes about sex, marriage, worship and death; the people he’s admired and detested. With personal anecdotes and rare photographs, Absolute Khushwant is uncompromising, moving, and straight from the heart.

    About the book

    • Title: Absolute Khushwant
    • Publisher: India Penguin
    • Published: Feb/2019
    • ISBN: 9780143068716
    • Length : 212 Pages
    • MRP : ₹250.00

    My Rating

    Content: 3.5/5
    Cover Design: 3.5/5
    Ease of reading: 2.5/5

    Overall: 3/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Does a social commentary catches your attention? If the firm views don’t bother you, you are in for a treat. Just take up the book with open heart and give it a go. Not every one will enjoy this one.

    This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023. For more about my views on books, click here.