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.

  • With Love; From Aditya’s book-shelf to BlogchatterA2Z

    With Love; From Aditya’s book-shelf to BlogchatterA2Z

    It’s this time of the year when a blogger starts panicking about what should one write throughout the month of April as their entries for April A2Z. Because April is just around the corner and you have no clue about what to write. If you are a part of a community, then a pressure might get more. Few of your fellow bloggers have already scheduled half of their posts. I am one of those who is panicking at the last moment. However, my favorite thing in life has come to the rescue like a best buddy. Yes, I am talking about books cause I can’t write 26 posts about coffee alone.

    Good fellows at Blogchatter; our lovely blogging community; have decided to dedicate this A2Z for “Blogging and Friendship”. And for me, books are the perfect friend who will be with you when you are alone. In fact, a book is a friend who lets you be alone even if you are surrounded by a crowd.

    My love for books is a well known fact for my close friends and family. It has gone to that level that now I don’t get anything but bookish stuff as gifts on various occasions. (I am thinking how no one has thought about the Kindle e-reader as a gifting option? 😉) So I thought it would be a great idea to talk about 26 books which I enjoyed reading during this year’s April A2Z.

    If you have also read the book, we all can talk about it in the comments. Share our notes on what we enjoyed in the book or didn’t. So, don’t forget to join me on this bookish trail for the month of April and enjoy my 26 book recommendations. and for more bookish content, click here.

  • नदीसाठी नादखुळा असलेल्या एका नदीष्टाची गोष्ट

    नदीसाठी नादखुळा असलेल्या एका नदीष्टाची गोष्ट

    एखादं पुस्तक वाचण्यापुरते कोणाकडून उसने घ्यावे आणि वाचून झाल्यावर हे पुस्तक संग्रही असायलाच हवे असे फार फार दिवसांनी आज मनोज बोरगावकर यांचे नदीष्ट वाचताना झाले. तसे पाहिले तर हे पुस्तक वाचायला तसा ४ वर्ष उशीरच झाला. अगदी प्रकाशनच्या दिवशी विकत घेऊन वाचण्यासारखे हे पुस्तक आहे यात अजिबात शंका नाही. आमच्या नाशकाच्या वरच्या बाजूला उगम पावणारी नदी पुढे जात जात नांदेडच्या बोरगावकरांना इतकी माया लावते, हे वाचताना केवळ गोदेच्या पाण्यावर पोसलेला अजून एक पिंड म्हणून की काय माझे एक वेगळेच नाते या पुस्तकाशी जोडले गेले आहे.

    विनायक पाटील यांनी पुस्तकाला अभिप्राय देताना म्हटल तशीच पुस्तकाची शैली अगदीच वेगळी आहे. पण पुस्तक खाली ठेवावे वाटत नाही इतकी मनाची घट्ट पकड घेणारी आहे. निवडून काढावे आणि मधून मधून वाचत राहावे असे खूप सारे विचारधन या संपूर्ण पुस्तकात पानापानावर विखुरले आहे.

    मलपृष्ठावरून

    विषय चाकोरी बाहेरचा आहे. शैली पहिल्या धारेची आहे. थेट कोंडूरा किंवा बनगरवाडीची आठवण करून देणारे लिखाण आहे. ‘नदीष्ट’ ही मनोज बोरगावकर यांची केवळ कादंबरी नाही, तो आहे त्यांच्या प्रत्यक्षदर्शी आणि अनुभवसिद्ध घटनांचा कसदार ललित गद्य हुंकार. ‘नदीष्ट’ ही मराठी कादंबरीविश्वातील अकरावी दिशा आहे.
    —
    विनायक पाटील, नाशिक

    पुस्तकाविषयी

    नांव: नदीष्ट
    लेखक: मनोज बोरगावकर
    पृष्ठ संख्या: १६८
    प्रकाशक: ग्रंथाली प्रकाशन
    आयएसबीएन-१०: 9357950702
    आयएसबीएन-१३: 978-9357950701

    माझे रेटिंग

    कथा: ५/५
    लेखनशैली: ५/५
    मुखपृष्ठ: ५/५

    एकूण रेटिंग: ५/५

    कुठे मिळेल?

    तुम्ही वाचायला हवे?

    आजवर जर तुम्ही ही कादंबरी वाचली नसेल तर मग पहिल्यांदा जवळच्या दुकानात जा, तुमची प्रत घेऊन या. आणि अगदीच घरबसल्या हवं असेल तर ऑनलाईन मागवा पण हे पुस्तक वाचायला विसरू नका, टाळू नका. वाचून झालं की नक्की सांगाल, अगदी उत्तम आहे म्हणून….

    माझ्या आवडीच्या पुस्तकांबद्दल अजून माहिती हवी असेल तर इथे क्लिक करा.

  • Charming Spell of Desai’s “Shriman Yogi”

    Charming Spell of Desai’s “Shriman Yogi”

    In honor of the former president of India late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Maharashra celebrates “Reading Inspiration Day” on 15th of October. On that occasion I wrote a post about the book which inspired me in the world of books. It cultivated a hobby of reading. It was a Marathi post. Today I have the opportunity to bring that book in front of a wider audiance through Blogchatter’s bloghopping prompt.

    There’s a cupboard in my house, my grandma’s cupboard. It’s filled with all sorts of books. This is the story of my entry into the enchanting world of books. I must have been in 4th or 5th standard back then. But back in those days, my interaction with that cupboard was limited to stealing some glances at them if the door is open. My grandpa used to be a member of big public library in Nashik. So those borrowed books was in house too. But I never felt like picking one up and read.

    But one day, it was all supposed to change.

    I think it was a summer break for my school. I dared one afternoon and opened that cupboard. While browsing through the shelves, reading book titles and author names on spines of well stacked books. However, one particular book caught my eye. It was quite a huge chunky book. But the size didn’t grab my attention. Binding of the book was unique. Unique yellowish hard bound cover was unmarked. It didn’t bear any title, any name. I grabbed that book and took it out. It felt quite heavy at that time, with 1000 plus pages in a hard cover binding. I opened the cover and title in bold orange caught my eye.

    “श्रीमान योगी”. For obvious reasons, i couldn’t understand the meaning of the words. Yet I stated reading it. And man, what a joy it was! Ranjeet Desai is the man who showed me the what joy of reading meant. There must be something about Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj back in school that year, to story in book felt much more gripping and interesting than chapters of my textbook. I was oblivious to the greatness of this author. I finished the book in straight 3 days, loosing track of food, sleep, playtime and all other attractions which a 10 years old kid could have in late 90s.

    After this, there was no turning back

    I got hooked on the habit of reading. I started picking up the books borrowed from library. Many of which I have left unfinished as I couldn’t understand a thing in it at that age. But I have read this particular book number of times. Even now, I pull this one off the shelf and start reading from a random page. It still gives me the same pleasure. Recently I bought two short story collections of Desai’s stories. I have finished बाबूलमोरा and will start मोरपंखी सावल्या now as my next read.

    Fortunately for you all, Vikrant Pande has translated this Marathi book into English and Harper Collins has published it Under Name of “Shivaji: The Great Maratha”. So, grab your copy and let me know what you think.

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop. If you want any more book recommendations click here, and to listen to my poetry audiobook, checkout this.

  • Very Moving Tale of Partition – The Map & The Scissors

    Very Moving Tale of Partition – The Map & The Scissors

    2022 is an important milestone for independent India. We are celebrating 75 years of our independence from the yoke of the British Empire. And yet, there is a frill of sorrow to this whole celebration and achievement. On the eve of our independence, our country broke and a new nation was born on our two sides. The Map and The Scissors by Amit Majumdar is the story of this partition and the men behind this.

    Whole partition thing is so tragic that any book on the subject can turn into lament and bashing of the other side. However, Amit has traded this path so nicely that you never feel it has gone down that slippery slope.

    Why you should read it?

    The way Amit builds his characters has a very unique charm to it. You can see them come alive in front of you and start acting out the scenes he has written for them in his book. Secondly, Amit has rightly played on the middle ground and not taken any side. Both the sides are developed equally and got their dues. There no “Right Side” and “Wrong Side” in his book. He has dramatized the history in form of this historical fiction.

    Frankly speaking, I was attracted to this book because of it’s title as I am a professional map-maker. And the fact that there’s a map on the cover sealed the deal for me. I loved the way Devangana Dash has designed this cover. Full marks to the design!

    About the book

    Title: The Map and The Scissors
    Author: Amit Majumdar
    Pages: 330
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

    My rating

    Story: 4/5
    Cover Design: 5/5

    Overall rating: 4.5/5

    Where to Buy

    Should you read it?

    If you are looking for unbiased story around partition of India, you should definitely consider this book as your next read.

    This review is powered by the Blogchatter Book Review Program. You can read more of my book recommendations here.

  • गारूड देसाईंच्या “श्रीमान योगी”चं

    गारूड देसाईंच्या “श्रीमान योगी”चं

    तेव्हा मी चवथी पाचवीत असेन कदाचित. तोवर आजीच्या कपाटातली पुस्तकं कधी कधी ओझरतीच दिसायची. कधी कधी नाशिकच्या सार्वजनिक वाचनालयातून आणलेले पुस्तक पण डोळ्यासमोर यायचे . पण कधी हातात घेऊन वाचायची इच्छा झाली नाही. बहुतेक, उन्हाळी सुट्टी होती. कधी नव्हे ते आजीच्या कपाटातील पुस्तकांचा खजिना धुंडाळत होतो. पुस्तकांच्या कडेला लिहिलेली पुस्तकाची आणि साहित्यिकांची नावे वाचता वाचता एका वेगळ्याच पुस्तकाशी माझी नजर थांबली.

    पुस्तक चांगल जाडजूड होतं. वेगळ्याच पिवळसर रंगाच्या कडक बांधणीच्या पुस्तकावर कोणतीच नोंद नव्हती. पुस्तकाचं नांव नाही, कोणी लिहिलं माहिती नाही. पण त्या रंगाने मला चांगलेच पकडुन ठेवले. आपसूक हात पुढे गेला आणि पुस्तक बाहेर काढले. त्या वेळी बरेच जड वाटले ते. हजार एक पाने सहज असतील असा विचार करत पुस्तकाचं मुखपृष्ठ उलटले आणि ठळक केशरी अक्षरे डोळ्यापुढे आली.

    “श्रीमान योगी”. अर्थ, अर्थातच कळला नाहीच. पण वाचायला सुरुवात केली आणि आयुष्यात पहिल्यांदा पुस्तक वाचण्यात काय मजा असते हे रणजित देसाई या माणसाच्या एका पुस्तकाने पहिल्या फटक्यात दाखवून दिले. रणजित देसाई किती थोर साहित्यिक आहेत याची जाणीव तेव्हा असण्याचे काहीच कारण नव्हते पण त्या पुस्तकातले शब्द जणू माझ्या मानगुटीवर बसले आणि चक्क ३ दिवसात मी त्या पुस्तकाचा फडशा पाडला…

    पुढे याची अनेक पारायणे झाली. देसाईंची अजून काही पुस्तके मधल्या काळात वाचली पण ती विस्मरणात गेली आहेत. आता नव्याने देसाईंची पुस्तके हाती घेतो आहे. “बाबुलमोरा” या कथासंग्रहापासून पुनश्च हरिओम…

    माझ्या वाचनात आलेल्या इतर पुस्तकांबद्दल जाणून घेण्यासाठी येथे क्लिक करा. प्रोज प्रकाशनाने प्रकाशित केलेला माझा ऑडिओ कविता संग्रह “चिमुकली स्वप्ने” तुम्हाला इथे ऐकता येईल.

  • Not the best of Hercules Poirot

    Not the best of Hercules Poirot

    Three Act Tragedy – a book review

    I am a fan of Agatha Christie’s writing and love her Poirot stories. However, this particular one felt missing the usual mark of her fantastic crime fiction writing. I am not able to put my finger on a thing which is missing, but there’s something which is not quite right about this book.

    I read it in a form of Audio book. So for this particular book, the narration done by Hugh Fraser was the thing which kept me going till the end.

    Blurb

    Thirteen guests arrived at dinner at the actor’s house. It was to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who choked on his cocktail, went into convulsions and died. But when his martini glass was sent for chemical analysis, there was no trace of poison, just as Poirot had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there was absolutely no motive.

    About the book

    Title: Three Act Tragedy
    Author: Agatha Christie, Narrator: Hugh Fraser
    Length:
    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

    Where to Buy

    My rating

    Story: 2.5/5
    Narration: 3.5/5

    Overall rating: 3/5

    Should you read it?

    It’s not bad that you should steer clear from this one. Do read it.

    If you want more book recommendations, click here.