When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30…
The alien Reapers have ruled Earth for forty-five years. David Valentine is a member of the human resistance, who is now being trained as a Cat-an elite stealth warrior. His first mission is to investigate the threat of the Twisted Cross, a mysterious new force under Reaper control. (From Goodreads)
It’s best if you read Way of the Wolf before going into this one, as events flow from one book to the other. It was off to quite a slow start although I thought the idea of the Twisted Cross…
Title: Urban Shots- Bright LightsEditor: Paritosh UttamPublisher: Grey Oak- WestlandPublished: 2012Price INR 195Pages: 204Genre: Contemporary Indian Fiction/Short StoriesRating: 3.5 on 5
This is the third compendium of short stories I have read under the Urban Shots series, and it is the third time I have experienced overwhelming satisfaction with what I read. I have spent considerable amount of time with these three books in the past month, and not a moment spent with them has gone waste. I am not a reader who sprints through books. I am one who…
Title: The To-Let House
Author: Daisy Hasan
Publisher: Tara Books
ISBN: 978-81-906756-5-9
Genre: :Literary Fiction
Pages: 227
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
When you talk about a region that no one speaks about, there is enough excitement held within the pages of the book, to sustain the readers’ interest. That is what happens when you read, “The To-Let House” by Daisy Hasan. Written without any sugar-coating, this book comes from a place that is surreal and at the same time haunting.
The To-Let House is a story of four individuals and…
Title: Bollywood’s Top 20 Superstars of Indian Cinema
Author: Bhaichand Patel (Editor))
Publisher: Penguin Viking
Pages: 279
Price: Rs 599
Genre: Non Fiction / Film
Rating: 7/10
Source: Review Copy (from Publisher)
If you ask me, my expectations with ‘Bollywood’s Top 20’ were to first find out who all made it to the Top 20, and then discover new facets of their personalities, growth as performers and their cinematic journeys. There are no issues with the essays per se but personally I felt that they were quite on the surface and…
Title: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Author: Jeanette Winterson
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-224-09345-3
Genre: Autobiography, Non-Fiction
Pages: 230
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5
We think we know life and what it has in store for us. We like to predict. We feel safe in its outcome. We pattern it for ourselves and intend to stick to the pattern. And then there are some for who life doesn’t quite work out that way and they then chronicle stories we read and want more. Jeanette Winterson…
Title: The Birthplace
Author: Henry James
Publisher: Hesperus Press
ISBN: 978-1-84391-207-1
Genre: Classics, Literary Fiction
Pages: 120
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
If there is one novelist whose entire body of work I am eager to read, it would but definitely have to be Henry James. Henry James as a writer is something else and I feel his works are either loved or hated. You cannot be in-between when it comes to Mr. James’ writing. Either you like it or you do not.
Henry James wrote of an era and time…
Title: Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: William Morrow, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-054894-0
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 568
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5
When Gregory Maguire started writing the Oz series, I am sure he must have known how big this would be and it turned out to be just that – one big success, rippling through with excitement and sardonic humour and tragedy in almost every volume. The last volume in the series, “Out of Oz” is as addictive as the rest.…
Title: On Tagore: Reading the Poet Today
Author: Amit Chaudhuri
Publisher: Penguin Viking India
ISBN: 978-0-670-08621-4
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 178
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
When you write about Tagore, you take a risk. A major risk at that. It is not easy then to talk about the man and his works over years of writing – plays, prose and poetry and more so to lucidly make sense of what he meant and why. So when I received copy of “On Tagore” by Amit Chaudhuri from Penguin, I was a little…
This is a book that has got rave reviews and tremendous fame across the world, a book which supposedly celebrates the phenomenon that is India.
PATKATHA
The book purports to be about how we become Independent, in which endeavour it fails magnificently. Instead, it is all about 2 “heroes” – : Mr. Louise Mountbatten and Mahatma Gandhi. The net effort is an extremely disjointed and disappointing effort that comes across as a work of crass writing. This is particularly because the book has pandered to western tastes and opinions…
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