Reader's paradise

  PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 3.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 2.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 “Gently Falls the Bakula”  is a classic  Sudha Murty novel . It has a simple story which is told in a way that makes the reader fall in love with the characters and makes him glued to the book right until the end. This has always been the case with me whenever I find a Sudha Murty book in my hand. Her stories are always rather plain but what attracts me to them is the depth of her characters and the complexities of their relationships. The same was true for  Dollar Bahu , and the same can be said for  “Gently Falls the Bakula”  too. Complete list of the best Sudha Murty Books “Gently Falls the Bakula”  is the story of Shrikant and Shrimati who belong to two hostile communities. Shrikant is intelligent and smart but Shrimati is the smarter one and slowly as the two get to know each other, they fall in love. Despite the disagreements from their family, they get married and shift to Mumbai for

  PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT: 3.5/5 My Musings The recent months saw me reading a whole bunch of murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and crime fiction. To be honest, there came a time when I didn’t want to pick a thriller anymore. I needed to cleanse my palette. But a reader is a reader, and a reader cannot help but stay away from books. And so, I picked up Midnight Freeway, a book that looked like a thriller but turned out to be much more. About the author Vivaan Shah is an Indian actor and writer who has worked in many Bollywood films including  7 Khoon Maaf , Happy New Year, Bombay Velvet,  and others. He has also worked in the web series  A Suitable Boy .  Vivaan’s debut work of fiction titled  Living Hell  was published in 2019. Midnight Freeway is his second book. First Impressions The cover creates impact. It’s bold, edgy, and impressive. The blurb tells us to expect an ugly nexus of real estate, crime, and judiciary at the

  PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CLIMAX: 4.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT: 4.5/5 My musings After a long time, I have chanced upon a book belonging to the  modern-day mythological thriller  genre. As far as I recall, it’s been quite a while since I last read a  blend of mythological fiction, adventure thriller, and sci-fi.  And with my expectations set quite high, I sat down for a roller coaster of a ride and started reading Akshat Gupta’s The Hidden Hindu. Read on to know more about the book and my experience of reading it. First Impressions From the cover image and background graphics to the bold font and the blurb at the back, to the glaring recommendation coming from  stalwarts like Anand Neelakantan  and Ravi Subramanian, everything seems to work really well. Thus, as far as first impressions are concerned, The Hidden Hindu creates a mighty good one. Who can read? The language used is simple yet impressive and keeping that in mind, the book can be easily read by a beginner-

  PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT: 4/5 “Being a yogi, he could sense the awakening of something sinister. Something so terrifyingly evil that it made the hair on his back stand tall.” –  Dinesh Veera, Shiva Origins: The Son of Ganga Of late, I have been seeing a lot of  mythological fiction books  on Kindle Unlimited, some with a decent number of recommendations and reviews. Having the subscription myself, I was on the lookout for a book in the  genre of modern-day mythological fiction cum thriller  (somewhat on the lines of  The Hidden Hindu, which is a book that I loved reading ) when I chanced upon Dinesh Veera’s Shiva Origins: The Son of Ganga. The cover looked impressive and the blurb promised just what I was looking for. Read on to know more about the book and my experience of reading it. Who can read? Even though the language is rich, the book can be picked up by any level of readers including beginners. What to expect? Expect a medium-length read (under

  PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 3.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CLIMAX: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT: 4/5 “In spite of the filth, noise and grime, the city had a strange sense of orderliness to it in the madness, perfection in its randomness, a sense of the ethereal in its earthiness.”     –     Manoj V Jain, Meeting Yama My musings Some of my memorable spiritual reads over the years have been  Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love ,  Ravi Kailas and Cathy Guo’s Myth of the Entrepreneur , and  Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk . These may or may not have been spiritual reads in the traditional sense but they do carry immense wisdom for anyone who wants to learn. My latest read in the genre is a tale of three unconnected lives who come to Varanasi seeking different things. Read on to know more about my thoughts on author Manoj V Jain’s Meeting Yama and about my experience of reading it. What to expect? Expect a book that delves into both spirituality and mythology. Expect a book that narrates the story of three

  SUBJECT: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 2.5/5 PICTURES: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 2.5/5 My Musings Recently,  the Ardh Kumbh of 2019  was all the rage. It was so well managed that people had only great things to say about it. Many of my family members themselves partook in the festivities and they were all praises about how organized everything was. So, when a book about the Kumbh 2019 came my way for review, it was difficult not to be excited about it. I started reading  The Kumbh Travelogue  with a kind of enthusiasm that only a  travel-related book  can inspire in me. In this review, I tell you all about the book and about what I think of it. What to expect? The Kumbh Travelogue  is basically a book that talks about the author’s travels to the holy celebrations of the Ardh Kumbh which took place in the February and March months of 2019. The book takes us to the holy city of Prayagraj and lets us experience its distinct flavour and vibe through the author’s own experiences. It also documents