Turning Pages !!!

The Feast of Roses by Indu Sundaresan It’s the second book in the trilogy. The first one was ‘The twentieth wife’ which focussed upon how Jahangir (aka Salim) became the emperor and Nurjahan(aka Mehrunissa) became his twentieth and last wife. Though it’s a trilogy, the way books are written they have their existence. It’s not a mandate to read ‘The Twentieth Wife’ before reading ‘Feast of Roses’. You won’t feel any disconnection or lost while reading ‘Feast of Roses’. Even I read ‘Feast of Roses’ two years later after reading ‘The Twentieth Wife’. Being a lover of history, this book is no less than a gift as it has served the dish of history with the right quantity of fiction. Feast of Roses is about Mehrunissa, how she ruled the heart of Jahangir and thus ruled the empire behind the veil for 16 years which no other Empress could do. She was envied not only by other wives and concubines in Jahangir’s harem but by the men of Jahangir’s court. Mehrunissa was a woman of substance,...

Hippie by Paulo Coelho As per the dictionary meaning, ’Hippie’ is a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs. And that's how Paulo led his life, as a 'Hippie' before he met Karla and started-off his journey on 'Magic Bus'. In this book, Paulo tells his own life stories, his own experience, in a third-person style of writing. Plot of the Story: Paulo, a Brazilian boy, who wanted to become a writer started his journey to explore himself and his life. He reached Dam Square in Amsterdam after he had done several Hippie trails in the past. Paulo was headed towards Piccadilly Circus in London from Amsterdam where he met a girl named Karla who was looking for a companion in her journey to Nepal via Magic Bus. Karla got successful in convincing Paulo to come along with her on the journey to Nepal. Other than Karla and Paulo, Magi...

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Someone has very well said ‘Only a woman can understand a woman better.’ That’s the reason Chitra never fails in expressing the women side of the story and once again she proved this. She has re-written India’s epic saga, previously Mahabharata and now Ramayana, from a woman's perspective. In the patriarchal society, very few bother about writing emotional turmoil a woman goes through when she is being wronged. Her writing style portrays a visual in front of the reader’s eyes. It’s always a delight to read her books, they have never disappointed me, and this one has taken a special place in my heart and is one of my favorites now. When I was reading this book I was so mesmerised, I felt as if I am in that era. And all this is happening in front of my eyes. This is one of the very few books where I was waiting for the end but at the same time sad when it's ended. Now I am eagerly waiting when Chitra will write ...

Elephant Prince By Amy Novesky Once I was randomly going through the books recommended by Goodreads, I encountered Elephant Prince and seeing it was related to Ganesh about whom I was already looking for a book to read, so I added this one in my reading list. Neither did I read the synopsis nor any review. It’s the title and the book cover which made me excited to read it. Then and there, I searched this book on Amazon and added it in my wishlist. I didn’t order though, it stayed in my wishlist for almost a year. It’s recently I bought it and read. And realized its a folklore and not the kinda I was actually looking for. :D I know it sounds silly but the truth is I was not aware that Amy is a children’s book editor based out of America, and even by the book cover on good reads I couldn’t figure it out that it’s a children book. But after reading the book, I didn’t regret buying it as I enjoyed it. Its the illustrations (by Belgin) in the book which further added to my happy feel...

Famous Stories of Akbar Birbal By Shanti Publications Akbar Birbal folk tales are very well known, especially in India, so they don’t need an introduction. They are liked by all. Even today, if we have to teach kids how to deal with difficult situations we land up citing the tale from this collection. So here I am excited not mainly to review but to tell you briefly how I landed up buying this classic. I went to the World book fair’19 held in Delhi. And while exploring, I came across the kids' section and was curious to explore what kind of books are there for children nowadays. And there when I saw this book, I was overwhelmed as this gem is still loved by. And that very moment I put it in my cart. I realized how much I missed reading these books. And not only this, I ended up buying two other classics from this section. Blog posts about them will soon come. Those who are not aware, who was Akbar and Birbal. Here’s the brief: Akbar was the Mughal Emperor who ruled o...

Losing Hope (Hopeless, #2) By C olleen Hoover ‘Losing hope’ is a continuation of Hopeless Series. Where ‘Hopeless’ is written from the point of view of Sky, Losing Hope is written from the point of view of Dean Holder. This series as mentioned in my review of ‘Hopeless’ is much more than a love story. Here’s the link to the review of Hopeless: https://bookreviewsbyricha.blogspot.com/2018/06/hopeless-book-review.html ‘Losing Hope’ lay opens the emotional turmoil your loved ones go through when you commit suicide. It’s not only you who dies but the part within your loved ones die along with you. Your loved ones blame themselves, consider themselves as a failure as they couldn’t recognize what you were going through. Your parents, your siblings, your close friends never remain the same as they were. Something break within them which can’t be mended, which can’t be healed. They remain in the denial state for whatever happened. But after reading ‘Losing Hope’, I changed m...

Calling Sehmat by Harinder Sikka ‘Calling Sehmat’ was gifted to me by a friend who doubted whether I am going to like this book or not. But let me tell you I liked this book a lot so keep gifting me books like these :) Most of you may not be aware, ‘Calling Sehmat’ is based on a true story and a Bollywood movie ‘Raazi’ is an adaptation of this book. This book gave me goosebumps at several points. This story instilled more respect and gratitude in me for all those men and women (be it spies; navy, army or air personnel) who sacrifice not only comforts of their homes but leave behind their families, their loved ones to serve their country. It made me realized where we civilians are worried over petty issues be like family disputes, tensions with the boss, relationship issues, these men and women are striving and sacrificing their lives for our safety without expecting anything in return from us. And what we are giving them in return is the country where there is corrupti...