Deepa
Another book I would not have even thought of, if it weren't for the reading challenges. The best parts - the story was definitely good and the lead pair were super cute people. The worst parts - the book was too long and too trashy. Frankly, if only ask those explicit scenes were cut out of the story, it would have been just perfect. I definitely don't appreciate the use of explicit language in books. I'm more of a “clean” reader. The romance is sweet, very sweet, but I could do without all the TMI. It is as if authors feel compelled to add in a few steamy scenes every few chapters and stretch the story awfully far.
A book that is a part of my home library for ever. I just finished reading this book and the peace I feel is indescribable. I have dabbled in eastern philosophy and so, Wabi Sabi is not a new concept to me. And yet, reading about the three basic principles of imperfection, impermanence and change reveals new depths every time. A great book to be read slowly and savoured in peace.
Really nice book. The description of the different species and their interactions and prejudices was fun too. Loved the main female lead very much, too. A really fun, feel-good book. Like I read in another review, there are good people and there are bad people, but people are mostly good. Bad things happen, but overall, life is good. Aliens are strange, but so are humans. Prejudices are foolish. Love is love, period. I would like to continue the series, I think.
Such a warm, fuzzy story. Read it in one sitting. It left me smiling so happily by the end. A total departure from the usual Grisham books I've read. I absolutely loved how everyone rallied together and made it the most memorable Christmas ever. And I totally loved how the stingy “Scrooge” Luther ends up celebrating the spirit of the season, after all. Merry Christmas!
I'm reading this book as part of The 52 Book Club Summer Reading Challenge. For the Biography of an Olympian, I started off with another popular book. Guess I'm not cut out for sports biographies. To me, it was extremely boring.
This book, on the other hand, was easy to read, even interesting. So glad I switched to the comic format. Amar Chitra Katha books have always been such fun to read.
Liked the book very much. It almost felt like we were living Kinsey's life. I loved her many quirks, her thriftiness, her care and concern for people, her equation with her landlord. One thing I did not much fancy was that there were several parallel mysteries going on. But nonetheless, it was a great story. I'd love to continue with the rest of the series soon.
To this day, this one is very much an unputdownable book. And to think, it was written so many, many decades ago. The writing is quaint and there were occasional terms and phrases that I could not understand fully. The dialects used were also quite unintelligible to me. But the story, the characters, the atmosphere were all so on point. One totally feels the sense of urgency and terror throughout the story but more prominently, during the final chase. Many literary classics are a pain and a toil to read through, but Dracula is one among the few that are literary masterpieces and yet a breeze to read.
One of those books that are to be “digested”. Definitely need to re-read in smaller instalments over time. Jay Shetty has done a great job of bridging together the ancient Indian scriptures and modern scientific findings to map out how-to-live-better. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. I wish I had picked it up earlier.
An excellent book. I'm going to get the next ones in the series immediately. This book is one that has been on my radar for quite a while. Wonderfully written. Gripped my attention right from the beginning. The romance part was very very good, but I realise that graphical scenes are not my thing. I like my fiction clean and respectable. Great book, nonetheless!
A very slow-paced thriller indeed. But the twist in the tale, when it came, was excellent. The ending was certainly satisfying, if nothing else. But.... But.... There were so many loose ends... What was the mystery about Caitlin's family members? Why, oh why, if Meghan was so paranoid, did she not repair the lock of her apartment? And what's with Ben, the divorced husband looking for a way back? Many things did not make sense, but there were many good parts in the story. In a nutshell, I'm not sure how in feel about this book. It is good enough for a one-time read.
I started off thinking that this was another of those books that I couldn't possibly read in a cafe, crowded train etc... thanks to a lot of explicit scene descriptions. But then the actual story started and I must admit it was riveting. It was quite unputdownable. At some point, I had begun to suspect and yet, I found the ending upsetting. It was a pity. But the story is good, very good.
Awesome awesome book. This book has so much depth to it - and still children could relate to it so well. There is “zero” vulgarity, no stretching the chapters, no idealisation of perfection, no preaching, no glorification of self-pity, no sympathy for the morally and mentally weak and most importantly, no justification of evil. The messages are of love, kindness, goodness, courage, grit, care, sincerity, friendship - all that's good in the world. The King's Cross chapter is pure gold. And so is the climax fight scene at Hogwarts. Love how everything ties in so well together. A most wonderful ending to a most wonderful story.
So I read up other people's reviews to make sure I was not insane. Nope, not me! The book is insane. This book is such a classic - I had heard of it for so long and was thrilled to start reading it. But a few pages in, the confusion started mounting. I will admit, there were some really good quotable life-quotes and there was some strange humour throughout. But I rank this just slightly above the One Hundred Years of Solitude book. Both books are totally barmy! Both feel like they were written by authors who couldn't fully make up their minds. This one at least has some humour to it and the writing is, in parts, definitely superior; and that's the only reason it ranks above OHYS.
A great book, I had forgotten really. This one's right up there with Emma of A Woman of Substance. Another strong lady, without the bitterness of Emma - strong, feminine, graceful - a lady of class and culture. The fate of the Romanovs was so sad and terrible; this book inspired me to read up on them too. No doubt, they had their short comings, but who murdered the entire family were horrifyingly cruel too. It was very saddening to read about Zoya - She was living an unimaginable dream in Russia and then she is reduced to unimaginable poverty, rises in society but is again plunged into despair. Nonetheless, she prevails, through sheer grit and courage, and by the end of the book, we find her again respected and loved and admired as the Countess.
Another great book from J K Rowling. This year is even more darker than the last. Harry is the typical angry teenager - brooding, snapping, bottling up his thoughts and then screaming out at everyone. Definitely was shocked by this character change the first time I read the book (now I'm more sympathetic). Sirius's death was a horrible chapter. And from this book onwards, Dumbledore's weaknesses and frailties begin to surface increasingly.
A nice collection of very short fables. They are a mix of popular Indian folk tales (Amar Chitra Katha) or folk tales from other countries. The author has “Indianised” all the stories. Nothing original, here. Just a collection of a few popular and a few not so popular folk tales from old comic books - without the pictures. These simple stories can be told to very little children to entertain them. It definitely serves that purpose.
This is one of Wodehouse's earliest books. The traces of his particular style of humour are present, but there is a clear lack of crispness to the tale. I definitely enjoyed it, but some parts of it - mostly the newspaper chapters - dragged on and on. Too many incidents - it all tied up in the end, but still it was messy. It pales in comparison to The Small Bachelor and the Bandings stories. But it is a great insight into how P G Wodehouse started out in the field of novel writing. And that practice makes perfect.
A wonderful little book with lots of mysteries packed into it - 13, to be exact. A great introduction to the world and life of Miss Marple. Even after multiple reads, the charm remains. It is hilarious how the detective, doctor, lawyer, writer and parson - men of the world - are shocked when the prim and proper spinster who has rarely stepped out of sleepy little St. Mary Mead outwits them at every mystery.
Truly enjoyed reading this book. Makes me want to read more from James Patterson. Even though Alex Cross was incapacitated for most of the book, it was still his brain that figured out the clues. Quite an interesting mystery too. Love the short chapters. Very fast paced. Oh, and I love Nana Mama and his wife Bree and the little girl too - very smart!
Another great read from J K Rowling. It is very interesting how she manages to link everything together so well. Small, minor sentences from the first chapters turn out to be so crucial in the final chapters - everything makes so much sense. A masterpiece in threading narratives and plots together. The stories are getting darker and darker, and yet there is always hope glimmering through by the end of the book. Truly love Rowling's writing. Truly love Dumbledore- he's the best!
It was nice to read about how the famous Ellora Cave temple was built. A Rashtrakoota Queen refused to eat even a single morsel until she saw the top “kalasha” of the temple. To fulfill the vow, the temple was built from a single large rock - from the top down - so that the “kalasha” was completed first. I do wish the story was more well-fleshed out - even the name of the queen is not mentioned. However the rise to power of the Rashtrakoota empire is well explained. The Amar Chithra Katha books are such a treasure trove of Indian culture and history. Thank you, Uncle Pai. These comics are a great idea to introduce youngsters to Indian culture, mythology, folk tales, great scientists, historical figures and so much more.
I had purchased this book ages ago and completely lost track of it. Glad I read it though. Great story. Real world psychos ego behave like vampires and a stalker who knows chillingly too much. Quite a gripping tale. The vampire sections of the book are a bit gory and the stalker sections are scary. But when the serial killer vampire was finally caught, I was a bit disappointed with the whys and the whats. The stalker - I had long begun to suspect - and felt quite validated when he was revealed. Overall a good read.
A very interesting book. I read it as part of the Across Time and Space Challenge on Storygraph that encourages to read books from different decades and different countries. It just confirms my belief that even while so many customs are alien to me, so many similarities persist, nonetheless. Perhaps rural Africa is more similar than one realises to rural India. Except for a few snippets of explicit language (personal preference for a family-friendly read, that's all), I enjoyed the author's style of writing. She truly transports the reader into the life of Baba Segi. Glad I picked up this book.
I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book. I had heard of this book long before, had heard that it was great book for creative people. But I had always assumed that I was not the intended audience. Was I wrong!!
This is the kind of book that makes me glad that I've joined these book clubs. They force me out of my usual path and I find these absolute gems out there. A great book that advocates the simple, age-old values of courage, consistency and faith. I'm so glad I read this and I definitely will be rereading it every once in a while.
