NO DEADLINE FOR LOVE by MANASI VAIDYA(book review)

NO DEADLINES FOR LOVE by MANASI VAIDYA

Quick, exciting and entertaining.

I was rather shocked when an all pink book(at least on the outside)  stared at me when I peeled the packing. Certain parts of my brain were screaming that this didn’t look good. But putting aside my prejudices about ‘chick lits’, I dared to go beyond and  I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

The book is sensible, focused and well written. The book moves pretty fast and there is no lull! I quite like the way the author has managed to blend in the predicament faced by the protagonist even while she keeps at what she is doing. I like the fact that there is no attempt to try to challenge my senses in an obvious book- a well written story is worth reading, even if you already know it.

Megha comes out as a strong character. My only grouse is that she doesn’t seem to learn to control her temper- even towards the end.  Megha though does realize what she really wants to do and along the way, falls in love.

Lots of fireworks and at no place do you find that the book is heading aimlessly- the author knows her ending and works towards that with ease and thrill. A ‘Metro Read’ I guess, is something you pick up for a train journey and one certainly expects excitement and action- the book gives you that.

Fast paced and entertaining, the book is worth a read, especially if you are a fan of the genre.

Rating:- 6/10

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BLINKERS OFF by ANDALEEB WAJID(book review)

Pacy, simple and entertaining.

It is okay if a book isn’t mind-blowing or life changing and just tells a story as long as it is well written and engrossing. Blinkers off may not make you forget everything else around you and transport you to another fantastic world, but it does entertain and is a fun book.

Any well written book has elements that represent reality without making you feel it is real. The trick is to knit a story with the right characters, information and narrate it in an engaging manner. Andaleeb manages this with enough thrill in it to ensure you don’t want to keep the book down!

You can relate to the characters and understand their sentiments. There is no exaggeration, albeit the story having the potential to have enough fake Yankee accent to put your US-return aunt to shame. The author keeps it simple and tells us a story without any pretense or airs.

The book is about a girl who decides she wants to become a writer a screenplay writer no less. It is her first step into that world, we get to see she joins the film classes in her college.

Noor, soon becomes quite a favorite. Though being from a ‘traditional’ family, she learns how  to use the freedom she has been given in the right manner. She becomes a better person, from that girl who everyone seems to ignore to a person who has the confidence to step up and take on the world. There are enough stereotypes in the book to have made it drab, yet Andaleeb goes beyond using them as mere tropes and brings them to life.

A past paced, quick and thrilling read. Simple and elegant. I wouldn’t mind seeing what Noor does after this, in fact I am curious!

Rating:- 7/10

HICKORY DICKORY SHOCK by SUNDIP GORAI(book review)

HICKORY DICKORY SHOCK

Threatens to takeoff but keeps taxing along.

“The Tale Of Techies” pronounces the book cover,the techies are there alright, but there isn’t enough about  them. A rather interesting starting and you are curious, but sadly, the book doesn’t turn into what might have been a really fun, gripping, entertaining and interesting story. The problem is while the story is good and the author is clever(what with Kamasutra cipher, Klondike etc) the book isn’t ‘tight’ enough, just when you except to be in awe and be captivated, it just fizzes out.

The story revolves around LoRD, a software which once finished will save SHIVAN computers from the hole it has gotten into(looks like Mr.Gorai has done research on the Satyam scandal) but a corporate espionage, with stops them from doing so or does it? A techie sees a conversation between a Hickory and a Dickory discussing this(er..I never got the shock part though) and then suddenly your beer sipping techie, turns into a Holmes.

The characters seem undecided. There are times when the lead character seems frail, especially with a name like 210, you just can’t think of him as a Techie and someone who would know all about Indian history and solve a case like Holmes. If you are moving away from stereotypes, it is necessary to build the characters and make them identifiable. While a mom who almost made it to the Kabbadi team for the ’82 Asian games is different, I was still stuck with a fat lady in my head, who towards the end out runs a couple of goons.

As said above, the book does threaten to excite you, but it lets you down, exactly at the moment you expect it to take off. As someone who has read a lot of mystery novels, it was just too easy to guess. On the positive side, there are many interesting elements and concepts which the author calls upon. If it had been better ‘packed’, it might have fulfilled its true potential.

There are a few glaring errors(Alphabets, really? ), which seems to suggest the editors haven’t really gone though the motions properly – probably another reason why the story leaves you wanting.

A pretty decent read, not boring or terrible, just not exciting and fun enough. I have to admit, I was looking forward to reading this book on “The Tale Of Techies”. Overall, it just lacks that bit more to get you excited. Writing paperbacks isn’t easy, specially when there are millions of them out there. Mr.Gorai has lots of potential as a writer, I am sure he will get it right in his next book.

Rating:-5/10.

P.S:- These are just my views. The book has also got a lot of positive feedbacks and reviews, you can find them at the author’s website.

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by KIRAN DESAI(book review)

Image from here.

Cosy, pleasant, entertaining and thoughtful.

click here to continue reading.

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN BY SALMAN RUSHDIE(book review)

Image from here.

Well rhetoric is an Indian right. Exaggeration and  stories are the India intelligentsia’s right. Coming up with absurd ideas and becoming a best-seller is a well a best-sellers right?

An enjoyable book. How screwed can you think anyway? His English is good- at least that’s a concession in my case, for reading the book, after all English is supposedly dead.  The previous post, had a few shades of his style I guess(without the undesirable parts, I guess ).

History redefined. The book talks about Saleem who is born on the stroke of midnight. It is an autobiography of the character, who tells his weird and pathetic and messed up(add many other negative adjective you want) life.

I can’t reveal the story as such, for even the glimpses of it, might rob this sight of it’s universal rating. The book can have other impacts as well, like it can drive you crazy. You might wonder what’s happening in the world around you.

This is the second book of his I read and the more I read, the more I am convinced that trash sells(er..a certain Bhagat comes to my mind, but at least that fellow writes small books and stops with being a racist). The ideas are amazing and almost Satanic in certain ways.

See I am in two minds, whether to trash the trash or say that the (almost) empty perfume bottle in it, gives out a good smell to it. This doesn’t even seem like a review. But what do you expect to write?  And yes, there aren’t many around, you have read his books, my advice to you people- if you like nonsense and absurd, exaggerated(there is some truth in between it all) and the like, read it.

It’s been an awesome journey reading the book, I feel absolutely enlightened. So much so, that I have a halo around my head and am three feet above the ground. So run fast and grab the book, enlightment awaits you. *ugh

Rating:- 3/10 (or) 9/10 (he is the cause for the confusion bug, as simple as that and now I am done with it, or am I? er.. 😐 ) 😛

P.S:- Only 6 comments, in my previous post? Tsh..tsh… 😛

The enchantress of florence-Salman Rushdie

Enchantress of Florence is a book about Qara Koz,the youngest sister of Babar,the grand father of Akbar the great,in whose time the book is set.The book is about men,women,courtesans,wars,beliefs,queens,princes,princesses ,art,architecture,magic,tales etc of the then Europe and Asia.without going too deep into the book(and thus making this review a spoiler) ,i will try to talk about the book as a whole.

“In the beginning there were three friends,Niccolo ‘il Machia’,Agostino Vespucci and Antonino Argalia.’ And Argalia the turk,takes the descendant of Timur the lame as a left over of war.She and her servant mirror(who is a reflection of her) are brought to Florence after he leaves the land of the Turks behind.Here the Enchantress as she comes to be known,changes the lives of the people of Florence with her magic,until one day the duke is killed.The witch hunter are brought in,but she escapes.Fast forward into the ‘present’ and “a tall yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself ‘Mogor dell’Amore’,the Mughal of love,arrives at the court of the Great Mughal,the emperor Akbar”(from the book).he claims himself to be a relative of Akbar and he tells the Shahnshah about his mother.the tale carries itself ,with the jewels,the role of women in guarding tales and the lust of men.

The book has a lot of history to it and links the various events across Europe and Asia.In the last part it also touches upon the “mundus novus”(America).The book is quite rich in description of the various thing in that era.It also ‘touches’ upon ‘fucking'(sorry i tried not to use the word,but then when the author uses it so many times,it has to come in the review somewhere) .If you have the patience to read a book,which frankly could be written in fewer words,then this is a nice read.it didn’t get boring though and in a few places I was rolling in laughter because of the absurdity in the way which a few things were described( and the author leads you to believe in them too).this is the first time i picked up a Rushdie and i was surprised by it.All in all,if you have the time give it a read.