Coming of age story of a teenage Australian boy who ends up spending his last year in school living with his aunt. Read More…
Book Reviews
‘The Umbrella Man’ was my introduction to the delightful world of Roald Dahl. After that I never skipped a chance to read Roald Dahl’s book – and honestly, I did not like all of them equally. But I do believe that Roald Dahl is the master of short stories, especially the creepy and macabre ones. ‘The Best of Roald Dahl’ is a collection of outright creepy stories. You browse along happily page after page and…
Why this? Cloud Atlas remains an all-time favorite and my first book by David Mitchell. Having loved it, I was on the constant lookout for another book by him which I found at an airport shop. The title Black Swan Green doesn’ tell you much but I knew that I could take the risk. If it’s David Mitchell it will be at the least good writing and I was not wrong. The Plot The semi-autobiographical…
I picked up this book solely because it was a Virago Modern classics cause one can typically trust their curation. However, I am not sure if this was a win. I am not entirely sure whether The Play Room qualifies to be a modern classic. But I guess, 50 years down the line, it may be considered a reflection of teenage youth in England during the Swinging 60s. The Play Room is centered on Laura,…
Twilight is a book for the young adult segment, a demographic I am not hence probably not qualified to review it. However, I have read it, I have an opinion and I want to say it out loud. Twilight is one of those rare books appearing to be much better than they actually are. The plot, in short, is the love story of Isabella, a young teenage girl, and Edward, a vegetarian vampire. Quite enticing,…
I have mixed feelings about this book having just finished it yesterday. I had expectations from this book. I expected it to be the story of the American dream, like in the movies – the hero will rise above himself to be a bigger and better person. Clearly, I was obviously mistaken. This is about real life and real life is not the like the movies. Read More…
Guest post by Kapil Sood, Writer-at-large, Shades of Words Often in our lives, we commit mistakes that leave us in overwhelming guilt. In the absence of a suiting redemption, we end up living our lives under the burden of this guilt. Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel The Kite Runner is about how this guilt and later a desperate attempt at redemption drives the life of Amir. With Afghanistan in turmoil as the background, it is a…
Assorted tales of comic fiction – edited by Peter Haining I always appreciate an entertaining or thought-provoking story-line and I got plenty of those as I read the ‘The Flying Sorcerers’. A motley collection of humorous fantasy fiction tales with a mix of both science fiction and the supernatural. What makes the book really special is: A) It has the earlier works of some of the best names in the business – Terry Pratchett, Arthur…
