Literary Thoughts of a Dragon Fly

Th oughts & Review on- Murder in Paharganj-A Vicks Menon Thriller by Kulpreet Yadav Murder mysteries are always welcome. Whether they are divided into whodunit, howdunit or any other genre. After all murder is murder and mystery is mystery. Its a fascinating ride. After finishing reading this book, i was instantly reminded of  Sudhir and Vinod who become impromptu investigative reporter when they stumble on a murder in the movie-Jaane bhi do yaaron. Of course, its a satire movie, a bit dark chasing evils more closer to the homeground. Vicks Menon, an unemployed investigative reporter finds himself in a interesting murder case of a foreigner woman named Sherry Bing in a seedy, low-down Le yogi Deluxe hotel in Pahargunj, Delhi. Unfortunately the friend who passes him the information, gives away Vicks Menon's name when the police comes to investigate the murder. Vicks menon, hot already on the murderer's trail sends a article about the murder to his former employer an

T houghts & Review on- A Column of Fire by Ken Follett I was a little bit apprehensive & scared to read a book of such a mammoth size. I was scared in the first place, that i wouldn't be able to complete this book reading or lose interest & leave midway. Thank fully none of such catastrophes actually occurred & I did finish reading the book, albeit mostly at work, in bus, at times at home. It filled me with a strange void when the book almost came to an end. Because while reading this book, this book was my home, the characters my family & the story my soul. This is the third novel in the kingsbridge series. Fortunately enough, this novel can also be read as a standalone book. Set in the most challenging times of English history, Kingsbridge witnesses the ups and downs of powerful families, fall and rise of English Empire, wars between religions and sect, small but vital love story which spans over 50 years. The story begins with young Ned Willard wh

Thoughts & Review on- Sourdough by Robin Sloan I want to stop writing now, go home and bake something. Anything cake, bread, cookie, pie. But bake, because as cliche as it may sound baking is theraupatic. And sourdough is a step up. If baking bread with yeast is therapeutic, then baking with a starter is nirvana, its a demanding relationship between the starter & the baker but albeit a very fulfilling one. After completing reading this book, i went off for lunch in cafeteria. The  fragrant cooked spices coated my finger tips, as i dipped tiny pieces of roti into the "aloo-mutter" gravy. I couldn't help but think, about it origins, about how perfectly mix of spices brought together and produced a perfect blend to satisfy our taste buds. These thoughts were purely originated thanks to the book- Sourdough by Robin Sloan. I picked up this book to read on a whim, when i saw its interesting cover on Reddit.com . The title itself appealed me to read. The book

 Thoughts & Review on- The Golden House by Salman Rushdie.  There are times in this novel, when the novel ceases to become a novel, a mere collection of words which when uniformly comes together becomes a character, story or event. The novel becomes a person. It reaches out to grab you, convinces you and manages you to sit at one place & read it completely, devour it, savor it. This is what "The Golden House" does. It consumes you in a good way. You want to grab everyone coming in your way & talk about the literary headiness this novel induces. Unfortunately few understand & we are trapped in our own madness. We stumble across, fall down, the void left when you complete reading this novel, until you begin another one. Which i as a reader don't want to. I want to badly meet Nero the pseudo Caesar, Vasilisa the Russian wife, Trilogy of Golden sons- Petya, Apu &D, the not so innocent bystander-Rene and i want to visit New York & Bombay again. T

Thoughts & review on "Mrs. Saint & the defectives" by Julie Lawson Timmer  “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”  ―  G.K. Chesterton “Good neighbors always spy on you to make sure you are doing well.”  ―  Pawan Mishra ,  Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy (quote Courtesy- Goodreads.com) When I had glanced at novel's cover on Reddit.com , & without any biased preconceptions in my mind, i thought that "Mrs.Saint and the defectives", must be a novel about a lady named Mrs.Saint and her gang of defectives, who were actually superheroes in disguise. I was partly right.  Oddly enough i am reminded of this line, said by a long time but not forgotten friend- "Don't you think, everyone is a hero in their own life?" I was much reminded of shenanigans, generosity, warmth, love of my neighbors while reading this novel. Too many warm memories were rekind

Thoughts & Review on "Teenage Diaries -The days that were" By Saurabh Sharma Confession :- I'll be honest, I was a little bit apprehensive when i picked up this book for reading. Given all the soapy, cheesy young adult fiction we have nowadays, this was a refreshing distraction. So yes i am glad i am picked up this book for reading & sad too because i never had such cool friends while I was in school. The book, begins with a baby named Ghanshyam who doesnt like his name, because his name is going to be butt of many jokes in future, during his school days. Little Ghanshyam is brought up in an Indian Middle class family in Baroda and he has his older brother Roshan to look upto who is the perfect son of his parents. Ghanshyam begins his tryst  & (mis) trials in his alma mater "St.Edmonds" with his best friend Vikram. Both ceremoniously begin their 8th Standard in St.Edmonds, where girls join them in 8th std. An all boys school, becomes co-ed wit

Thoughts & Review on Sneaky People by Thomas Berger There are times, when a book chooses you. As simple as that, no thunder lightning, no symphony, no loud signs, neither does the book automatically delivers at your door. But it just picks you up. I was facing a readers block for a fortnight. While i did have piles of books waiting for me to read, but I didn't just have enough interest to read any. After heavy duty reading of Neel Mukherjee's State of Freedom & Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, I was drained out. While these two novels, did satisfy my literary cravings & but somewhere I felt a void. These novels were intense, diverse of course, the treatment & the writing different. But they were like two living entities who possessed me & both refused to leave me steadfastly. However the ghost did wear off, but the emptiness remained. I stared blank at the PC, didn't read in bus, at home whatsoever. I did have this novel &qu

A Poem. I don't know what made me write this poem. I was intending it to be something else, but it turned out to be something else.  Here it is :-  I promise to tell you my secret, If you won’t tell mine, We’ll meet over lunch & have a glass of wine, In case you whine, you little swine, I give you my word, I will bottle you up in jar of brine. I committed a murder, not so long ago, In the time of spring, just beneath the flowery bough, We were having a cup of earl grey & cucumber sandwich, The one who always bewitched me was a witch all the time. Oh she loved me, she told me so. But she loved Tom, dick, harry & many more. What blew me apart, when she pulled the axe on my poor heart, When she told me, that most of all she loved our neighbor, the fiery tart. That fiery tart was a young woman, And I couldn’t fathom, why a woman loved a woman. Angered & Smoldered, all burnt up inside, I threw the t

"W e are all writers at heart, only most of us have lost our words. " I almost felt a void when i finished reading A State of Freedom. I felt a kinship with all the characters & for me all these days, nights & the restless moments were filled with them. At times, this novel or a consortium of linked short stories filled me with so much sadness, that i was almost tempted to keep the book down. To let it unfinished. But perhaps just as an unfinished work of a writer leaves a writer incomplete, a book unfinished also leaves reader incomplete. Its almost been 24 hours that i have finished this book reading, i am almost tempted to start it again. The novel is undoubtedly sad. But it kind of invokes a thought process inside your head, on what does sadness means to you ? Is it longing for someone, something you have lost or sadness is just a poor far fetched cousin of struggle and survival. Neel Mukherjee's touches on these timeless subjects. It might've been

Book Review :- When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Book Name :- When Dimple Met Rishi Author : -Sandhya Menon Publisher :- Hodder & Stoughton Ltd No.of Pages :- 380 ISBN :- 978 1 473 66740 2 Genre :- Young Adult/Fiction/Love Story Courtesy :- Flipkart Review Programme. There are phases in your life, where one picks up different types of books. When you are 5, picture books fulfill that need. When you are in that curious age of 7 to 11, you want to read everything in sight, so you pick up champak, chandamama, Chacha Chaudhry, huckleberry finn, treasure island and the likes. When you are 11 to 15 & God bless you, if you are still reading, then you are probably reading Nancy Drew, Hardy boys, Famous Five, All the books by Enid Blyton, random medical thriller by Robin Cook & I also had a chance to read a Harold Robbins Book : ) When you are out of school finally, college, when at first sight you fall for someone so badly, it hits you like a thunderbolt, you star

Book Review - The Ministry of Utmost Happiness Cousin :- What are you reading ? Me : -a novel called-- The ministry of Utmost happiness. Cousin- So did you find happiness ? Me- I don't know... I only started reading this book, because this book was directly/indirectly garnering all the attention at all corners possible. Be it virtual or real. As for me, i was not interested because my limited reading of Arundhati Roy stopped at 2 or 3 pages of "The God of Small things" at a tender age of 15 because i was searching for love making scene descriptions in that novel. From that point on wards to this time, I never read anything about Arundhati Roy or anything written by her. I am glad that i was mightily proved wrong, I am glad that this book picked me. And most of all this review or the thoughts written about this book are mainly for my purpose & recording of thoughts. These initial few lines greeted me, when i started reading- The ministry of Utmost Happi