Literary Thoughts of a Dragon Fly

Thoughts on Nadia Akbar’s debut novel- Goodbye Freddie Mercury “ Goodbye everybody I've got to go Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth Mama, ooo” – Freddie Mercury The psychedelic cover will attract you first, then the title, then Lahore & then the story of many lives intertwined in the book. The book stays with you after a long time it gets over & you think about the characters, thinking about their lives, about Lahore or perhaps how as an Indian reader one finds so many similarities in Lahore and its inhabitants. In bringing Lahore, its language and the people alive , Nadia Akbar does a commendable job in her debut Novel – Good bye Freddie Mercury. The book is like a heady cocktail mix which you want to sip it slowly & soak in all the flavors of life, love, friendships, family & of course music. The story is moved forward with the alternating voices of Nida & Bugsy. Nida has just started her college in Lahore &...

Thoughts & Review on - A girl like that by Tanaz Bhathena  Confession :-  I was interested in the book when I got a chance to read the blurb, what i didn't realize that it was going to be a trip down memory lane, back to school, back to first heart breaks, love, first kiss & friendships for life. I almost risked today at job for reading this book at my work desk for the whole day, ignoring work, colleagues & passing the day like a zombie. I didn't know i was in for a ride, chanting names of Zarin & Porus. The heaviness tugged at my heart & I was left in tears. Their story began where most stories ended.  Name :- A Girl like that Author :- Tanaz Bhathena Genre :- YA Fiction Publisher :- Penguin Books-Penguin Random House India ISBN :- 9780143443018 No.of Pages :- 378 Book source :- Flipkart Review Programme You can buy the book from :- Flipkart | Amazon | Infibeam | Zarin Wadia story begins even before she is born, she is const...

 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 rekin...

"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...

This is how the conversation went between my friend and me in a washroom. Me- So i just completed  reading this book"50 Cups of Coffee" She :- Oh wow ! is it like "50 shades of grey ?" Me- Err..No The conversation continued with difference with literature and literotica & also how i tried to explain my friend the book "50 cups of coffee" was all about adventures of finding a groom via matrimonial site which definitely drew a blank stare from her, because she was experiencing marital and maternal bliss both. But such are conversations in the washroom. We sealed our never ending conversation to an elusive appointment of coffee date and of course why the bathroom tap doesn't work. Conversation between us female gender normally oscillate between these two topics. So when this enticing titled book came up for a review, i knew i had to read it. Reading just the introduction of the book made the decision only stronger. The book is a strin...

The best compliment one can give to Chanakya in modern times would be that he was undoubtedly world's first leadership coach. I got the opportunity to read & review the book -Inside Chanakya's Mind-Aanvikshiki & the Art of Thinking, Here is the review :- Book Name - Inside Chanakya's Mind-Aanvikshiki & The Art of Thinking Author-  Radhakrishnan Pillai Genre -Non-Fiction Publisher house -Portfolio/Penguin Random House India ISBN -9780143427537 No.of Pages - 212 Source - Flipkart Review Programme Page Turner  :-   33% 66% 100% Review :-  The book's concept of Aanvikshiki is explained in 10 chapters. The author first introduces us to the concept of Aanvikshiki through a short story & we are finally given glimpse to Chanakya's conception of  "Arthashashtra" . In the initial chapter, the author explains Aanvikshiki as a process of thinking, which questions our beliefs, thoughts. I...

I'll be honest, its my fault for the delay in review. But then of course two things prompted me, to post the review.  Those two things are :-  1. Our neighbor's dog passed away & i could strongly resonate with a story mentioned in the book about the origins of a dog's loyalty towards its master. Its a beautiful, heart warming fable and i almost cried at the end.  2. The Flipkart Reviewer called twice regarding the update of review. I know, i didn't match up to the responsibility of writing a review on time. Then i learnt the second lesson, keeping up one's virtual social credibility is also important.  But now for the review :-  Book Name - Fables from India-A collection of Short Stories Author- Uday Mane Genre -Fiction-Short Stories Publisher house - Frog Books/Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd ISBN -978-93-52016-26-6 No.of Pages - 168 Source - Flipkart Review Programme Page Turner :-   Page Turner ...

There are times, when a book chooses you. It doesn't leave you, till you finish it reading, it compels you, haunts you and we as a reader act like a demon possessed human. But once, when you complete reading , there is this strong feeling of warm blanket of words enveloping you. The characters from the book are still alive in your mind & you wish that the book never came to an end after all. This is what i felt after reading "The Borrower" by Rebecca Makkai. Here are my thoughts about the book. Book Name- The Borrower Author-Rebecca Makkai Genre- Adult & Contemporary No.of Pages- 324 The book is narrated in first person, where we are introduced to the main character of the novel- Lucy Hull, a librarian in her mid twenties working in children's section in a small town called Hannibal. The story progresses forward, where we are shown that Lucy Hull, who is concerned about a sensitive 10 yr old kid named-Ian Drake. As the story progresses further...