Lone Fox Dancing - Ruskin Bond (The Master Storyteller)

The man is a master. Everytime I pick up any of his books, it is like a whole new experience all over again. He makes the mundane interesting. He makes biology fun. He concocts wild animals in the funniest of ways. Finally, his autobiography is out and all the questions about his childhood and early life is out in the open, well somewhat. Made me realise how close to the truth his books had always been. He rejuvenates my interest in reading. Been through a lot, the man has shown perseverance. He instils the confidence in us to give up everything and just go live in the hills, that everything is worth it. He ultimately has proven it to us that life is all about wanting to do what you want to do. And being happy about it. No regrets. Salute to the man. As many of us, one of my earnest desires has alwayd been to meet the man face to face and talk to him. Maybe I could. But then, I read somewhere in an interview that he doesn't like being disturbed by strangers. Well, that's what we are to him. Hence, when I did get a chance to pass by Ivy Cottage during my last trip to Mussoorie, I just paid my distant respects to the master writer who has retained the love for reading in young readers like me who have grown up reading him, like he were one of our very own.

Mist Over the Mersey - Lyn Andrews (A review)

War changes everything. What began as a completely normal story of a not-so-well-to-do neighborhood, its various characters, eventually turned out pretty morbid. In the end, of course, it was a happy ending. It had to be, as most fictional novels are. There is Nancy and Mary who are brought up separately by single but independent mothers. And there there is Jerry, Mike and Tommy, who, although belong to complete families, have woes of their own. The whole neighborhood suffers from perennial lack of finances but makes up for it with universal fellow-feeling and unity. Although there is a bit gossip, well, there is always gossip. Then come the Chattertons. Newly paupered, having lost everything to bad investments, they begin to find and build a life in the Liverpool slum. They are welcomed, and rendered a helping hand in more ways than one and they gradually begin to settle down, albeit with some hiccups here and there, what with Dee losing her mum.

Things could have gone on smoothly, but for the onset of the Second World War, tearing the normalcy of lives apart. Of course the boys now have to sign up and fight for the country with their betrothed and about-to-be-betrothed waiting behind. With nothing to live for, even the girls think of taking up nursing as a career, helping those wounded soldiers fighting so valiantly, and the story goes on and on...

In the end, every piece of the puzzle seems to fall back together with a sort of happily ever after to it. However, a lot has been lost in the process, innocence, to say the least.

A completely gripping read which had me turning the pages till the end and left me in a state of shock. Wartime isolation, the fear, the estrangement and the hopelessness of it all seemed to shrink into my veins. In the end, you might get a feeling...it was all for nothing.

Unsatiating Desires

Feed me some pleasant memories, 

Feed me the cool breath of wind following a particularly hot day, 

Feed me the warmth of your comforting hug,

Feed me the assurance of unspoken promises,

Feed me the playfulness of childish memories,

Feed me the feeling of homeliness and all things good,

Never before had all things good seemed so much farther,

Feed me the optimism that I lost somewhere between growing up and going away.....

Cometh The Hour - Jeffery Archer

Mr. Archer gets better and better at it...One would say a sequel and a sequel further to it only gets worse as compared to the original. However, Jeffery Archer is all set to prove us wrong. Every part being more fast-paced than the previous, he keeps us gripped tight to the book till we are over and done with...and devastatingly wait in anticipation for the next eye-full...

The love found and soon-to-be-lost and then found again for Sebastian Clifton, the love found and then lost again for Sebastian..The unfinished story for Anatoly Babakov, Harry Clifton's pursuit for for Mr. Babakov's freedom.. The fate of Barrington Shipping, Hakim Bishara and the misadventures of Virginia Fenwick...the inter-woven yet disconnected stories of all these characters and plots keeps you glued to the book till you are done, and are hungry for more...

Love the way the writer weaves story upon story and angle upon angle not to let us down for even a single moment. A must read for anybody who needs a suggestion for their next new book...!

And We Remained...My personal P-O-V

This is a story about a gang of friends, spoken mostly through Sahir's voice...Your run-of-the-mill story about college life that every person can relate to...Studies, masti, love lost (more than found)...These guys seem like one unlucky lot! :P

The story does not have any surprising twists and turns...it captures the reader's attention with its banality... The writer gives us a joy ride through his life at ECVU followed by the ups and down of the career path of him and his friends... I was impressed by the 'Stream of Consciousness' use there...My second 'Eye of the Storm'.
A person who has been through engineering life (graduation, for all that matter) can find a Sahir, Sandeep, Gopal, Anand or David in himself...
We can also see so many bygone Wardha's walking about around us...
Being a girl myself, I still ask this question...Why are girls so damn complex?
The author's guts to pen down his life story (as can be inferred, although not proven) is remarkable. Not many possess the quality to point their own mistakes...The story of Sahir's life seems an transparent open book...
Floored by the simplicity.

A review of The Winner's Curse...Dee Walker

I have never read many political thrillers, and never one by an Indian writer. But I must say, this was a great experience...
At the end of the book you will be left thinking one thing...who was the bad guy? This book is the perfect example of present day goodness (With ample amount of maliciousness hidden behind sugarcoated words)...
It depicts the duplicity of the world we live in today...Even the hero of the book is not your run-of-the-mill hero we are so used to encounter in movies or in books...
On a different note, this book, being a political thriller, has really left me thrilled. The mention of technology was quite impressive. 
You will be left stumped by the things that are (or can be) possible with technology... The author has gone into quite a lot of detail to make every part of the book extremely realistic...

Difficult to imagine the level of research that went behind the creation of this book... Looking forward to a sequel, if any. :)

Generation Gap – Only age-wise

As a child, the term ‘Generation Gap’ was only that to me – a mere term and nothing more. I grew up in an environment where all my views tallied perfectly well with my parents and grandparents alike. I only ever heard about the so-called gap from my peers and friends. Some faced the dilemma of curfew; some others complained that their folks did not understand the way they thought or dressed, the company they kept and what not.

However, I was quite lucky to be born into an uber-cool environment where my good friends were even better friends to my grandmother. I guess the basic point was openness and trust. I was open about my goings-on in life and that was accepted by my family.

What I wore, or wear, does not raise eyebrows at my home. They always treat my attempts at oddness, or fashion as I liked to call it, with quite a lot of enthusiasm. There is also a freedom to share our views with each other. The views we share both ways are highly respected.

Now I see my younger sisters dress up in a way, I am sure, would raise a hullabaloo in other homes. However, mine tags along to shop for the oddities the malls have to offer today. All this said and done in the small town that I live in, where the slightest thing out of place is not taken too kindly.

Only yesterday, my 19-year old cousin dressed up for a get-together in a way that made my jaws drop. Now THAT could be a generation gap. But the next moment I was all agog with her looks and even gave a flattering comment or two which boys in her friends circle might fall short of making. : P

All in all, now I see that even though there is an age gap between my people, they do not let it become a reason for creating a barrier in our relationships. And that is the best thing about being born into this family.