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jainandsdiary's Reviews (310)
When the wildflowers bloom is the story of Tara Grewal. She is a mother of two and the wife of a dominating husband, Tej. It was all kept secret till Tej humiliated Tara at her birthday party publicly. After that, the story continues and so does the changing life of Tara.
I love the side characters in this book. While the relationship between Meeta, Mala, and Tara of sisters seems so natural and real, the character of Dev's beeja gives hope.
But the story was very slow. It's not that I don't like stories that are slow but sometimes they don't touch how they are meant to. Also, the story was completely predictable for me. By just reading the first few chapters, I can see where the story is leading. There was not a single moment or a single twist where I can say that oh! this was unexpected. Also, the writing was very flowery.
I love the side characters in this book. While the relationship between Meeta, Mala, and Tara of sisters seems so natural and real, the character of Dev's beeja gives hope.
But the story was very slow. It's not that I don't like stories that are slow but sometimes they don't touch how they are meant to. Also, the story was completely predictable for me. By just reading the first few chapters, I can see where the story is leading. There was not a single moment or a single twist where I can say that oh! this was unexpected. Also, the writing was very flowery.
The extra in ordinary is a short story collection by author Ashutosh Marathe. It is divided into three parts and every part consists of 13 stories.
The first part is "Intense". As the title suggests, this part was literally intense and stand strongly on the title. The author has literally raised the hope of readers from the first story itself and the author didn’t disappoint the readers. And while reading the stories from the part itself, you can feel the depth of the title of the book. “The extra in ordinary”, how ordinary stories arises from our surrounding and have always some extra meanings for us in our ordinary life.
The second part is “Funny”. The first two stories of this part are my favorite and it was really fascinating that how the author has picked up these stories from our surroundings and the stories reflected the keen observation of the author. But as the other stories continue, the stories have the fun part in it, but apart from that, they have some intense parts as well as some lessons in it too. For some, it might work great, for some it doesn’t. while some people like the funny part with intensity and lessons, some don’t.
The third part is “Inspirational”. This part is my favorite. Generally, many writers write inspirational stories and they have the inspirational part in it but it doesn’t feel so generous but this time, the author in just two to three pages in each story has created magic or I should say, he has observed his life, his past, his experiences and without adding a pinch of species of unrealistic things, he presented it is as real as it is and this is its key factor. I loved the stories as they were not something fictional or extraordinary, they were real, these were the stories that we all see everywhere around us but just ignore. The author should be appreciated for his work.
Honestly saying, this is one of my favorite short story collections of this year. There are many stories that are my absolute favorite and I will visit them very often. These stories will not leave you very easily, they will be with you, whenever you walk, whenever you visit someone, either you will be at someone’s wedding or at the bank, these stories are ordinary, these stories are of ordinary people and just like there is always some extra in everyone’s life, there is extra in these stories. THE EXTRA IN ORDINARY.
I will recommend this book to everyone. If you are looking for a short story collection, whether you are an absolute beginner or have read many other books in the same genre, you will definitely love it. The language of this book is simple and quite beginner-friendly. So, if you are someone who is looking to come to start your reading journey, this book is for you.
The first part is "Intense". As the title suggests, this part was literally intense and stand strongly on the title. The author has literally raised the hope of readers from the first story itself and the author didn’t disappoint the readers. And while reading the stories from the part itself, you can feel the depth of the title of the book. “The extra in ordinary”, how ordinary stories arises from our surrounding and have always some extra meanings for us in our ordinary life.
The second part is “Funny”. The first two stories of this part are my favorite and it was really fascinating that how the author has picked up these stories from our surroundings and the stories reflected the keen observation of the author. But as the other stories continue, the stories have the fun part in it, but apart from that, they have some intense parts as well as some lessons in it too. For some, it might work great, for some it doesn’t. while some people like the funny part with intensity and lessons, some don’t.
The third part is “Inspirational”. This part is my favorite. Generally, many writers write inspirational stories and they have the inspirational part in it but it doesn’t feel so generous but this time, the author in just two to three pages in each story has created magic or I should say, he has observed his life, his past, his experiences and without adding a pinch of species of unrealistic things, he presented it is as real as it is and this is its key factor. I loved the stories as they were not something fictional or extraordinary, they were real, these were the stories that we all see everywhere around us but just ignore. The author should be appreciated for his work.
Honestly saying, this is one of my favorite short story collections of this year. There are many stories that are my absolute favorite and I will visit them very often. These stories will not leave you very easily, they will be with you, whenever you walk, whenever you visit someone, either you will be at someone’s wedding or at the bank, these stories are ordinary, these stories are of ordinary people and just like there is always some extra in everyone’s life, there is extra in these stories. THE EXTRA IN ORDINARY.
I will recommend this book to everyone. If you are looking for a short story collection, whether you are an absolute beginner or have read many other books in the same genre, you will definitely love it. The language of this book is simple and quite beginner-friendly. So, if you are someone who is looking to come to start your reading journey, this book is for you.
In denial is a short novel of around 47 pages by author Shradha Khanna. The main protagonist of the story is Ridwan who lost his mother and as his mother used to visit an NGO for elderly people every month for volunteering, Ridwan also visits the same NGO every year on his mother's birthday.
As usual, he has visited the NGO to this time but from there, his life takes many twists and turns. He meets Vedika there, who makes him unsettled. Later on, his personal life also changes significantly.
The writing style of the author was good enough and it was an easy, effortless, and plain read for me as, after some events, it was a bit predictable. Also, the whole story is written with only Ridwan's point of view and for a short read, it was delicate and enjoyable.
Overall it was a nice short read which can be read within an hour and is beginner-friendly.
As usual, he has visited the NGO to this time but from there, his life takes many twists and turns. He meets Vedika there, who makes him unsettled. Later on, his personal life also changes significantly.
The writing style of the author was good enough and it was an easy, effortless, and plain read for me as, after some events, it was a bit predictable. Also, the whole story is written with only Ridwan's point of view and for a short read, it was delicate and enjoyable.
Overall it was a nice short read which can be read within an hour and is beginner-friendly.
Almost Damned is a sequel to the book Almost mortal by the author Christopher Leibig. Even the book is a sequel, it can be read as a standalone. Even I have not read its previous part but enjoyed it.
The book revolves around the main protagonist Samson Young, Criminal defense attorney, and partner in Young and Griffin in Bennett County, Virginia. His professional life takes twists and turns when a link is observed between all his cases and began to affect his personal life as well. The cases from the past started coming on the mainline again and dig deeper in his personal life too.
I will not talk more about what's the story is about because you can read it in the blurb but I want to talk about how I felt while reading and what's my opinion about the story.
The book in the starting was very confusing and time-consuming for me as with each new page, a new character evolved. And this was the only main problem I faced during reading this book because, with each passing page, I have to see again the characters chart so that I can know who the character is and what relation they have with the main protagonist and the story. And so around twenty-five percent of the story was difficult for me to read.
But as the story progresses and the characters become familiar, the story emerges astonishingly. The middle part of the story can be called more like a progression and making ground for the story and not the thrill.
But as soon as the story comes towards the ending seventy-eighty pages, from there the real thrill began for me. I loved how the story progressed, I loved how characters evolved, I loved the thrill in it, and also, from there the legal part becomes more intriguing and interesting.
The character I loved most in this book was not the main character Samson but Nguyen Jones—Investigator at Young and Griffin for how he was presented and Amelia Griffin—Samson Young’s law partner, she was not in the highlight in most of the part of the story but how her character evolved or rather say she takes the lead in just two-three pages in the ending portions, it was enough for me to love her character, her boldness, her professionalism, her confidence, and her personality.
I would like to recommend it to those who like reading thrillers but are comfortable with the legal part too because there is so much of a legal part in the book.
The book revolves around the main protagonist Samson Young, Criminal defense attorney, and partner in Young and Griffin in Bennett County, Virginia. His professional life takes twists and turns when a link is observed between all his cases and began to affect his personal life as well. The cases from the past started coming on the mainline again and dig deeper in his personal life too.
I will not talk more about what's the story is about because you can read it in the blurb but I want to talk about how I felt while reading and what's my opinion about the story.
The book in the starting was very confusing and time-consuming for me as with each new page, a new character evolved. And this was the only main problem I faced during reading this book because, with each passing page, I have to see again the characters chart so that I can know who the character is and what relation they have with the main protagonist and the story. And so around twenty-five percent of the story was difficult for me to read.
But as the story progresses and the characters become familiar, the story emerges astonishingly. The middle part of the story can be called more like a progression and making ground for the story and not the thrill.
But as soon as the story comes towards the ending seventy-eighty pages, from there the real thrill began for me. I loved how the story progressed, I loved how characters evolved, I loved the thrill in it, and also, from there the legal part becomes more intriguing and interesting.
The character I loved most in this book was not the main character Samson but Nguyen Jones—Investigator at Young and Griffin for how he was presented and Amelia Griffin—Samson Young’s law partner, she was not in the highlight in most of the part of the story but how her character evolved or rather say she takes the lead in just two-three pages in the ending portions, it was enough for me to love her character, her boldness, her professionalism, her confidence, and her personality.
I would like to recommend it to those who like reading thrillers but are comfortable with the legal part too because there is so much of a legal part in the book.
Ujla darpan by Pratik Bharat Palor is a combination of Stories, Essays, and Poems and so the author has named it as Kanika (कनिका - कथा, निबंध, काव्य) which is an actual word in Hindi, literary means an atom, small, girl, seed or piece of gold but this does not have any relation with the book.
The author has a commendable grip in Hindi and is visible in his work. From the selection of words to the crafting of a scenario, it was astonishing.
The first part of the book was Katha, the stories. There were five stories in this part and were remarkable. While some stories were written in dramatic form, others were simple in third-person narrative. The stories have satire, humor, and social message, they are impactful and will make you think about the current scenario of society. While the stories in this section were amazing, it would be better if there have been more stories.
The second part of the book was Nibandh, the essays. There were around thirteen essays in this part and contain most of the section of the book. The essays covered various topics, from the importance of Hindi in society, country, and our life to festivals, from patriotism to personal experience, from criticism to differences, this portion covers various topics stupendously and will touch readers' hearts emotionally too at some instances.
The third part of the book was Kavya, the poems. There were around twenty-four poems in this part. This was my favorite part of this collection. For a poetry lover like me, the poems were new, refreshing, and heartwarming.
The only thing that I find very odd in this book was in part two, essays, that three of the essays were in the English language which I was not expecting at all for two reasons. First, the book was in Hindi, so I was not expecting something written in English and more importantly, second, the first essay of this part was about the importance of Hindi, so it was not even in my imagination that something written in English could be a part of it. It's not that I have any problem with English or that the author has not written them beautifully, they were amazing too but not expected. I have read some collections too where there are one or two poems or essays in other languages apart from the language used majorly in the book, but here I don't understand the point why they are written in English. The author could have written them in Hindi too. Well, it is completely the author's choice, decision, and right to choose the language and write but it's my opinion.
Overall, the book was amazing, refreshing, and intense too and I recommend it to those who are looking to read a book in Hindi and want all in one, the essays, poems, and story, altogether
The author has a commendable grip in Hindi and is visible in his work. From the selection of words to the crafting of a scenario, it was astonishing.
The first part of the book was Katha, the stories. There were five stories in this part and were remarkable. While some stories were written in dramatic form, others were simple in third-person narrative. The stories have satire, humor, and social message, they are impactful and will make you think about the current scenario of society. While the stories in this section were amazing, it would be better if there have been more stories.
The second part of the book was Nibandh, the essays. There were around thirteen essays in this part and contain most of the section of the book. The essays covered various topics, from the importance of Hindi in society, country, and our life to festivals, from patriotism to personal experience, from criticism to differences, this portion covers various topics stupendously and will touch readers' hearts emotionally too at some instances.
The third part of the book was Kavya, the poems. There were around twenty-four poems in this part. This was my favorite part of this collection. For a poetry lover like me, the poems were new, refreshing, and heartwarming.
The only thing that I find very odd in this book was in part two, essays, that three of the essays were in the English language which I was not expecting at all for two reasons. First, the book was in Hindi, so I was not expecting something written in English and more importantly, second, the first essay of this part was about the importance of Hindi, so it was not even in my imagination that something written in English could be a part of it. It's not that I have any problem with English or that the author has not written them beautifully, they were amazing too but not expected. I have read some collections too where there are one or two poems or essays in other languages apart from the language used majorly in the book, but here I don't understand the point why they are written in English. The author could have written them in Hindi too. Well, it is completely the author's choice, decision, and right to choose the language and write but it's my opinion.
Overall, the book was amazing, refreshing, and intense too and I recommend it to those who are looking to read a book in Hindi and want all in one, the essays, poems, and story, altogether
Peaceful Noise, My Inner voice is the poetry collection by author Roma with a journal prompt in it.
The poems in this poetry collection were admirable.
The poet covered many topics, from love to relationships, from beliefs to choices, from wounds to society, there was a wide range in it. Many poems touched my heart but some did not. The poems were in free verse and were in micro tale style. But if a little more poems have been there, it would have been great.
The journal prompts were awesome, exciting, and wonderful. They would make you do introspect and love yourself a little more. There was journal prompts after poems, like some poems and some prompts and this structure goes on.
There were also beautiful and mesmerizing pictures in between the journal prompts and poems related to the topics and they were icing on the cake.
This book is recommended to those who want to journal but don't know how to start it. The journal prompts will help you to do this and poems will motivate you to do so and will give you a direction too. But if you are looking for rhyming poems or long poems, this might not be a perfect book for you.
The poems in this poetry collection were admirable.
The poet covered many topics, from love to relationships, from beliefs to choices, from wounds to society, there was a wide range in it. Many poems touched my heart but some did not. The poems were in free verse and were in micro tale style. But if a little more poems have been there, it would have been great.
The journal prompts were awesome, exciting, and wonderful. They would make you do introspect and love yourself a little more. There was journal prompts after poems, like some poems and some prompts and this structure goes on.
There were also beautiful and mesmerizing pictures in between the journal prompts and poems related to the topics and they were icing on the cake.
This book is recommended to those who want to journal but don't know how to start it. The journal prompts will help you to do this and poems will motivate you to do so and will give you a direction too. But if you are looking for rhyming poems or long poems, this might not be a perfect book for you.
Book: Guilty of Love, Your Honour
Author: Rajesh Talwar
Pages: 149 (Kindle)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
Rating: 3.75
Guilty of Love, Your Honour is a contemporary fiction by author Rajesh Talwar. The main protagonist of the story is Luv. The story revolves around Luv and his two best friends, Jeet and Kartik. Luv joined a law firm called Frost and Gandhi while Jeet joined the corporate world as a high-flying executive, and Kartik worked as an assistant editor in a major newspaper after their college but all are in Delhi itself and arranges their get together time to time.
The main story starts when Jeet's parents arranged his marriage with Simran because of the condition through which Jeet was going on due to his break up with Sabrina, her ex-dominating girlfriend which leaves Jeet in misery and how the first meeting of Luv with Simran takes place. The story then keeps progressing and twists and turns take place as closeness between Simran and Luv increases.
The language of the book is simple and quite beginner-friendly. The language is lucid and easy to read. The author has done a commendable job with characters. How characters were plotted was good and even if you don't feel directly connected with the characters, as a whole you will connect to the story. I think that the characters could be explored a little more, especially Kartik and his girlfriend Kamna. Also, their court scenes takes a major part in the story.
The story was a little predictive but still was engaging. Romance lovers who have read a lot of romance will find it a bit predictive but it is a good one-time read for them too.
This is recommended to those who are beginners and looking forward to reading contemporary fiction and romance.
Author: Rajesh Talwar
Pages: 149 (Kindle)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
Rating: 3.75
Guilty of Love, Your Honour is a contemporary fiction by author Rajesh Talwar. The main protagonist of the story is Luv. The story revolves around Luv and his two best friends, Jeet and Kartik. Luv joined a law firm called Frost and Gandhi while Jeet joined the corporate world as a high-flying executive, and Kartik worked as an assistant editor in a major newspaper after their college but all are in Delhi itself and arranges their get together time to time.
The main story starts when Jeet's parents arranged his marriage with Simran because of the condition through which Jeet was going on due to his break up with Sabrina, her ex-dominating girlfriend which leaves Jeet in misery and how the first meeting of Luv with Simran takes place. The story then keeps progressing and twists and turns take place as closeness between Simran and Luv increases.
The language of the book is simple and quite beginner-friendly. The language is lucid and easy to read. The author has done a commendable job with characters. How characters were plotted was good and even if you don't feel directly connected with the characters, as a whole you will connect to the story. I think that the characters could be explored a little more, especially Kartik and his girlfriend Kamna. Also, their court scenes takes a major part in the story.
The story was a little predictive but still was engaging. Romance lovers who have read a lot of romance will find it a bit predictive but it is a good one-time read for them too.
This is recommended to those who are beginners and looking forward to reading contemporary fiction and romance.
Book: The Girl in the Red Lipstick
Author: Ajay K. Pandey
Pages: 216
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Ethnic religion
Rating: 3.6/5
The girl in the red lipstick is a story by Ajay K. Pandey revolving around the main protagonist Arun Kumar. Arun is a best-selling author and is on his new book tour and for this, he visited Kolkata. There because of an accident that happened with him, he meets Lalita, who is in the swamp of prostitution work. From there the story progresses and layers of the story reveal.
The book started with the line "Always call a prostitute a lady; you have no idea what she has been through" and ended with the same and all the story revolves around this line. The line may seem quite simple at first, but it is not. There is so much depth in this line and so many thoughts to explore within.
I love how the author has represented social media. The selection of words we do for captions, the need to show something more vibrant and positive and happy even though the things are ordinary, this was something which we all can relate to. As truly said, social media is not true, it shows pseudo happiness, and the author showed it well. Like it is not something about which the author has written differently or showed it in the spotlight but the little actions of the protagonist say it all.
Also, there was a line in the book, "Somebody's pain was someone else's reason for celebration." Even though we all have heard about it and know it but still these lines gives me waves of emotions. I remember a line from class 10th, Economics textbook which said, "Two things are quite clear: one, different persons can have different developmental goals and two, what may be developed for one may not be developed for
the other. It may even be destructive for the other." And with this, my whole memories from the past came in front of me.
At some sections in the story, the story is represented with different points of view and I love reading a story with different points of view but at some moments, it felt like multiple points of view is shown only so that the story progresses, it felt like the story is going ahead normally and there is not so much with the point of view that is shown. Also, the end was quite unpredictable and worthy but according to me, if it have taken place a little bit differently, it could have been better. Also, the character of Rohit, who is Arun's friend, and Kajal, Arun's wife could be explored more, and insights into their thoughts and life if given a bit more, could have been amazing.
The speciality of the author is his simplicity in writing for sure and it reflects in the story and actions of the protagonist.
I will recommend this book to the ones who are looking forward to reading something about this topic as this is the topic which needs to be more talked about and discussed.
Author: Ajay K. Pandey
Pages: 216
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Ethnic religion
Rating: 3.6/5
The girl in the red lipstick is a story by Ajay K. Pandey revolving around the main protagonist Arun Kumar. Arun is a best-selling author and is on his new book tour and for this, he visited Kolkata. There because of an accident that happened with him, he meets Lalita, who is in the swamp of prostitution work. From there the story progresses and layers of the story reveal.
The book started with the line "Always call a prostitute a lady; you have no idea what she has been through" and ended with the same and all the story revolves around this line. The line may seem quite simple at first, but it is not. There is so much depth in this line and so many thoughts to explore within.
I love how the author has represented social media. The selection of words we do for captions, the need to show something more vibrant and positive and happy even though the things are ordinary, this was something which we all can relate to. As truly said, social media is not true, it shows pseudo happiness, and the author showed it well. Like it is not something about which the author has written differently or showed it in the spotlight but the little actions of the protagonist say it all.
Also, there was a line in the book, "Somebody's pain was someone else's reason for celebration." Even though we all have heard about it and know it but still these lines gives me waves of emotions. I remember a line from class 10th, Economics textbook which said, "Two things are quite clear: one, different persons can have different developmental goals and two, what may be developed for one may not be developed for
the other. It may even be destructive for the other." And with this, my whole memories from the past came in front of me.
At some sections in the story, the story is represented with different points of view and I love reading a story with different points of view but at some moments, it felt like multiple points of view is shown only so that the story progresses, it felt like the story is going ahead normally and there is not so much with the point of view that is shown. Also, the end was quite unpredictable and worthy but according to me, if it have taken place a little bit differently, it could have been better. Also, the character of Rohit, who is Arun's friend, and Kajal, Arun's wife could be explored more, and insights into their thoughts and life if given a bit more, could have been amazing.
The speciality of the author is his simplicity in writing for sure and it reflects in the story and actions of the protagonist.
I will recommend this book to the ones who are looking forward to reading something about this topic as this is the topic which needs to be more talked about and discussed.
Book: Inconspicuously human
Author: Uday Singh
Genre: Non-fiction (Human behavior, Society, and culture)
Pages: 125
Rating: 3.8/5
Inconspicuously human is a non-fiction book by author Uday Singh. This is around 125 pages only but so rich in content.
The books talk and discuss so many questions that arise in our mind which we keep asides because of any reason in general. Questions like "Is working harder and eating less going to harm us", "Why does the practice help us", "To be in a small pond or a big one" and similar questions like this.
There are 10 chapters in this book that discusses questions like this in detail.
In each chapter, after the introduction, there are so many experiments that happened worldwide over a long period that will help to understand the topic and concept with more details and insights and by understanding them psychologically. Also, this helps to move a little more towards the answer that we want to know. This is the most highlighted and detailed part and this is the part which I liked most about this book. The author has a wide knowledge about the topics and experiments and it is visible in the book.
Also, there is a section called Author's free-form perspective in each chapter after the experiments where the author shares his personal experiences, opinions, and thoughts on the topics discussed in the chapters which are highly delightful and amusing.
At the end of a chapter, the summary is given which binds up all the key learnings and the takeaways from the chapter. If you think that by only reading summaries, you will get all the things and learnings from the chapter, you can do it but by only reading summaries, it will be like only reading it for the sake of reading not understanding. as rightly said, the journey which leads to the destination is memorable and so without reading the whole concept, theories experiments, and experiences, if you will read the summary only, it won't be that helpful to you. but if you will read the whole chapter and then will read the summary, it will be highly helpful to you.
There were some things and experiments in the book where to understand them, I have to re-read them and some terminologies which I have to Google but overall this book is very informative, insightful, and practical.
I will recommend this book to everyone who wants to read about human behavior and how certain something happens to us and our reactions towards them.
Author: Uday Singh
Genre: Non-fiction (Human behavior, Society, and culture)
Pages: 125
Rating: 3.8/5
Inconspicuously human is a non-fiction book by author Uday Singh. This is around 125 pages only but so rich in content.
The books talk and discuss so many questions that arise in our mind which we keep asides because of any reason in general. Questions like "Is working harder and eating less going to harm us", "Why does the practice help us", "To be in a small pond or a big one" and similar questions like this.
There are 10 chapters in this book that discusses questions like this in detail.
In each chapter, after the introduction, there are so many experiments that happened worldwide over a long period that will help to understand the topic and concept with more details and insights and by understanding them psychologically. Also, this helps to move a little more towards the answer that we want to know. This is the most highlighted and detailed part and this is the part which I liked most about this book. The author has a wide knowledge about the topics and experiments and it is visible in the book.
Also, there is a section called Author's free-form perspective in each chapter after the experiments where the author shares his personal experiences, opinions, and thoughts on the topics discussed in the chapters which are highly delightful and amusing.
At the end of a chapter, the summary is given which binds up all the key learnings and the takeaways from the chapter. If you think that by only reading summaries, you will get all the things and learnings from the chapter, you can do it but by only reading summaries, it will be like only reading it for the sake of reading not understanding. as rightly said, the journey which leads to the destination is memorable and so without reading the whole concept, theories experiments, and experiences, if you will read the summary only, it won't be that helpful to you. but if you will read the whole chapter and then will read the summary, it will be highly helpful to you.
There were some things and experiments in the book where to understand them, I have to re-read them and some terminologies which I have to Google but overall this book is very informative, insightful, and practical.
I will recommend this book to everyone who wants to read about human behavior and how certain something happens to us and our reactions towards them.