Trials and Tribulations by Fire

Table for One was sent by the Publisher.  The book cover looked very interesting. Also, the plot about a lone woman travelling by herself was intriguing. A very different tale where the show-don't-tell rule has not been used at all. It is written in a linear manner, which gives an impression that the author is sitting and monotonously narrating the story to an audience.  I love travelling. I love stories for the same reason. They take me to different places, allow me to be different people. This book is apparently about Taara's journey to realize that self-love is an important aspect of life. There are times when one has to do what one does not want to. It is important to be real and honest and not succumb to external pressure and expectations. Taara's story is all about discovery. Travel to Europe with Taara and understand the importance of weaving in nuances in storytelling. On the lines of Queen, but with Europe as a backdrop, Table for One seems like a brave atte...

This pain.  Searing through my mind, my brain, my heart, my cells.  Scorching and unrepenting, sucking the life force out of me.  It suffocates, holds me captive.  I turn around to see the source of my distress.  Inky blackness around.  I close my eyes once, willing this to vanish.  It remains, grinning devilishly.  This pain.  Wind knocked out from the body.  Eyes poured in.  Mind chilled with the intensity of an arctic storm.  Heart gouged out from its place.  What you achieve with one gaze Strong enough to cause tsunamis Light enough to float a feather This pain.  I bear it all in good grace Grin and carry on with my head held high Not to be knocked down by you Not to be razen again. Again.  This pain.  Time is a great healer, they said.  Time ran a smooth hand on my wounds, softening the blow you gave.  I stood up, dusted myself, built myself. You tore it all down, ...

Despondency... I am going down somewhere, like Alice went down the rabbit hole Words, I thought were my strength  Not I realized today No one wants to read what I write I am becoming despondent, frustrated, disillusioned Finding it hard to slog on, keep writing Wonder how people keep writing in the face of such rejections Multiple times, always... Wonder till when

If you have ever felt consumed by the need to know more about an author or get into their minds through their writing, you would perfectly understand my situation.  Amulya Malladi did this to me. I read all her books back to back within  couple of weeks.  A few I downloaded using my Kindle Unlimited subscription, a couple I purchased. I was so enamored by the lady's style of writing that I just had this weird compulsion to read everything I could lay my hands on. Easy to read, laid back yet fast paced, no mincing of words, her words felt like honey after the blatant abuse my mind had undergone after reading a few pieces of total shit.  I treated her books like little treats. To be consumed when I was down or had just completed a strenuous task. It did my spirits a lot of good. Be it "The Mango Season", "A House for Happy Mothers", "A Breath of Fresh Air", or "The Copenhagen Affair" I lapped up everything that Amulya offered.  Eac...

There is thing about self-help books: most of them repackage existing facts. How smartly they pull this off makes all the difference. So is the case with 'The Queen of the Comeback' by Nidhika Bahl.   Author: Nidhika Bahl Name of the book: The Queen of the Comeback: 7 Ways for anyone to bounce back from life's obstacles Publisher: Black Card Books Genre: Self-Help/Personal Growth/Success Pages: 226 Here is what I think:  I got this book as a review copy from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I read this book in spurts only because that was all I could manage to do at that time. Honestly. The book is divided into 7 chapters and the last chapter has 7 sections, each containing an inspiring tale of a survivor. Some famous names include Anurag Kashyap, Kanika Tekriwal, and Patricia Narayan. So, after I completed Chapter 1: The Wake-Up Call, I decided to take a break. I chewed on the ideas I had just read. After a few hours, I picked up the boo...

Name: The Goat Thief Author: Perumal Murugan Translator: N. Kalyan Raman Publisher: Juggernaut Pages: 205 A lot of interest gets generated when a celebrated author comes under intense scrutiny for his ideas offered in the public arena. Media hyperventilated on the issue of Perumal Murugan's offering, One Part Woman , hurting the sentiments of a particular community. Perumal Murugan's latest offering, The Goat Thief, translated by N. Kalyan Raman, and published by Juggernaut, is a collection of short stories. Each story is similar to a different emotion in the bouquet called life. A master storyteller, Perumal Murugan, has woven tales around household objects like a salt shaker, the rice vat, the toilet pot, and so on and engaged the reader with the finesse of a magician. Each story is unique in presentation and relates to the mundaneness of our daily lives. Readers can relate very well to one or most stories. Like a master craftsman wielding his instrument, Perumal Mur...

Name of the book: A Hundred Little Flames Author: Preeti Shenoy Publisher: Westland Pages: 400 Ease of reading: 4/5 Time to complete: 3-4 hours Preeti Shenoy, the name invokes images of stories about women going off to complete their to-do lists, dealing with abandonment, and the usual brouhaha about worthless men and loyal wives. Preeti nailed it more than once with her heart-wrenching stories. AHLF is the story of Aryan and his grandpa, Gopal Shanker. Aryan travels from Pune to a remote village in Kerala and starts living with Gopal. Their lives intermerge and Aryan discovers little endearing things about himself, his father, and his grumpy grandpa. Like how old houses are built to take you on a journey to another world, in this story too, Aryan and Gopal traverse back in time to unravel certain forgotten memories. During the course of their daily conversations, Aryan discovers facets of his near and dear ones and marvels at the way relationships change once harsh truths su...

Kalyani stared hard at the envelope she was clutching in her hands. Her legs were going to give up soon, she knew. She was running as fast as she could. The postmaster’s house seemed light years away, though she had been running only for the past five minutes. Her mother, Bhairavi, had instructed her to get the contents of the letter read. The Postmaster had come by when her mother was bathing at the ghat . Kalyani had gleefully received the letter, forgetting to get it read. Bhairavi, on her return, had slapped Kalyani on her back chiding her for this miss. So, it was more like a penance for her slip. Kalyan, her brother older by a few years, had watched all this silently, munching on his akki roti , a glee pasted on his cherubic face.    Little Kalyani, all of seven, ran like the wind. After covering a few hundred metres she realized the futility of her exercise. The lure of the jaggery-dipped sweetmeat had pushed her into agreeing for this errand. If only she could ...

Name: Have a Safe Journey   Author: Various Authors Publisher: Amaryllis  Pages: 232  The blurb:  Have a Safe Journey is probably the first compilation of short stories on the topic of road safety to be published in India.  Guest Authors:  Anand Neelakantan, Ashwin Sanghi, Kiran Manral, Pankaj Dubey, Priyanka Sinha Jha, Shinie Antony, and Vikram Kapur  Authors from the #HaveaSafeJourney contest Ambalika, Anukriti Verma, Aritri Chatterjee, Arvind Passey, Barnali Ray Shukla, Dipali Taneja, Geetanjali Maria, Ketaki Patwardhan, Meera Rajagopalan, Ratnadip Acharya, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Roshni Chhabra, Sahar Fatima, Sanket Chaudhury, Taamra Segal, Thommen Jose, Veena Nagpal, and Vibha Lohani Review:  The book, again like the previous book I received from Manjul Publishing, is neatly bound and has absolutely no typos and no errors. The pages are nicely printed and the font size comfortable. It sits well in your palm and the co...

Name: I Quit! Now What?  Author: Zarreen Khan  Publisher: Amaryllis  Pages: 289 Have you ever come across a story that you can relate to so well, you wonder, why you didnt write it? Yes? Well, I just completed reading a story just like that. And I was nodding like mad. It felt so true and so close to the heart. There is thing about well-written stories. By well-written, I mean stories that are neatly packaged, have no typos or mistakes, and instantly reel you in. This story was like that. From the word go, I got hooked. To say that it is a great story would be a hype. It is not. It is a normal story, about a normal woman, about a very common occurrence. It happens to all of us, sometime or the other. Working people can relate to the story totally. The publisher sent me the book for an honest review. And here it is. A totally honest review. Initial thoughts: The moment I picked up the book I felt a smile creeping up. The cover was so simple yet power...