Book Review: The Rosie Project (Don Tillman #1) by Graeme Simsion
When you pick a too popular book, you are scared that it does not turn out to be a dampener and you do not want to be proved an exception. So, it is with this expectation that I started off with The Rosie Project wherein I had just read the book blurb and not the reviews though the blurb was enough to interest me. So that’s my part of the story.
Written brilliantly, and comically, and a lovable dose of how two people so unrelated with each other can fall in love (oh is it?). Haven’t we all known such unmatched people, even if we do not fall into that category? However, the way Asperger is referred humorously in the book may alienate certain individuals, but I ask why? Rather than being serious, why not a comical take? Reminds me of the scene from the recently released Bollywood movie Hichki wherein the interviewers advice Rani Mukerji to select a profession other than teaching but she says even though they have not selected her, this way at least she has taught them something new which is about the Tourette syndrome she has. By the way, Asperger syndrome is a developmental disorder affecting ability to effectively socialise and communicate and to do these at times in a repetitive mode.
But serious matters apart, I will simply say read, read and read this book The Rosie Project. It is a must as a light-hearted fiction. The book also includes the search for the perfect wife funnily. But tell me, who is perfect? So will Don Tillman, the protagonist of the book find his perfect mate? And will/did you my dear reader find your soulmate? If not, then you will because perseverance in the right manner always pays (not coercion/ stalking).
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Book blurb: An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love. Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver. Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper. The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges. . |
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About the author: Website: graemesimsion.com |
| Rating: 10/10 |
| Genre: | Romance |
| Book Name: | The Rosie Project (Don Tillman #1) |
| Author: | Graeme Simsion |
| Pages: | 297 |
| Publication Year: | 2013 |
Book Review: Chocolat by Joanne Harris
This is yet another book which came recommended by my reading group. Ok, so just a disclaimer – my reading group keeps on throwing details of good books which I hadn’t heard of previously left, right and center (every second) and a person needs to filter out the one with which he/she connects with.
You know I love chocolates (but tell me who doesn’t), the fetish for which had started during my engineering days otherwise I only used to prefer toffees. And with both my hubby and me loving chocolates so much, our refrigerator is always filled with them. So enough about myself, about the book, the name Chocolat itself sounded so tantalizing that I simply had to pick it up. The different chocolate varieties as mentioned in the book – praline, fondue etc made my mouth water. Rich descriptions have been mentioned but I would all give it away and you absolutely have to pick this book. Just a tidbit: my hubby bought 7 kgs of yummy chocolates yesterday.
The story is a general one but the way it is treated makes it exquisite. The religion vs chocolate struggle where chocolate is correlated with devil by the priest may seem to some as too much, but in India, we already had one such instance when one politician said chowmein is responsible for rapes and here, I am quoting him verbatim. Love, loss, humanity, abuse, marriage, arson, childishness, maturity, witch, God, there is nothing that the book hasn’t touched, but everything seems to be threaded together into magic. Only if religion was redeemed in the end to avoid dispute, but perhaps that is what made this book even more popular. Yes, I will definitely recommend this book for a time pass read.
Ah, I just found out there is a movie too based on this book, now let me go watch it. Go, bite into a piece of chocolate and enjoy this book/ namesake movie!
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Book blurb: A timeless novel of a straitlaced village’s awakening to joy and sensuality – every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. Illuminating Peter Mayle’s South of France with a touch of Laura Esquivel’s magic realism, Chocolat is a timeless novel of a straitlaced village’s awakening to joy and sensuality. In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne’s uncanny perception of its buyer’s private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat’s every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It’s a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday. |
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About the author: In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen. Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as ‘mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion’. She also spends too much time on Twitter; plays flute and bass guitar in a band first formed when she was 16; and works from a shed in her garden at her home in Yorkshire. Website: joanne-harris.co.uk |
| Rating: 8/10 |
| Genre: | Romance |
| Book Name: | Chocolat |
| Author: | Joanne Harris |
| Pages: | 306 |
| Publication Year: | 1999 |
Book Review: What not to do if you turn Invisible by Ross Welford
Many people in my reading group had recommended 1000 year old boy by Ross Welford. As soon as I read the book blurb, I understood that this author writes such books which are happy go lucky type and can be classified in a category that my son can also read in future. Too much future planning (ho gayi naa) when my little one just turned a month old today!
So, I searched in my Kindle whether I have any book available with me by this author and lo and behold, yes, and that one was What not to do if you turn invisible. How cool! I mean the name itself sounds so interesting while the book was even more so.
Written in a language easily understandable by a 10-year old kid (if they can read) or even younger (if you want to tell it as a bedtime story), it is just perfect. How one becomes invisible, well the book doesn’t touch upon that. But hey, even Harry Potter had invisibility cloak, but did we question the fantasy world. Here, the reference is at least to some unknown scientific experiment. Sample this for an instance (written in my own words): we close our eyes and our visibility goes away because our eyelids come in front of our eyes; but what if you are invisible; even if you close eyes, you will still be able to see everything, because well, eyelids are invisible too.
And even if you are older, you need to pick this up as a fun read.
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Book blurb: From the author of the unforgettable bestseller Time traveling with a hamster comes another surprising, beautiful and funny novel about a child who, by disappearing, will write herself into your heart forever… Turning invisible at will: it’s one way of curing your acne. But far more drastic than 13 year-old Ethel Leatherhead intended when she tried a combination of untested medicines and a sunbed. It’s fun at first, being invisible. And aided by her friend Boydy, she manages to keep her extraordinary ability secret. Or does she…? When one day the invisibility fails to wear off, Ethel is thrown into a nightmare of lies and deception as she struggles to keep herself safe, to find the remedy that will make her seen again – and solve the mystery of her own birth…
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About the author: Website: Rosswelford.com |
| Rating: 9/10 |
| Genre: | Children Fiction |
| Book Name: | What not to do if you turn Invisible |
| Author: | Ross Welford |
| Pages: | 400 |
| Publication Year: | 2016 |
Book Review: The Myth of Hastinapur by Rahul Rai
Great epics like Mahabharata doesn’t belong to one writer. It belongs to all those writers who present the story from the view point of different characters. I’ve read Draupadi’s version in “The Palace of Illusions”, and Duryodhana’s version in “Role of dice”. But this book is different in a way that it evolves emotions of unknown characters, like Hidimba & family, like Satyavati & Bheesma, like Vikarna & Yuyutsu and such other characters who were unheard through-out the story telling from different writers. This book adds worthwhile part to the great story of the war. It was fun to read behind the wall gossips of dasis and the emotions of two friends, punched with war scenes who were forced to be opponents in war due to “Dharma”. Also, the Karna Monologue, kept me hooked through-out. My whole reading experience was in similar lines when in my childhood I was engrossed to watch MAHABHARATA on Doordarshan channel every Sunday morning. All in all, this was a good combination of fiction-myth-real predicting many unknown parts of Mahabharata. I would certainly recommend all to read this book atleast once and then challenge your grandfathers for a mythological conversation for Mahabharata, I bet, you will know better.
(This book review is a guest post written by Shweta Maheshwari)
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Book blurb: …This book is a tribute to Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, the original one. This is just an interpretation of what he had created. This is just a footnote in the rich history of our civilization which is full of stories that continue to cast magic upon us. |
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About the author: |
| Rating: 10/10 |
| Genre: | Mythology Fiction |
| Book Name: | The Myth of Hastinapur |
| Author: | Rahul Rai |
| Pages: | 229 |
| Publication Year: | 2018 |
Book Review: Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
There is one book which remains at the top of my favorite list and that is Palace of Illusions. There is no other book which has come to breach the zenith for me that this book cast upon on Indian fictional version of mythology reading. So, after a series of bad Indian books, I planned to give another book of the same writer a try to make me change my mind on Indian writing and hey, that was the correct choice.
Sister of My Heart pulled me into a chasm of its own, making me smile and cry basis what the cousins had to undergo. In case you did not have any sister, have you not felt similar kinship with one or two of your friends. Written in typical Divakaruni style, the book was too beautiful to be left behind even for a single day and yes, I completed in one day itself. Secrets, drama, building emotional quotient, the book truly strikes the perfect balance between realism and fantasy of love – not the fleeting kind, but the everlasting sisterly love with no hidden agenda. Truly, love crosses boundaries, it does not need to be connected by blood or distance. I believe in such love, do you? Let me know your views on this book in comments and anything else as well.
Read review of other books by the same author on my blog – Queen of Dreams .
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Book blurb: The cousins’ bond is shattered, however, when Sudha learns a dark family secret. Urged into arranged marriages, their lives take sudden, opposite turns: Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household, while Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. Then tragedy strikes them both, and the women discover that, despite the distance that has grown between them, they have only each other to turn to. Set in the two worlds of India and America, this is an exceptionally moving novel of love, friendship, and compelling courage. |
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About the author: Website: chitradivakaruni.com |
| Rating: 9/10 |
| Genre: | Contemporary Fiction |
| Book Name: | Sister of My Heart |
| Author: | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
| Pages: | 322 |
| Publication Year: | 2000 |
Book Review: I Too Had An MBA by Sambhav Khetarpal
Reading Indian Books, fiction only (I am an outright fiction reading person who just runs away if another even suggests a non-fiction), and that too back-to-back, makes me start wondering why do I even start reading those in the first place. This is how I felt when I started reading this book. Of course, the readers of Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta and the likes will like this book – since it has everything that would cater to this segment of newbie readers since they were converted to readers because of them in the first place.
Written as a diary entry of an MBA student, it gives an almost perfect glimpse of MBA school life (I am not kidding, shhh, I am an MBA myself). The committee interviews, placement drama, exam struggles, parties and so on, yes, that is how most schools are where most times, degrees received are not worth the time, money and energy spent. This is a tongue in cheek book which light satire and happy happy ending with a little bit of romance thrown in. However, if you want my opinion – I did not like it, there was nothing to make me turn the pages except the fact that I did not have any other book with me that painful long night to distract me. So for those, who like the books I read (how will you guess, simply by checking my book reviews), I would not recommend it.
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Book blurb: What transpires next is a series of madcap events where Luv falls in kinky, passionate, and utterly one-sided love with his classmate; runs after the position of the Placement Committee president; starts a campus-venture called Ul-tee; and almost buys metal bed sheets to avoid getting murdered in sleep by his brawny roommate. Luv is that genius, who will teach you how to take Mess-made Chapatis quicker, by applying Advanced Marketing Strategy techniques. Kotler Zindabad! Luv is also the MBA hero who can change the face of management education in this country, if only, his Mummy made fewer phone calls to him every day. |
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About the author: Website: sambhavkhetarpal.wordpress.com |
| Rating: 6/10 |
| Genre: | Humor |
| Book Name: | I Too Had An MBA – The Secret Diary of Luv Khurana |
| Author: | Sambhav Khetarpal |
| Pages: | 368 |
| Publication Year: | 2017 |
Book Review: Three Marketeers by Ajeet Sharma
Have you watched – TVF Pitchers? For me, that is the way entrepreneurship should be approached. Though for readers looking for a light easy-to-grasp struggles and understanding start-up nuances, this book Three Marketeers is the perfect book. I found it lacking especially with respect to the book blurb since except two female characters (out of which one is not even mentioned), the other females did not have much role to play but still find mention. This goes to show that one should not entirely rely one’s preference on book blurb either. So how should one pick up a book – simply head over to reviews available online (yes, Google-baba or the likes) where you will find a reviewer whose taste matches exactly like yours, tell me how easier you would want it!
Coming back to the book, it treads nicely the way Ajeet Sharma has picturized it for us readers except that one of the partners seemed just useless. The part story stretch of NGO and tackling the big giants (MNCs) by a simpleton with the seniors just overlooking the same took it a little too far. So now let me not spoil the book any more, you may pick this and give it a try, if you want a Bollywood style masala with politics – office and otherwise, cheating, suspense, murder, hey the list goes on. Now, that’s all from my end!
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Book blurb: What do they have in common? A beverage brand, just as deserving of a second shot at success as they are, which unites them in their quest for business glory in the face of seemingly impossible odds. With the help of three bright and charming women a resourceful hotel manager, an America-returned salsa instructor, and an aspiring Bollywood actress the three marketeers will have to make the most of the available resources and navigate their way around those looking to remove them from their turf. It won t be easy, but it s their only chance at making it big in the world of business. |
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About the author: Website: authorajeetsharma.com |
| Rating: 7/10 |
| Genre: | Entrepreneurship |
| Book Name: | Three Marketeers |
| Author: | Ajeet Sharma |
| Pages: | 300 |
| Publication Year: | 2017 |
Book Review: Yes Sir by Girish Aivalli
Yes Sir, have not we all said such to our bosses time and again, not because we agree, but because it is the right thing to do at that point in time to advance in one’s career? That is corporate life. And in this book, we get lots of gyaan (powerpoint style to-do/action-items in bullet points) without inclining towards being a self-help book (I hate those books).
The book is a humorous take on corporate life and office politics without being preachy, hey it is fiction after all. Though the character sketches are pretty generalized and Girish, the namesake and protagonist being the best of the lot, it is an all-enjoyable read and takes just 2 hours to complete. Perfect, right? Short and crisp – to the point. However, I will give it a few minus points for grammatical errors, but overall worth picking up for fun and gyaan, especially for MBA aspirants and MBA-goers.
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Book blurb: |
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About the author: LinkedIn: @girishaivalli |
| Rating: 8/10 |
| Genre: | Office Politics |
| Book Name: | Yes Sir |
| Author: | Girish Aivalli |
| Pages: | 156 |
| Publication Year: | 2015 |
Book Review: The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
And I had thought Hercule Poirot series was the best since last year I had read almost 20-25 books back-to-back, but it was more to do with my laziness in selecting a new book or a new character to mould my mind to. But this next book – The Wise Man’s Fear was my deliberate pick for I had loved the first one – The Name of the Wind, part of The Kingkiller Chronicle.
The detailing of friendship among Kvothe, Simmon and Wilem reminded me of Bollywood movies – Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara but with better connections with the audience. And yes, there was magic, ample magic but linked to physics/chemistry; probably if our times get so much advanced in sciences, it may prove true. Take for example, energy cannot be created or destroyed; hence if you link two similar items and pick one item, the second item also gets lifted but energy required is double; however, if two very dissimilar items are linked together through sympathy (this is the word referred to in The University), the energy required will be much higher.
Or talk about the romantic lines, again it is not too cheesy in the book, perfect for my tastes:
We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In my ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.
Only if the pages and pages of Felurian sex could have been cut to 1-2 pages, it would have been all for the best. As for me, during that phase, I left this book mid-way and completed two other books (chick-lits) and only when my friend suggested to skip those pages and continue, did I again go back and glad I did that! Let me not give anything more away, because you as a book-reader need to pick this book even after its few misgivings.
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Excerpt from the back cover of the book: So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view — a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man’s Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King’s Road. All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived … until Kvothe. In The Wise Man’s Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time. |
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About the author: Website: www.patrickrothfuss.com |
| Rating: 8/10 |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Book Name: | The Wise Man’s Fear The Kingkiller Chronicle #2 |
| Author: | Patrick Rothfuss |
| Pages: | 994 |
| Publication Year: | 2011 |
Book Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
So right now, I am heavily invested in chick-lit, the sort of light reads to keep myself happy. But you know searching for light reads which are not too too much romantic and ignoring erotic genre at the same time is not that easy. So since my mood is such, I have curating an easy list for you. You simply need to filter on Chick Lit on my blog 🙂
I came across this writer Rainbow Rowell during my search through good romances of non-classical variety, but found the famous ones being written on teenagers, that is so not what I wanted to read. And then I found out Attachments. How cool is that? Have not we all at some point or the other collaborated in funny banters and gossips on office mails/ chats or forwarding some funny response another one sent us? That is what this book is about, but keeping a person at the helm who reads this chat. Creepy? Yes, although the person reading the mail and the protagonist writing thus fall in love with each other, albeit for different reasons. Sweet! So what you holding on to? Pick up this book for 3 hours read and enjoy!
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Excerpt from the back cover of the book: Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke. When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained and captivated by their stories. By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say . . . ? |
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About the author: When she’s not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don’t really matter in the big scheme of things. Twitter: @rainbowrowell |
| Rating: 8/10 |
| Genre: | Chick Lit |
| Book Name: | Attachments |
| Author: | Rainbow Rowell |
| Pages: | 323 |
| Publication Year: | 2011 |
