A review of The Only Story by Julian Barnes. This is a guest review courtesy Arati Luthra Pinto. She introduced me to creative writing, and I am thrilled to have her review a book on my blog.
I had a super proud mama moment this week when my daughter wrote her first book review. I was so touched when I saw what book she chose.
A review of Kittu's Very Mad Day, a story of an outspoken, one-legged young boy from Mumbai, who gets separated from his large boisterous family during a vacation, and is lost in Panna, Madhya Pradesh.
Vibhuti Cat by Shikhandin familiarizes us with the life of Magesh, a boy, most likely, on the autism spectrum.
The Burning Maze is the third book in the Trials of Apollo Series by Rick Riordan. It is set in the Percy Jackson universe and as expected, is a hilarious and perilous adventure.
A review of The Remains Of The Day, by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, in which Stevens, a butler, who once served in a large aristocratic English household, reminisces and analyses the yesteryears, while trying to find his footing in a new world.
Susie Will Not Speak by Shruthi Rao, is a story of Susie, a girl with a lisp. Fed up of being relentlessly teased, Susie keeps to herself. One day a new family moves in next door. Jahan is keen on making friends with Susie, but what will happen when he learns about her lisp? Read on for a detailed review.
Mira The Detective by Pavithra Sankaran, is a collection of three sleuthing exploits of an eight year old girl named Mira. And guess what, it all seems believable. Read on for a detailed review.
A review of The Martian in which, Mark Watney gets stranded on Mars during a NASA mission. At first that sounds like a death sentence, but being a resourceful engineer and a botanist, he comes up with a plan for survival. But will that be enough? Read on for a detailed review.
A review of Sandy To The Rescue, a story in which seven year old Sandy, and his six year old sidekick Aftab, take on the super villain day care owner/manager Mrs. Gupta.
A review of a series of books exploring the adventures and exploits of Steerswomen, who are knowledge seekers, in a world like, and yet unlike our own. The protagonist Rowan gathers information, converts it in to understanding, using logic, to make startling discoveries, even while a powerful aristocratic class do their best to hoard and withhold their knowledge to maintain power over those they rule.
The Hill School Girls are a series of books about life at a girls school in India. Each book of the series is narrated from the perspective of one of the girls and includes their activities and adventures for one term. Read on for a detailed review.
The Ninja Nani Series, by Lavanya Karthik is about a regular grandmother, who turns in to a strangely attired, crime fighting, ninja at night. She is assisted by her grandson, Deepu, in her crime fighting escapades. Read on for a detailed review.
Against All Odds by Ramendra Kumar, is about the challenges faced by adolescent kids, when they have to move to new town. Moving from a big city to a small town is a difficult transition for most teens, but for someone with a deformed half developed arm, things can be far more complicated. How do the twins Kartik and Kavya, tackle prejudiced coaches, hostile classmates, and other hurdles they encounter, in their new school and surroundings? Read on for a detailed review.
The book weaves many historical facts in to a fun filled fictional story, where seven children of Shah Jahan team up, to solve the mystery of the missing Timur Ruby. Who could have dared to steal from the Mughal Emperor? What punishment will the robber face? Read on to find out.
A story of the rise of a civilization of intelligent spiders, while humankind is on the path to annihilation. As odd as a civilization of intelligent spiders may sound, the author has done a great job of developing it, with intricate details of how things would work in such a world. At the climax is the inevitable clash of the two civilizations, but the outcome is likely to surprise you. Read on for a detailed review.
Mambi And The Forest Fire is a gorgeous picture story book by Nandana Dev Sen, illustrated by Saskia Pekelharing. Here is a detailed review of the book.
I was excited about reading this book, because Tanu is a blogger, whose posts I have been reading since my earliest blogging days in 2015. Tanu's blogs always stood out in the mass of parenting blog posts on the mycity4kids website not only because of a her progressive outlook and knack for zeroing in on important parenting issues, but also because of her writing style. Her posts are a pleasure to read, because the writing flows easily as she escorts you though a spectrum of emotions without getting dramatic. She has strong opinions and a dry wit tempered by sensitivity and empathy.
I was all set to go to Kolkata on a family holiday, when this book arrived. As a Percy Jackson fan, I couldn't be happier. It had been a while since I did a review for PlusMinus'n'More but the timing was perfect. Now I had some exciting reading material for my week long holiday. And the book definitely lived up to my expectations. For a detailed review of the book click here.
I just read The Gory Story Of Genghis Khan, and it has been far more enjoyable, than I could have imagined. Nayanika's cheeky writing style and endless supply of puns make this book as entertaining, as it is informative. And as for exciting, well it is about a blood thirsty conqueror ...
White Mughals by Dalrymple explores an interesting period in British Indian history, when the daily lives of the British officials and Indian people were often tightly entwined. This period has been, later, suppressed by both cultures as a result of hostilities, that developed soon after. Dalrymple's account is well researched, referring to, and quoting from, official documents as well as personal correspondences, to obtain a complete picture on both microscopic and macroscopic scales.
When I read the synopsis of this book, I was intrigued. A political thriller entangled with midlife crisis sounded promising. I wasn't disappointed.
