Rakhi Jayashankar's Blog, page 21

Cover Reveal: WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU KARTHIK

A charming tale of a young schoolboy trying to find his place in a changing world.

Twelve-year-old Karthik Subramanian has just been granted admission into St George’s, an elite boys’ school in Bangalore that has supported the academic lives of ‘four state cricketers, one India captain, tens of professors, hundreds of doctors, engineers and scientists, thousands of chartered accountants ...’ In this most exalted of institutions, Karthik yearns for recognition as an academic superstar.

Rigorously prepped by his parents and grandfather, dutifully offering his prayers to Lord Ganesha, Karthik steps into this new world. But nothing has prepared him for the challenges that lie in wait and he is left to himself to navigate the cruelties of school life, and the transition into adolescence. The less his family learns about his friends, the better. There are threats all around, even violence.

Brilliant in its observations of a motley cast of characters, and finely calibrated for humour and sadness, What’s Wrong with You, Karthik? is a poignant, exuberant debut from a writer of rare calibre.

Shortlisted for the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing
'Fun, entertaining, delightful' — RAHUL DRAVID

‘A warm, minutely detailed evocation of boyhood . . . textured like life itself’ ― Samanth Subramanian

'[Written with] skill and precision' – Srinath Perur

The Secret of Plants in the Environment by Rishikesh Upadhyay- Review #BookMarathon #book28

We have been hearing a lot of conservation of plants and trees and how pollution, chemicals, and our actions have affected them of late.
The Secret of Plants in the environment is a detailed account of the external factors that are stressful to the plants. The common stress factors like heat, pollution, etc are common stress factors and known to any laymen but there is more to it. The author points out several factors that were never really considered relevant to the plants.
We all know that phone radiations are detrimental to human health but never gave a thought about how it would encompass the plant life in the damage. Studies related to magnetic fields are mindblowing and would bring unimaginable extend of developments.
The book would also teach us the simplest way to explain what exactly is a forest and what is reserved and unreserved forests.The book is predominantly targeting the readers who are serious about the study of plants and simultaneously acts as a pandora's box for laymen and they would get a cascade of knowledge.
More buying links
Barnes & Nobles

Amazon.com

Goodread

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and grew up in a small Nepalis hamlet, Bhanjang Basti via Mahadev Tilla, just a few kilometres of Haflong, the district headquarters of North Cachar Hills, India, Rishikesh Upadhyay is an Assistant Professor, researcher, and author. He loves learning and teaching to expand his horizons and ideas.
It was in research and teaching for students in Environmental Science and Botany that he stumbled across a desire to write articles and books. By day, he works at his local government college, and by night he pours his imagination out onto a page. Upadhyay believes in and writes about Plants and its environment. Currently, he’s now teaching Plant Environmental Physiology and Chemistry at his local government college affiliated to Assam University and maintains his earnings.
You can also find him on Twitter @RKUpadhy

The Secret of Plants in the Environment

We have been hearing a lot of conservation of plants and trees and how pollution, chemicals, and our actions have affected them of late.
The Secret of Plants in the environment is a detailed account of the external factors that are stressful to the plants. The common stress factors like heat, pollution, etc are common stress factors and known to any payment. The author points out several factors that were never really considered relevant to the plants.
We all know that phone radiations are detrimental to human health but never gave a thought about how it would encompass the plant life in the damage. Studies related to magnetic fields are mindblowing and would bring unimaginable extend of developments.
The book would also teach us the simplest way to explain what exactly is a forest and what is reserved and unreserved forests.The book is predominantly targeting the readers who are serious about the study of plants and simultaneously acts as a pandora's box for laymen and they would get a cascade of knowledge.
More buying links
Barnes & Nobles

Amazon.com

Goodread

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and grew up in a small Nepalis hamlet, Bhanjang Basti via Mahadev Tilla, just a few kilometres of Haflong, the district headquarters of North Cachar Hills, India, Rishikesh Upadhyay is an Assistant Professor, researcher, and author. He loves learning and teaching to expand his horizons and ideas.
It was in research and teaching for students in Environmental Science and Botany that he stumbled across a desire to write articles and books. By day, he works at his local government college, and by night he pours his imagination out onto a page. Upadhyay believes in and writes about Plants and its environment. Currently, he’s now teaching Plant Environmental Physiology and Chemistry at his local government college affiliated to Assam University and maintains his earnings.
You can also find him on Twitter @RKUpadhy

4'KD DESIGN BY KAVITA JHALA - REVIEW #BOOKMARATHON Book 27

 

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK

4'KD design. The name leads the readers into presuming that the book is about animation of sorts. Is that so? The book is for you if you’re a content/copywriter, marketing strategist, graphic designer, visualizer, artist, educationist, trainer, UX-UI developer, product designer or related any of the arts, design, media and publishing fields.
The book is based on the idea of design thinking.  The book is primarily focussing on chanellising the ideas of whoeover is trying to create a design. In short design thinking is connected to creativity. To balance the left and right brain, we need to balance the logic and creativity. Hence the author illustrates how you sgould realize your strength and adapt to develop yourself. Further, the author gives a realistic aspect of the design thinking. Creating a good design and making it work is the next point that is discussed. The USP of the book is the design checklist. If we go by the pattern, we could connect it to our area of work and thus develop our arena. Further th retrospecting your design would be an icing on the cake.
The book is crafted in the simplest fashion possible, thereby enabling everyone in comprehending the book.

WORLDS'S MOST POPULAR SSHORT STORIES #BOOKMARATHON Book 26

To have a free access to classics is a privilege for a book reviewer. World's most popular short stories by Srishti Publications is one such experiece. Collection of short stories by Maupassant, Anton Chekov, O Henry and Saki will feel you privileged to have acces to a bunch of literary diamonds. 
Each writer has left a footprint in their short stories. More than a collection of short stories, it is a reasearch material which helps us in comparing the style of these four legendary writers. 
The book is a cocktails of genres. We have comedy, thriller, romance, history and many more genres to study from the book.Maupassant's stories are about twist in the climax, rather tragic at that like 'Diamond Necklace, complex plots like Mme Teller and some of them are like folk tales like piece of string. Piece of string is the strory that I would select as my favorite because it is relevant forever, more so in the current scenario, wherein a simple incident is blown out of proportion to give more colors to it thereby accusing people withou knowing the reality. Anton Chekov's stories are specilised for the characters. The stories are led by the characters and their idiosyncracies. The anthropoligical approach of the author makes his stories quite relatable.Complexities of human characters are exploited to the maximum extend possible.
O Henry's stories are a mix of fantasy and reality. His stories are well known for the surprise endings but either since his style has been copied so much or due to the fact that they are relevant at the old times, his stories failed to keep up with the suspense. It could have been different had I read it in an era he wrote.

THE MEANING OF MARIAH CAREY - COVER

Mariah Carey, Global icon, award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, actress, mother, daughter, sister, storyteller, and artist Mariah Carey finally tells the unfiltered story of her life in a way only she could in her upcoming memoir 'The Meaning of Mariah Carey' written with Michaela Angela Davis.


Carey’s story is an improbable and inspiring journey of survival and resilience as she struggles through complex issues of race, identity, class, childhood and family trauma during her meteoric rise to music superstardom. By pulling back the curtain on perceptions often told through the filtered lens of media, Carey bravely and beautifully walks through her battles with gender and power dynamics, emotional abuse, public embarrassments, personal failures and phenomenal victories. In her own words and song lyrics, Carey reveals untold moments and intimate experiences along with anecdotes of sacred moments with iconic figures to craft an honest, unique and vivid portrait of her extraordinary life. “This book is composed of my memories, my mishaps, my struggles, my survival and my songs. Unfiltered.” Carey shared in a letter shared on social media yesterday, “Writing this memoir was incredibly hard, humbling and healing. My sincere hope is that you are moved to a new understanding, not only about me, but also about the resilience of the human spirit.” The Meaning of Mariah Carey is the story of undeniable talent, unshakable faith, an unparalleled relationship with fans and unconditional love. Finally, the voice known around the world tells her own story – unrestrained.

SHAKE THE BOTTLE BY ASHAPURNA DEBI Book 24

Shake the Bottle is a colelction of short stories in a Bengali background. Renouned Bengali writer's stories are being traslatedd by Arunava Sinha.
Coming to the stories, they are all about human relations. Each story reflects the authors persective, which surprisingly is not biased towards women and hence it is comforting to the readers since the women's literature these days are replete with women-are-the-best tales. Author has also depicted the relations between women and put forth to the readers as to how two perspectives can be so extreme despite the gender. Author has shown how, the societal approval can influence someone's behaviour through the story 'Blue Blood'. 'Chhinnamasta' is a typical Mother-in-law, Daughter-in-law tussle. While reading the story the readers would start feeling that the author is of the opinion that often the mother-in-laws are the ill treated ones but the climax of the tale is equaly quirky and tragic, that shows the toxic mentality of the society. Further four stories 'revelation', 'game', 'weapon' and 'love' have surprise endings, some of ehich could be predicted. Game is an interesting story with a different approach from the author's end.
The title short story 'Shake the bottle' failed to impress the readers. It could have been on of the many stories rather than one that the colleciton is named after. Author has a unique talent of exploiting the human emotions. Relationships are the key ingredient of the cocktail of emotions in the stories. The translator Arunava Sinha has sone an exemplary job by making sure the crux and life of the stories are not lost. The stories are brimful of the beauty of the Bengali culture and the translator has made sure not the lose that soul.

SHAKE THE BOTTLE BY ASHAPURNA DEBI

Shake the Bottle is a colelction of short stories in a Bengali background. Renouned Bengali writer's stories are being traslatedd by Arunava Sinha.
Coming to the stories, they are all about human relations. Each story reflects the authors persective, which surprisingly is not biased towards women and hence it is comforting to the readers since the women's literature these days are replete with women-are-the-best tales. Author has also depicted the relations between women and put forth to the readers as to how two perspectives can be so extreme despite the gender. Author has shown how, the societal approval can influence someone's behaviour through the story 'Blue Blood'. 'Chhinnamasta' is a typical Mother-in-law, Daughter-in-law tussle. While reading the story the readers would start feeling that the author is of the opinion that often the mother-in-laws are the ill treated ones but the climax of the tale is equaly quirky and tragic, that shows the toxic mentality of the society. Further four stories 'revelation', 'game', 'weapon' and 'love' have surprise endings, some of ehich could be predicted. Game is an interesting story with a different approach from the author's end.
The title short story 'Shake the bottle' failed to impress the readers. It could have been on of the many stories rather than one that the colleciton is named after. Author has a unique talent of exploiting the human emotions. Relationships are the key ingredient of the cocktail of emotions in the stories. The translator Arunava Sinha has sone an exemplary job by making sure the crux and life of the stories are not lost. The stories are brimful of the beauty of the Bengali culture and the translator has made sure not the lose that soul.

Made in China by Parinda Joshi - Book Blitz

Print Length: 320 pages Publisher: HarperCollins India Publication Date: November 5, 2019 Language: English Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Dark Comedy
Raghu Mehta is a desperate man. His handicraft imports business has unexpectedly collapsed, cash is drying out quickly, his wife thinks he is a loser, and society considers him irrelevant. Meanwhile, his closest friends and family all seem to be running flourishing businesses and living luxurious lives in the diamond capital of India.
A trip to China to scout a new business offers a glimmer of hope. But a far cry from the lucrative consumer goods he had in mind, Raghu gets sucked into the black-market trade in the back alleys of Beijing. Everything about this new opportunity goes against his god-fearing, vegetarian, middle-class mindset can he quash his natural instincts to make a success of it?
Darkly comical, Made in China is a soul-stirring and thrilling entrepreneurial journey of a man willing to do anything he can to make it big.
It would be great if you can add this book to your TBR


Grab Your Copy From
Amazon.com | Amazon.in | Amazon.co.uk



"Parinda Joshi is the author of 4 novels. Live From London (Rupa & Co.), Powerplay (Fingerprint!), Made In China (HarperCollins) and an upcoming one, also to be published HarperCollins). She’s also contributed to a short story anthology The Turning Point: Best Of Young Indian Writers (Wisdom Tree) and several online publications including GQ India and The South Asian Times (New York).
Parinda was born and raised in Ahmedabad and later immigrated to Los Angeles where she navigated the challenges of starting life from scratch in an unfamiliar milieu, enriching herself with an MS in computer science, testing her limits and redefining herself. She now resides in Silicon Valley where leads growth analytics for a startup in the fashion industry, is mother to her precocious mini-me, a lover of modern poetry, fitness enthusiast, an avid traveler and photographer and a humor junkie.
Her M.O. is best described by Maya Angelou’s quote: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
You can stalk her @ Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Dalal's Street by Anurag Tripathi Book23 #BookMarathon

The title Dalal's Street and the Book Cover would give the impression that it is a hardcore murder mystery or conceivably a serial killer plot for a layman. However, the picture should invariably be that of "Wolf of Wall Street" the Leonardo Decaprio Blockbuster.
Dalal's street is where the stockbroking happens. Several lives are made and several demolished there. To this corporate mayhem, reaches a bunch of freshers with expectations touching the sky. Nor did they foresee that they were invited to a corporate laboratory where they were researched for street smartness. It was a hire and fire situation, where the first one month would be a honeymoon period when they were learning and later given unattainable targets and nagged to reach it. The real game happens elsewhere, when the tycoons of stock exchange come up with devious plans to conquer the market.
With experience in a recruitment firm, I could authentically claim that the author has depicted that subplot with utmost genuineness. I have personally seen a similar scenario while recruiting for insurance firms and that was the reason why I left the job in a year. Hence the book is quite relatable on that front.

Dalal’s Street explores the complex interplay of human relationships and etches out the rise of the protagonist through a test by fire.

Nonetheless, I am an ignoramus when it comes to the stock exchange and the terminologies. The the book has a niche market.I was unable to fathom what the characters were talking about when it came to hardcore stock matters.
The characters are formulated with finesse. The demeanor of Salil Bhai when he drifts between meetings by blaming the previous individual indicates how detailed the author has done homework on the characters.
Overall the book is a well crafted, intricate, and technically sound account of the inner games of stock marketing and how it can make and break empires.

About the Author

Anurag Tripathi is an alumnus of the Indian School of Business with a course in Advanced Creative Writing from The University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education. A keen observer of people and a master raconteur, he draws on his vast reservoir of life experiences. As an erstwhile investment banker, he previously led the retail equity business for a financial company in India. This novel, his second, is a fictionalised no-holds-barred account of what goes on behind the scenes in the financial advisory business in India. However, that still hasn’t deterred him from continuing to invest in the Indian stock markets for the last twenty years. His debut novel on the art market in India was nominated for the Raymond Crossword Book Awards in 2017. Dalal’s Street is his second novel. A member of the Singapore Writer’s Group, Anurag now lives in the ‘Lion City’, along with his wife. Both are keen scuba divers, who like travelling and exploring the worlds lesser known