Ruby Dhal's Blog

The Book of Tomorrow - A Review

Hello my loves! I hope you’re all keeping well and have had a wonderful week so far. My week was okay, a little bit cold and damp but as you all already know – that’s a given for London.

So this week I will be reviewing The Book of Tomorrow written by Cecelia Ahern. This book is a beautiful compact of teenage/YA fiction with a heavy essence of the fantastical which serves more as the backbone of the story rather than being in the limelight.

I have to admit, I hadn’t read a book by Cecelia Ahern in so many years that I was beginning to forget how much talent this lady holds. After reading The Book of Tomorrow I have created a New Year’s resolution to go back and read all of Ahern’s old books as well as buy new releases that I’ve missed out on! Although New Year’s resolutions don’t normally work so I’ve called it my ‘book resolution’ which not only includes an increase of Ahern but welcomes fantastical books, mystery as well as erotica. Exciting. I know.

Okay, so coming back to the book. As you all know – I am a huge sucker for a colourful and appealing book cover. As much as I’d like to accede to the quintessential line ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, I have to admit that it’s heavily false. We do judge a book by its front cover as well as what’s written on the first page (even the first line sometimes). Certain fonts, colours, illustrations and titles appeal to us more than others and that is a fact that publishers take into consideration and focus weightily on when they’re creating a cover for an author.

The Book of Tomorrow is capped in magical, rose pink and purple with a beautiful golden border and even more beautiful gold patterns etched at the edges and little stars that twinkle all over it. It really is an attractive cover and it pulled me the moment that I picked up the book from my local book stall. I read the blurb, had one glance at the cover and decided that it was the book for me.

I was far from wrong. The Book of Tomorrow was an absolute delight to read! A prismatic tale about relationships, one-sided love, forbidden mysteries and the importance of familial relationships; this one is compounded with beautiful learning lessons for all young readers.

When I started reading this book I had no idea that it was teenage or YA fiction and instead assumed – like all of Ahern’s other books – it would be about a girl in her 20’s/30’s trotting on a journey to find her inner self. It turned out that the protagonist – Tamara Goodwin – is actually an extremely immature, materialistic and spoilt teenage girl whose father passed away, resulting in Tamara and her mother Jennifer having to move from Dublin into Arthur’s (Jennifer’s brother) countryside house. Tamara’s life changes around completely and she goes from having latte’s for breakfast to spending each morning with Arthur and being fed heavy loads of food by his suspicious wife Rosaleen.

The days drone on and Tamara grows uneasy under Rosaleen’s watchful gaze, until one day a travelling library turns up outside her door hosted by an equally interesting and super attractive older Marcus who lures her into the beautiful world of books in his truck. Inside the truck Tamara picks up a bulky book with a lock and everything from thereon changes forever. Steadily, layers of each character are stripped, history starts coming to the fore and secrets are eventually revealed, tumbling Tamara’s whole life around.

The best way to describe The Book of Tomorrow is to ask yourself – have you ever wanted to gaze into tomorrow, to see what would happen? Have you ever thought about the possibility of an ancient solid book tightly bunched together opening the pages of tomorrow for you, giving you an insight on what effects your current actions can have on your ‘tomorrow’ and how you could change them?

We have all – at one point or another – wanted to look into the future to see how things would unfold. Most of the time it’s because we want to be warned beforehand about any mistakes that we are likely to make and we want to refrain from making them. Tamara is given this deeply meaningful vision through The Book and it is this important mechanism that helps fuel the events that unwind on pages of Ahern’s novel.

I haven’t read a YA fiction novel in a long time and I can say that it was a delightful experience! Often I find myself learning more about life from a YA fiction novel than I do from reading one that isn’t YA. I guess it’s because books that are aimed at the youth – whether fiction or nonfiction – aim to fuel their imagination to the broad possibilities that exist in the world and attempt to enable teenagers to realise important life lessons that sometimes are seen as a ‘given’ by the time you get to my age. And that presumption isn’t true. Often adults need a fictitious book with a valuable message as much as teenagers do, because in our daily mediocre lives that consist of nothing other than the constant ‘work, eat, sleep’ we forget about the meaning of life, the importance of relationships and the morals that link us in valuable ways to one another.

Overall, this book was a wonderful read and I am looking forward to reading a few other books by Ahern. I’ll let you know how I like them! My final rating for this book would be 4/5 and that’s only because of the fact that it was YA fiction and often I can’t find myself relating to the personality of a protagonist much younger than I am. Nevertheless, that didn’t take away any value from it in terms of its ability to enlighten the reader to see their small world in a completely different way.

That’s all for this week! I’ll be back next week with yet another review of yet another book!

Until next week, my loves.

Happy reading!

My Two Favourite Nicholas Sparks Novels

So we are back to Nicholas Sparks!

From the blog I posted a while ago, you guys may have noticed that I am a passionate reader of Nicholas Sparks’ novels (having read approximately 13 novels by now). In a previous post, I highlighted a few characteristics that span across most Nicholas Sparks novels – I won’t say all because I haven’t read all of them just yet.

This week, I would like to make a confession. Although I enjoy reading every Nicholas Sparks novel, there are some novels that touch me more than others. Some, which strum the cords of my soul and make my heart warble. Some, which weave an array of emotions within me.

Some, which leave me exasperated and in tears by the end. And today, I’d like to reveal the names of 2 NS novels that have touched me the most.

It was a tough choice. Believe me.

It doesn’t mean that these are the best Nicholas Sparks novels. It just means that they had more of an ability to sway my feelings and allow me to delve into the story-realm.

The two novels that I’ve decided to speak about are The Last Song and Safe Haven. My reasons for choosing these two are none other than my emotions. When reading both of these novels, I felt a profound sense of relatability to the narrator. Mind you – my life in no way mirrors the lives of Ronnie or Katie. But still, I could almost envision being in their place as their lives unfolded on the tattered cream pages of the old copies I was reading. I owe this to Nicholas Sparks of course, for writing in such an impeccable manner than I couldn’t help but plunge into an entrenched empathy when I read both.

Both stories tell a tale of two extremely different females. One is a young rebellious girl – Ronnie. At the onset, Ronnie is extremely bitter, secluded and adrift from her father and The Last Song strings together a story about Ronnie finding true love, rekindling her relationship with her father and finding a sense of purpose by the end. The other is a reticent Kate with a mysterious past. Safe Haven is a beautiful blend of love, family and the afterlife and orbits around the story of Kate – an anxious yet diligent woman that finds love in the foreign town of Southport.

Both novels are beautifully written, are well-conceptualised and effortless in their ability to lace themselves into the minds of their readers.

But why these two? Well, I think it was a lot to do with the fact that when I reached the end of each novel, I was bawling; my face was crimson and damp, my nose dripping with snot, my eyelashes were thick with tears and my heart kept drumming slowly beneath my chest.

Both novels brought with them a hurricane of emotions within me that, by the end just made me extremely sad, even though both couples had united. It is this ability of Nicholas Sparks – to leave you pondering about what you read even hours after you’ve finished reading it – that I admire the most. And it is this ability that was reflected most in these novels.

The Last Song showed me the importance of love in all its forms and Safe Haven gave me an insight into the potential of a love so strong that it has the potential to surpass everything – even death.

The Last Song made me cry until my heart was drained and Safe Haven allowed me to appreciate the importance of giving yourself a second chance; that it’s okay to leave your past behind and start anew.

And both novels carried with them a prestigious love, the kind of love that one can only fantasize about. The kind of love that only exists in movies or novels but you still can’t help but search for it after you read something as enticing as a Nicholas Sparks novel.

These two novels will always remain in my ‘most prestigious book titles’ mental file until something better comes along and knocks them off the shelf. For those of you who want to read something with a little paranormal twist, I suggest heading over to Amazon and purchasing Safe Haven. And for those of you who want to read a book that’ll leave you blubbering by the end, I suggest purchasing The Last Song.

None of these titles will leave you poker-faced, believe me.

Until then, happy reading!

An Abundance of Katherines - A Review

Image from ‘The Norwich Radical’

I already had the revelation that John Green is a phenomenal writer after reading The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS). It was a book that transformed my worldview and gave me a new perspective on life. Deep. I know.

An Abundance of Katherines (AAOK) was the second book that I read by John Green. A refreshing, contemporary take on the youth, I was captivated by the plot from the instant I started reading it.

I have to admit. After reading TFIOS, I had a preconception that all of John Green’s books would absorb emotionally captivating stories that deliver valuable messages about love and life to its readers. I was wrong in this regard but I don’t know if that makes me happy or a little sad.

AAOK tells the story of Colin Singleton – a former child prodigy that has a knack and competency for anagramming, a love for Katherines and an outspoken fear that he won’t be able to make his mark on the world one day. The other central characters – Hassan and Lindsey in particular – are eccentric to the unfolding of the plot. A plot which – at the outset – doesn’t appear as simple as it eventually turns out to be.

AAOK is a light-hearted, witty book that revolves Colin’s search for a ‘Eureka’ moment on a road-trip that he decides to take with his best friend Hassan, following his break-up with his (now ex) girlfriend Katherine-19.

After reading the blurb, I was actually quite excited about this road trip that could potentially consist of an assortment of places, people and experiences that Colin would encounter. But from the moment that Colin and Hassan decided to stay in Gutshot, something in me died a little. It’s not that I was expecting a travel book that told an enchanting tale of Colin’s life-changing expedition and ended with his noble-prize-winning Eureka moment, preceded by the return of K-19. I mean, it’s a youth novel. It’s bound to be naive and a little humorous. But I did await a more riveting climax, one that sent the essence of a valuable message, or a moral, or something, anything.

Instead what I landed up with was a palpable truth – the future is unpredictable.

Perhaps I felt a little old reading this book as it reflected the fears, emotions and realities of teenagers rather than young adults. As teenagers, we often contest over the vast possibilities that exist in the future and whether we will ever make it (in the grand way that we want to). As young adults, we struggle to create a place for ourselves and remain sane in the never-ending cycle of work, eat, sleep and repeat.

Nevertheless, AAOK was an entertaining book. The language was clear and concise, even on occasions when a potential genius like Colin was speaking, but it didn’t falter the portrayal of his intelligence in any way. And that is the tact of John Green’s ability to write so well. It was quirky, fun and light-hearted throughout.  It told an enjoyable story. Often, I couldn’t help but smile at the naivety and innocence of the central characters. And even though Colin was supposed to be this studious, hard-working young boy with the potential of a genius, I felt that his personality was a realisation of the inner-most fears that cap the minds of youngsters; the fear of mattering, of making something of ourselves, of being extraordinary but at the same time, of fitting in.

All of these fears were manifest in Colin and are relatable to most young readers in the contemporary world.

This is definitely a must-read for those who enjoy books that they can breeze through, feeling enlivened and relaxed in the end.

Until then,

Happy reading!

Me Before You - A Review

I am the biggest admirer of JoJo Moyes!

I love her novels. Her writing. Her flare. Her style. Everything.

JoJo Moyes has the ability to delve her readers into story-worlds consisting of characters, events and experiences that enrich and enlighten them. Her writing is a magical gift that allows her to transform a non-reader into a reader, a non-believer (of love and life) into a believer, a pessimist into a realist or even an optimist.

However, I have a confession to make. I have only become a deeply rooted devotee of JoJo Moyes’ novels fairly recently. Five months to be exact. Five months ago on a beautiful yet cloudy day, I was browsing through the ‘Your Recommendations’ list on Amazon and I came across a novel entitled Me Before You.

What a wondrous, impactful day that was.

I’d just skimmed through the 10-line summary on my laptop screen and had the absolute urge to purchase this book. 2 days later; there was a subtle wind passing through the tiny porthole in the Circle Line train, shuffling the brisk yellow pages of the second-hand copy I held in my palms, ready to dwell into a new realm, one that would change the meaning of love – with all its imperfections – for me, forever.

At the time I purchased this novel, I wasn’t aware that the movie was due to release this year. I was ignorant of all the acclaim given to this novel just as I was ignorant of JoJo Moyes’ existence a few days prior to that.

But I dived into this story like I’ve never done before and I came out enlightened, brighter, and more confident. It was a novel that changed my perspective of life altogether; one that showed me just how important it is to live each moment to the brim and never limit yourself or your capabilities to pave the life for you that you’ve always envisioned.

And who managed to teach me all of these things? A 35-year-old quadriplegic named Will.

Me Before You meshes together a tale of two people; Louisa (Lou), who, at 26, is working in a cafe and still living with her parents and Will; an extremely successful ex-entrepreneur who’d always been in charge of the path his life took, until one horrid morning a motorbike accident resulted in him being a quadriplegic, and consequently, snatching away all his desire to live. Lou has never really stepped out of her drowsy little town and Will, until 2 years ago when his life changed forever and he had to return, left as soon as he got the chance.

After losing a comfortable and satisfying job as a waitress in a cafe, Lou – due to circumstances – decides to take up the role of being Will’s carer. A relationship which initiates with bitterness, spite and annoyance (mostly on Will’s part) transforms into mutual companionship, understanding and the longing to make one another’s life a little better. Both are polar opposites; Will is adventurous, intelligent and charismatic whereas Lou is whimsical, anxious and talkative. Ironically, Will is wheelchair bound but Lou isn’t.

Moyes laces a beautifully conceptualised and well-written story that embraces the reader and doesn’t let them go until the very end. It is not a quintessential romance novel, it is far from it. This novel is a celebration of life with all of its scars and blemishes. It’s a novel that shows the possibility of freedom from all of the hindrances, monotony and constraints that exist in our lives, and shows us what really matters – living wholly in every moment that you have.

We’re allied with Lou’s journey from the onset of the novel. We feel empathetic towards her when she fears, we’re saddened when she cries and we absolutely love her vibrant and colourful outfits even if their origin is extremely painful. And, in the end, we grieve because of the harshness of her reality, in the awareness that the brutality of certain events can leave their can leave their raw marks on us forever.

It is through Moyes that I rekindled my love for analysing literature, and my urge to continue writing. I was intrigued, even enthralled by her ability to weave words into a sentence that gave it new meaning. I was in awe at the artistic essence of her writing.

For those of you who want to read art in literature form, I would highly recommend purchasing Me Before You and burrowing into the magnificent realm of Lou and Will created by JoJo Moyes.

This one is an eye-bawler, so keep a spare pack of tissues to save your sleeves from getting moistened with your tears!

Until then,

Happy Reading!

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Written in the Stars - A Review

“Have you ever wondered ‘What if…?’ What if you’d taken that other job, gone on a date with that sweet guy, moved to a different city? Would an alternative life path have led to a happier ending?”

We make choices with certain preconceptions that they will lead us to alternate destinations, so we believe that we should make decisions carefully and proceed with caution. We think that if we pick A, we will reach a completely different place (theoretically) as opposed to if we were to choose B.

However, little do we know that sometimes no matter what choice you make, certain things are meant to happen, and certain people are meant to cross our way, as if they were predestined, as if, they were written in the stars.

Such is the story told by the incredibly talented and, my personal favorite, Ali Harris.

Harris writes this tale for her readers by toying with the metaphysical concept of possible worlds, where two different decisions regarding the same event lead to two lives that – at the onset – appear to be distinct, but essentially lead the persona to the same destination.

What do we do then, knowing that our decisions might not necessarily lead us to an alternate life?

Are we really free agents? Or is our free will just an illusion? Because whatever is predetermined will happen anyway.

Should we still give our choices as much bearing? Or should we allow destiny to take its toll and lead us wherever it must?

Although an extremely interesting philosophical topic that one can write a thesis on, for the purpose of this blog we will just be looking into it from a literary point of view, in relation to the book that Harris has written.

Bea Bishop is a strong-minded, caring and incisive woman with a passion for gardening and a love for her soon-to-be-ex-husband (in one world)/ soon-to-be-actual-husband (in another world) Adam. Bea has experienced a lot in her life; be it losing her father at a young age, falling into the depths of depression and self-harm, falling in love with the free-spirited and chaotic Kieran, encountering a life-changing event with him that in turn led to their separation and even falling in love with Adam and, in one world, getting separated from him.

But Bea still remains strong throughout the book. She knows that she’s made many choices that have led her in different directions, but she still has the will to keep fighting. This happens when she learns to make amends with her past by attempting to find her father who left her many years ago.

The novel begins on Bea’s wedding day where, as she walks down the aisle, she sees her ex-boyfriend Kieran sitting among the guests. This in turn causes her to slip and fall unconscious and from then initiates a journey in two phenomenological worlds; one in which  Bea wakes up and gets married to Adam and the second in which Bea leaves Adam.

The journeys that both Bea’s take in this book are extremely important.

They both find themselves in different situations that are implications of the choices that they made. In one world Bea is happily married to Adam, however, situations get complicated when work takes over his life and his larger-than-life, prosperous and extremely high-class parents’ role in their marriage starts to have a negative effect.

In the other world Bea endures a terrible few weeks settled in a cove provided by her energetic and striking hippie mother Loni and her younger, more sensible and composed brother Cal. Both Bea’s lives appear to take different directions, however, eventually the reader realizes that their lives are more similar than we initially thought.

There are other eccentric characters in this book that help shape Bea’s life in various ways. There’s Milly; Bea’s disciplined and strict best friend who’s always protected Bea. There is Kieran and his twin Elliot who formed an integral part of Bea’s past and shaped the restrained woman that Bea ends up becoming.

And finally, there is Adam; the love of Bea’s life.

Adam is an affectionate and supportive partner who shows Bea the possibility of moving on in her life happily. But Bea is confused. Worried. Afraid.

This book substantially covers many themes; of family, love, friends, depression, correcting your mistakes, and death. Harris manages to cover all of these themes by cleverly exploiting the concept of possible worlds.

Harris is an incredible writer and I never fail to be exasperated by her skill for writing stories that release high levels of empathy within her readers. She’s managed to employ such an important philosophical concept in a tactful manner and this is a strength of her writing.

Nevertheless, from a literary point of view I do feel that there were quite a few loose ends within this novel that could have been easily resolved. At times I felt like the narrator was being extremely repetitive when she described the role of her family or of Adam. I kept reading about how Loni was and how Milly was and how Cal was but I felt that as a rational person reading a story, I would have easily deduced those conclusions about their personality myself. I didn’t need the narrator constantly telling me what the main characters in her life were like. I needed her to show me; which I think she did well and that’s why her constant descriptions of the characters were rendered useless.

At other times, I thought that Harris’ writing flare was missing and I was seeing too much of ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’ and it’s this skill that distinguishes an exceptional book from a good one. I know that professional editing and proofreading could have resolved such issues, however, they didn’t and that will be my only complaint with this novel.

Nevertheless, it was a good take on the possibility of alternate worlds that potentially overlap and it was an interesting read!

Finally, I would recommend this book to those of you who like reading stories about philosophical concepts that are otherwise intensely written in journals that are difficult to comprehend.

Until next week,

Happy reading!

Mind Platter - A Review

Hello my loves! I hope everyone has had a good weekend and is looking forward to the week ahead!

This week I am back with another review!  I will be reviewing Mind Platter by the inspiring, charismatic and wilful Najwa Zebian. How exciting!

It took me 3 months to finish reading Mind Platter. Now, I know you’re probably all thinking ‘that’s an extremely long time to finish a book, don’t you think?’ and that is true, partly. The reason why it took me so long to read this book is because I took it in full force and accepted what it was – a self-help book. And surely, it doesn’t make sense to read a self-help book in one day or even a week, does it? To me it doesn’t.

Take it this way. Every single passage in Mind Platter aims at unveiling a part of the reader to themselves, for them to appreciate and understand. And by the end of the book Najwa has come full circle in such a way that readers have uncovered every singer layer, every aspect of themselves and understood the core of their identity. Now, I don’t think it’s possible for one to understand themselves completely and take everything that a self-help book has to give them in such a short period of time. So I took my time with this one. Slowly, I read and re-read and re-read until I completely understood what one passage was telling me before I moved onto the next.

It was only in this way that I was able to accept the gift that this book was giving me and take it forward with me.

I’m not usually a fan of self-help books and often I feel that reading a book that tells you how you should be feeling and what you should be doing to improve yourself and allow yourself to grow are just failed attempts of getting you to understand yourself without them (the book, that is) understanding you.

I was so very wrong.

Self-help books are so important because they allow a reader to delve into their own soul and uncover secrets boxed up in corners of their mind that torment them and prevent them from being happy. And the most amazing, beautifully written and relevant book that allows a reader to do this is Mind Platter. This book helps a reader answer questions about personal identity that aren’t covered anywhere else. And by personal identity I don’t mean the metaphysical debate of whether we’re minds or bodies or minds with bodies. Rather, I mean the identity that forms the foundation of our consciousness, which builds our personality and fuels our character.

It is this personal identity that helps us function adequately in society, which helps us appreciate one another and form meaningful bonds. It is the betterment of this personal identity that Mind Platter is devoted to. Each page of Mind Platter reveals a truth, either harsh and raw or pure and organic and told in a beatifically simplistic manner that puts the reader in a trance at the end. Such palpable truths, so easily deducible; yet we’re ignorant in our everyday lives of them.

This is what Mind Platter brings to the fore.

It allows us to unveil the causes of our pain, tears, and unhappiness and suggests a way of peeling them off comfortably. It teaches us ways of becoming better people for ourselves without biting at our skins because of our inability to do this until now. It appraises human imperfection, human emotions and human failure and paves a way out of inevitable depression that lies at the end of the tunnel for so many on this journey.

Mind Platter is a mirror for so many of us; reflecting our difficulties, anxiety and reasons for confusion back to us. It is written by an extremely intelligent and talented woman who understands the human condition beyond her years and writes them down on paper effortlessly.

I absolutely loved reading Mind Platter! It is such a beautifully conceptualised and exceptionally well-written project and I will always admire Najwa for helping so many people on their rocky journey. Najwa is another warrior – joining the pedestal amidst Rupi Kaur and R.M Drake for me and it is on that pedestal that she will remain.

The time comes once again to share my favourite piece from this book brimming with so many jewels;

“No  dream  is  ever  too  big,  and no  step towards a dream is ever too small. Believe  that you  will get there,  and  you  will. Your  doubts   will  only  hold  you  back  and  make  each step harder,   each   decision   harder,   and   each   change  harder. Celebrate the  little successes so  that you  may appreciate the bigger  ones.  Learn  from  the  little  failures  so that you may learn  how  to  deal  with  the   bigger  ones. Be  at  peace  with yourself, for you  cannot  achieve peace  with the world if you can’t be at peace with yourself. Give more than you  take and don’t give anything  because  you  expect  to get  something in return. Be genuine. Truly wish goodness from your heart. The world will have no other option but to smile back  at you and grant  you  the  happiness  that you  define for  yourself. What does happiness mean to you?”

So breathtakingly honest and enlightening for a reader!

Undoubtedly, this book is a 5/5 and I highly recommend it to every single young person, mature person, teenager, mother, father, grandparents; everyone needs to go and buy this book. It has helped so many people around the world and I know that it would do wonders for you.

Until next week, my loves!

Happy reading!

Don’t Let Him Know - A Review

My bond with novels written by Indian writers is becoming more firmly entrenched with every exceptionally written book that I read. Don’t Let Him Know – Sandip Roy’s debutant novel – is a delectable delight for an experimenting reader like me.

A kaleidoscopic narrative about a family of three, this novel is a refreshing and confident take on the relational patterns between a South-Asian family situated in two parts of the world – San Francisco and Calcutta. It initiates with an insipid piece of paper – found by the son Amit – exposing a brutal truth that Romola and her husband Avinash were, respectively, hiding. From then commences a journey that allows the reader to unearth certain facets of each character, allowing us to understand that they are all somehow confined, unhappy and secretive in their lives.

Romola has lived in a quintessential ‘Indian woman’ manner – blotched by the adolescent one-sided romance with a late movie actor – where she was married a virgin and devoted herself to her husband, her son and her in-laws. But Romola is not perfect in the way one would preconceive an ‘Indian housewife’ to be. She has kept secrets. She has done things that some – like myself – would deem morally wrong. However, she is still constrained by her title as a wife and as a mother who never had the opportunity to spread her wings and soar.

Avinash has a barren demeanour but is drowning with so many hidden desires and wishes. He has quietly succumbed to the cultural practices that govern his life, but regret remains. For so long he has a monochromic existence, burying the libidinous demons within him. But one day when he allows them to flurry on, a disastrous encounter in a park entails and shakes everything within the reader.

On the outset, their son Amit appears to be the only one that is grounded in his identity. However, that image falters too when we unveil his own idiosyncrasies, imperfections, glitches and his fears of being able to create a healthy balance between his traditionally Indian mother and his practical, westernised manner of living with his foreign wife and young son.

The novel capably braids through the lives of these three central characters, peeling off layer after layer and exposing the authenticity of each character’s existence. They’re all facing small battles and struggling in different ways; against sexuality, dreams, regrets of having let life pass them by, guilt and forbidden desires that threaten to take hold over their perturbing minds.

This novel sets a mark for itself. Diverging from the archetypal linear structure that novels take, it adopts the composition of little sagas of confession under the umbrella of a much broader theme; of identity.

For his first novel Sandip Roy absolutely outdid himself. His skill is one like no other. He has the ability to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind of particular places that he describes with the ease that he describes them. I am familiar with Indian culture but not with Bengali, however, even I couldn’t help but infuse in the aroma of mustard fish and imagine the lazy afternoons in an Indian household mulling around indoors under the cooling fan, away from the sweltering heat of the outside. And the cluttering buzz on the rickety streets of Calcutta compared to the deafening silence of evenings spent in quiet towns of San Fransisco are easily envisioned through the reader’s mind, almost as if the reader herself is experiencing them.

I have found a place for Indian novelists like Roy in my heart and I cannot wait to divulge in yet another tale, yet another saga about families and people torn between two cultures that constitute their identity; for these are the stories that I can relate to the most.

For me, reading this novel was an intellectual pleasure and for every other lover and admirer of literary perfection; this book is a treat.It was an experiment for me, an experiment that I highly enjoyed participating in.

Sandip Roy has a league of his own and he is a phenomenal writer in his wake.

I highly recommend this book for those who want to try something minty and new, something that will teach them new literary tools, new ways of writing and reading stories. It is a different and new take on literature altogether.

Until then,

Happy reading!

‘Welcome to Hell’ - A Review

One of the benefits of having a blog is being able to talk about some of my favourite books on here. I can share what I really enjoy reading with you all in hope that I’ve directed you to a book that has the potential to change your life — just like it changed mine. Another benefit is being able to speak about incredible books written by my dear, talented friends.

One of these is the incredibly talented and humblest Liam Xavier. I had the good fortune of ‘technically’ bumping into Liam on Instagram. I don’t remember exactly how, or when, or why — but I’m so grateful that I did.

I am a huge fan of Liam’s work.

His words are raw and gentle at the same time. They are streaked with emotions and sometimes a little bleakness — rightly so as they are exude honesty.

Liam doesn’t shy away from speaking about things that most people choose to ignore, or play a deaf ear to. His work is both provocative and soothing, kind and brutally authentic, and filled with necessary truths at the core of human hearts that we all must read. That is why the title of his latest book, ‘Welcome to Hell: And Other Poems About Adulthood’, acts as an emotional blow to your face — one that brings you back to reality, and your true self, sooner than any other book can.

Contrary to what the title may recommend — this book is an affirmative one. It is filled with pieces about love, , growth, change, pain, existentialism (in the simplest, non-theorising sense), hope, fears about the future and so many questions that we battle with and emotions that we feel during our 20s.

I absolutely loved this book!

Liam's words and perspective help reground you and bring clarity regarding your twenties, despite the inevitable turbulence that we all feel. These years are some of the most ambiguous in our lives, and Liam not only sheds light on the various feelings, the internal battles, the struggle to face new challenges and the anxiety of what the future holds — he also gives us hope.

I found hope and light in each page, no matter how straightforward it was.

I was shown the beauty of falling, of loving, of getting hurt and figuring things out in my own messy way. The truth of the limbo that our 20s are rattles against each page of Liam's book, but it consoles you somehow.

Perhaps because the books tells you that you are not alone. And there is comfort in knowing that we’re all in this together. That, despite the emotional turmoil, the confusion, the worries and all the hurdles we must cross — there is light at the end of the tunnel. That is what I found most in this book. Light. Honesty. Love. I found myself in these pages, and that is something I can't say about books often.

This was a tremendous read and I'm grateful to know Liam, as a writer and a friend, and to be able to share in his art as a reader.

You guys definitely need to pick this one up!

Until next week,

Happy reading :)

Souled Out, Revised Edition - A Review

Anjum Choudhary’s Instagram account is an absolute blessing. And her book Souled Out- Revised Edition is like soul therapy. Literally.

I came across her profile on Instagram when I first started over 4 years ago. I idolised her from day one and never thought that one day we’d become really good friends, sharing 15-minute voice messages via Whatsapp.

Over 4 years ago when I first followed Anjum, she had approximately 30,000 followers and I’d started newly with a few hundred. After reading the first two posts on her page, I followed her instantly.

Reading her poems on my Instagram feed enlightened me every day. It felt as if I was given revelations about love, pain and consolation in every single piece that I read. Inevitably, from this came the third book I purchased by a poetry/ prose writer whom I discovered on Instagram (the first being @r.hsin and second @rmdrk).

Purchasing Souled Out was the best decision that I could have made and the experience of reading this book was absolutely an incredible one. I was completely engrossed in the book from the very onset. Everything about it captivated me; the swift flow of words, the relevance of the emotions they expressed, the originality of each piece. Everything about this book touched my spirit and made me come alive.

It almost felt like this book was written for me. The experience of reading each piece was an extremely personable one. It felt like each piece was speaking to me, igniting raw emotions within me that were distinct from those that that preceded it, and to those that followed.

I guess it’s difficult to explain just how much you can immerse in a book, but if I were to compare it to anything; I’d say that reading this book was like plunging into a deep-seated ocean that warmed my insides with innumerable sensations and allowed me to float, not drown.

Here is just one example of a piece that I read which touched me profoundly:

“Leave back a little of yourself in everything you give your heart to. Don’t tell me I haven’t given you the secret to immortality.”

What words!

After reading this poetry book, I have become an admirer of Anjum’s work and I eagerly anticipate the release of her next title because for that one, I will be first in line to purchase it!

For those of you who love reading poetry but don’t follow @findinglostsouls, I highly recommend browsing through her page because I know you’ll become an avid follower after reading just the first few posts. And for those of you who follow Anjum but haven’t purchased her poetry book yet – go and purchase it!

You won’t regret it.

Until then, happy reading!

Looking For Alaska - A Review

After reading An Abundance of Katherines, I presumed that John Greens debut novel Looking for Alaska would take the same approach to portraying the youth, however it would be a raw, organic version considering that it was the first novel he wrote.

I have to confess.

After reading The Fault in our Stars, I have become predisposed to judge every other novel – written before or after it – against the former one and every single time, other novels seem deficient in comparison. Perhaps it’s because such a riveting and emotionally-captivating novel that uncovers the truth about the pungency of love that is doomed from the onset is one that cannot be outshone.

That is why – this time round – I lowered my predetermined ‘John Green Books’ standards and read Looking for Alaska from the perspective that incomplex stories with palpable truths uncovered at the end are what characterise a John Green book. And I have to say, I enjoyed reading this book a lot. It was amusing, uncomplicated and illustrated a story about a straightforward and ‘uncool’ teenage boy Miles Halter – also known as Pudge – with a basic lifestyle, a fascination with the last words of famous figures and an eagerness to move away from his mundane school life in Florida and search for a ‘Great Perhaps’ (the last words of François Rabelais) in a boarding school in Culver Creek.

Miles meets a few people that become central characters of the book; the first is Chip (also known as ‘The Colonel’ and the person who gives Miles the name ‘Pudge’), Takumi and lastly, Alaska Young – an untameable, mysterious, beautiful girl with fluctuating moods and a puzzling aura that keeps Miles hooked from the moment he lays eyes on her. The story laces around the dreary lives of mischievous teenagers fastened around eating, sleeping, smoking, drinking, studying and playing pranks on other kids.

On the outset, the book appeared dull and repetitive (at one point I felt overwhelmed as a reader at the amount of cigarettes smoked by this young group of 5) and often, it seemed as if the story wasn’t really headed anywhere. However, there were intermittent junctures where conversations about the meaning of life, guilt, grief and a ‘labyrinth’ that encompassed the remainder of the story. There are also fleeting moments of philosophising which I – as a Philosophy graduate – appreciated and acknowledged as being a key characteristic of John Green books. His books always disclose valuable messages hidden deep within the storyline which we, as readers, need to spell out for ourselves. And that is what makes John Green the phenomenal writer that he is.

He doesn’t need flowery language or the ability to describe every event, place and experience with the utmost skill – it is his simplistic language that unfolds key revelations that make his stories different from anything else you’ve read. This is why his stories tell uncomplicated stories with the intention to expose truths that can be easily discerned in a clever manner, in the sort of way that leaves the reader exasperated at end; wondering whether she read a story or a philosophical fable that taught her much more about life than she knew before.

So sure, the story is simple and clear and the empathetic levels are not as intense as in his other book TFIOS, however, the key message enlivens the reader and allows them to feel enlightened by the end.

Therefore, even though Miles is a young boy who falls in love with a girl as mismatched to him as Alaska – the story is much more than that. It is about understanding what our ‘Great Perhaps’ is, whether there even is one, what the labyrinth of our life is and how do we get out of it. There is so much more to his book than just a few teenagers pulling pranks, attending school and grieving their lost friend.

This book is a bundle of philosophical wisdom told in the simplest way possible.

So for those of you who love reading simple stories with vital philosophical messages, I suggest you head on over to your nearest book store and purchase Looking for Alaska.

Until then,

Happy reading!