Pratibha R.D.H.'s Blog: Flights of fantasy

A Book Review of Child of Paradise

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Book Review

Harry Potter is one of those unique children book series that has crossed genres to be read both by children and adults. I have read many boarding school stories but it is the true genius of JK Rowling to weave the magical world into a school book series. The beauty of this series is the beautiful life lessons it imparts through a story of fantasy and adventure.

Rowling takes us into the fascinating world of magic and creates magic through different mediums such as spells, wands, cauldrons, and herbs. Here the owl is used as a mail, a broomstick is used to fly, a cloak has the ability to hide, the cauldron is used to cook magical potions and every imaginable ordinary item is made intriguing with its interesting magical abilities. The spells used by Rowling are a delight to pronounce and fascinating to learn as to what powers they possess.

In the magical world, Harry Potter is quite famous from the time he is a child because he manages to destroy the powers of the evilest wizards of the century. The headmaster of Hogwarts School, Albus Dumbledore, though doesn’t want Harry to be spoilt by all the fame and adulation he will eventually receive. So when Harry is just a baby he sends him to live with his Uncle and Aunt, the Dursleys, so that the tough childhood with them keeps him humble and grounded. Although Harry’s life is difficult with the Dursleys, it was ridiculously funny reading about them right from their physical appearances to their outrageous behaviours. Once Harry is ready to become a student in Hogwarts School, where a student specialises in the art of magic, everything from his journey through the 9 and 3/4 platform to his life as a student is a fascinating read. His best friends Ron and Hermione add further spice to his adventures especially with their contrasting characteristics where Ron is quite easy going compared to Hermoine's competitive nature.

The school has different houses like any other school. The method of being chosen for their respective houses with a sorting hat is one among many other delightful chapters to read. There are a lot of interesting characters such as their sardonic teacher Sirius Black, gatekeeper Hagrid, fun loving Weasley twins and the dark lord Voldemort among a few others who completely grips you into their complexities and eccentricities. Hagrid and Dumbledore are father figures to Harry who many a time brings out one’s protective instincts all because of the victimisation he faces as an orphan. A magical story that almost sounds real and lives with you forever.

To Be the Best (Emma Harte Saga #3) – Book Review

I loved the first two volumes in the Emma Harte Saga and was excited to read the third one and know more about the characters. How did they handle their grandmother’s business?  Did they find true love or were happily married?  I wasn’t disappointed at all as it carried on the same pace and intrigue as the previous two. The title of the book itself is a motivator and stays in my mind as a reminder to be ‘the best always’ in whatever I strive to do. But this volume was more about family drama and emotions than the previous two. I was happy to read about Paula and Emily’s life altogether, especially how wonderfully they balanced their marriages as well as their careers. Their husbands Shane and Winston were friends as well and shared great holidays with their children. Their children shared a good rapport with each other as well as the other cousins of the Harte family. There was more of a cosy sense of family and togetherness in this book. But there were a lot of tragedies too in the family especially with Paula’s brother, Paul, regarding his personal life as well as her cousin, Alexander, in the form of a fatal illness. There was a sense of sadness I felt in this book which hadn’t been there in the other two books.

Again the women were portrayed very strongly here and Maddy, Paula’s sister-in-law, was a new addition to this string of strong women. They handled the Harte enterprises efficiently. Paula displayed brilliant business acumen in the end when she saved the company from a takeover bid by her unscrupulous cousin Jonathan Ainsley. Again I got to know a lot about corporate business in the retail sector. A message that we can all take is when Sir Ronald Kallinski, Paula’s elderly family friend, ask her if a modern woman can have it all. Paula answers beautifully, saying yes, provided that she does proper planning and is the master of organisation.

Woman of Substance (Emma Harte Saga #1) – Book Review

Woman of substance is a powerful rag to riches story of a girl who rose from the ranks of a servant to one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world. I read this book in my teens and it was the first time I read about women in business. Reading about Emma Harte ruling a business empire propelled my young teenage heart to dream something on a similar vein. The way Emma worked hard at every point in her life to overcome each and every obstacle and how she rose to the top in the corporate world would inspire any young teen in a life-changing way. I remember underlining important passages in the book and logging important quotes in my diary to motivate me every morning or during my exams. I have read the book several times ever since.

Emma’s life is not a fairytale and she not only faces many adversaries in her business but in her personal life as well. She was ruthlessly ambitious and less emotional at certain points of her life. But that was all because of her instinct to survive that made her way more calculative and ruthless as she was. She was honest and upright in all her business dealings though and nowhere power or riches corrupted her at any point in her life. She was a role model to many in her huge family as well as her readers but sadly towards the end, her own children turned against her. This was due to the fact that it was her business and hardships that took over her life to earn the daily bread that she could hardly devote any time to her children during their growing years. Hence there was a detachment with her from her children’s side when they grew up. Their mother was only a pay cheque for them to live an easy and luxurious life. However, the pain inflicted by her children was all brought to justice when her grandchildren turned up immensely loyal and loving towards her. Although Emma’s life was more about business and her struggles the other volumes in the series introduces many characters and makes the series a versatile and multi-dimensional read. There were many descriptions and details where the settings of the book are concerned which I too as an author picked up from most authors of that time. Often, on my part, I find myself fighting the urge to become overly descriptive or get into details about the settings in a novel.

Twilight Book Review

Twilight, the first book I read on vampires, totally drew me into the element of romance between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. I have read other vampire novels ever since but this one stays in my memory by far. The protagonist Bella is a quiet and reserved girl by nature but therein lays her distinct charm. Teenagers usually have that rebellious streak coupled with a prickly and know-it-all attitude that sometimes mellowed teens such as Bella come as a breath of fresh air. Bella didn’t feel the need to follow the crowd or balk under peer pressure. She was perfectly fine doing her own thing and keeping to herself. Although the feminine aspect of her character has been criticised it’s totally relatable if you are on the quieter side and don’t feel the need to explain yourself. Some teen girls are happy doing their own thing and don’t bother if they are accepted or not like that cool teen on the block. This mostly happens when you have a lifestyle that involves solo passions or interests or you are too committed to your career or studies. Then again some teens do end up with a sober personality because of the circumstances they grew in such as Bella’s family which wasn’t anywhere of the picket fence kind. But the endearing thing to note is that Bella did possess a deep caring attitude towards her parents though in a subtle way.

The attraction towards Edward was smouldering and intense although it started with a slow burn. Edward was the dream man in Bella’s life who had dashing looks and strength of personality that completely swept her off her feet. The romance had an innocent element that was not at all explicit or crude in any way yet was amazingly sensual and passionate in its sweetness. Edward projects as the strong silent kind while being immensely caring and protective towards his love interest. Being a vampire his behavior was unpredictable at times which initially caused a certain amount of friction in their relationship. Bella’s feelings for Edward completely took over her heart and mind. This was the first time she felt so intensely about someone which may be attributed due to the fact that she led a quite a lonely life prior to meeting him. The solitary side of her life was well reflected by the author through the dull and boring weather of Forks where they met.

I loved Edward’s way of handling Bella where he often withheld his passion in order not to hurt her in any way considering the cross-species aspect of their relationship. There were a lot of versatile characters in the book such as Bella’s friends, the Cullen family, and again the villainous vampires that came in later. The ending carried a lot of action and danger which kept my interest piqued all the way to the last page.

Malice by Danielle Steel – Book Review

‘Malice,’ had jolted me to an avalanche of feelings years back when I read it and remained as a source of inspirational memory to me. It exposed me to the aspect of incest in close quarters, leaving me shocked while bringing me a heightened sense of social awareness. Danielle Steel writes about the dark secrets and inhumanness that exist inside families and one could actually feel the brutal terror and excruciating pain of this barbaric vice that ruins one for life.

The protagonist, Grace Adams, had completely moved me and left me emotional as she fought all her battles in life completely alone right from the time she was a child. Can one imagine how life can be when you have no one to call your own while having the whole town and legal system against you in spite of being pure and innocent throughout? I am still amazed at the range of experience and emotions that Danielle Steel exposes her readers through this book. I think this is one of Steel’s best books as she has touched a wide range of human and socials aspects such as crime, manslaughter, the legal system, prison life, incest, politics, the modelling world, social work, child abuse, and domestic violence. It is a story of heroism and courage in spite of all the odds in life. The story starts with how she survives a dark secret that ruins her childhood and teen years to again find herself in the squalor and brutality of prison life as soon as she turns eighteen. But this story shows us that in spite of the selfishness and malice around, there will be one or two heroes, nowhere connected to you through blood, who will stand by you and believe in you no matter what. These are examples that make you want to pay back to society without hoping for anything in return. It makes you want to make your life meaningful and stand up for a cause. Even after she leaves her painful past behind, Grace’s life is an inspiration where she uses her pain and experiences to help others and transform it into social work of a huge magnitude. She fights through every ugly sphere in life to have a beautiful family and become one of the most respected and exemplary citizens of her state. Years later her dream life is again threatened when the bloodthirsty paparazzi bares all the ugliness of her past life in the tabloids. The story ends with a beautiful underlying message that the cycle of karma works as per the law of justice and all ends well. That’s what life is where happiness and sorrow go hand in hand like a wave in an ocean. If you have faced a lot of pain then good times are not very far behind since happiness and sorrow are two sides of a coin. All we need to do is be committed to our passions while trying to remain patient during the bad times and again being appreciative for the good times. The writing is brilliant and I loved the way she has explained the gory details in an unadulterated and meaningful way. But that’s where most books come short these days, which is the depth and the richness of language, while conveniently replacing it by crudeness and lack of finesse to capture the audience’s interest. It is truly worth the time to plough into this kind of literature while catching the essence of moral courage as well as taking a message of deep human value and inspiration from it.

Like a flowing river – Book Review

“Like a flowing river,” leads us into deep reflection and profound thinking. The author, Paulo Coelho, writes about his deep observations of life and society as a whole from his travels and personal experiences in his own life. The book draws us towards invaluable lessons that can be learned and insights found from our simple day to day lives. The wealth of wisdom can be gained from ordinary tasks we do every day which in turn has the potential to bring a deep sense of peace within us.

I read this book a couple of times and still, I am always thrilled to learn something new or think in a deeper vein every time I read it. The sense of serenity that Coelho brings from simple descriptions, in turn, motivates us to attain that balance and calm in the ordinary pace of life. Some stories like the girl with the guitar in a faraway church made me feel that very essence of peace that the author wrote about. This book can be read in any order or on a daily basis to reflect on each message that it encompasses. The descriptions of every place he wrote were lucid, gripping and charmed us easily into every place he had been.

Best recommendation would be to read one or two chapters a day, dwell on it and try to extract the profound wisdom from it – one lesson a day. The philosophy in each of the chapters is practical and can be attainable if we seek it in our daily lives. Like the story about the wife who found peace from the short time she led with the famous author Henry Miller and didn’t care about the wealth that was denied to her but bestowed to his ex-wives as per the law, profoundly moved me. It shows us that happiness can be achieved through the act of mindfulness in our daily rituals which may include our passions such as music, writing, painting, dancing or anything where we achieve a sense of purpose and devotion in that very act. It also makes us rise above the monotony and humdrum of our daily lives and see ordinary moments as extraordinary. Inspiration to live life can be drawn from simple encounters and ordinary people. The magical feeling of finding a new treasure in the form of insights and perceptions kept me thirsty and seeking that elixir in every new chapter. Coelho’s writing is simple, yet engaging and easy flowing.

Loved these few lines he wrote referring to a profound message he recollected from the Hindu text, Bhagavad Gita, “ I remember the answer that Krishna gives to the warrior Arjuna, when the latter loses heart before a decisive battle, throws down his arms, and says it is not right to take part in a battle that will culminate in the death of his brothers. Krishna says, more or less: ‘Do you really think you can kill anyone? Your hand is My hand, and it was already written that everything you are doing would be done. No one kills and no one dies.’”

This message from the Bhagavad Gita has always moved me whenever I have been hesitant in speaking my truth or doing the right thing where my own people were concerned. I am glad it has made a difference to Coelho too. In this book, the magic of Paulo Coelho touches you again while leading your mind to plunge into those deeper realms of philosophy and tranquility.

Savour the Moment – Book Review

I am revisiting some of my old favourites of which “Savour the Moment” is one of the feel-good books by Nora Roberts. It has all the ingredients of a modern fairy tale consisting of girl friendships who not only find their happily ever after but also are successful entrepreneurs in their own right.

In the whole series, the four childhood friends Mackensie, Parker, Laurel and Emmaline get together to build their wedding planner business. Their company ‘Vows’ is managed by Parker while Mackensie is the wedding photographer; Laurel, the Pastry Chef and Emma, the wedding florist. The third installment in this series is about Laurel who finds love with Delanie Brown who is a lawyer by profession and also their legal advisor. Laurel is a self-made and independent woman who had a lot of tough knocks in life and has worked hard to be a successful woman entrepreneur that she is today. There are detailed aspects of her baking business which piqued my interest. Having a penchant for reading about lives of woman entrepreneurs, I felt inspired reading about the nitty-gritty details of her business and how she motivated herself to stick to her grinding schedule. It was engrossing to see her passion for designing exotic cakes while understanding her client requirements through their personality and emotions. Although Laurel highly valued her friendships and considered them her only family yet she was not someone who had too many expectations from relationships or men coming from a broken family herself. No wonder even if she was in love with Parker’s brother, Delaney, all her life yet she never attempted to make her feelings known. I loved Delaney as he is the perfect family man who was always taking care of his sister and her friends as well as their business. The business was more like a family business where all of the four friends worked and lived together in the same complex but in different wings. They had business meetings at any hour of the day, were gym buddies as well as had fun get-togethers. In course of running their business, they shared each other’s joys & challenges while motivating each other. How idyllic can it get considering even their partners were good friends? Delaney though wealthy is a hardworking as well as a family man and not all some unattainable millionaire usually thrown in romance novels. The last part of the book where they spend their vacation at a beach house owned by Delany makes one feel happy and curled in that special cosy corner with a hot coffee in hand. Delaney’s life is not all about money but working hard and sharing the good stuff with the family he loves which consisted of his sister’s friends and their partners with whom he had already bonded at different times. The money factor and wealthy upbringing though gets in the way of their romance but in the end, Laurel and Del work it out and come out as a beautiful couple whose journey I truly enjoyed. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series while keeping in touch with the feel-good factor that this book brought me.