Carrie by Stephen King

Blurb (from elsewhere):

A modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction -- Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.

Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Blurb (from the jacket):

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family's lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed—within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duck pond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac—as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly’s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark - from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Blurb (from the jacket):

What happens when innocence is confronted by monstrous evil?

Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Foreword:

There were two reasons for me to get off of the tbr spree and reading this book,

• Primarily because Srinivas, the other author of the blog, had gifted me this book - and Looking for Alaska - for my birthday, which was somewhere about Sept of 2013.
• And also, because this book has been film and is scheduled - or did it already? - to release this year.

Hence, I started this book...

This book is the winner of GoodReads Choice Awards 2012 for Best Young Adult.

From the very first page of the book, I didn't feel about the book. As usual, I didn't go through the blurb and don't know what to expect of the story. I just wanted to know why he, Srinivas, had gifted me, of all the books, this one. And why so many people love this book. Especially the author and his books.

Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Foreword:

If I had to thank someone for making me read this book, that would be Srinivas, the other author of the blog. Who was the person that injected the words Graphic Novel into my reads and also for asking me to read this one.

The other Graphic Novels, I had read,

• Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

To compare the three Graphic Novels, every aspect of them differ widely. While I admire Asterios Polyp for the illustrations, I love Persepolis for its witty narration and this one for its story.

Like I mentioned in other novels too, it is a very unique experience to read a Graphic Novel. It is like you are watching a movie with subtitles and on mute.

Definitely a experience every reader must try...

The Virgins by Siddharth Tripathi

Foreword:

I would like to start this review by thanking The Tales Pensieve Team for feeling me eligible to read this wonderful book.

I am more obliged for reading this book for the second time. Someone said, "So many books, so little time." I am firm believer of this quote. I am always on the run to read all the books and as many books as possible. In the run, there is little scope for a re-read. There are seldom a handful of books that I would like to give a re-read. And The Virgins is one of them, and it is the first which I had re-read.

Maybe that must have provided you the idea of what possible the books holds in me. However, for details scroll on...

Blurb (from the jacket):

How does one become a man?

Three young friends are about to find out.

With six unmarried sisters and a perennially drunk father, Pinku, a 19-year-old school dropout, has only one dream left: to marry the plump girl who’d caught him stealing flowerpots. His friend and confidant, 17-year-old Bhandu, is not faring any better — his parents are divorcing, his father has abandoned him, and the American tourist he is infatuated with doesn’t even know he exists. Bhandu and Pinku seek solace in the distracting shenanigans of their friend Guggi — a pampered rich brat who can do anything for a thrill. Guggi’s reckless hedonism lands the threesome in a series of 'sexpot' escapades — each adventure weirder than the one before.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Foreword:

I use Grammarly's plagiarism checker because it helps me find glitches in the prose and is way better than many other copy-cat applications.

It is this new-found tang for Graphic Novels that brought this book to me. Also, it is Srinivas - the other author of this blog - that introduced this book to me.

He kept ranting about this book for so long and at the end, I was adamant to read this. What started as a fleeting glance into the book carried to over 75 pages and I took a few more leaps to complete reading the novel.

I am still skeptical about how many stars to give this book. Maybe, I will decide before I reach the end of this review.

Blurb (from the jacket):

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

The Virgins by Siddharth Tripathi

Review:

They were the days when there were many mails flooding my mail box from authors, publishers and marketers, alike, asking to review so and so book. One of those mails contained a mail from Bharti Teneja, Marketing Manager of Prakash Books. It read,

Hi Sudeep,

I got your reference from a friend and would love to get views on our latest release The Virgins by Siddharth Tripathi. Enclosed is the brief and a presentation which the author has done. Do let me know if you would like to review it and send me your postal address.

Thanks

Bharti

Those days The Virgins was one of the best in the market, considering the critics. I had a very bad time trying to refrain myself from right away accepting the offer. That would have been so unprofessional. So, instead, I sent a short reply asking Bharti to go through our review policy and contact me if they are okay with the terms mentioned. I secretly feared, what if Bharti didn't contact me back. I mentally made a note to wait for four days, if Bharti didn't contact back before that, I would order the book. Such was the liking the plot of this book developed in me. Fortunately, Bharti did reply back saying, something like, "I have gone through your review policy already. Tell me the shipping address so that we could ship you the book."

Well, I was more than happy to accept.

Plot (from the jacket):

How does one become a man?

Three young friends are about to find out.

With six unmarried sisters and a perennially drunk father, Pinku, a 19-year-old school dropout, has only one dream left: to marry the plump girl who’d caught him stealing flowerpots. His friend and confidant, 17-year-old Bhandu, is not faring any better — his parents are divorcing, his father has abandoned him, and the American tourist he is infatuated with doesn’t even know he exists. Bhandu and Pinku seek solace in the distracting shenanigans of their friend Guggi — a pampered rich brat who can do anything for a thrill. Guggi’s reckless hedonism lands the threesome in a series of 'sexpot' escapades — each adventure weirder than the one before.

But their seemingly innocuous joyride is about to end.

With their Class 12 exams around the corner, Guggi, restless to leave a mark, takes over the school’s notorious protection racket in a violent coup. The fallout drags the trio into a murky world of heartbreak, betrayal, and bloody vengeance . . .

Fast, funny, and earthy, The Virgins is a coming-of-age novel that marks the debut of a promising writer.

About the author (from the jacket):

Siddharth Tripathi was born in Allahabad and schooled in Banaras. He is a B.E from NIT Trichy and an MBA from MDI, Gurgaon. Siddharth currently lives in Gurgaon and works as a consultant for a business advisory firm. He also writes a blog on music and films. The Virgins is his first novel.

My view of the book:

Cover design:

If you have read my LWCITCT post of this book you could have understood the fondness I developed for the cover of this book. It is the perfect cover design material. It has one of the best cover design in the market, so far. It has the exact colour, the colour of radium, which will not only draws one's attention, but makes the person go through the text on the front cover, description on the back cover and carry it all the way to the cash counter.

The ace aspect of the cover design that invoked the highest degree of admiration from me is the pencil-sketch of Dashashwamedh Ghat of Varanasi.

A perfect-ten. My most favourite Cover Design yet!

Language:

What could I say about the language used in the story? It was excellent. It was simple. It was crude. It was true. The conversations were as exact as the character would use if they were flesh and blood.

About the narration, it was in third-person. Of course, it was the story of three young boys - Pinku, Bhandu, Guggi - who are in their teens. Usually, teen guys, when talking among themselves, add a expletive at the end of each sentence addressing his friend, like chutiya, low lying bastard, et al. They were brilliantly used in the exchange, which added the realism to the characters.

Characters of the story:

The crazy mentality of the funny characters of the book are so wittily represented that they remain etched in one's mind for a very long time to come. I completed reading this book a couple of hours back and I have already laughed at the recollection of the funny characters for the umpteenth time.

Bookmark:

If you are a regular reader of my book, you would know my fascination for exclusive bookmarks. If you are a first-timer, its high time you know it, because I feel exclusive bookmarks are one of the best marketing strategies ever invented in the industry. Apart from that, there are some obsessive people, like me, who are very much into collecting these bookmarks. Also, maybe some such reviewer will add an extra star to their actual rating. However, I am not one of those few (I want you to believe that).

The bookmarks in this case is same as the colour of the cover of the book - bright and attractive. The bookmark also inherited the brilliance of the cover design. If ever I write a book (which I am doing) and get it published, this designer is whom I am going to contact to design the cover of my book.

Publishers:

Fingerprint Publishers. This is indeed the first book I read from these publishers. On the backcover, it clearly indicates, An imprint of Prakash Books. I didn't hear of them, too. However, I am in love with these publishers and looking forward of reading more books from these publishers.

Story and other aspects of the book:

Most of the books in the market are mostly written with the backdrop of a high-five city like Mumbai or Delhi. It was a warming change to read a story with the backdrop of Varanasi. Yeah, Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020 was written in the backdrop of Varanasi, but The Virgins book described the city so vividly, very far from the other book.

I tried very hard to draw a pattern of the story and present a sensible plot so that the readers might have a before-hand idea of the story. But the harder I tried, the naked become the truth that it was impossible. The story can't be described in a short, 500-words plot. I think, even the description of the book doesn't portrays the weight of the story the cover of this book contains. Maybe that is the reason, there is a take-a-peek depicted on the front cover of the book, description on the back cover and also a tiny blurb on the bookmark.

Every aspect of the book - cover design, story, narrative style, marketing, et al - is at its best. That is why I started to admire these publishers. Maybe, one day, I would get my book published by these publishers.

Final Verdict:

After a long time, I liked a book so much that I am thinking re-reading this book once I am done with the tbr list. Awesome story, with great, funny characters and a equally mesmerizing narration.

Recommendations:

Well, I would recommend it to every one. I don't see a reason why someone wouldn't like reading a book like this. I say, it is a masterpiece in the books that I have read till now.

                         

Love is Vodka by Amit Shankar

Review:

I have received this book from Nimi Vashi (of http://thereaderscosmos.blogspot.in/) for reviewing. Though she was the one to contact me for reviewing this book, I know that the book is originally dispatched by the publishers. None other than the publishers could send a exclusive bookmark of the other book of the author, named Chapter Eleven.

All the while, I was thinking that the author was a debutante, but to know that he already authored two other books came as a surprise to me.

Plot (from GoodReads):

If love is all about freedom and honest expression then how can one associate it with loyalty?

Being a love child; Moon, the protagonist is anything but a conventional teen. With a leading TV news anchor as her mother, an aspiring entrepreneur as her boy friend, the word LOVE baffles her. The whole idea of having one partner and love being eternal is beyond her comprehension. 

Life turns upside down when she falls for the CEO, who happens to be her mother's boyfriend too. Destiny further complicates things by blessing her with a big time modelling assignment and she becomes famous and popular overnight.

A war starts waging between her head & heart on a lot of issues exposing her to various forms of love online & offline. 

Will she decipher the true meaning of love? Embark on an exhilarating rendezvous with Moon and discover love like never before.

My take on the book:

Cover design:

The cover design was a good one. Unlike, many disappointing designs these days. It is subtle and darkly coloured, enough to attract quiet some attention. On the contrary, I think the cover is too darkly coloured. Though it attracts some attention, the dark colour might turn some people down. Other than that, the cover design is pretty much acceptable. In fact, the colour is pretty apt for the story. The story, itself, is dark. The behaviour, the character of the protagonist is dark.

Author:
I came to know from the back cover of the book that author is not a debutant. (That is the reason you won't see ‘About the author’ part in this review.) It states that Amit Shankar has already authored two books, apart from this one. Chapter Eleven and Flight of the Hilsa. The bookmark provided with the novel is used to promote the book named, Chapter Eleven. The idea of the bookmark was the most brilliant yet I've come across.

Bookmark:
As you all know I have a special liking for exclusive bookmarks. Though, the bookmark can't be called an exclusive one, but it is indeed used for the promotion of the author's other book - Chapter Eleven. There is a dual message in a blurb. The hidden message is readable only using the red, transparent paper cover provided attached to the bookmark, itself. Check out the visual provided below.

One side of the bookmark.

The other side - without the cover of the red paper.

With the cover of the red paper. It reads, Find your own path.

If you yet didn't decipher the mechanism behind the creativity of the bookmark, let me help you here. If you notice the blurb without the cover of the red paper, all words, except four, are printed in red colour. When aided by the red paper, all red coloured words are made invisible and the four words, which are non-red, are left, revealing the hidden message in the blurb.

The foolish, as I was, didn’t notice it until the moment I completed reading this book. All the while I was thinking the red paper had some artistic touch to the bookmark. It is only after I completed reading this book and had nothing else interesting to do during the train journey that I noticed the significance of the bookmark with the brilliantly designed secret blurb.

Publishers:
Vitasta Publishers. This is the first time I came across these publishers and the only one book I came across from these publishers. The cover design, the language and narrative style used in the story, the quality of the paper, all of them suggest that the publishers are a good one. Hoping to read more books of these publishers.

The story and other aspects:
The story was written in the first-person narration of someone, who addressed themselves, I. Since I had a very bad habit of not reading the description/plot of the book before reading it, I wasn't aware that the story is of a girl. The story is written by a guy, the author, in the perception of a girl, the protagonist of the story. It was least expected by me. It took some time to decipher this truth and understand the story.

For once, I could say that the story is the result of a guy's fantasy of a girl. In many parts, I felt that the protagonist was a girl, who has the character of a boy. Maybe, that’s the idea. Maybe the story is about a girl who had the mind-set of a boy. The line, 'Love is freedom. Loyalty is just another form of slavery', was used more than once. Commonly it is the policy used by guys to use girls to fulfil their material needs. But a girl believing in such a line was really against the routinity. Perhaps, they are what called, 21st century modern girls.

There is one part of the story where the protagonist had some disease called PCOD. Then after, there was not a mention of the disease in the entire story. Maybe it is not such a vital disease to be mentioned again, but it sounded serious to me at least.

The tagline, 'A shot ain't enough', is also witty and catchy. But the real, inner meaning of the tagline is understand in the last chapter. The author ensures that you notice its significance in the last chapter.


Overall, it is a metro read. Not enjoyable by everyone equally.

Recommendations:
I suggest people to go through the plot and take the necessary action. Because not everyone enjoys metro reads. But then, this book isn't entirely a metro read. It also a spread of emotion and true love. That is the reason I, who hates metro reads to the core, enjoyed this read to some extent. My final verdict would be read it at your own call...

This book review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Review Program. To

get free books visit thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Rating: 5 out of 5!!!

ISBN (edition I've read): 9781862302914

Read between: 28-12-2012 to 04-01-2013

Review:

Heard a lot of praise about this book. Started reading it with a lot of expectations. And at the end, I was well satisfied. It is probably the last book I started reading last year and the first book I completed this year...

I am certain that you might've heard of the types of narrations - first person and third person. But this book is in a new type of narration. No person narration. The person - or rather, thing - who narrates the story is Death. Yeah, you read it right. It is Death. And the way the author conveyed is much intelligent. The tagline, "When Death tells a story, you really have to listen," can't be more apt...

Plot:
Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger's life is changed when, by her brother's graveside, she picks up an object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever these books are to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

My take on the book:
I don't think anyone might pick up this book by reading the plot or the description of the book. They - the plot - don't give a minutest hint of what the book has got in store for the reader.
Maybe the 'Death narrating the story' part will attract few curious readers but others who merely depend on descriptions and plots will certainly overlook this book. It is only after watching the online ratings of this book that they realize what great a book they've missed.

After reading 50 or so pages, one would understand that the story doesn't follow a particular plot. No certain rhythm. It is evident that author started writing the story and the story made itself up.

When I sit down and think of writing a review about the book, I don't know what to write. In the case of all other books I've read, there was a certain rhythm in the flow of the story. Then I would high-light few things which I liked and disliked about the book. That is how I write a review. But that isn't helping me in the case of this book. All I could say is,

Go, read the book. You will in no way regret it.

There is no particular reason to hate this book. There isn't for liking this book, for that matter. The book is good. It just is. No reason at all. It is kind of a book which is slow, yet not boring. One couldn't rush through the pages. One couldn't risk missing a single word. It feels like each word of the story is thought for days and got printed.

Recommendations:
Don't expect me to point out a group of people. If you read books, you should read this one.

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

Rating: 4 out of 5

A plane crashes on a deserted island. The survivors are only few school boys... That's what the plot claims. It gives a picture of a adventurous story. Yeah, of course the story is adventurous, but the narration has a lot more than that.

It is not the story of how they survived on the island and got rescued - if they are. It is the story of how kids - eldest being 12 yrs and youngest being 6 yrs - at the time of crisis. It deals with the depth of civilization and savagery. It deals with the depths of mentalities of different people. Different kinds of human beings. And their nature...

The narration is that of prolonged one. With every tiny detail in the background. Author has got a great imagination, I would say.

And the last chapter, it was a adrenaline busting one. When I was reading it - the last chapter - my heart beat literally rose. Narration at its best..

Before reading this book, I got the movie. I argued that I would watch the movie after reading the book. But when reading the book I always had an urge to watch the movie. I wanted to know what happens the end. So was the narration!!

Hugely moving and intriguing...