Going back in time and then getting drifted apart by some forces that bring us immediately to the present provides us immense pleasure. This book is not only about some characters with a structured plot at its base but also a fantastic journey covering themes like love, nostalgia, grief, etc. at their best.
Chapter One, titled “1993,” kickstarts with Chandan’s character, who is portrayed in his country demeanour, waiting for his friends to arrive. The reminiscence that Chandan feels with his father’s vice echos about the arrival of “they,” indicating the trio who will be back in Ratanpur for two months, while he must be ready by now with mangoes for mischief and every activity that the friends will get to witness together.The feeling of nostalgia taking us back to those summer days when we used to roam around and enjoy the vibrant hours with our friends, and the touch of innocence a little heart is surfaces with along with the country innocence have been combined well by the author.
The beautiful landscape of the harvest done by the rabi crops on one side and the Simroo Rivers glistening tremendously have truly added an essence of completeness and beauty to the topographical aspect present within the piece. After a page, Kashinath’s fragile condition and the urge that penetrated inside Chandan’s mind to meet his friends encash the moment of affection and responsibility, walking parallel to the universal concept of a man’s psychology. There is much more to be revealed when they come across certain truths.
📌Their family history and certain things that will divide them in the preceding chapters for no good. Will they be successful in sorting out the problems they ought to face and keeping the flame of their love burning forever with no disturbance?
I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink.(2 John 12)The word “paper” did not exist until 1200 AD.I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.(Romans 15:28)The word “Spain” or the country “Spain” did not exist until 1492 AD.Taking Jesus’ body…
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LANG- ENGLISHRATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
I am not a big fan of reading biblical theories, but I have completed the testaments by heart. This book takes the readers on a journey to understand Jesus more accurately. The highlights put together at the beginning of each section provide an insight into the proceeding details or knowledge that one can gain about the entire chapter.
One of my favourite portions of the book is “Understanding Jesus.” The story put forward is the story of Jesus. Written in lucid language covering parts, it is logical to come to a conclusion about the residence of Jesus. As per the Gospels, Jesus is homeless with no money, no boat, and no donkey. Also, Gospel writers very carefully painted the story of Jesus as real and totally credible by providing precise details for events in their story. No single mention has been made of Jesus and his entourage of 12 disciples during their stay where they used to sleep. I actually felt while reading this piece that I was drawn into Jesus’s life and was able to see him taking part in activities and see a picture of his life events.
People often question how Jesus used to love his life, like day-to-day activities. We can find in this book the answer to this question.Jesus had no donkey or any form of transportation to accomplish his work or do day-to-day activities.
📌 Readers won’t get bored reading Jesus or any biblical aspect, as it’s truly a moving story.
Have you ever been trolled on social media? Received comments that have upset you? Ever been body-shamed?
Founder of the popular lifestyle blog MissMalini, Malini Aggarwal has experienced the Internet at its best and worst. As a pioneering content creator, she has seen tremendous success and also made mistakes on the medium – and she’s learnt vital lessons from it all.
In Under the Influence: How to Survive and Thrive Online, Malini deep dives into the psychology of rampant online hate culture, explaining why it exists and provides practical tools to tackle it. With insight and empathy, she guides today’s users on how to deal with trolls and cancel culture, respond to hate and provocation, and combat negativity with positive action and mindfulness.
Complete with interviews with prominent influencers and psychologists, personality self-assessment tests and interactive quizzes, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone navigating the complex battlefield that is social media today.
About the Author
Malini Agarwal, a.k.a. MissMalini, is an Indian blogger. Formerly a DJ on Mumbai’s Radio One (India) and Head of Digital Content for Channel V India, she founded her blog MissMalini.com in 2008 covering gossip and current events in Bollywood, fashion and lifestyle.
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
To read a book and to enjoy it are both truly different concepts. There are a few books we happen to enjoy that we read for the sake of reading. In the chapter “Talking ‘bout My Generation,” I could relate to how my mom undergoes the same regime while using her device. She shows her presence on social media at least once a day, and she was happy when I talked about this and let her make a poll as suggested by the author for more engagements. Truly apt! And, the generation chart is like the ready-made food that one wants to have at their most, where their brains will be ingrained with new terms and concepts, without which one can feel miserable amidst such discussions. In reality, I have seen people facing such troubles, including my own family.
I am not an exception in this case. Yes, I found myself cool putting up some one-liners, sending virtual gifts, and other crazy stuff when I was in school. It was quite fun to read how the author shared her experiences in getting connected with the world of Twitter and how she quickly exchanged information on the kinds of sources used by people to communicate back in those times when social media was never an option for the same. Chapter Seven is one of my favorites, as it throws light on the anatomy of a troll and more on this.
The author engaged herself in the path of trolling people online, and she too incurred the same wrath. It’s all about dealing with such attempts carefully and taking some genuine steps to thrive and survive, as stated by the author in her book.
The activity sections of the book provide too many added treats for the readers to enjoy the book and have some fun. I am proudly appreciating such an activity section, which I solved and posted the update in no time. Yes, I have not changed yet. Jokes apart, one can rely completely on this mind-blowing piece to learn, have fun, and feel relatable at too many points.
Link to buy the book- Under The Influence: How to survive and thrive online https://amzn.in/d/hipMaun
(“This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program”)
Perur’s translation has received recognition for maintaining the integrity of the source material while also making the narrative readable for a larger audience. The themes of societal transformation, familial dynamics, and personal ambitions covered in “Ghachar Ghochar” are kept through his deft translation, making Shanbhag’s rich storytelling accessible to English audiences.
A painstaking procedure was undertaken by Srinath Perur to ensure that his translation of “Ghachar Ghochar” correctly conveyed the spirit of Vivek Shanbhag’s original Kannada work while also making it comprehensible to English-speaking readers.
“Ghachar Ghochar” delves into topics including economic changes, societal hierarchy, and family dynamics, all with a strong cultural foundation in India. Perur was meticulous in maintaining these cultural quirks in his translation, adding background information as needed to make sure readers who spoke English could completely understand the story.
All things considered, Perur’s translation of “Ghachar Ghochar” is evidence of both his translation prowess and his commitment to maintaining the integrity of Vivek Shanbhag’s original work while rendering it understandable to a wider readership.
About the book🌸
‘Vivek Shanbhag is an Indian Chekhov, illuminating the romantic and financial tensions in middle-class urban India with a doctor’s precision and sensitivity’ – Suketu Mehta’It’s true what they say – it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us. When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us.’ From a cramped, ant-infested house to a spacious bungalow, a family finds itself making a transition in many ways. The narrator, a sensitive young man, is numbed by the swirl around him. All he can do is flee every day to an old-world cafe, where he seeks solace from an oracular waiter. As members of the family realign their equations and desires, new strands are knotted, others come apart, and conflict brews dangerously in the background. Masterfully translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, Ghachar Ghochar is a suspenseful, playful and ultimately menacing story about the shifting consequences of success.
About the Translator🌸
Since translating Vivek Shanbhag’s Ghachar Ghochar, Srinath Perur has practically become synonymous with the author among English-speaking readers. After earning his Ph.D. in computer science, he started a column where he responded to inquiries from young readers about science. He also writes about a variety of topics, most of which are related to travel and science, for The Guardian, BBC Future, Mosaic, GEO, and n+1.
About the author🌸
Vivek Shanbhag writes in Kannada. He has published five short story collections, three novels and two plays, and has edited two anthologies, one of them in English. For 7 years from 2005 to 2012, he published and edited the literary journal Desha Kaala. Vivek’s books are translated into many other Indian languages. His acclaimed novel Ghachar Ghochar was published in India in English translation in 2015.Vivek’s writing has appeared in Granta, Seminar, Indian Literature and Out of Print.He was a Fall 2016 resident at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.An engineer by training, Vivek Shanbhag lives in Bangalore, India.
While reading this book, I was able to see parallels between both of them playing their reverse roles in the same world. Zainab who in the 1900s was an example that we all must inculcate inside ourselves as she was less frightened of what she needed to have.
On the other side, Zainab from the 2000s even didn’t want to step into any caricature and want to read life away from anything bad. Such contrasts! My god! Can we ever see it? I have never had such chances to witness such characters in my life who can play such vital roles but in reality they are poles apart. This masterpiece started with the first diary entry by Zainaab Essaji where she wrote about her birthday and everything related to it. Also, it was mentioned how she hated Europeans and her brother who too resembled her on this same subject. This was enough to take into consideration the fact based on how she wanted to be a part of the independence movement and kept her hopes high in that. Her father was furious and irated by his son who had nothing to talk expect freedom and politics. Omg! I was mesmerized when I came to know he was a part of INC.
How brilliantly the author portrayed this fact amidst the pandemonium that Zainab’s brother created. Want to know about the 2000s Zainab? Then pick this book fast.
In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. If you’re ready to make some serious changes around here, You Are a Badass will help you: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, blast past your fears so you can take big exciting risks, figure out how to make some damn money already, learn to love yourself and others, set big goals and reach them – it will basically show you how to create a life you totally love, and how to create it now.By the end of You Are a Badass, you’ll understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can’t change, how to change what you don’t love, and how to use The Force to kick some serious ass.
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
We learn something significant over time. In the thirteen years that I have known this, I have also learnt a great deal. This book will help us become professionals in the areas we lack and help us succeed in a similar manner in the relevant field. We add love and hate to the exact opposites of most things in order to govern some aspects of our existence.
Moe Bowstern has brought us the inside story about being a woman who fishes commercially for years. If that doesn’t seem fascinating to you, you have another thing coming. Moe is an amazing storyteller and reveals much about the history of commercial fishing in Alaska through a very descriptive and personable narrative that can be understood by any layperson. She tells great stories of the crews she’s been involved with and their dynamics as well being a woman involved in a very male dominated profession. Moe has a passion for fishing and the sea and she shares this with you in her zine. This is her story of being on the job and “how she got xtra tuf” on a few different episodes of labor disagreements that held up work (technically not “strikes”) over many years. Fascinating reading as she combines her artistic and DIY sensibilities with the labor tactics in order to achieve the fishermen’s goals and get everyone back to work! The book sports a fancy letter pressed cover by Third Termite Press with 30 different colors schemes. Winner of the 2007 Lilla Jewel Award!
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
A fishing book? Yes, it’s true that I’ve always wanted to read this particular book. I’ve been looking for something different, and this fulfils my desire to read something special. In a society where men are expected to have exclusive access to fishing, Moe adores the sport. However, Moe possesses other attributes that will captivate readers each time they delve into an account similar to Moe’s.
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Is being in love a luxury? Indeed, very nicely put. It can’t be the worst part of Jacob’s life that he met the lovely Malena. He is fully aware that fate also played a role in how he met Rosie. The story of the book also includes Rosie, the elephant, and his journey to get to know her. This lovely composition discusses the odds, in which love appears to be a luxury.
A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
How does it feel to lose freedom and independence? In a totalitarian world, V for Vendetta unfurls the flag of the highest achievements of the comics medium and is a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.Oppression and resistance going hand in hand strike the chord of one of the ground-breaking stories, capturing the essence of a power-driven tale.
When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.Never ask about the past.Don’t expect a future.They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t …
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LANG- ENGLISH
RATINGS- ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Tate Collins perceives herself at the most remarkable juncture in her life, just as the so-called love of her life approaches her. Although she isn’t searching for one, she can’t ignore the destiny that awaits her. When the queue is crystal clear, what will they do? Miles’s two rules are just too ridiculous to be useful.
Soulful BookParadise 