BrunchBookChallenge

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

/ Srishty / 11 Comments

Hello there!

I sit here and wonder if there’s anyone still reading this space. I haven’t updated here in two months. That is the longest I have been away from the blog, in terms of writing. I think the frequency is only going to get worse, but one thing that I can assure you is that I am never going to stop writing here and I am going to try that I keep bringing frequent interesting posts. 🙂

About this book, well, the strange thing is that I read it in the exact same way as the other much-loved book by  the same author – ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ and I was eagerly waiting to know which one I like more. It’s weird but I went through extremely similar feelings while reading both.

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I read both of them in same situations, getting bored, not knowing what to do. I have the e-book in my laptop, might as well read it. Then, how each of them hooked me is beyond explanation. This was followed by late night sessions to read on my laptop till my eyes itched and crying all through it. I should mention here that I read Thousand Splendid almost two years back. The crying remained the same for both books.

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Khaled Hosseini has a way with words that can hold you like no one can. The sentences are such that it will take time for you to get over them and the story, well, it will leave you exhausted. Exhausted and overwhelmed with emotions. A tale of unbelievably strong friendship with a backdrop of Afghanistan war crisis and personal insecurities.

As far as I am concerned, this is a must read and so is the other one by him, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’. Most importantly, whenever you read any of these, definitely comment here about your views. I love these two books just way too much, I want to know everyone’s opinions on these. 🙂

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I hope you get to read this as early as possible.

Till next time (which will be soon)!

Little Women | New Beginnings

/ Srishty / 7 Comments

Hello World!

I hope there’s someone out there still reading the posts on this blog. I have a lot of excuses as to why I did not post, but that’s what they are. Excuses. However, they are valid ones.

The most relevant one being me quitting the job because I got through the B-School I was awaiting results of. Most of you would know that B-Schools are very rigorous and people don’t get time for anything other than , umm, study? I am still in my chilled out phase mentally, i.e. I am yet to accept the fact that I am expected to work this hard, but physically I am too occupied to sit down peacefully and write a post. As time passes, the pressure here is only going to increase. Hence, the frequency of posts on Life of Srish is going to decrease for a while, you know about my self-imposed rule of doing posts with pictures as much as possible. Since there is no time to click pictures, I don’t want to compromise on the way I want my posts to be. However, in whatever posts I publish, if you see any difference in the quality, please, please send me an email or write in the comments about it.

Oh, also, I may do back to back book reviews for sometime, hope that’s okay? Just felt like getting done with writing about all the books that I have read in 2015 so far.

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Finally, coming to the 4th book that I read in 2015. The much acclaimed and a forever classic, ‘Little Women’. It’s a story of 4 sisters and other people in their lives and how everyone grows as a person due to their experiences and the support from their loved ones. I have heard so many people being in love with it. I think I now understand why. This can be a childhood favorite easily. The process of reading it I did not enjoy so much because I probably read it in the wrong age. However, people who have read it as kids still love to read it, nostalgia maybe?

The best part about Little Women is that it makes you learn a lot of things in life and not in a suffocating way. It tells you how to be thankful for things in life and how to help others as much as you can since everyone has something to offer. The lessons are very much valid for adults, in fact, especially more for adults because as we grow, we start to take things for granted.

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It is a beautiful book which fills you with a warm feeling. I did not enjoy the reading process a lot probably because it was aimed at kids. I think people should make kids in their family definitely read this one. It would be one of the good ways to make them learn some genuinely relevant life lessons through the means of a cute story.

PS: I clicked these pictures the day I was moving in to hostel so that I have pictures for at least 1 post when at hostel. 😛

Green & Lean by Michael Matthews

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So, this one day, when I finished my second book of 2015, I was looking to read something but none of the books that I have. Hence, I started browsing free books on Google books and came across this! 🙂

Michael Matthews has written a lot of books on topics like healthy eating and muscle training. I think this book is a mini version of his book ‘Eat Green Get Lean’ which has 100 vegetarian and vegan recipes for building muscles, getting lean and staying healthy. This mini version has 20 such recipes.

The book begins with general information sharing by the author regarding what is good for our health and building muscles. This is then followed by the 20 recipes. The information bit was my favorite part because I was happy to see that I knew most of the things mentioned there already. I don’t follow any of them, that is a different story. Still, it is good to know that I am aware of things. Actually, I come across a LOT of adults who have really shocking misconceptions about diets, healthy food etc. Sometimes its just unbelievable! Yes, it’s that bad. So, I was happy to know that I could relate to knowing a lot of things. The author has shared such simple things that it is too easy to understand how to avoid processed food and how to simplify your choices for eating healthy.

The part that was less engaging were the recipes. Reason – they used quite a many store-bought ingredients. Maybe its the norm in foreign countries but I think it was ingrained in my head while reading the introduction that lots of fresh ingredients will be used. However, the recipes are really, really simple and seem to be delicious too.

It’s such a short book, you can totally consider reading this one!

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

/ Srishty / 5 Comments

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Okay, believe me, all of 2015 books would not be chick-lits. It’s only a coincidence that the first two are. In fact, I am coming across really, really good books from different genres. Big yay to that!

About this book, let me just say a simple thing. Irrespective of how Indian television serial-istic the title sounds, I loved this one! And I’ll go ahead and say that many of you may like it. Unless, of course, you completely despise love stories. This is not the kind of books where I can say that even if you hate love stories, this will make you a convert. It is a sappy, over-sentimental love story but as far as I am concerned, it’s not the kinds which can make you cringe. I read some reviews about the book after completing it and everyone seemed to love the female protagonist. I did not feel any particular love towards her, though I have to agree it was a cute character (if that makes sense). However, I loved the male protagonist through and through! Now anyone who has read the book will totally judge me for liking him because he was like those typical hot as hell and still nice and pure at heart guys which are only there in books (or movies)! But, hey, even if he was fictional, he deserves a mention. 😀 I also liked the fact that most of the side characters were given good enough footage. I love it when side characters have some importance. Some of the things were super cliched but I managed fine with that because I was enjoying the story and the melodrama way too much anyway.

My favorite part of the book has to be the subplot of child marriages in Rajasthan. I think that truly made this story special for me.

I am a little scared of the fact that my opinion may make you think highly of this novel and it may not live up to your expectations. I know that such super mushy love stories are not liked by many. This might very well be true if you happen to read this but I loved it. To think of that I chanced upon it’s eBook accidentally! 🙂

Oh, and, yes, it will make for a good Bollywood movie for sure, in true DDLJ style.

‘Arranged Love’ by Parul A. Mittal

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

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I came across this while randomly browsing books (and knick-knacks) in Oxford Bookstore, Connaught Place, Delhi. I picked it up mostly because of the cover and it being a chick-lit. I read some 20 pages before I had to leave the store. It was a fairly easy read and I am up for such racy fiction most times, so I thought of downloading & completing it after few days. Yes, I should read more, umm, intelligent stuff. This year, maybe?

So, this was the 22nd book in 2014 but got completed in 2015. First book of 2015.

I think it’s fairly easy to say how I feel about this book. It’s a nice, easy read with romance and humor and I enjoyed it for that. However, it is very predictable, especially if you read the backside of the cover and I don’t think that chick-lit always is or has to be predictable, it can be a good piece of literature for sure while being relaxing. Additionally, there are a lot of sexual jokes that were very unnecessary. I mean, to me, it seemed like trying too hard. I always hate that. Most of those jokes i found unfunny.

I should also mention that the ending depended on a certain twist, while I would have rather liked if that twist wasn’t there and then the protagonist had to decide whom she wants to marry. However, that’s not so much of a problem. That’s just different people wanting different things. Also, I really, really liked the love story of a side character. It was just beautiful, the innocent, pure kinds, the ones we call perfect? Apparently, it is taken from another of the author’s novels – Heartbreaks & Dreams!:The Girls @IIT – which was a national bestseller.

I am also in awe of the fact that the author is an IIT-Delhi graduate (a place from where females are usually less in number) and has a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Michigan (!!!!!!). I thought I would just mention that.

Overall, it’s the kind of books you can read on a short flight or train journey for a nice, easy read but do not expect much in terms of plot.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

/ Srishty / 7 Comments

Say hello to the last book that I read in 2014! Finally. Well, I did start yet another one but I finished it in 2015, so we will count it as the first one in 2015. 😀

I and classics in English language generally don’t go very well, but I end up buying them anyway, so might as well read them. That is how this happened.

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However, I am glad that it did. I really liked the Great Gatsby. The fact that in the movie the protagonist is played by DiCaprio makes you  me imagine Gatsby as him helps too. ❤ I haven’t watched the movie though.

It is essentially a sad love story and that’s about it. I really can’t point at what exactly made me like this, but I did like it. It grew upon me as I proceeded, it wasn’t enjoyable since the beginning. It is kind of predictable too but only the bigger picture is predictable, not exactly everything.

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This book opinion is kind of weird and haywire because I really don’t know what to say about this book. I liked it, it was nice but I am not sure what made it a classic really. I also don’t know what made me like it. I never do a recommendation thing when sharing book opinions because to each, his own, but I try to say what I feel about the book and what kind of people may like it. However, with this one, I don’t know. It’s a sad love story, so, you can decide for yourself. 🙂