Bookworm's Nook

The Palace Of Illusions CHITRA  BANERJEE  DIVAKARUNI "Can't you ever be serious?' I said, mortified. 'It's difficult,' he said.'There's so little in life that's worth it." -Draupadi & Krishna     Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "The Palace Of Illusions" is based on the "Mahabharata". The verse is very familiar to us since a long time , But this book changes our whole point of view. We have always read historical stories which were written by men based on their point of view, but in this book we see the story through the eyes of a woman who is considered the root of the war which consumed several Indian dynasties and erased the Kauravas : Draupadi. So basically, the book is Draupadi's POV of the Mahabharata and its background. From her secret attraction to a mysterious man , who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy to being insulted by him , from being Krishna's friend to becoming his devotee ; we follow Dra...

  Ramachandra Series (Review series) Amish Tripathi     The 'Ramachandra' series is a Indian-Mythological fiction tetralogy by Amish Tripathi. This is the author's second book series.The four books in the series are respectively given in order : Ram : Scion of Ikshvaku Sita : Warrior of Mithila Raavan : Enemy of Aryavarta War of Lanka     And let me warn you in advance this is not the Ramayana you believe in or are familiar with. Be ready for an ignored Ram, a resilient Sita and a man-who-turned-into-evil-cause-he-lost-the-love-of-his-life  Raavan. And hence I welcome you to my first review series... Ram : Scion of Ikshvaku      “Swagruhe Pujyate Murkhaha; Swagraame Pujyate Prabhuhu ,Swadeshe Pujyate Raja; Vidvaansarvatra Pujyate. A fool is worshipped in his home. A chief is worshipped in his village. A king is worshipped in his kingdom. A knowledgeable person is worshipped everywhere.”     May these truly spoken words inspire...

  PARADISE Abdulrazak Gurnah “They offered me freedom as a gift. She did. Who told her she had it to offer? I know the freedom you are talking about. I had that freedom the moment I was born. When these people say you belong to me, I own you, it is like the passing of the rain, or the setting of the sun at the end of the day.”     These touching words are an excerpt from 2021 Nobel Prize Winning  'Paradise' by Tanzanian Writer Abdulrazak Gurnah. It follows around Yusuf , a Muslim teenage boy , in East Africa. He is unknowingly sent with his 'Uncle Aziz' , just to know later that he has been sold to him by his parents for money and a temporary escape from poverty. Life isn't easy. He has to travel long to reach his destination. Even after reaching their life isn't easy. It is the story of coming of age of Yusuf against the backdrop of an Africa of myth, dreams and Biblical and Koranic tradition. The book also ends with a creeping in of corruption and colonialism...

  THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS Arundhati Roy "D’you know what happens when you hurt people?’ Ammu said. ‘When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less ."      True indeed. These are words quoted from the 1997 booker prize winning 'The God Of Small Things' by Indian-Malayali writer Arundhati Roy. Set in a Ayemenem, in Kottayam , the story explores around the shattered lives of "two-egg" twins , Estha and Rahel with the background of the "Love Laws" prevalent in Kerala in the 1960s. The novel follows around how their lives get upturned with a single visit from their Anglo-Indian cousin Sophie-Mol .The Sophie mol who smells good . Whom all love. Even Ammu, their mother . As the author says ," The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how . And how much " the story follows around the relationships within siblings , families, between lovers and an unending number of ...

  All Of Me Venita Coelho      'Burning through day, burning through night, It takes eyes to see light.'           The book "All Of Me"  by Indian Writer Venita Coelho is a thrilling tale set it 1854, London. It is the first book of the series. It follows around the protogonist, Castor, imprisoned in a cellar for five years, one month and three and a half days.It follows around his rambling around for finding the famous "Koh-i-Noor" ( The Mountain Of Light) diamond which is just a finger tip away from him. The most interesting part of the story is The Family which lives inside his head. Mr Pickwick is the father figure with a habit of quoting from the Bible. Miss Trent is the nervous governess who dreads germs. Skinner is the street urchin with a smart answer for everything.The Infant Prodigy... well from the name you know he's a genius.The rambling unwinds many truths in the process. It turns out Castor's mother was an Indian Princ...

  FRIGHT OR FLIGHT 'A corpse smiling at you in the middle of the night is not the most pleseant of experiences. It is calculated to give you goosebumps. And when the smile becomes an evil grimace, it is time to say your prayers. But there was no time for prayer. The smile widened even further, and...'           I hope the genre of this book needs no further introduction.  " Fright or Flight" is a spine tingling and blood curling collection of  horror stories put together by Ruskin Bond and published by the Rupa. But these are not the ghost tales you are expecting. These are the real tales of horror in life. Sometimes we may not be sure what time and nature has for us and even menial things can sometimes be a source to horror sometimes. You never know. Some of my personal favourites are 'The Last Match' by Edward Fitz- Gerald  Flipp , 'The Beast with Five Fingers' by W.F. Harvey and 'A Fright at Night' by Ruskin Bond. So whom would you w...