WHY BOOKS ARE YOUR BESTFRIEND!

"With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who couldn't be happy?" -Oscar Wilde.

Reading is the hobby that lets you grow alongside relaxation and allows you to have different, new and delightful experiences sitting at home with a cosy blanket and a hot coffee cup. It could be travelling through the worlds of Narnia and the wizarding world of Hogwarts or just entering the life story of two lovers, but whatever may your choice be, a good book is sure to leave an impact or a lingering feeling of satisfaction and closure. I feel that one who says that he doesn't like reading has just not found the perfect book, and I've seen friends holding on to that one special book that converts them from 'book-virgins' to complete bibliophiles! for me, when I was a little kid, my uncle had gifted me a set of children books, and well I was convinced nothing could be a better time-traveller than books, also thanks to the fact that I wasn't born in this Instagram-generation. I read everything from Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton books to hiding from the librarian and borrowing adult Cambridge books from my school library b'coz they were just so well written and this love for books never stopped increasing ever since. I just wanna request all my readers, to help your friends find that one special book, that might change their lives or at least help them find an escape when they are tired of running in this cruel real world.
#HappyReading

BESTSELLER. (Book review)

NAME: BESTSELLER.

AUTHOR: Ahmed Faiyaz.

GENRE: Fiction, contemporary, drama-comedy.

PUBLISHER: Rupa Publications.

PAGES: 196
RATE: 3.5/5


This book has a very interesting and amusing story to tell, and was especially fascinating to me, because I have always wondered about the inside view of the publishing world, and the writer does a great job of portraying the dirty side of the publishing 'game' and how money and power play a huge role here as in any other industry (all the while being hilarious!)
The main aspects that work for this book are, the narration and the characters. The story is about a London-based failed writer Akshay Mathur who's sent to India to revive a doomed publishing house run by Mr. Kalim by any possible means. For most part of the book, I really couldn't root for this guy but I liked the idea of a not-so-perfect protagonist who felt real. I couldn't forgive him for a few things he did and felt he was quite a hypocrite. But he does get some much needed development by the end of the book, and puts his heart into bettering the publishing house, which makes it easier for the reader to appreciate his efforts. 
My favourite character in this book though was Zorah Kalim, the daughter of Mr. Kalim who really is as feisty as her name! She was a breath of fresh air into how female characters (mainly Muslim women) are portrayed, & I enjoyed reading about her. The girl lost her mother quite early, had an estranged relation with her dad and must have had to deal with quite a lot to emerge out that confident. Honestly I thought she was far too good for Akshay and I just want to request the author to maybe write a spin-off about her story before and after meeting Akshay!
The other characters like the superstar 'Roshan Khan' is hilarious as this self-obsessed actor who thinks he can act, Anya Malik is quite a go-getter too and I love how her sexual preference was written in an understatement and not made a huge deal about. All the other characters worked for me as well. 
The book is fast paced and the continuous peeks into what goes on in Akshay's mind made it a really fun read.
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Though this book wasn't everything I wanted it to be, and I wasn't quite convinced about a few plot points like the issue with the Minister, yet I found this to be absorbing, entertaining & will recommend it to anyone looking for a light, intelligent read. 

UNTIL LOVE SETS US APART. (Book Review)

NAME: Until Love Sets Us Apart, to love with love.
AUTHOR: Aditya Nighhot
PUBLISHER: Finger Print
GENRE: Romance
PAGES: 230
RATE: 3.5/5
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This is a beautiful, heart-warming college romance story of a very regular young couple, Rohit and Aisha, and their friends, Alok, Kriti and Neha, who happen to be MBBS students, that takes a dark turn that you would wish a love story never takes. The book starts with a very interesting crime sequence that instantly hooks you to the story and the narrative is quite impressive for this being the writer's debut commercial book.

I have never been a fan of Romance novels especially from Indian authors, but this is a book I did enjoy and would like to recommend to new readers as well as those who prefer romances, not just because it is well written and has a good story, but also because it comes with a very important message and highlights a major social issue in India.
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Also, another point I appreciated about the writing is that the conversations between the inspector and ACP were mostly happening in Marathi and then translated into English, which made them much more real.(It really irritates me to read the dialogues between even two illiterate people happening in fluent English in most novels!).

Talking about the story,  Rohit is a good looking, happy-go-lucky and commitment-phobic boy who is aimless and distracted, whereas Aisha is a focused,  intelligent and very beautiful girl, which makes them quite opposite to each other. This could have been a cheesy and cliched love story about opposites attracting and Bollywood-style love developing between the two, but what makes it different and thought provoking is the tragedy which befalls this almost perfect romance, which wrecks not only their's but the worlds of all the people around them. Honestly, I was expecting this incident to happen but what I appreciated is the way the writer handled the situation and did not make it unbelievable or the solution too simple. Even though I had anticipated it, I was still extremely moved and felt the pain of the characters with them.
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SPOILERS! (If you are interested in the story so far, I suggest you read the book first and then come back to this section of the review.)
So a beautiful and genuine relationship develops between Aisha and Rohit, and they love each other so much that even Rohit, who feared being committed, changed completely and the two were soon to be married . They brought out the best in each other. All the friends were enjoying their college life to the full and even Alok and Kriti fell in love with each other. At the end of five years of their medical course, when it seemed like nothing could go wrong, Aisha and Neha were out for a girls' night at a club, Aisha was raped and assaulted by three men very gruesomely and with such brutality that it led to her death, Neha tried her best to fight them and save her but of course was overpowered by them and would have met the same fate if people had not gathered on time. Aisha called Rohit for help which made him and Alok come to the club as soon as possible but they were too late, on seeing them the rapists stabbed Aisha before running away and she soon died. From Neha they found out that one of the rapists was Ajay, the son of a very powerful and rich man, and they filed a case against him. Cutting it short, the court proceedings took place and the three criminals got away by bribing the witnesses and threatening Neha of an acid attack if she gave a statement against them. This made Rohit go mad with revenge, and as the writer said, everything is fair in love and war, and this was love with war! So taking matters into his own hand, he decides to murder the three monsters himself in the same way that they had tortured and killed Aisha, and the investigation of these murders is how the book starts. The writer also made sure that he cleared the fact that he didn't approve of the way Rohit had taken justice into his own hands and was merely telling a story.
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Well to conclude, I loved the way the writer presented the book without making it only a cheesy love story and the fact that it is somewhat based on real events makes it disturbing as well as a better experience. It made me think about and question our justice system and laws, as I have after every rape case in the news that takes more than 5 years to get the guilty a deserved punishment. Although India has changed and enforced strict laws against rapes, the process of execution has a long way to go.

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HAPPY READING!