Klishmaklaver

  Book Title: dopehri  Publishers: HarperPerennial India (Hardcover) Author's Name: Pankaj Kapur ( Translated from Hindustani by Rahul Soni)  About the Author:  Pankaj Kapur is a versatile, and acclaimed actor of Hindi Theatre, Film & Television with a string of awards including the National Film Award to his credit.  In November 2019, he made his literature debut with this book  which he had written in 1992. My Rating: 3/5 ⭐ 'dopehri' felt like a 90+ pages Long Short Story, not a novella. Read it in 60 minutes flat without skipping a single word.  The author, Pankaj Kapur is an illustrious actor and I've adored his performances ever since I was hooked onto watching 'Karamchand' as a kid. Probably, this was what triggered the great expectations from this little book. W e know he has an impeccable command over the Hindi language. I really wish I'd read 'dopehri' in its original avatar first, instead of this translated English version.  While re...

  Book Name: Written in Tears Author Name:  Arupa Patangia Kalita- Translated from the Assamese by Ranjita Biswas About the Author & the Translator: Arupa Patangia Kalita is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for her short stories, the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, and the Katha Prize. She is adulated as one of the most outstanding voices of fiction writing in contemporary Assamese literature.  Ranjita Biswas who has beautifully translated ‘Written in Tears’ is an award-winning translator herself.  Publisher: Harper Collins India My Rating:  ****/5 'Written in Tears' is a collection of 8 short stories about the life in Assam, which just made me realise that one must read a lot, and reading more stories from different parts of our world is a MUST. While most of the stories have been told from the point of view of the women of Assam and showcases how they lived, their beliefs, and struggles, ' Face in the Mirror' gave me a jolt. Probably because it ...

Book Title: On A Journey Of Life Author: Kajal Rai & Nivedita Karmaran Self-Published on Amazon Kindle Pub (Ebook format) My Rating: ***** On A Journey Of Life  offers you two (long) short stories by two authors namely, As The Miles Went By written by Kajal Rai & That Summer written by Nivedita Karmaran. Both the stories in the book complement each other beautifully. The commonalities between the two separate stories are that each have a female protagonist who has embarked on a journey of self-discovery, by peeking into their individual pasts. In  As The Miles Went By,  the protagonist  Saanchi Avasthi  reads her late mother's diary, and decides to go on a spontaneous road trip to the mountains of Uttarkashi, while in  That Summer,  a recluse yet free-spirited Rashi Anand is writing a letter to her dear old friend and revisiting her past, thus taking the readers along on the proverbial journey of her life.  What I loved about the book wa...

  Book Title:  Smörgåsbord of Musings Author: Rathnakumar Raghunath Publishers: Goya Publishing My Rating: **** About the Author: Rathnakumar Raghunath  was born in 1988, in Chennai, India. While he was more inclined towards music as a child, as he grew older, he developed a passion for languages. In school, he wrote a couple of short stories and won the Camlin Young Author award for his work, 'It Happened One Night' Smörgåsbord of Musings- the book with the typographical cover in pretty colors is a classic example of how simplicity can be extremely beautiful and unforgettable. The title is  so intriguing! I was longing to read the author's musings ever since the day I heard another book reviewer read from the book. Smörgåsbord typically means a Scandinavian celebratory meal served in the buffet style. Here the author has indeed served us a sumptuous fare of the widest variety of thoughts,  poems, anecdotes and all expressed from the points of view of different ...

Book Title: Yakshini (Kindle Edition) Author: Neil D'Silva Publishers: Rupa Publications My Rating: ***** About the Author: Neil D'Silva is an author of 12 horror novels and Yakshini is yet another of his books that has been acquired for screen adaptation. He is the President of the Indian Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, and is also a TEDx Speaker.  Let me make a disclaimer before I begin to talk about this book. Even though I am in the author's circle of virtual friends and I've been a fan of his writing since his very first book, this particular book review has not been solicited by the author and neither is my impression of the book biased.  Like I've said many times before, I pick a book by it's cover, quite literally. It has got to be love at first sight! And then a little knowledge about the author and his style helps. Sometimes I veer towards books via recommendations by like-minded friends but I stopped reading back blurbs long ago. As soo...

Book Title:  The Sinister Silence Author:  Moitrayee Bhaduri Publisher: Srishti Publishers My Rating:  *** About the Author: This is Moitrayee Bhaduri's debut as a novelist. A content specialist by profession, the author has graduated with History Honours and has completed M.A. too. Moitrayee loves animals, and singing travelling and watching Cricket are her spare time interests. I have more than many times expressed my interest and love for book cover designs. And I have come across more than many good books purely because of the book cover design. So much against the greatly popular belief that one should not judge a book by its cover, I do! Last month, a contest was organised in one of the Facebook groups called FWBA- For Writers by Authors and the Top 3 book cover designs were to be picked. Being a professionally qualified graphic designer for more than a decade now and an active member of the group, I was asked to pick my favourites from t...

Book Title:  T he Cheongsam Bombshell Author:  Aki Liao & Al McDermid Publisher:   Red Betsy Press My Rating:  **** About the Authors: Aki Liao  was born in Paris, France, but is a graduate of Yale University (1989) . He received his M.A. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1993). Al McDermid  was born in Michigan, where he spent most of his life until joining the U.S. Navy upon graduating high school. Remaining in Hawaii when his tour ended, he attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, receiving his B.A. (1990) and M.A. (1997) in History. Their debut novel penned together-   ' A Halo for Red Betsy' is the first book in this 'Frank Keegan Mystery' Series.  The author-Al McDermid, now my virtual friend, sent me a Proof copy of this wonderful book sailing across the seas to me. I am hugely thankful not only because the author has been extremely generous in pampering th...

Book Title:  Pradyumna- Son of Krishna Author: Usha Narayanan Publisher: Penguin metro reads My Rating:  ***** About the Author: Usha Narayanan is a gold-medallist with a Master’s degree in English Literature. After carving out an illustrious career in writing for teh Advertising Industry, she made a successful debut as an author with the novel- ‘The Madras Mangler’, a suspense thriller. Before I begin to tell you more about this- one of my latest acquisitions and favourite reads, I must warn you that I am a great fan of mythology. And to add to that I'm already sold on the book cover- illustrated by Jay Thakur.  A large part of my childhood memories include reading book after book and comic after comic on Indian mythological stories. These books were often full of colourful illustrations that aided my imagination but here's a book who's cover singularly provided more than enough fodder for my creative brain to conjure up images as Usha Narayanan un...

Book Title: Made In India BIDDU (Adventures of a Lifetime) Autobiography Publisher: Read Out Loud    My Rating: ***** About the Author: An Indian by birth, BIDDU is a globally renowned Pop singer who shot to fame with the stupendous success of 'KungFu Fighting'. Which was followed by the cult classic 'Aap Jaisa Koi' for the Hindi film 'Qurbani'. And the rest is history!  "Have you heard of BIDDU?" someone asked, and my reaction was, "What kind of question is THAT?" I was genuinely bewildered because born in the 80's I grew up listening, crooning and dancing like crazy to Biddu's Pop hits. I am a genuine fan and I cannot imagine any music lover of my age, not remembering BIDDU! So when I came across his autobiography, my interest was immediately peaked.  For a man of such immense talent and an artiste who's  sold over thirty-eight million records worldwide, his autobiography shows how humble h...

Book Title: Warrior Author: Olivier Lafont Publisher: Penguin Books My Rating: **** About the Author: Olivier Lafont is a French writer and actor of mixed origins who's presently based in Mumbai with his wife- Gina.  He is also a successful screenplay writer who wrote the script for the award winning movie ‘Hari Om’ and regularly contributes editorial pieces to the men’s magazine- Man’s World. Olivier also acts in theater and English plays. He gives voice over in multiple languages.  There were three books already piled on my side table, calling me towards when this chunk of a hunk arrived by courier. What made me pick this book up and prefer to read it over the rest was undoubtedly the mention of 'Warrior' being  shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize 2013. That told me I could expect some quality storytelling in the book. Besides that the delicious cover illustration done by Aashim Raj made it irresistible too. Then the third reason that ...

Book Title: Among the Stars Author: Dhasa Sathyan Publisher: Notion Press My Rating:  *** About the Author: Dhasa Sathyan is the pen name of a Chennai based Engineer called Yamunai Thuraivan. He has also written many songs in his mother tongue for several short films. He debuts as an author with this collection of short stories. The preface to the collection of short stories carries the following words that spoke much about how much the writer knows his reader's mind.  Go ahead Do not walk – Stroll Do not watch – Gaze Do not travel – Wander Do not read – Explore - Dhasa Sathyan He welcomes his readers to explore his penning rather than just read through. That's just what I decided to do and enjoyed! The short stories in this collection are so varied in genre that they are most rightly described by the author himself as being 'as random as a jar of pebbles collected by a kid'. They are also as enthralling too. Among The Stars repeatedly...