World of Books and Travel

Book Details: Title: Milan (A wedding story) Author: Simi K Rao Publication date: Aug 31, 2015 Formats: Paperback, Digital Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1517142865 Genre: Contemporary Romance Book Blurb: When a daughter turns marriageable age, what should a responsible father do? Easy- wed her to the most suitable boy who comes knocking on the door. Jai Bharadwaj, Mili's father and owner of The Serenity Tea Estate in the idyllic Nilgiris would've probably liked to do the same, but being who he was, he had to ask her first. What would she say? My Review : Milan is a story of a traditional arranged marriage in India. The bubbling character Mili meets her old school mate Ahaan again, through a marriage proposal brought by his mother. Mili remembers how she used to tease him in their school days, and she was glad to know that he actually likes her and has no hatred towards her. Her parents were too overjoyed with the proposal and hoped Mili too accepts it. To their l...

This review was by Nuggehalli Pankaja, a veteran writer. As the title itself suggests, the ten short stories presented here are an amalgamation of the various emotions weaving itself into interesting as well as introspective episodes of human nature. So naturally they are brought out that the readers get involved automatically-unconsciously, delineating the complexities of the characters as each story unfolds. As mentioned before, each story is different, some poignant stamping its own mark on the reader’s mind. The fourth story ‘SWEET REVENGE’ is one such. It is the story of a young couple though not rich, finding happiness in the arms of love. With an unexpected kick of fate, their blissful world is almost shattered! A sudden twist at the end by the master hand, lo, a well-formed story emerges, widening our eyes! Title of the 6th story ‘THE REBORN DAUGHTER’ at first giving the impression of a ‘reincarnation theme,’ unravels the menace of the social issue-‘DOWRY,’ prevalent ...

I have received a review recently from one of the readers. Oct 26, 2013 daughter's quest for her father by: Suresh 'Cherished' is primarily a story about a daughter's search for her father who, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, couldn't be with her right from childhood. The search that begins with a tentative letter takes an unexpected path and tensions rise as old and new relationships clash. The author displays an excellent understanding of mature human relationships in all its aspects but mainly in the less explored father daughter relationship. We root for the daughter who missed a father's love and who is initially portrayed as a selfish father. As the truth is slowly revealed, we marvel at the way destiny can change the orbit of relationships in spite of the good intentions of individuals. An excellent read for any book lover. This was copied from here .

Neither Here nor There was my third book of Bill Bryson. I liked his unique style of writing. Through this book he takes us to the European countries which he visited in early 1970s. He states in this book how he felt as a 20 year old during his visit. He travelled to these places by train backpacking. He has hilariously mentioned about his travel which started from Hammerfest, the northernmost town in the Continent and goes till Istanbul. Throughout the book he has mentioned his observations in most hilarious way, but informative and educational. While reading this book, I couldn't stop laughing in many places.

“Vanished” by Danielle Steel, one of the most popular authors in the world, is a suspense story. The story takes place in late 1930s. Marielle, a young girl of 18, meets a wealthy young man Charles, during her Grand Europe tour with her parents, and elopes with him. They get married and become proud parents of a little boy, and hoped to lead a happy and wonderful life. But destiny had something else in store for them, and they get separated due to extreme circumstances. Later, at twenty-four, Marielle meets Malcolm, a wealthy business man in New York, who was forty-nine and was not interested in knowing the darker side of her past, in spite of her repeated attempts to tell him. He was admired by all and married Marielle to beget children to inherit his abundance of wealth. For him, Marielle was an attractive, dignified and undemanding wife. As he wished, she gave birth to a cute little boy, and they were very happy in their own way. Being a faithful and devoted wif...

My daughter got me the book “Little Women” to read, and I fell in love with it from the very beginning itself. “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, is the story of four little sisters – Meg (Margaret- 17 yrs), Jo (Josephine – 16 yrs), Beth (Elizabeth – 14 yrs) and Amy (12 yrs), about their life in New England (America) during the Civil War (1860s). They are poor, and have their own dreams, like any other girls of their age. Their father is in the war, and their mother tries very hard to raise them as intelligent and modest little women. The book also tells about the act of kindness and sacrifices done by these poor March sisters. The book explores the relationship between the young girls and their parents. You can find tight family bonding, love, friendship, unity, patience - all in this book. As you read the book you can get into the minds of each sister and know what is going on in their minds, in each stage of their life. There are many characters in th...

I was always a great fan of Ruskin Bond. Recently I read his book "The Blue Umbrella". Though it is categorized as children's book I too enjoyed reading it. It is a beautifully written simple story of little Biniya set in a small village in Himachal Pradesh. A young tourist takes a fancy for her bead necklace with a leopard amulet and exchanges it with a blue umbrella, which soon makes the little girl the center of attraction in the village. The shop keeper of the village named Ram Bharosa eyes on her blue umbrella and plans to steal it from her. "The old man had by now had given up all hope of ever possessing Biniya's umbrella. He wished he had never set eyes on it. Because of the umbrella he had suffered the tortures of greed, the despair of loneliness. Because of the umbrella, people had stopped coming to his shop!" Read the book to find out how the old man and the little girl become friends again. The story is beautifully illustrated wi...

It is widely said that if the first few lines of a book fails to grab your attention the reader may not be willing to take the risk of going forward with the book. Whenever I take a book to read I too will see whether it can create an interest in me, which usually, takes just few minutes of reading one or two pages. In a short story book by a single author, though the stories are different, reading the first story will give you an impression about the author's ability to take you forward or not. By reading the first story " Conversation " in the Short Story book "Nesting of Thoughts" by Kakuli Nag, intrigued me to go forward to read the remaining stories. Most of the stories of this book were previously published online; each one is unique and interesting. These stories demonstrate a very different side of the mind and the way people think. Mumbai Monsoon and Knowing jajima are my favorites in this book. I feel that as an upcoming writer, Kakuli Nag has bl...