Book Review: Mr. Bliss by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title: Mr. Bliss
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Publisher: Harper Collins UK
ISBN: 978-0-00-743619-4
Genre: Children, Fantasy
Pages: 83
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

J.R.R. Tolkien could have written a twenty-page story and we will still love that, no matter what. He could have scribbled anything after LOTR and we would have lapped it up, against our better sensibilities. Because, but after all, he is J.R.R. Tolkien.

While we have all read and loved LOTR, do try reading his eighty-three page story, “Mr. Bliss”. It is simply written and beautifully illustrated by the man himself. It is a very simple story of a man named Mr. Bliss and his unseemingly weird adventures as he heads out one fine sunny morning to buy a car. He is the owner of an exotic pet named Girabbit (of course the combination of a Rabbit and a Giraffe which is quite funny when seen illustrated) and is well-known for his collection of tall hats. He lives in a house built specifically to accommodate his hats. The book is about his first drive to visit his friends, The Dorkinses and how disastrous it gets. How he meets three bears on the way, is car breaks down, and how he has to also give lifts to Mr. Day and Mrs. Knight. The ending is quite sweet and all Tolkien fans will for sure relish this book.

The book also includes the originally written story in Tolkien’s handwriting, which is a treat. The illustrations are also included – the ones he began with for the book. Mr. Bliss came about as a story that Tolkien told his kids and for the longest time wasn’t in print. I am only too happy that it is now and people can read this short and fantastical story.

What I loved about the book is its simplicity. It is one of the understated, subtle and sweet books which are a rarity in today’s time. I would highly recommend this one to most Tolkien fans and also the ones who haven’t heard of him before (which is rather rare). Mr. Bliss will charm and warm your heart. A must read for both kids and adults.

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Book Review: The Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun by Saeed Akhtar Mirza

Title: The Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun
Author: Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Publisher: Fourth Estate, Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-93-5029-206-8
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 247
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Sometimes you need to get rid of the pre-conceived notions and look at things differently. We need that so much as we tend to just think and believe what we have been taught or raised on. The ideas we grow on or read and take them to be true without questioning. That maybe is the biggest disease of our time and age.

I had not known of Saeed Akhtar Mirza before reading Ammi: Letter to a Democratic Mother. His first book is something else. A chronicle of religion, love, the simple life gone by and about his mother. Then I realized that he is also a film-maker, but that is a different story altogether.

“The Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun” is his second novel and a book which I would recommend everyone to read. The book is about a history deliberately forgotten and tracks of it covered so no one can uncover the truth. There are two parallels to the story. One takes place in an American University in 2008, where four students from varied backgrounds and cultures set out to discover the truth, to understand how the past affects the present and the future sometimes. This essentially is about uncovering so called Western Epics (Literary, Philosophical, Medical and Scientific) whose roots are essentially found or taken from Islam manuscripts. The search starts because of a statement made by a Senator at the beginning of the book during a political rally, about how Obama is a not an Arab, but a decent American Citizen and that is viewed by Omar and his three friends on television.

The second track of the novel is the tale of Rehana – an Iranian from the eleventh century and her quest to learn from her husband, who is an older man of philosophy, sciences, and art. The need for her to question everything in sight and finding answers from her husband and people around her.

The book makes you realize that sometimes we are so ignorant of events taking place or that already have around us. It isn’t a religious treatise. It is just uncovering aspects of the past which we are unaware about (it could be true or not), or it could be a possibility of truth, which the author is trying to convey through this book. Saeed Akhtar Mirza dismantles the past and brings to us in its pure form – the way Europeans think how the modern world was built and what actually the truth could have been or is. For instance, how Algebra as a word was coined or who was of the opinion that light was made of particles, years before Newton could discover that. These facts were hidden or not sought after is because during those times and in that age, everything Islam was looked upon with suspicion and that is at the core of this book. The premise begins with the assumption that Dante Aligeri’s Divine Comedy, one of the cornerstones of classical European poetry might have stolen its idea and form from a book written by Prophet Muhammad himself.

The writing as was in the first book is brilliant and lucid. The future cannot exclusively belong to one religion or sect or community – it is a collective effort and sometimes more so individual efforts. Sadly, we still think and feel that way sometimes and that needs to change, which is brought about beautifully through this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it also got me thinking of how the world could have been created and where did ideas come from. Read it. You will not regret it.

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Book Review: Confessions of a Serial Dieter by Kalli Purie

Title: Confessions of a Serial Dieter
Author: Kalli Purie
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-93-5029-184-9
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 225
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3.5/5

This book is not meant for all. I read it, however the question remains: Was I its target audience? Yes I am a little overweight, but I certainly don’t think the need to diet (sometimes I do, but those times are rare). So clearly, I read the book and it seemed fine to me. May be actually taught me something as well, which I have to start implementing soon.

Confessions of a Serial Dieter is a weight loss memoir – technically as the book cover states, secrets from 43 diets and workouts that took the author from 100 to 60. The book is a funny take on the author’s (Kalli Purie) journey from when she was four (and did not know about dieting) to when she realized what it mean to be fat or thin and how it impacts how others view us.

The diets in themselves are funnily named – from The Champagne Diet to The Cabbage Soup Diet to The Wedding Diet, each chapter gives the reader something to mentally chew on and what it takes to shatter myths and emotional issues related to weight loss. It is not all superfluous. It also takes into account the fallacies and truths related to the “Dieting Industry” as it has become today.

Kalli Purie knows the craft of writing and how to use it aptly to her audience. Her writing is simple and accessible to all. The personal touch in this book is what makes it so endearing at most times. There are also select recipes in the book with the calorie count and all (like every other book) and some weight wisdom (unlike every other book). The book is detailed with therapies, exercises (some worth it and some not) and all of this has been written with a funny bone. I would recommend this book as a one-time read and also as something you can keep going back to in bits and spurts for the necessary dietary information.

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Book Review: The Extras by Kiran Nagarkar

Title: The Extras
Author: Kiran Nagarkar
Publisher: 4th Estate, Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-93-5029-204-4
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 467
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Kiran Nagarkar according to me has somehow always been under the microscopic view of readers and reviewers. May be it has to do with the way he writes and concocts themes and ideas, but one thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment in his books. I got hooked on to his books, like any other teenager (then) with Ravan and Eddie. Ravan and Eddie (though according to me was loosely based on, “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving) was a delight to read. The intricate moments of post-independent India was not hidden. The slums, the chawls, the abuses and the interwoven plots were all there – almost like a nice stew, boiling slowly, served to perfection. Ravan and Eddie was published in 1994 and now after eighteen years, there comes a sequel to it, titled, “The Extras”.

The Extras spans the lives of Ravan and Eddie as adults, in the big bad city of Bombay. I love how the title on the cover reads, “The Extras – Starring Ravan and Eddie”, with a very 70’s film poster like visual. The story of course takes on eighteen years from where it ended in the earlier book. Ravan and Eddie are adults, striving to make something out of them in the big, bad world and aspire to be actors. Bollywood is the seductress and they are easily seduced. Ravan is a taxi driver and Eddie is a bouncer-cum-bartender. They want it all – fame, money, easy rise from their chawl existence to the skyscrapers. At the heart of this, are their complicated love stories. Ravan who is in love with Eddie’s sister (yes that’s the one twist in the tale). Eddie on the other hand has to battle with both families to obtain the love of his life in the Anglo-Indian Belle.

That’s the gist of the story. The writing of course cannot be compared to anything else. Kiran Nagarkar has always been a master of his game. From Seven-Sixes are Forty Three to God’s Little Soldier; post-independence blues has always been at the center of his books (except Cuckold which was a Historical Fiction centered book). He knows the pulse of the city and can describe it beautifully. Nothing has changed much, except for the name of the city and a mall or two springing up in the past couple of years, and Mr. Nagarkar knows how to depict the sadness and claustrophobia in his book.

There are so many funny parts as well in the book – sardonic and dark at most times, and in-your-face funny too. Ravan and Eddie as characters evolve a lot more in this book and their motives are clearer. Nagarkar adds more stories to this one, though their families still remain a part and are always in the background. For me, The Extras was like a roller-coaster ride, full of unknown turns and bends. A definite read for all those who want to know Bombay in its early days.

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Book Review: The Krishna Coriolis Series: Flute Of Vrindavan (Book – 3) by Ashok K. Banker

Title: Flute of Vrindavan – Book 3 – The Krishna Coriolis Series
Author: Ashok K. Banker
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-9350291924
Genre: Mythology
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3/5

I did not read Ashok Banker’s Ramayana. I do not know, however I did not. Moreover, I prefer The Mahabharata over Ramayana, so maybe that is why. Having said that, when Harper Collins India sent me an installment of The Krishna Coriolis Series, I was only too glad to read and review it.

The third installment in this series is called, “Flute of Vrindavan” focuses on the infant Krishna and his half-brother Balarama and the childhood of the naughty god-child. The book centers on Kamsa working and building on his powers to superhuman proportions to slay the infant and not succeeding. Meanwhile it dawns on Yashoda that the baby she is trying to protect is in fact the protector of the world. Kamsa also tries to kill the infant in this book by using Jarasandha and yet is unable to. Nanda then leads his people into exile in Vrindavan, which again is not safe from its own share of problems. This is where Krishna and his perils begin – where he has to play God and be the infant that he is.

I have not read the first two installments in the series, so I cannot say much with reference to those; however as a standalone book as well, I could understand this one. Krishna is one of the most prayed to gods in our country and yet his charm is also what makes him so endearing.

As a God or God-like figure, I have always found Krishna to be more accessible. The book was average. I liked the sub-plots and Krishna’s adventures. The language was fine and the writing was good, the characters are close to the myth and readers who know their mythology will be able to relate to the book. Over all, I would recommend that you read the first two parts of the book and then read this one. It would make more sense to do that.

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Book Review: The Girls Behind the Gunfire by Trisha Ray

Title: The Guns Behind the Gunfire
Author: Trisha Ray
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-9350290729
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 304
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3.5/5

Ok so I read The Girls behind the Gunfire by Trisha Ray in one sitting. It is a fast read and one doesn’t have to think too deep or apply any thought to it, which is very good, considering that once in a while, you have to read something not too heavy.

The Girls behind the Gunfire is an action adventure story (Believe it! It is true and it is a decent one at that) about girls and guns (as the title evidently suggests). The story starts with Ritika who is a dork – unpopular and intelligent. She does not know how to behave in social situations and is always made fun of and it is no surprise that she has a secret.

Enter: Abhishikta, who is enamored by Ritika’s fact – that she is a lethal super-soldier and gets inducted in the foundation – a secret organization created to serve civilization and not humanity. What then takes place is the unearthing of the Foundation’s control over its soldiers and how they do not have the right to think for themselves (almost been there, done that in various science-fiction books).

So here is my take on the book: I liked the way the book was written. The writing was simple and comprehensible. There were parts that I thought I would not get through, however I did – so there was some more editing that the book could have done with. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. It reminded me in bits and pieces of Orwell and Atwood’s writing, but that is also because of the premise in the second half of the book. At the end of it, I would say that the book can be read once. The writing does not disappoint you and neither the characters. It is a fun read, like I said for the times when something light is required.

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Book Review: The Dancing Boy by Ishani Kar-Purkayastha

Title: The Dancing Boy
Author: Ishani Kar-Purkayashta
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 9789350291245
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

The Dancing Boy struck a chord in me. The time is 1980’s and the setting: Calcutta, which brings out the plot even more vividly. It is not an extraordinary story or something that you will mull on long after finishing the book, however it is one of those books that will make you look up and notice the writing.

In the lazy by-lanes of the city, a boy spends hours in front of a mirror, draped in his mother’s saris, entranced by their touch on his skin. Moyur wants to be his twin sister who died before she was born. Moyna talks to him, and urges him to do things. He wants to overcome his oddities and break free from his mother’s expectations and live the life that he wants to. No one understands him but Jojo, his childhood sweetheart, who eventually marries someone else and this changes everything.

They both move on with their lives and come back later to where they started from. Relationships are intertwined – Moyur, his wife, Jojo, Boshonti and Shiuli‘s characters emerge strongly from the book. Your heart goes out to them and you almost feel at one with their happiness and sorrows and the complexities that surrounds them.

I loved the way Ishani described Calcutta in the book. The by-lanes, the colours, the food, the noise and the air link very well with the story that is being set. For me the book was not a heavy read at all, despite the plot feeling heavy-handed in certain places. The story is simply told and the writing reaches to a wider audience, and doesn’t let go of the plot. I would recommend that you read this book on a rainy or a winter afternoon. It is that kind of a book. Perfect for a day like that.

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Book Review: The Empty Space by Geetanjali Shree

Title: The Empty Space
Author: Geetanjali Shree
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 9789350290521
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 260
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

The Empty Space is not one of those books that can be read in one sitting. Even if you want to, you would not be able to – the plot will not allow you to. I had a tough time getting through this book and the writing had nothing to do with it. It was the story.

The Empty Space by Geetanjali Shree hits you hard and in the right places. It tells the story of a bomb exploding in a university café, claiming the lives of nineteen students. The mother of one of those victims comes home with her dead eighteen year-old son packed in a box and the sole survivor of the blast, a three-year old, who was found in an empty space, living and breathing. The story chronicles three lives – the mother, the boy lost, and the boy who was found. Memories that have to be created and memories that can only remain that for time to come.

What I found most taking in about the story was the relationship portrayed between the mother and the three-year old. Both have so much to say and yet they cannot tell each other anything. There were also times when I thought the language wasn’t perfect in certain places; however I am going to let that go because it was a translation and I am sure that would not be the same in the original.

The Empty Space reminded me a lot of Mother of 1084 by Mahasweta Devi, and that is solely due to the nature of the plot. You begin to start wondering about what the families go through when children die due to such banal acts of terror. Is there anything sacred left then in this world? Is there any sanity at all? This book is one of such attempts to bring to forth the consequences of what happens after an attack. Vividly written, The Empty Space unearths questions and emotions that may be needed in times such as ours.

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Book Review: Beyond the MBA Hype: A Guide to Understanding and Surviving B-Schools by Sameer Kamat

Title: Beyond the MBA Hype: A Guide to Understanding and Surviving B-Schools
Author: Sameer Kamat
Publisher: Harper Business, Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-9350290781
Genre: Business
Pages: 200
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

Sameer Kamat’s “Beyond the MBA Hype: A Guide to Understanding and Surviving B-Schools” comes as a welcome addition to the world of books. The reason I say this is while growing up we didn’t have such books to refer to. There was no hand-holding so to say. You were thrown in the big bad world and you either swam through or drowned. There was no direction.

MBA has been an integral part of the Indian Education System (or so it seems on the surface). Parents have always encouraged their children to pursue Master of Business Administration as “that’s where the money is”, and with education being turned into a battlefield everyone jumps on wearing their armour, assuming that they are ready for battle. However, it is a total different ball when the applications are turned in. The very optimistic and confident students are baffled when they don’t get accepted. Questions swarm the mind: Where did I go wrong? What could have been done better? What was wrong with my essay, so on and so forth.

Sameer Kamat’s book tries to provide direction to how to get into a B-School and understand its working. He lists down the essentials needed to impress the admission committee: What is it that they want? They do not want someone who knows business like the back of his hand, but the basics are needed. The necessary GMAT Score is much needed and wanted by B-Schools. They tend to gauge the candidate’s 50% of brain power through this.

Communication skills are the next thing they look for. The essays are the crux at this stage. What should it contain? What should it convey? How should it be written? All of that and most importantly the clarity and the length of the essay. Last but not the least what is required is Creativity. The ability to do things differently as the cliché goes.

Sameer Kamat does a wonderful job of explaining the nitty-gritties of getting in though I feel that it could have been fleshed out better. The list of common clichés is well laid out and will exactly tell the candidate what not to do. I found the book to be an effective handbook of sorts to gear the candidate and may be to a certain extent also gives hope for that entry into a B-School.

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Book Review: Dancing Jax by Robin Jarvis

Title: Dancing Jax
Author: Robin Jarvis
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 978-0007431700
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 576
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

If Stephen King were to write a book for young adults then I would imagine it would be something very much like Dancing Jax. Although Robin Jarvis suggests that he doesn’t see himself as a horror author, this book is as chilling as anything the great King has published. Reading it certainly made me feel the same as I did when I first read ‘Salem’s Lot, which was very nervous indeed. I don’t scare easily these days, and I totally love horror films, but both of these stories had me feeling on edge pretty much from the first chapter.

Tragic events are set to unfold in the small coastal town of Felixstowe. As a children’s book begins to circulate, readers find themselves so immersed in the tales of “Dancing Jacks” that they become the characters. Soon they are indoctrinating their friends into their new world, and those reluctant to join are forced. To some, “Dancing Jacks” appears nothing more than a badly written fairy tale yet to most it becomes a drug they need to escape their grey ordinary lives.

In “Dancing Jacks” life is vividly filled with adventure and everyone has a role to play and knows their purpose. It is easy to see the appeal; especially if you are destined to take on the role of a major character, but behind the joie de vie there is a chilling, evil feel which is reinforced with moments of real terror. Jezza aka The Ismus becomes creepier and clearly more powerful throughout and the heroes introduced begin to fall to the lure of the Realm of the Dancing Jacks.

Robin Jarvis’ novel grabs and holds, its content disturbing. Maths teacher Martin Baxter could scarcely be more ordinary, the last person one would expect to be a pivotal figure during what unfolds. But he ends up being an imperative figure anyway.

Jarvis skilfully depicts the alternative world full of colour, its inhabitants larger than life. Perhaps what unsettles more is his sombre portrayal of our own times – views likely to strike a chord with older readers. Examples? True education straitjacketed by Government initiatives, teachers working far harder to achieve far less. Politicians preoccupied with photo opportunities and image making. Media forever trivializing, obsessed with mediocrity, fawning on “celebrities” who are all show and no substance. Where are the worthy role models for the young? Fellows’ book had been waiting for these very conditions, its aims thus made so much easier.

I immediately liked Matin Baxter, a teacher at the local comprehensive – I loved the way his character went from seeing the stable, happy life he knew crumble before him and being powerless to stop it to somebody who had to try and stop it and possibly being the only person who could.

I loved the way the writing switches effortlessly between the characters views allowing us to see the story as a whole and to feel how the characters felt as the landscape and the people of the world around was changing. It felt truly creepy as you realised the extent to which the books power had spread.

I love the characters – many are so carefully crafted to seem so real that you will recognise people you know in reality – and special mention goes to the teenagers. So many authors write about teenagers based on a few reports on them in the Daily Mail, but Jarvis is clearly close to some; the language and attitude of them, from the normal ones to the awful ones, is spot on. It all adds to the frightening nature of the book, drawing you in and recreating reality for the reader. It doesn’t just feel real. There isn’t a snippet of text that doesn’t convince you it’s not actually happening all around you. It’s a delicious parallel between the book itself, in your hands, on your sofa, and the Dancing Jacks of the novel, sucking people in and carefully weaving a new reality around their own.

Loved it. Not read anything so freaky and creepy and scary in a long time.

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