Tag: Book Blog

Spirit Flows Power Glows- Book Review

Keerthisinghe is a Sri Lankan by origin and is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Politician, and T.V. Presenter based in India.
He is a firm believer in God and holds great knowledge of Buddhist philosophy.
Having lost his father at the tender age of eight he faced numerous challenges in life and despite his adverse circumstances managed to enter the University of Colombo and graduated as a Bachelor of Law and became a professional lawyer in 2000.
He became an early rupee millionaire and then lost it all.
Being the fighter that he is, his quest has not ended despite going through many failures.
He had firm belief in God and his own never say die attitude to rise again n again. He went through personal and professional set backs always to bounce back even defying death.


The Book as the name suggests is a work of art, a seriously motivational book with a nice and refreshing outlook to really inspire you to achieve your dreams.
A simple narrative interspersed with some truly inspiring stories and personal experiences gives you an ample window to look through the Author’s up and down journey and his strong will and belief in the Almighty to cross all hurdles and move towards the Goal. The book really takes you on a roller coaster ride and leaves you infused with positive energy and high spirit. One gets a sense of belief and feel all charged up to take on the world.

An absolute cracker of a book for all. Very Inspiring. Very Motivational. An absolute must read.

Grab your copy now, you will not regret your buy.

Its available on Amazon for Rs 270/- for paperback.

My rating 4/5 stars

Book Review- Second Chance by Sandeep Jatwa

A word about the author first.
Dr Jatwa by birth is from the holy city of Ujjain and did his M.B.B.S. from M.G.M. Medical College, Indore.
He has a passion for writing and since 2006 has written two novels, with Second Chance his Second Book is the first one to be published.

Second Chance is based on the phenomenon of Near Death Experience which it’s main protagonist Shekhar Kapur goes through. Shekhar is a ruthless businessman with absolutely no scruples,intent only on taking his Aerowalk Shoe Company to the top irrespective of the means.

Despite subtle warnings from an unknown third force of the consequences of following his inglorious ways he continues on his path least caring about the number of people he hurts on the way.
He has no qualms about how many people despise his very being and barring a couple of people who love him despite his erring ways. Shekhar meets with a near fatal accident and during that period he experiences death and it’s aftermath.

The author has used great imagination in describing the after world,Hell to be precise.
He paints hell and the subsequent punishments an inmate has to go through in vivid detail and it really gives you the goosebumps.

Does Shekhar return to life as it gives him a second chance? Does he atone for all his wrong doings and how?
Go grab your copy and find out,makes for a ver interesting read.
One thing I would like to bring to the author/publishers Attention:
Proof reading leaves a lot to be desired.

You can buy your copy from Amazon, for Rs 190/-

My Rating 3.5/5 Stars

Secrets in the Spice Mix- Book Launch by Pankaj Bhadouria at Piali, CP

Pankaj Bhadouria, has been a household name ever since she won the title of first Master Chef India, and there has been no looking back for her. Her constant growth in terms of her cooking skills and her overall persona has been an inspiration to many women who used to think that cooking is only a duty and not a passion that can turn your life around. But Pankaj has proved her mettle over and over again, and more recently by launching her 5th book, she not only proves her capabilities as a chef but also tries touching a million chords by giving her readers exactly what they need.

Food is synonymous to breath for her and spices are the essence of it. Her journey of teaching kids in a classroom to teaching young chefs and cooks the art of making food is one of its kind. Right after winning the competition she has come to the world imparting her culinary skills to the world through the form of shows or books.

The right blend of spices is crucial to Indian cooking and it’s the combination of different spices that make some dishes so hard to resist. India’s First MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria has identified around 50 such spice mixes with a tantalizing recipe following each spice mix which can be made at home. With 4 books to be acclaimed for, Pankaj’s 5th book, The Secrets in the Spice Mix, helps you make these wonderful spices at the comfort of your home and infuse some authentic flavours to your everyday cooking.

Chosen Piali, The Curry Bistro, as the venue for launch of her book, Panjak went on to conduct a live cooking session as well.

Piali’s menu is one of its kind and what makes it different is the class of curry and the spices that go into making them what they are! One such dish on the menu is the Thai Curry. Pankaj not only shared her secret spices and signed the books for her followers but also demonstrated the cooking of the Thai curry live for the present audience.

“I am really excited to be launching my secrets at Piali and the following live cooking session. I am happy to be able to share them with my audiences and where better than a place which savors the spices the most!” said an eager Pankaj.

Upon being asked what her favourite cuisine and dish was, she said it without any apprehensions that her favourite cuisine for sure is Indian, and she loves home cooked Khichdi, for the simplicity of the dish. Here is a glimpse of the event coverage right from the Piali’s Facebook Page.

She is such a down to earth person, that meeting her overtime, leaves me inspired totally. She fills me with so much of gratitude and warmth. I wish Pankaj all the success for her book, and stay tuned, will be sharing the book review and a recipe from it soon as I am currently reading my personally signed copy of the book, and in my kitchen trying the recipes.

 

 

Harappa: Curse of Blood River by Vineet Bajpai, a book I am looking forward to read

Bajpai’s book Harappa: Curse of the blood river, which is said to be one of the most anticipated Historical thriller book of the Year, was launched at Indian Habitat Center on 9th June 2017 amidst book enthusiasts in New Delhi in Tamarind Hall. There were the book lovers and Delhi’s socialites who attended this wonderful book launch. The author is currently on a book tour across India for the same.

 

 

Vineet is a first-generation entrepreneur. At age 22 he started his company Magnon from a small shed. Today Magnon is among the largest digital agencies in the subcontinent, and part of the Fortune 500 Omnicom Group. He has led the global top-ten advertising agency TBWA as its India CEO. It was his drive to excel and do something different that made him perhaps the youngest ever CEO of a multinational advertising network in the country.

He has written three bestselling management & inspirational books – Build From Scratch, The Street to the Highway and The 30 Something CEO. I have personally read them all and they have been instrumental in giving me direction in my corporate life.

 

The author during the launch of the book described his agenda of taking Indian History to the global world and letting people know of its rich heritage.

“It was only when I spent nights and days in penning down the manuscript of Harappa, that I understood the emotional connection needed between a fiction writer and his work. We can’t say that writing a business or management book takes no emotional energy, of course it does. But after having written three of them and then writing Harappa, I can assure you that a storyteller has nearly an umbilical cord connected with his work. I know this might sound silly, but every time I read some of the more intense parts of Harappa, especially the last four or five chapters, my eyes well up. I could not believe that I was crying every time I was reading what I had myself created and written! But believe me, that is the intensity of a writer’s relationship with his work. And hopefully, that is the intensity of Harappa as a book. ” says the author, Vineet Bajpai.

 

The trailer of the book looks so intriguing that I am dying to get my hands on the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M903QePFLKM

I have already ordered my copy, so what are you waiting for, its available on Amazon for Rs 130/- Keep watching this space, review to follow soon.

Changing Scenarios of the Publishing Industry-Thank God for Half Baked Beans!

Started with a mindset to be different right from the very beginning, Half Baked Beans is not just a regular publishing house. Yes they surely publish books, but they have their own uniqueness in every thing that they do, just the way their name is. Their philosophy lies in the fact that their company is not a mere publishing house, but a company that dwells on developing talent, giving them a platform to showcase their work and also bring like minded people together through different workshops and forums.

They very regularly organise creative writing workshops, book launches, book reading sessions, open discussions related to the subject and even run a very successful group on Facebook which again encourages writing, like minded discussions etc on the online platform.

I am a regular participant in the group activities and love exploring my writing skills and who knows one day I am actually able to write a full fledged novel. Seeing so much talent around definitely gives a sense of encouragement.

Recently Half Baked Beans organised a bloggers meet, where in we met not just as bloggers but as book lovers in general and shared our views on the latest trends of the industry, writing skills, marketing needs of the hour and a detailed brief of services offered by HBB. Chetan Soni the man behind Half Baked Beans and Richa Saxena, his subordinate, both shared their passion for books and we got engulfed in a long conversation over some lip smacking snacks at the Pot Belly, Shahpur Jat.

It indeed was a very insightful session, and these open discussions have enlightened me more than before on the publishing industry. We discussed how scandals, political dramas and mythology sells and creates more buzz than other genres. We also discussed the role of book reviews and book bloggers and other marketing needs that are imperative to the success of a book in todays time.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself learning the nuances of the industry.

 

Half Baked Beans also offers many other services like:

  • Editorial Services
  • Beta Reading
  • Book Cover Services
  • Book Design Services
  • Book Marketing Services
  • E-Book Services

You can check out more details at the Half Baked Beans website. You can also follow their page on Facebook for regular updates. They have already published more than 40 books and are growing steadily giving chance to quality authors. Their criteria for publishing books are also fool proof and they don’t publish each and every book that comes their way. They choose quality over quantity.

As a take back I got this wonderful book to read, which I am looking forward to.

Chronux- Book Review

A word about the author first.
Sagar Kamath teaches History and International Affairs at Symbiosis International University.
He is a Masters in History and Philosophy and has almost a decade of teaching experience. He has lectured extensively on a wide range of subjects and specializes in issues of religion and politics.
In his free time he loves to explore ‘off the beaten track’ locales which hold a sense of mystique about them.

Chronux is the story of Time or let’s put it this way that Chronux is a story which time tells us about of times past to times in the far future and the times spent inbetween.

The story which starts from a a small village of Aruhu, in the Himalayas takes you on a roller coaster ride through a span of more than 3000 years BC to more than 3000 years in the future,not to forget the time in the present.

It’s a wonderful Juxtaposition of the long past events mingling with the present and the future.

Although a work of fiction a tremendous amount of research has gone into the making of this absolutely rivetting story of Time.

The events described whether in the past, present or future are so realistically portrayed that at times you pause and find that yes all this could be very plausible and true. Really a remarkable piece of storytelling wherein you feel you are a part of this journey. The events described from the past,present and future are beautifully intertwined and does leave one dazed at the aouthor’s imagination and the finesse to put things up so brilliantly.


A must must read for everyone. Go grab your copy now and enjoy a never before experience of fiction/reality. Find out for yourself.

Its available on Amazon for Rs 475 for paperback and 283 for the Kindle version.

My Rating 4.5/5 stars

Becoming Assiya- Book Launch and Review

The book was formally launched on 21st February, at Office Office CP, attended by a select few invitees and family and close friends.
It was a small intimate affair to laud the efforts of a young twenty year old girl whose efforts had borne fruit in the shape of her maiden book, BECOMING ASSIYA.


A word first about the young debut making author, SIMRAN KESHWANI.
She is a Final Year literature student at the Lady Shri Ram College for women, University of Delhi.
She is actively involved in several social causes and is working selflessly to change the world for good, one word at a time.

Kudos to Simran for choosing a very sensitive subject for her very first book, few dare to do so.
It is a tormenting story of a misplaced Syrian refugee and her trials n tribulations encompassing a world full of hatred.

Her journey right from her birth through the ravaging War and it’s bone chilling consequences to the tireless effort to reclaim her lost identity form the crux of this spellbinding tale of a physically and mentally ravaged young Assiya who amidst all the bloodshed,violence and extreme torture still manages to hang on to HOPE!!!!!!
HOPE for herself, her fellow human beings and the COUNTRY she belongs to SYRIA.

The canvass is a horrifying story of people of a war ravaged Syria and Simran’s portrayal of the same is captured in all it’s blood n gore. Fabulous writing which keeps you turning pages but also makes you stop inbetween and makes you think hard at what kind of a world are we a part of?
What kind of a legacy is this world going to leave for generations to come!!!!!

A really commendable piece of writing from this young upcoming author.

I am sure she is here to stay and make a name for herself in the literary world.

A MUST READ.

Available on Amazon

My Rating 4/5 Stars

Figmented Reality- Book Review

A word about the author first, Zuko a.k.a. Siddarth Sabari is a blogger and writer based in Chennai, Born in Mumbai he spent his growing years schooling in Mumbai and later in Chennai.
He was diagnosed with Dyslexia at an early age and found it difficult to follow language, but despite his limitations and the support of his mother he passed out from Vellore Institute of Technology in the year 2013 as Mechanical Engineer specialising in Energy. He was awarded the First Indian Dyslexic Writer by the K.L.University,Vijaywada.
He worked for a couple of years in a Public Limited Company before joining his father’s business in Chennai.


Figmented Reality is a psychological book which forces the reader to analyse answers to certain fundamental questions in our lives.
The protagonist is a boy who at a very young age is sexually abused by an elderly woman. He is unable to get over the pleasure he derives from that one sexual encounter so much so that it engulfs him completely.
The encounter leads him to ways of self attaining methods of sexual pleasure.
As he grows up he is always on the look out for elderly women to satisfy himself but fails and in the process he offends women his age as the only thing he seeks from them is sex.
He is generally perceived as a pervert and avoided.
He goes deep into the dark world of drugs and constant state of wanting sex which he is unable to get.
Then enters Veena, a mother of two, and he falls for her head over heels to the point of obsession.
But his mind has so degenerated by this time that all lines between a figment of imagination and reality have blurred.
The author has really woven a brilliant narrative taking us through the dark dingy world of addiction and hallucinations.
The climax of the book is most unexpected and shocking.
A must read, I just enjoyed reading my copy, you go grab your copy now!!!!


Available on Amazon for Rs 150


My Rating 4/5

Should I Hate or Love- Book Review

A word about the author first, Kisnaa is a 24 year old born and brought up in Delhi. An engineer by profession having done his B.Tech from a renowned college of Delhi/NCR is currently pursuing his M.Tech from MD University. He started writing poetry at the age of 14. Writing is his passion apart from his interest in cricket, movies and traveling.


Should I hate or Love, as claimed by the author, is based on a true story.
After reading the book, and if it is a true story; a very filmy one at that, I feel that whatever our Hindi films depict however audacious it may be seems plausible. Though hard to digest for me.
The book is beautifully penned with some really lovely poems interspersed artistically in the script just as we have songs in movies.
It is the story of the main protagonist Aayan and his journey of love from the adolescent years to his coming of age.
The whole gamut of emotions from his adolescent love to his pining for his love when circumstances force them to stay far from each other to his reverential love have been very well woven into the book.
Does Aayan get his true love or not.Does his unconditional love bear fruit? Grab a copy for yourself and enjoy this beautiful journey of love. Happy reading.


Available on Amazon for Rs 175/-


My Rating: 4/5 Stars