Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Motivational Quotes, Quotes, Self-Help

Winning over life by Arun Malik

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Title: Winning over life

Author: Arun Malik

Format: Kindle edition

Pages: 189

Rating: 4/5

About the book

‘Winning over Life’ is a collection of quotes written by Arun Malik. Known as the master motivator, Arun Malik has filled the book with inspiring quotes on topics as wide as happiness and parenting to interrelated subjects such as success and achievement.
The book has been penned in a clear and concise manner which makes it quite universal. So, whether you are a student or a working professional, you can relate to the words and personalize your relationship with each quotation.
‘Winning over Life’ isn’t meant to be read in a go. The book is written to inspire you and to brighten your life with every sunrise. So, read it slowly, savor every sentence and fight with the worse times to rise above!
Other popular books by Arun Malik are ‘Courting Happiness,’ ‘Inviting Abundance’ and ‘Unfolding Dreams.’

My words

“Leaving your mark in a field involves going into an unchartered territory and emerging out of it as a winner.”

“Winning over life” by Arun Malik is a collection of motivational quotes which will help readers in their everyday life. Life is like this, sometimes happiness and sometimes sorrow. But everybody has to overcome their own challenges and complete their own mile. Sometimes there will be people who care about us will help to overcome sorrow, but most of the times we have to look inside and the power has to come from within our mind. This little book is a path to that inner inspiration. These quotes touch many aspirations of life. A must-read for everyone.

Buy now: Amazon

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Memoirs, Self-Help

Zero Not Out by Vamshi Krishna

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Blurb

Varun Krishna, hailing from a middle-class family, works hard to realize his dream of getting into one of the top IITs. During his four years of college, he would go on to make friends and mentors for life. He would also meet his first love Nitya Iyer during his first year in college.Due to some unfortunate turn of events, he had to part ways with her as soon as he finishes college because of which he would go on a self-destruction mode. How life takes him forward from such a miserable state to building a startup aimed at curbing suicides forms the rest of the story. Riding high on emotions while emphasizing the role of family during crisis time, the novel illustrates the theme of how a father is looked up to as a real hero by his son.

About the Author

Vamshi Krishna spends most of his time writing – code or stories. He says he is a software engineer by chance and a writer by choice. Apart from writing, he reads a lot about cricket, love, women, and stories of failures. He is also a fitness enthusiast and a huge fan of MS Dhoni.He says his 4 year journey at IIT-BHU is the best time of his life. He strongly believes that every student, for at least a couple of years in his early 20s should experience hostel life.’Nobody dies a virgin, life fucks everyone’ is the motto he believes in.’Zero Not Out’ is his debut fiction novel and prior to this, he authored a coding related book. This novel is inspired by his real-life incidents (and accidents).

My review

A nice story which is written in the backdrop of College life. The author presents Varun, the protagonist who struggles through career choices, love, heartbreak and recovery. This story ends with a positive note. Actually, the positivity and fight back start when Varun goes through the heartbreak. How he fought back and realizing the true purpose of his life is the core of this story. When we accept ourselves, every other thing will fall into its deserved place.

 

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Indian Mythology

Ashok and the Nine Unknown by Anshul Dupare

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Title – Ashok and the Nine unknown
Author – Anshul Dupare
Publisher – Rupa publishing
Genre – history/fiction
Pages – 224
Format – paperback

Ashok and the Nine unknown written by Anshul Dupare is a novel coming under the historical fiction genre. The beauty of historical fiction is they never lost the charm. Writing a story on the backdrop of a historical event defines the quality of a writer. Here the mystery of nine unknown is crafted on the life and rule of Ashoka.

The title and cover are beautifully designed to create mystery at the very first moment you hear about. I was curious to find out what really is the nine unknown. That drives me to read the story in a single stretch. The book is designed to be compact and that is another quality I liked most about this book.

Ashok, the King of Kings became devastated due to the aftermath of the Kalinga war. The death and destruction of war change him. He wants to rebuild everything and he decides to venture on a new path. The king then assembled nine prodigies from different fields to prevent him from wrongdoings and help him to restore peace and humanity in the country. This is the background and the challenges build on it in the rest of the story.

The language varies from simple to complex throughout the story. The author built the protagonist, Ashok very strong in the story. The character development was good throughout the plot. From beginning to end, this is a well-narrated story. The author keeps alive the mystery through the plot and subplots. That makes this book more enjoyable. Altogether, it is a good historical fiction which any reader can enjoy without any complications.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Motivational Quotes, Poems, Self-Help

Rhythm of Spiritual Beats by Srinivasan Panchanadam Nathan

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Book name:- Rhythm of Spiritual Beats
Author:-  Srinivasan Panchanadam Nathan
Publisher:- Educreation Publishing
Language:- English
Book length:- 140 pages

“…Stretch your wings and fly high
the cage is open, you need not sigh
build yourself as beautiful as you want,
pain your inner self deep till the dawn…”
– Rhythm of Spiritual beats ( Srinivasan Panchanadam Nathan)

This an elegant collection of short poems. I’m impressed with the empowering nature of the poems. Usually, the subject of poems is somewhat around the deepest emotions of humans such as love and grief. But in this collection, I have seen many poems with hope and faith. This is surely the rhythm of spirits which keeps saying not to quit. I felt that poems are well built because they are gazing into the soul and not wandering through outside life.

The language used was elegant, lucid enough to convey and powerful enough to trigger hope in readers.
Many poems in this collection are so memorable. I’m sure that, I will remember them for a long time.
The illustration given along with the poems are very nice. They are appropriate and breaks the monotonous nature of poems. I really liked some illustrations. This is actually a good trend these days. Two different sides of art in one bunch is appreciable.

Altogether it is a nice collection of short poems. Recommended to every poetry lovers out there…

Rating:3.5/5

Buy here: Amazon

Amina Thajudeen Author Interview, Fiction, Poems, Self-Help

Author Interview: Aditya Tiwari

Untitled design (2).jpegA conversation with Aditya Tiwari, author of April is Lush, published by Bluerose Publishers

  1. Tell us about yourself.

Hi, my name is Aditya-Tiwari, I am 21-year-old, brown, queer, writer, and a storyteller, based in India.

  1. If not being an author, what was your dream in life?

My dream in life if I wasn’t an author would’ve been to become an actor or a model.

  1. Who do you attribute your success to?

I dedicate this book and the success to my family and friends, it wouldn’t have been possible without them. They are the ones who love me for me and I am so beyond grateful for that.

  1. Any message you would like to give to your readers?

I want my readers to know that there is magic their veins. I want them to believe in themselves and know that nothing or no one can stop them and always remember that it’s time they realize that it’s all inside of them. They just have to believe in themselves. It’s always been there all along.

  1. Who or what inspired you to write the book?

In this first book, I have turned all my pain. into poetry. into art. Writing is my self-expression and it comes to me naturally to me like fresh air. I poured my everything into this book – the book is inspired by a lot of personal struggles and inner battles.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Motivational Quotes, Poems

A Cynic’s Shadow by Yash Singhania

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Blurb: Have you ever seen
A smiling man cry?

Of course you have.
You are crying on the inside too..

A Cynic’s Shadow, is a collection of poems that explore the ailments of a melancholic man, whose enticing screams are beautiful when inked.

My Review

Amidst the sea of fog

I  saw the sun resurrect.
So weak and wan
Then so full of light and power.
Vaporizing the darkness,
Illuminating the sea of fog.
Raising our hopes
And opening our eyes.
Illuminating some dreams and
burning some.
Ending some cold nights
And birthing some bright days.

                             -Yash Singhania (A Cynic’s Shadow)

A Cynic’s Shadow by Yash Singhania is a compilation of 64 poems accompanied by beautiful illustrations that are projecting the meaning of each word in it. As said in the book, this writer’ words tend to seep in the readers subconscious, painting fantasies. Fantasies one can’t get enough of.

These poems are penned down when the author was on a voyage of the solitude of self-realization, partly lost and partly in immense pain. Finding light in a road which seems to be dark and being alone throughout the journey is more than enough to light up the creativity of one’s own self. As said by the author in the preface, he convinced his orthodox family into believing that he was destined for better things than CA. So altogether these poems represent his journey of chasing dreams and to remind everyone that, the hope still exists. When you skim through these lines you can feel the pain of a trapped man who was searching for a way out in his own mind.

The illustrations accompanied by each poem are a marvelous piece of art. Once gaze into its meaning, you can’t look away for minutes. These poems are surrounded by emotions rather than the deep meaning. When I progressed reading these pages, I felt like reading a diary rather than a piece of literature.

The title and cover were deep and represent one’s own journey to the inner self. If you are a poetry lover you can taste this one too.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors

An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship by Biswajit Mishra

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Title: An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship

Author: Biswajit Mishra

Pages: 260 pages

Blurb: All the time she hoped and dreamed of a better tomorrow in her life in a span of six years. Her experiences both good and bad; the man, the mind and the moral… where, repeatedly she failed, woke up and then moved on.
Paayesha, solely grows with the time, experiences multiple affairs, extensively pulling out her inner persona to face the reality, and finally, she leads by conquering her insight while finding the literal tranquility, and reflects a moral… “Accept what it comes and dare to face, not always that comes what we expect.”
Even she went deep through the life to realize, “the time, the reality and the present are the factual ingredients for the life, rest everything virtual, an unseen mirage…!”

She realized four men in a span of five years. While in the search of the fifth man on her sixth year, what she expects, and finally accepts..? Is that a fortuitous Paayesha finally impounded felicitous?

It would be a favorite stuff in a single gulp, for anyone, whoever had experienced a break-up at least once in a lifetime.

My review

“Once loved, once married, once in extramarital; Paayesha didn’t drown. Still, she hopes to excel, even if in the deep ocean, she learned to live with the third side of the coin.”

-Biswajit Mishra (An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship)

An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship: Experience a love, never experiment a Break-up by Biswajit Mishra is an interesting tale of Paayesha when she sails through a course of life’s ups and down. Two things surprised me when I started reading this book. First one is it has a female lead because how often you came across a female lead in romance fiction particularly in Indian literature? Surprisingly the author has quite beautifully portrayed the female lead’s emotions, thoughts, and her decisions.

The second thing is this is not a predictable romantic story as I thought of, because at the end you never get that beautiful fairytale ending as we’ve seen in a lot of Bollywood movies. As a female lead, the growth of Paayesha’s character over the pages is so satisfying. The story of Paayesha’s love and breakups started right from college. Paayesha’s first love Abhishek abandoned her because he didn’t have the courage to confront his mother about his relationship. Once Payeesha came out from her depression, she slowly started moving ahead with her job and career and eventually get married to a guy whom her parents arranged for. She eventually realized he is impotent and moved out. In her office, she found solace from her friend Rishav who was like a breeze in a desert to her. But Rishav too wasn’t really good for her. But Rishav has a secret that he was hiding from her for a long time. He actually asks her one thing back for all the support and comfort he has given for her. What will be it? How she will manage this situation? The main crux of the story revolves around this thread.

I absolutely loved the way of writing of the author. The beauty of writing is the one main thing which made me hold to this book until the end. The diary entries of Rishav’s are absolutely straight from the heart. The emotions are conveyed through the words. This quality solely makes this book a good read. This is a fast-paced story which doesn’t give too much time on unimportant characters. I really liked this fast-paced method of storytelling, because it really helped the story from being monotonous and dragged at certain points.

The portrayal of depression and true heart-breaks are my favorite parts from the narrative perspective. Because it is an unlikely subject in romance fiction and it truly decided the author’s ability to convey emotions. The author has portrayed the female lead from a fragile young girl to a career focused- strong women. Truly her journey to womanhood is very heart-touching. The story also pays attention to the orthodox society which we all are lives in. The strong messages like this are inevitable to change the perspectives of society in things like marriage, life, and divorce.

Altogether it is a refreshing story which offers a handful of new thoughts before you close the last page.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Indian Authors, Self-Help

NUMI; The Guarded Loop by Nupur Sandhu

 

44281237Book title: NUMI; The Guarded Loop

Author: Nupur Sandhu

Publishers:  Blue Rose Publishers

Blurb: “NUMI The Guarded Loop” takes us through the mystic, beautiful and intriguing journey of Nuha, a sensitive young girl. She has already hit the quintessential milestones of life, yet continues to look for the oasis, searching within her soulful realms for vistas unknown. Life is seldom all about the crust. It is an inexplicable amalgamation of memories, insights and the miniature droplets of self-realization we conjure on the way. The transcendence she experiences through her journey flips her back to the revered but concealed moments from lives gone by; she morphs from a jovial youngster to an enlightened soul, having inculcated the art of being in sync with the supreme Creator. Her trysts with the mystical lead her to making soul-stirring revelations. Discover how the protagonist’s life takes a 360 degree turn when she meets someone with whom she had spent 7200 life times? Experience how the experiences of her previous lifetimes imprint and control her present? Will Nuha be able to complete the puzzle of her deep-felt connection with the stranger?

My review

I have come across only a handful of books which leaves me with a longlasting impression after reading. Numi is one of them. This book is unique in its own unique way. I have seen many reviews on this book and always impressed by its gorgeous cover whenever I saw. When I finally get my hands on this book, the first thing which mesmerized me is its blurb. This book belongs to the genre which is rarely touched and one can really feel its pristine nature once you begin to absorb the story.

The plot revolves around Nuha, who is an uncommon protagonist. The weirdness which one can feel in the initial stages of her introduction will gradually fade away once the story progressed. Nuha is a middle-aged married woman but she always feels a void deeply inside her. One day she meets a guy who eventually introduced her to a mentor of spiritual healing. In an attempt to explore herself through spirituality, she finds herself deeply attached to her mentor, Minha. She is very eager to find out her strange, deep and soulful connection with Minha. She constantly connects herself with her past through the meditation. She later finds out that she had spent 7200 lives with Minha. The adventurous and mystic spiritual journey of Nuha starts here. The element of suspense is aligned perfectly in the plot without losing the true essence of the storyline.

The story has many surprising twists and in a way, I can say that these twists are leading the story forward. The title is uncommon and it is enough to generate curiosity. The moment when the title makes sense, precious. This is not a story which one can easily skim through. You have to really involve in the process of reading. You have to be someone who walks beside the characters to capture the story. This book indeed gives me a new experience in reading.

Rating: 5/5

 

 

 

 

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Self-Help

Shh! Sidepiece Be Quiet by Victoria Kirby

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Title: Shh! Sidepiece Be Quiet

Author: Victoria Kirby

Paperback: 70 pages

Publisher: Bookwhip (19 November 2018)

Language: English

My review

“Love yourself if no one else will love you. Self-love is such an important factor in life. Without selflove how will you know how to love someone that you say that you love or have deep feelings for.”

Shh! Sidepiece be quiet can be described in a line as a complete relationship advice package. The content of this book took me by surprise. When I first came across the title and the cover, I never thought about this type of content. The author has penned down all most all the aspects of adult relationships. She talks from the viewpoint of a woman in the beginning. But after that, it explores through different perspectives.

I liked the way she presented the details of every bit of life we have. She has mixed her life too throughout this book. Often the author came up with a humorous touch to break monotonous narration. But throughout these odd 70 something pages, you can’t find a single piece of word which is not worth mentioning. Through these short read, the author talks about everything a woman needs to know, no secrets are safe from her. The author not only talks about mere adult relationships but also the challenges of a single mother and the importance of self-love. Knowing where we’re standing in a relationship is an important thing. Failing to know, will obviously lead to a miserable life.

The brutal honesty of the author surprises me sometimes. I have never read this kind of honest words from an author. You need only some one or two hours to complete this book, but that time is immense useful.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Science Fiction, Thriller

Captain Elephant: The Mystery of the Bomb by Aseem Mahajan

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Book title: Captain Elephant: The Mystery of the Bomb
Author: Aseem Mahajan
Publisher: Petals

Blurb

Mayas Tondlulu is born with a medical condition due to which his parents are extra careful with him. Mayas is precious and they did everything possible to make sure that his health would not suffer because of their carelessness. After living an overly protected life Mayas discovers that he has a special ability and his alter ego “Captain Elephant” is born, but he soon invites trouble for himself and is wanted by the police of Pinzoora city at the tender age of 10! At the same time the dreaded terrorist Popananda escapes from prison and threatens Pinzoora with a nuclear bomb. He warns people against leaving the town. The only clue he gives is a riddle that haunts everyone. Panic grips Pinzoora. Masks fall and hidden skeletons come out. During this adversity when everyone fails, it is upto Captain Elephant to face the ruthless Popananda and unravel the murky mystery that will change the history of mankind and Pinzoora forever. What is the meaning of the riddle? What is the dark mystery looming over Pinzoora?

My Review

The story revolves around the protagonist, Mayas, who was born in the small Indian island Pinzoora, with a physical disorder. Mayas were born with his heart placed at his rear. The story covers the incidents that Mayas has been facing in a certain time. Due to this special condition, Mayas has been restricted by his parents from his childhood. They are always determined to protect him from his condition. But all these restrictions are often mocked by his classmates from time to time. They are also quite jealous of his certain privileges. This makes Mayas to became independent in his life and to live his life according to his terms.

Suddenly he finds out that, his disorder is not a curse like he thinks in most of his life but a boon. Next thing, we saw is how a superhero is born and became useful to the entire city. Mayas, the Captain elephant with supernatural powers, proves his power when there’s a massive terrorist attack in his city Pinzoora.

I believe every children’s book ever written is also for all adults. Because there is always a child within our mind. I often pick up children’s book as a change of genre. In fact I’m quite fond of them. This book also never disappoints me. Because it is all that I expected from the cover, title, and blurb.

The plot is really unique, and the author made a really commendable approach in creating this. Because creating a superhero from nowhere needed a great extent of creativity. Also creating an absolute fiction background demands much more skill than writing in other genres.

The first part of the story revolves around describing the medical condition of Mayas and the difficulties he faces in school and everywhere. After the superhero is born, the story picks up pace and energy and describe the terrorist attack by the dreaded terrorist named Popananda, and how Captain Elephant has saved the city from the bomb attack.

There were a limited number of characters and the author builds every character beautifully. The narration is really good. The author also gives a touch of humor from time to time. This also makes the narration really interesting.

The climax was a little disappointed in nature because it was abrupt and lacks explanation at some points.

Altogether, this is a good superhero novel which is built excellently.

Rating: 4/5