Category Archives: Book Articles

Some Beautiful Indian Love Stories by Indian Authors

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I have been reading romance since a long time. And my recent fad is about very Indian stories of love and romance from our very own Indian authors. I like the way characters fall in love, evolve, and see the days of sorrow and happiness together. The most enticing aspect about these books is that they revolve around Indian culture and depicts the young adults of contemporary generation.

So, in this post, I am sharing the name of some of the best romance novels that lately touched my heart and I found them a wonderful read.

I am in Love with a Shudh Desi Firangi: Hey Shiva, I See You in Him by Dipnanda Bhaduri Roy

The title of the book says a lot and it piqued me enough to finish this book so fast on Kindle. The story is of a somber and decent Bengali girl, Kattyani, but the fate is so cruel that the society doesn’t find her that attractive. Thus, her boyfriend leaves for some cold reasons.

She is heartbreak but somehow moves on to Goa with her Aunt. There she stumbles upon an American guy who reminds him of a man that is having some good virtues of Lord Shiva. Inch by inch, they hang around and meet and a new love story is on the way. I liked the mixing of many cultures into one to raise the love above all.

The novel is laced with good story that moves at a mind-boggling speed. Remember this love story is a bit different than today’s fast-moving love tales.

Bestowed: Would you still love someone if she doesn’t remember loving you? by Snehlata Agarwala.

It’s an amazing read. Loved the way the story kept me on the edge till the end. The portrayal of Bengali culture in this modern world is too good. A must-read for romance readers and it’s not an ordinary romance story but filled with suspense and humor.

Ved Maya by Vineeta Malhotra Taneja

The play of destiny is something that cannot be missed in this book. A romance that is intriguing and cannot be missed.

The waiting… the longing… the acceptance… the heartbreak… the strong bond of friendship… the family ties… There are so many occurrences that are so heartwarming and there are some that are heart wrenching too.

A wonderful romance that cannot be missed at all. Read it umpteen times yet cannot get enough of it.

Ved, a mature person, humble and understanding… we would all want to have such a person in our lives…

Maya, the girl next door yet very strong and independent… who would be a good friend to have, always…

Diya Aur Baati Hum by Snehlata Agarwala

This book… what a beautiful one this is! Such a wonderful amalgamation of feelings and emotions. All the relationships are carved so beautifully by the author; she has done complete justice to every character. The bond between parents and children, between siblings, between lovers. The beauty with which each of the characters is entwined with the other is par excellence.

It’s a must read for anyone who loves romance, which is one aspect that is in abundance in this saga of love, friendship and faith.

Heart Strings by Sushma Rani Sangam

An amazing romance story where the lead character is a doctor and her life’s most terrible as well as pleasant moments have the premises of the hospital where she works. She finds strength while fighting for her love of life while working there in hostile conditions.

Love is a complicated thing, not all have the guts to face and maintain it. All the more, there are very few people in the world that gets their perfect or most loving life partners otherwise most of the people just hook on barter system. An intense heat of love emanates from this terrific novel.

5 Reasons to Read the Mythological Duology – The Sullied Warrior by Gaurav Sharma

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Lucky are those who got to read the best of best mythological and fantasy novels. Among all genres, it’s a prime one. You get a chance to sneak peak in the lives of demi-gods, lands lurking with demons, magical bizarre, amazing clash of ideologies and of course raw action on the battlefields, jungles, mountains with incredible armory like spears and swords and so on. The love for reading mythological books is on the rise and now a time has reached when people have begun looking for best options from all possible mythologies…be it Indian, Lankan, Greek, Norse, Roman, or even Gothic. Every mythological novel series comes with some promises like a set of characters, villains, an era which is lost to the current generation. Mythological novels not only entertain us but also reminds of some great time on the earth that existed when the human race was high on the wheel of evolvement.

It’s to be noted that nearly all mythological novels are featured around warriors and probably this element keeps readers bewitched. Well, upon my last reading experience, I am wrapping up as why you should read a mythological duology (The Sullied Warrior) by Gaurav Sharma.

  1. Its National & Amazon Bestseller:

The duology has two books. The God of the Sullied and Long Live the Sullied. The former is the first book. The novels were entirely different and fast-paced and easy to read and understand that it took no time for them to become instant bestsellers.

2. Powerful Characters:

The novels are driven by some powerful characters. They initiate action, at times act as catalytic, and most awesome thing about them is that they are full of sweeps and back stories and ambitions. Eklayva and Pundir and Mahapurohit are the prominent ones, with one girl and a boy from a jungle tribe, and two teachers from gurukul form the list of supporting characters. In fact, characterization is deep and invokes a sense of feeling. Eklayva shines throughout the series despite being cursed. On the other hand, Pundir wanted to make some extraordinary and ferocious of his life.

3. A Different Mythology:

Most of the mythological novels frequent the known territories, thus sound repetitive. This one is different, set in 9th century in India, a sort of medieval history and inclusion of Mahaveer and Mohammad somewhat makes the novel looks appealing and urge readers to find out more. Another dazzling aspect of the series is the Kali Yuga vs. Satya Yuga. The books highlighted that it was the time when Kali (the evil of darkness) began spreading its wings and people took plundering and dishonesty as a means of living.

4. Sub Themes and Mini Climaxes:

Both the books have been good with sub themes and short climaxes. This instilled a sense of thrill and suspense at every juncture. One strong reason for that is the use of multi-narration techniques; the book has been presented from different people’s point of views, including time.

5. Pace and Language:

If a novel has to be riveting, it should have an optimum pace and length and good usage of language. This duology scores 5 out of 5 for language related aspects. Each book was limited up to 230 pages. It was easy to read while taking short breaks. Gaurav Sharma is a promising talent with freshness as one of the strongest pillars of his writing calibre. Overall, this duology makes up for a great read in a blend of mythological and fantasy genre.

4 Reasons to Read ‘Mirrro at the Weird Wayward’ by Manoj Kumar Sharma

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Even fiction books are great and most of the time unreal, however, at times you stumble upon a book that even shake your soul more than any fictional character or aspect. You got to take me seriously, I mean look at this book. It has been something queer since the very first element. Like thousand other readers, I too picked up this book after not able to read the title properly, it was written in a sort of ambulance language. Well, let me tell you its real name – Mirrro at the Weird Wayward – written by Manoj Kumar Sharma. After getting over initial weirdness, once I was comfortably settled, I was awed by the inspiration it instilled in me. Hence feeling like praising it in an article form. Well, I am going to list down a few pointers as why you should also read and enjoy the way I did.

  1. Unique Concept:

The novel is placed against very genuine intention – the lead character Indo suffered due to drugs and rapists, thus he seeks to wipe out all those elemental crimes from the society. The concept is mixed of society and some special powers. The novel has been poignant in leveraging the power of Mirror Tratak, one of the magnificent concepts to become invisible indirectly. For this reason, the novel could be adopted for a major motion film by Amazon and Netflix people.

2. Care for the Indian Society:

The novel, in and out, revolves around the Indian society. By reading it, anyone could pinpoint that Indian society is good but not the best, curses like too much consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and liberty in rape cases due to improper investigation and justice rankles the layers of the society at their own convenience. The main character Indo was a simple and decent guy with high goals, but due to these crimes he was exploited and made cry for decades and his biggest setback was when his love was forced into a state of coma forever. At many stages, Indo was disturbed by the improper layers of the Indian society. He wanted to contribute but rather went for revenge. That’s irony. You should not be surprised to know that the lead character wanted to eliminate all sorts of crimes from India but his special power refuses to obey him. Why? That’s interesting.

3. Strong Characters:

The novel is lengthy, over 300 pages. However, I didn’t feel the punch as I roped in; I finished the book in couple of nights. Imagine 300 pages but only a handful of characters. It was good that the novel hadn’t has a long awful list of characters. Only Indo and his super grandmother India dominated the novel till end. I also liked Indo for his ambitions and readiness to serve the country by joining medicals, thus, he becomes an armed force medical officer. He was resilient. In fact both the characters just sneered the age – it was just a number for them.

4. Language, Narration and Other Factors:

A novel is not only made of just a good story and awesome characters, rather the most critical factors in its success are language and basic techniques like sweeps, back stories, pace, and sub climaxes, etc. The novel was over 300 pages; however, I never felt its length. The pace and involvement of other aspects into the backdrop was so soothing that my overall reading experience came out something that I could remember for decades. It was a perfect novel, even from language and other technical points.

What Books Made Your Soul Happy?

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The idea of this question emanates from Quora. Indeed there are books that leave a mark on your soul and never fade away from the cask of your subconscious. Just like other things, books too have an utility attached with them. Good books leave you inspired and crave for more, while shallow books teach us how to avoid overhyped boring books.

Just like me, every reader has a stack of books in their mind from their past reading experience, so today I am going to present a list of random books that I remember even today – because they made my soul happy.

The much appreciated book ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho is a good book, but not the best as it sounds overhyped. I liked it and it inspired me to some extent.

Godan by Munshi Premchand has been into praise for last 70 years. It truly stands up to its reputation.

Pride and Prejudice proved to be a time waster for me. I left it mid way, same fate was met to Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children.

From Amish Tripathi’s collection, I loved The Immortals of Meluha, rest of his books just sounded forced to satisfy his excessive fans. In the Indian Mythological arena, I prefer reading books by Gaurav Sharma, especially The Sullied Warrior duology.

From the cult of Africa, my favourite is Wilbur Smith. His novels map the length and breadth of Africa in a magnificent way. Some of soul-appeasing books are Elephant Song, Gold Mine, The Triumph of the Sun, etc.

In the mafia related books, Hussain Zaidi is a cheap shot. The class is Mario Puzo, novels like The Sicilian, The Godfather, The Last Don – I cannot express my gratitude enough.

No reader is complete without short stories, I love this genre as it doesn’t demand a strict patter of reading. I love reading simple short stories of Ruskin Bond in the Rusty series or mostly realted to children. I tried Oscar and Henry, I couldn’t go through. But lately, I experimented with themes pulping with life and human aspirations and psychic. I found two books way impressive, first was Mumblings from the Depth by Jithu Thomas and Parting of the Strangers by Sattam Dasgupta.  

Amidst all genres, there are some novels that are verdant with so much nature and other details that keep one bewitched more than the story. One such soul-appeasing story is Ripples of Eternal Love by Pravin Pandey.

In the dystopian and paranormal, I have not have much experience, but my recent read MIЯЯЯO: at THƎ WƎIЯⱭ WAYWAЯⱭ by Manoj Kumar Sharma. A lengthy novel but worth the new findings.

In the humour zone, I loved just one book of R. K. Narayan: Swami and his Friends. Rest collection like The Talkative Man and Malgudi Days was filled with predictable pages. But there is one book, published recently, named Peppered Minds by Om Somani suggests that excessive of consumption has changed the way humans think. Based on a fountain of comedy and hilarity, this book was like enjoying a fun ride in the amusement park.

I have had less encounters with books falling in the purview of non-fiction or biographies or memoirs, I have read a few cricketers biographies but didn’t find much that could move me. However, recently a book on which I stumbled upon randomly, moved me. It was about India of 1960s and 70s – I mean that time when I was not borne and there used to be fun and camaraderie in the air. It is an impressive account of a father bringing reminisces of his golden days to his children. The book name is Those Were the Days by N.S. Ravi.

The list could have been endless, so I concluded my answer with some of the books that never leave my subconscious.

What to Read when You are Done with your Favourite Book Series?

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Reading books is good – a hobby, a habit, or passion. But what if you get addicted to reading books in series? Can you imagine the mood swings that follow? Those who have read the Harry Potter series, better take their opinions. It takes time to get adjusted after the Potter tremors. Harry Potter is indeed a long series with over 7 books. I have read all the books in the series and now I feel like to have the same feel for some other book series, but the reality is that I cannot have the experience I had with Potter books.

So, to keep the book series fun alive and in a hope of finding something as riveting as Potter series for you guys, I began my search. After scouting several book recommendation and review websites, I came up with some recommendations based on my Post-Potter reading experience. Hope you would like the books that boast of successful series.

Off the list, number one recommendation is Wilbur Smith. He has written over 50 novels on Africa and its lifestyle, some modern and a few from the history. He is a native of Africa and probably explored world’s all amazing landscapes to use them against his stories. He is a terrific writer. From his shelves, you can pick up The Courtney Series: It has over 17 classic novels to its name, but the fortunate part is that you can pick up any novel anytime, I mean randomly. This makes this series quite remarkable.

Next recommendation is C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake Series. Sansom is famous for prominent war fictions like Winter in Madrid and Dominion, but historical fiction is his forte, be it Dissolution or the entire Shardlake Series, you would love him the way you admire Bernard Cornwell. This series has around 7 novels based playing around history and mythology.

Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi is one of the best part mythological and fantasy novels ever written by an Indian. The book series is series because it takes the readers to some unknown territories with a very strange yet riveting set of characters like Nagas and Suryavanshis and Shiva as a hero from a tribe not so famous in the Indian subcontinent. In total, there are 3 books and one must read them in a series to get the best out of it.

The Sullied Warrior Duology by Gaurav Sharma isa new entry in a mix of fantasy and mythology genre. This set of two books is led by God of the Sullied – it was an instant national bestseller, the next book that follows in the series is Long Live the Sullied. After Amish, he is one of the best and promising looking talents. The books are closely placed and feature flawed and common characters in larger-than-life view. Main characters like Eklavya and Pundir are terrific in grit and the novel has a bit liberal theme as opposed to rigid Indian mythologies. Fast-paced, it is a must read.    

The list of books that set in a series pattern could be long, spanning across various timelines and based on diverse landscapes. Well, before I conclude the article, you may also try books in the Norse Mythology and war fiction trilogy such as Century Trilogy by Ken Follet. Hope you enjoy the piece of knowledge.