![Review Shots: Middle Eastern Tales for children]()
Drama |
Remember my post about how I never got to read many Middle grade books when I was younger? It is time to change that, thanks for all the children’s books that I get to review on my blog. I am happy to say that I am enjoying the chance. Thanks to Medina Publishing, Middle East for sending me a bunch of children’s books for review.
I enjoyed reading them as they had stories from the Arabic world, which is a lot different from the Indian folktales that I grew up listening to and the Western tales that I read as a kid. Let us get on with it shall we?
Author: Julia Johnson
Illustrator: Susan Keeble
In Saluki-Hound of the Bedouin, we read about the story of Sougha, a hunting dog of the native breed called Saluki through eyes of its master Hamad. We also learn about the life style of the Bedouin, the nomadic group from the Middle East as well.
Perfect for 6 – 12 years, especially if they love dogs and pups they will love this book.
Author: Julia Johnson
Illustrator: Emily Styles
Ameera, a young girl sets out alone in search of berries in the wild but accidentally falls down into a deep dark cave. The wells in Ameera’s village have dried up and the villagers are in the brink of a drought. Her family and their friends have set out to find her but they have no idea where to search for her.
Ameera meets an owl and a mysterious young boy who keep her company in the dark caves. But how can she attract the attention men who are searching for her on the surface, not underground where she is?
With illustrations that keep us hooked to the narration, The Secret of the Cave will work perfectly for children between 6 to 10 years.
Author: Joan Hannam
Illustrator:Patricia Al-Fakhri
We all have heard good things about the majestic Arabian horses right? Sharifa was one of the horses and she belonged to the Sheikh who loved her very much. She was the apple of his eye.
With beautiful illustrations to steal our hearts, Sharifa The Story Of An Arabian Horse has a pretty straight forward narration and talks about the love for pets. Perfect for young and middle grade kids.
Author: Julia Johnson
Illustrator: Charlene Kasdorf
Abu and his donkey have been together all their life and they help transporting the villagers’ goods together. But things change when a new truck arrives to the town.
If you are looking for a children’s book with colorful illustration that will appeal your younger ones, The old man and his donkey should be your choice. This book is funny and ends with a moral value.
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Drama |
You all know I turned out fairly ‘nice’ on Santa’s meter this festive season. But I realized there are quite a number of books that I have accumulated under the ‘to-be-reviewed’ shelf and I finally decided that it is high time I caught up with them.
And since it seems like a Herculean task, I have come up with a way around – bite-size reviews. In this month’s review shots, I have three books that I read sometime in the mid of 2016. Don’t judge me, I was in a blogging slump then.
Book Name: Fast Cars & Fidgety Feet
Author: Rishad Saam Mehta
Genre: Non-Fiction – Travel
Everybody has a dream job. Yes, sadly Netflixing and eating potato chips on the couch is not a job. But what if on a random day, an ad for your dream job lands on your lap, figuratively, what would you do? Would you drop everything and apply it? Or chicken out. That was just a rhetorical question, do not answer.
That’s what exactly happened to the author when he found an advertisement in a newspaper for a job in the automobile magazine. He now lives his dream by keeping up with his interest in driving cars and feet that wanted to travel all around the world. Fast Cars & Fidgety Feet is a nonfiction written by Rishad telling us tales of his misadventures while traveling around the world. There are a few funny anecdotes that you might enjoy.
Final thought: Perfect for a Sunday afternoon read.
Recommended to: Travel book aficionados
Book Name: Dvarca
Author: Madhav Mathur
Genre: Fiction – Dystopian, thriller
Setting: India
As it says on its back over, this book can be the perfect mix of ‘1984 and Meluha series’. Dvarca is a dystopian fiction set in the 22nd century where the Indian nation is governed by a single religion called Navmarg. The State watches every move of the citizens, controlling their schedules including their sleep and food habits. It chooses their life partner, when and how to procreate as well. And anyone who didn’t fall in line was considered outcasts and stranded without benefits. Reminds you a bit of the Handmaid’s tale eh?
Oh, everything is not so gloomy, erm.. as long as you are not outcasts, most things work perfectly in the nation though. Each person is given a task according to their ability, the children are trained at what was required for their chosen lives. The nation represents what could be achieved with a great leader with a vision. Dvarca might be a little difficult to get into initially but it gets gripping as it can be. Be warned of the cliffhanger though.
Final thought: A dystopian nightmare.
Recommended to: Indian mythology lovers
Book Name: The Geek’s Guide to Dating
Author: Eric Smith
Genre: Non Fiction
The Geek’s Guide to Dating is targeted at a particular audience which unfortunately is not me and that brought the fun a notch down for me. Now that we got out of the way, this book is quite a hoot to read. Okay, let me break it up to you – dating is no rocket science and you might have heard all these advice earlier elsewhere. Even if some of the geek jokes went over your head, as it did for me, it was still funny.
Also, you should be ready to overlook the fact that the book addressed only geeky guys seeking girls, geeky or otherwise. See why I am never gonna be the correct audience?
Final thought: A quirky entertainer.
Recommended to: Geeky men; people who need a laugh.
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Have you read any of these books? Should I continue doing shots, I mean these review shots, or should stick to the lengthier formats? Let me know in the comments section.
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Classics |
Quite recently, I suffered through what I refer as ‘the longest reading slump‘ period, for about three months. That is when a good friend of mine suggested Chess Story by Stefan Zweig. To be honest, he sold it hard and it took me a while to pick the book. But boy, was I surprised!
About Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
Book Name: Chess Story
Author: Stefan Zweig
Genre: Fiction – Classics, Historical
Characters: Mirko Czentovič, Dr. B
Setting: Argentina, Austria
Plot Summary of Chess Story
Chess Story begins with the narrator, an Austrian, boarding the ship that travels from New York to Buenos Aires. On board is, Czentovic, the World Chess Champion who spends his time challenging the other travelers in a game of chess and earning a bit of money. The passengers come together to play against him and still lose.
We learn about Czentovic’s humble beginning and how he reaches his heights by sheer brute force and hard-work. He is unapologetic, unfriendly and boorish. He understands what is at stake when he plays every game and plays to show off his supremacy over the game.
During one of such games in the afternoon, a mystery man called Mr. B manages to help the group win an upset against Czentovic. Mr. B is a noble Jewish banker who is humbled by his wartime experiences.
During the World War II, he was restrained by the Gestapos him between the walls of his cell, interrogating for information regarding the wealth of his clients, his only companion being a stolen anthology of 150 chess games. He reads and memorizes the moves and that became obsession later mania to get him through his period of imprisonment. Intrigued and miffed by Mr. B’s act, Czentovic challenges him to play the royal game against him. which forms the rest of the story.
Book review of Chess Story
I sure hoped for Mr. B to win the game with his ingenuity and supreme intelligence, against the unfriendly and boorish World Champion – you know ‘let the underdog win’ argument?
But I would just warn you already, prepare for the twist and a depressing ending. I think it is now safe to inform the author committed suicide just weeks after he finished the novella. So be warned.
Someone said that the mark of a good book is it changes every time you read. I can safely say Chess Story is definitely one of such books.
For someone who reads the book for the first time, it is a story between the blacks and whites of Chess Story board, where there are no grey shades. The hard work vs the tacts. The lyrical prose, despite being a translated work, will make you compelled to read it again and it being just an 84 paged novella would help.
But sometime during my second reading (shortly after Christmas, yeah just days before this review), I found another layer unraveling itself. It became more than the game, but of the personalities that clashed between. Zweig’s understanding of human nature is spot on.
And knowing about his death made it all the more difficult to digest the ending, despite knowing what was going to happen.
Bottom-line
I cannot gush enough about Chess Story and I have recommended the book to many people now. If you want to move on to literary fiction but do not know where to start, or want to read something that would not put you off those kinda books – Chess Story is your answer.
It is, for me, a perfect novella with complex characters and a beautiful prose.
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Romance, YA |
The Upside of Unrequited tells a tale that the readers of YA have read several times. It definitely talks about first love and teenage angst. But what makes this novel by Becky Albertalli such a hit both among young and new adults? Read my review to know more.
About The Upside of Unrequited
Book Name: The Upside of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: Fiction – Young Adult Romance
Characters: Molly and Cassie Peskin-Suso, Reid, Will, Mina
Setting: Washington DC, The USA
Plot Summary of The Upside of Unrequited
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso has never had a kiss and has about 26 crushes that she has never made the move upon. She is shy, awkward and conscious about her body. Her fraternal twin Cassie, her best friend, is just the opposite.
Things change when Cassie falls in love with Mina. Molly is forced to get out of her aloofness and make new friends. Mina’s best friend Will takes a liking to her and he is about to become Molly’s 27th love interest when she meets Reid, her nerdy co-worker.
With Cassie moving further apart from her, Molly is forced to handle having the attention of two guys alone. To top it, her parents are finally tying their knots with the legalization of gay marriages in the USA and she has more on her plate than ever.
Will Molly and her awkward self, be able to pull this off? Will Will become her 27th unrequited love (did you see what I did there?) or is it someone else? You will have to read the book to know more.
Book review of The Upside of Unrequited
The Upside of Unrequited deals with several themes that are relevant in today’s world – peer pressure, body image, teenage love, and rejection.
I loved the writing. The style of the author is definitely quirky and cheerful that kept me hooked until the end.
One thing that The Upside of Unrequited has been continually praised for is the diverse representation of minorities, interracial and LGBTQ couples and families. The characters are diverse, of course, well thought out but still are too perfect to be relatable, except maybe for Molly.
Molly’s flawed, funny, socially inept characterization would be relatable to everyone who has had that phase. I like how family and sisterhood was important to her.
I would have loved Molly except that for the fact she had one goal in her life – finding and kissing her boyfriend. And all of a sudden she gains her self-worth when she finds herself a guy. Erm.. definitely something we don’t want books to reinforce of the kids today.
Bottom line
Despite the predictability in the plot, as one might find in most of YA romances, Becky Albertalli’s writing wins the book for me, I could not put the book down even for a minute before I could finish it.
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Drama |
Why are some people rude to people without thinking twice? Do they realize the effects of their actions on others’ lives? Do they know they are hurting, belittling and may even pushing the other person to the edge?
And most of importantly, would they change their behavior towards other people if they were given a Second Chance?
About the book
Book Name: Second Chance
Author: Sandeep Jatwa
Genre: Fiction – Drama; Paranormal
Characters: Shekhar Kappor, Unnati Sharma, Manohar, Kailash
Setting: India
Disclaimer: Thanks to V Influencers for sending me the free copy of the Kindle edition in exchange of an honest review.
Plot
The story begins with Shekhar Kapoor, a business tycoon and the owner of Aerowalk Shoes receiving a strange telephone call from ‘the city of justice’ warning him to change his behavior and to be a better person. He ignores it presuming it was a prank call and continues to live his life.
Shekhar Kapoor is the stereotypical businessman who would do anything to get whatever he wishes for. He holds a grudge against his paralyzed father for decades now. He does everything to make sure the lives of people he doesn’t like a hell and promotes men who praise him and women who sleep with him. Yes, our protagonist is a petty, arrogant, disrespectful and obnoxious guy.
Back to the plot, he receives two more warnings and when he disregards them, he meets with an accident and dies (!!). The book is called Second Chance for a reason, that is what he exactly gets but not without being a taught a lesson or two. Was it enough to change him? And if it was, does he change for good or worse? Read Second Chance to know more.
My initial thoughts
By far, Second Chance is my quickest read of 2017 and it took me an hour and a little more to finish it, thanks to the simple narrative style of Dr. Sandeep Jatwa. The book reminded me a lot of the movie Anniyan (Tamil) / Aparichat (Hindi), which explains a lot about the punishments one would receive in Hell, after your Judgment Day according to Hindu Mythology.
Things that didn’t work for me
Again the writing style irritated me to the core. The sheer number of grammatical errors and the literal translation of the Indian slang into English made me cringe. The characters were all one dimensional and flat, and none of them ever developed until the end.
Things that worked for me
- Despite the above-mentioned problems I had with the book, the story had me sucked in.
- Not that it was unpredictable but I just wanted to know how it turned out for Shekhar.
- The moral lessons were spot on and the lesson about Karma was growing stronger, (some may consider this a spoiler) except that Shekhar ends the story saying “Why can’t we do the right thing in the wrong way?”. Erm.. so the Second Chance did not work? Or has it?
My thoughts in general
This is not part of my critical view of the writing or the characters as such, but I feel the need to say these things as an angry reader. I did not even mind the cardboard cut characters, but the portrayal of the female characters, even the flat ones. There are about five women in the story.
One is introduced as a airhead, who sleeps with someone and gets a promotion after being in the company for a week. Another employee who is ‘pretty’ but ditched by her fiancé when she becomes bald temporarily, due to a surgery.
The same female was enraged when she is passed on for a promotion that she very well deserves but gives up her career to take care of her fiancé’s bed ridden father. I mean ‘okay, it is her right and all’ but it bothers me how all the women had to be reduced being ‘pretty’ ‘docile’ and ‘beautiful’ repeatedly. There is more to us.
Maybe am just being overtly sensitive. (I AM NOT)
Bottom – line
Anyway, if you are up for a story that has a good balance between suspense and moral lessons, that has a simple narrative Second Chance should be your pick.
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