Inane Murtaza

Ever been to a movie whose trailer was pretty meh but since you have been asked to still watch it, you do it just for the sake. At times this proves to be a pretty good decision but at times this could lead to disastrous results (I still remember cringing at Jai Ho). On the Open Road by Stuti Changle was a similar experience for me where the blurb just didn't excite me much but I still went ahead and picked up the book and here's my take on how the book fared on my charts. Blurb (From Amazon): Myra wishes to  break free  of her cubicle. Kabir wonders what life would be to  build  on his own. Sandy drops out of college to work on the  next big startup  idea. Ramy inspires millions of his generation on his  travel blog - on the open road.  on the open road - THREE LIVES, FIVE CITIES, ONE STARTUP, revolves around the lives of these restless and dreamy 20-somethings as they battle their inner demons and the societal taboos to live life on thei...

I have been suffering from a reading slump for quite a while and hence finishing a book has become a huge task for me these days. So, I wanted to make sure that I would start with a book that could make me get over this slump. Chakravyuh was one of those stories that has a lot of promises in store. Read on further to find out whether it stays high on its promises or falls flat. Blurb : Arjun Sud, A 42 year old, CA lives a stressful corporate life working for an MNC with his family in Mumbai. Their adventure holiday turns into a brutal battle when the innocent family gets surrounded by the tribals. In the middle of the jungle, Arjun is faced with the tremendous horror of fighting the mighty Paharias at the same time solving the complicated puzzle (CHAKRAVYUH) to free his beloved family. Racing against time the family has a daunting task of cracking a meticulously designed ancient maze against unknown scavengers in uncharted territory. The story unfolds as the family finds the secrets...

By now, almost every one of us would have somewhere or other seen the cover of the book with a weird face or a boy with a spacesuit alien. For those who haven't, you guys should immediately Google the word 'Wonder' and I hope this jogs your memory. The book deals with a boy with Treacher Collins Syndrome and how his life is affected when he finally decides to join school after years of home schooling. Blurb (From Goodreads): Ten-year-old August Pullman wants to be ordinary. He does ordinary things. He eats ice-cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But Auggie is far from ordinary. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, he has been home-schooled by his parents his entire life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, Auggie's parents are sending him to a real school. Can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all? My Take on the book: What attracts you immediately to th...

“She looked like a wild thing new-caught and just barely groomed into submission.” This quote aptly described not just the main character in the book but somewhere it also describes the actual book and the way it progesses. The Bear and the Nightingale is the first of Winternight trilogy by Katherin Arden, a beautiful book based in Russia which revolves around Vasilisa and her family and the way their lives tangle with elements of superstitions and Gods. Blurb: In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church. But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods... What's good with the book: 1. The beautiful plot. The ...

Almost 5 years back, when I was in Delhi, I was finally able to visit the Delhi Book Fair and the trip just could not get any better. I finally had the privilege to meet Mr. Bond (Not James) who was signing books at that time. A lot of my friends tell me that it is not a big privilege to get a signed book of his as he is quite easily available in a cafe in Dehradun but coming from a small town where you hardly get to see any authors, this was quite special to me. Though I should inform that it was my very first Ruskin Bond book that I had ever purchased and I never looked back. Coming back to the book, this will be quite a short review as the book is of hardly 105 pages along with illustrations. The book was published on the occasion of Mr. Bond's 89th birthday and it talks about his relationship with his father 2 years before his death. The book takes the readers to Delhi in first half of the book where Ruskin starts developing a bond with his father when he takes a break...

'A Horse Walks into a Bar', I finally picked this book up after reading a lot about the accolades the book had received including 'The International Man Booker Prize'. I did mention about my apprehensions of Booker Prize Winning books in one of my previous posts and had also mentioned about how I finally overcame it with 'The White Tiger'. So, when I came across this book, what caught my sight was its minimalistic and beautiful cover and it's weird title. A bit of a research on Google helped me uncover the mystery behind the title. Coming back to the book, the book revolves around two protagonists Avishai Lazar and Dovaleh Greenstein. Avishai, a retired judge recieves a phone call from Greenstein who asks him to attend one of his stand-up shows and judge him. Avishai keeps wondering, why he has been called to the show as they haven't been in touch with each other since childhood. They had known each other for quite a brief period which intrigued Avi...

I was quite hesitant to pick up a Booker Prize Winning Book after the terrible experience that was 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. I know I'm gonna receive a lot of flak for terming it as a terrible book but I just couldn't grasp that book and the only good thing that the book did to me was cure my insomnia. As years passed by, I tried challenging myself on having a goal on the number of books I read per year based on certain topics and that's how I came across 'The White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga which came under the topic 'A book narrated through Letters/Mails'. I did try to procrastinate the book but the inevitable had to happen. Lo and Behold! The book turned out to be a surprisingly interesting read and honestly I didn't regret reading it even a bit. This prompted me to go for another book of his 'The Selection Day'. Though I must admit, I had bought the book on kindle for the sole reason that it was available at a very ...