The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Khaled Hosseini is a distinguished writer from Afghanistan and founder of Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help the refugees and downtrodden of his country.

The Kite Runner is a book based on two young boys who lived together but were never close to each other due to their social status.

Storyline: Amir, the son of a rich man in Kabul, Afghanistan is befriended by Hassan, a boy who is born to a low caste Hazara. Hassan, though is the servant’s kid, is allowed to play, dine and assist Amir in his daily routine. The innocent loyalty of Hassan towards Amir is so high that Amir’s father treats him as his second son and never treated him like a servant. But Amir does not replicate the same to Hassan many times, particularly one day when Hassan was attacked by a group of anti-Hazara boys from the neighborhood, when Hassan runs to fetch the kite struck and won by Amir in the famous Kite Festival of Kabul. This guilt of betrayal makes Amir to distance himself from Hassan though the later never minded it. This leads to Hassan leaving Amir’s home forever. Amir and his father later migrate to America after Afghanistan was taken over by the Russians. Hassan is forgotten by Amir in due course. After some years, Amir gets married in America and decides to visit Afghanistan followed by a phone call by his uncle Rahim. There he comes to know of his life secret that Hassan is non other than his half brother born to his father and the servant maid. Hassan dies in a Taliban attack trying to protect Amir’s house in Kabul a little earlier and is survived by his son, Sohrab. This child of Hassan is abducted by the Talibs from an orphanage and sexually abused. Amir takes the responsibility of rescuing Sohrab from the Talibs and adopts him, as a remorse to all his sins of betraying his father. Moreover Amir himself is childless. But the emotionally insecure Sohrab will not be able to gel into the new family as he misses his parents and freedom. After Afghanistan is freed from the Talibs, Amir and his family re-visits his homeland to do some charity activities. During one such activity, Sohrab takes interest in flying a kite and Amir flies the kite for him just like the way Sohrab’s father used to do for Amir. The story ends with Amir cutting the opponent’s kite and running for the severed kite just like the way his brother Hassan, used to do for him.

Pros: A great emotional story of live of two happy kids from different social strata, transformed into a tragedy for no fault of theirs. A story which shows how millions of lives have tragic endings due to an unexpected turmoil in the form of constant war, killings of the innocents and suffering of the survivors. Lucky were the one who were dead and dilapidated were the lives of the left behind. A highly emotional writing with apt usage of classic prose that will leave no reader tear-less while reading this book. I would recommend this book to every reader to know how some lives end up in tragedy simply for no fault of theirs. I appreciate the author’s talent in highlighting the Afghan culture and tradition in the most desirable way.

Cons: Child abuse was the point I hated to read in this book. Though this was the most disturbing fact of the day and ever growing menace in today’s world, I could not stand the way Hassan and his son were abused sexually by the upper caste during their childhood days. How can one do it to a kid? Disgusting!!! No wonder such kids will grow with extremist ideas and replicate the same after they grow up, inculcating the mindset of violence in their behavior..

My rating is 4.25 out of 5


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Strip Me Bare Plus Free Bonus Book: Cheat by Mia Perry
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

A book of super strong adult dirty talk, that arouses every male or female as long as he/she is reading through. The book takes the reader through a variety of sexual experiences of young girls right from their school, hostel, work and strange highway encounters with physically attractive males sometimes much older than them.
One would get the right understanding as to how far a young girl can go when it comes to satisfying her physical needs. It also gives a warning signal to those parents who have daughters studying or working, staying far off from them with respect to the kind of men they are exposed to and the potential threat that might arise in future regarding their safety, keeping in view the present trend of sexual abuses on young girls across the world. Young girls must be more careful and not just get attracted and get used to such brief physical encounters with strangers.
The author might have earned many laurels for having written such erotic books with grand imagination but such books might pollute the thoughts of the already disturbed youth, and also the adults, making them more and more prone to abandonment of cultural values and traditions of their respective societies. The danger of replication of the stories in the book in real life is all the threat I foresee whenever such books enter the market.

My rating is 1 out of 5


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WORLD WAR Z (HOLLYWOOD ACTION MOVIE)

Directed by Marc Forster, Produced by Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner and Ian Bryce. Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge and David Morse. Music by Marco Beltrami. Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Storyline: Gerry (Brad Pitt), a UN investigator is forced to investigate a deadly zombie outbreak across the world, through his superior at UN headquarters. He finds that the entire population in his city is fully infected with a strange rabies like infection which when bitten by the infected turns into a zombie within seconds. This pandemonium spreads fast across the world and Gerry’s family narrowly escapes the zombie attack. Gerry sets off to World Health Organisation’s Research facility at Cardiff to find a solution to the epidemic and in the meanwhile visits Jerusalem to find out how Israel was able to contain the zombies and protect the un-infected. There he discovers that the zombies only bite the healthy and not the diseased and feeble. He reaches the WHO facility with great difficulty and takes the risk of getting himself injected with an unknown deadly disease which can later be cured, from the facility’s lab. His daring attempt of trial and error goes successful as the zombies in the lab ignore Gerry’s body. He, then takes the vials of the curable disease and spreads it across the world only to protect them from zombies temporarily while zombies are eradicated slowly by the world military. The story ends with a happy re-union of Gerry with his family, who thought that Gerry was dead in his mission.

Pros: The screenplay was at its best in this movie. One would get many hair-raising moments and horrified by the way the infected zombies bite the healthy population who in turn get turned into zombies within seconds. Brad Pitt’s un-paralleled performance need not be mentioned. The emotional separation of the family when Gerry leaves to investigate the epidemic is captured very well.

Cons: Didn’t get the fact how the soldiers escaped from the zombies who were lurking everywhere and why other animals were not shown to be bitten by the zombies. There seemed to be something lacking in the direction which could not give the required punch in the climax.

My rating is 2.75 out of 5

The Symposium by Plato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This great work of Plato is a recording of a philosophical discussion and debate of Socrates and his contemporary philosopher friends at a banquet held by Agathon at his residence over the subject called DOCTRINE OF LOVE.

One would get mesmerized by the different opinions about love by some of the greatest Greek minds.The discussion and debate proceeds one after the other with each of the great persons like Agathon, Aristodemus, Eryximachus, Pausanias, Aristophanes and finally Socrates describe love in all possible permutations and combinations. Each of them have their own versions which might appear true to every reader in some context or the other. But the one given by Socrates was of course the best! His version of love is that of immortality through beauty. According to him every living thing loves to be immortal and eternal and hence it re-creates itself through an emotion called love. Hence according to Socrates, love is nothing but one’s affinity for eternity or immortality of body and fame, which is attained through this complex psychological emotion.
At one point in the book, the reader gets an impression about the speakers favoring homosexuality as some of them argue about the purity of love more in the same sex rather than opposite sexes. One gets a feeling that even Socrates favored this in his opinion. But we are not sure of how it got contemplated later.
One can get the best of philosophical definitions and derivations about love in this book right through some of the greatest minds of Greek philosophy.

My favorite quote in the book
“Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, in as much as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting”

My rating is 3.75 out of 5


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Wedding at King's Convenience by Maureen Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author is a native American writer who loves writing happy ended love stories.

Storyline: Maura Donahue, owner of a large picturesque farmland in Ireland, one day is encountered by the owner of a large film studio from New York, Jefferson King, in order to hire her farm to shoot his forthcoming film. Though initially Maura declines the huge commercial offer from Jefferson, she later budges to the same, when she finds that she is in love with the handsome and powerful King. She signs a contract with King after an irresistible sexual encounter with him. Jefferson leaves, having got his job done. Maura becomes pregnant later but will be unable to reach Jefferson at New York due to his busy schedule. One day, Jefferson learns that Maura is not cooperating with his crew for the shoot at her farm as per the contract signed and so decides to visit Ireland to know the reasons personally. There he discovers the truth of Maura’s pregnancy. Maura in the meanwhile develops deep hatred towards King as he refuses to love her but offers to marry her, just as an obligation, due to his past failed love story. Eventually, with the intervention of King’s family, both of them realize that they are in deep love with each other and cannot live without each other. King, then proposes his love to Maura and offers to marry her and also start living with her in Ireland to which Maura accepts.

Pros: It’s a cool love story of a self centered woman with a highly successful man. The strength of a woman when she wants to be what she is, has been elicited with magnificence here. The truth that even an Alpha male would succumb to a mentally strong woman is well written. Suppressing one’s egos sometimes to continue a relationship is very much necessary nowadays for the benefit of the family as well as society. This is the only link to extension of human race for some more centuries….probably!

Cons: I doubt whether such powerful and successful businessmen nowadays succumb to sentiments like love and marriage. Maura could have avoided the trauma if she was strong enough to avoid the physical contact with Jefferson. Her mental stubbornness was not gelling with her physical intentions….a clear reason for all the woes of her kind.

My favorite quote in the book

“ If every woman waited for a man who was worthy of her, there did be no marriages, would there?”

My rating is 3.5 out of 5


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The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A classic worth reading that tells everything about TEA and its origin. ‘Tea’, a native drink from China has reached all over the world and is now considered as the most highly consumed liquid after water, by human beings. This Oriental drink is considered sacred by the East due to its colour, odour, taste and medicinal characteristics. It was officially introduced to the European countries in the sixteenth century. It is surprising to learn through this book that teaism has its own schools of evolution, The Boiled Tea (Caked Tea), The Whipped Tea (Powdered Tea) and The Steeped Tea (Leaf Tea), representing the spirit of age they prevailed during the Tang, The Ming and The Sung dynasties of China respectively. Also called as Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, Cha and Ming, this drink was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue, delighting the soul, prevent drowsiness, strengthening the will, repairing the eyesight and alleviate rheumatic pains. “Chaking” – the Holy scripture of Tea, written by the famous Chinese poet Luwuh, details everything about the tea plant and its leaves, method of identifying an gathering the suitable leaves for best quality tea and finally the making of the beverage from how to boil to how to drink.
Tea has become a religion of the art of life in Japan also, where it grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement. Both Taosim and Zennism are said to be associated with the spirit of Tea and entire Chinese ideology seemed to have been influenced by this golden beverage. Finally, the importance and sanctity of a Tea Room (the Sukiya) in the Chinese and Japanese cultures is very impressive. Flowers and their arrangement in the Oriental homes also is linked to the great spiritual depths of knowledge nurtured by great emperors of China like Huensang. The birth and the Art of Flower Arrangement has been simultaneous with that of Teaism in the fifth century. The link is well established by the great Tea masters of China and Japan as a distinct religion by itself.

Pros: The philosophy entwined behind the great history of Tea is mind boggling. No one would ever think that a whole set of ideologies revolved around Chinese dynasties through the influence of Tea. The simplicity of the Oriental cultures is attributed to the doctrine of Teaism in contrast to the explicit display of riches in Western culture. The beauty of flowers and their service to mankind was really fantastic. It is astonishing to learn that all the celebrated gardens of Japan were laid out by its tea masters once upon a time. Even great arts like pottery, textile designing, cooking, serving, painting etc were linked to the involvement of the tea masters of the Orient – simplicity and naturalistic being the catchwords. Nice to learn about the Tea Conferences of Japan.

Cons: There is a lot of philosophy and spiritual teachings included in this book which doesn’t seem to have much relevance to Teaism. It only seemed to have been fitted in for better presentation of the book.

My rating is 2.5 out of 5


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Rendezvous With Hymera by Melinda De Ross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This Romanian author is a journalist who has a passion to write Romantic Suspense. This is her first book in her career.

Storyline: Clara, a writer by profession decides to spend a vacation in a countryside resort for about a month along with her Golden Retriever, Tony. There she encounters her teenage crush Colin, who now is a successful journalist. They fall in love with each other once again. Meanwhile, Clara experiences some strange feelings of seeing a ghost of a young girl in the resort lake and will be able to feel her presence once in a while. Colin and Clara investigate this mysterious girl and find that this girl named Eva Aris disappeared from this same resort some years ago and her missing case is still unsolved. After more inquiry they arrive at an astonishing fact that there exists three worlds
1. The material world (the one we live in)
2. The Astral World (which corresponds to purgatory) and
3. The spiritual world (Heaven).
This girl Eva died while practicing some dangerous stages of Yoga that could give some paranormal powers if mastered, but at the same time could prove fatal if the practicing person is indecisive, undisciplined and untrained. Eva’s soul which was trapped between some two worlds of existence unable to pass through, has made her soul wander between these worlds unable to get released. Finally, her soul gets released by the Yoga teacher who used to train her in her initial yoga training.

Pros: A good mix of romance with suspense. The story of Eva Aris gives a great moral of the superior and fatal affects of Yoga, unless practiced under able guidance and will power. Many aspects of spiritual interest have been highlighted by the author, with simultaneous insights about the Eastern cultures and her inclination to respect ideologies of other religions other than Christianity. It is nice to read philosophy in-between a Romantic Suspense, a rare phenomenon in many such books. I would like to credit this book as more of knowledge-based than a simple romantic suspense.

Cons: The ending of the story was quite abrupt and simple. The reader might have expected a rather little more longer and sophisticated closing arrangement.

My favourite quote in this book :
“I think being romantic is the capacity to turn an ordinary moment in something dream-like”

My rating is 3 out of 5


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Beneath the Clouds by Shane Goetze
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A fiction from China comprising of a story of some mysterious flying men who inhabited Southern China many thousand years ago, but now face extinction by the Communist Government of China, who see them as a threat due to their democratic style of living.

Bill Jacks, a journalist in Hong Kong one day receives a SOS email from one of the flying woman of the mysterious flying men called the HU, seeking help to save their species by reporting their story to the world. At the same time, surprisingly, the historic relics of the chief of HU, comprising of his bones, gets stolen from the local museum. Bill Jacks along with the Hong Kong police officer Allen sets off to mainland China to investigate the case and meet the woman who sent the email, with the help of the museum in-charge Chun and a ruthless Russian businessman Petrov. In China, Bill and Allen get duped by Chun only to be saved by Yin Ying, the flying woman of the HU. Petrov actually signs a deal with Chun to sell the HU bones in international market for a huge price, so that the DNA of the same can be used to develop similar flying men across the world and used for any kind of combat including terrorism. Later he discovers that Chun and Petrov used Bill and Allen to trace out the long hidden sanctuary of the HU species somewhere in the cold mountains of Northern China, which remained as a secret till date, in order for them to wipe out the remaining HU species from the face of the earth. Bill somehow with the help of Yin Ying and her remaining HU army will be able to save themselves and remaining flying men from Chun and his bad communist counterparts only to regain their lost glory with the remaining HU army get incorporated as the Flying Guard of Hong Kong Police as special secret forces.

Pros: A good mediocre science fiction that takes into account the unheard flying ability of some men of China. A sincere attempt to elicit the wish of many Chinese provinces, to democratize their country or atleast grant independent self government out of the Communist purview of this great country. The ill affects of the rapid industrialization of China and the kind of huge destruction the country is heading towards is well brought out. The book also portrays the inefficiency of the Chinese Government to contain the internal unrests in many of its provinces spread across its huge mainland.

Cons: The author seemed to have undermined the military and intelligence power of Chinese Army in this book. China is said to have one of the toughest border controls in the world, and hence the ease with which Bill and Allen enter Chinese mainland from Hong Kong cannot be as easy as it was written. It seemed very unreal as very little is known about the HU in world media. The book was quite boring at times.

My favourite quote in the book:
“ China may be better positioned economically than the Soviet Union before its collapse. But it is no less fragile as a country, socially speaking “

My rating is 2 out of 5


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Ajaya: Roll of the Dice by Anand Neelakantan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second book of the famous Indian author, who also brought “Asura, the Tale of the Vanquished”.

Another great experience of the other side of Indian Mythology. The author seems to have been a born rebel as I see a kind of great zeal in him to investigate and bring to light the aspects that would have been hidden in the great epics of Hinduism on which the entire ideology of the religion is based upon.

This is the story of Suyodhana, the great king of the Kuru clan, who is said to be the reason for the great Kurukshethra war and the greatest villain of the Indian mythology after Ravana of Ramayana. In this book, the author has made great effort to reverse the image of Suyodhana and his clan who were pictured and framed as villains against the good Pandavas, who have a common wife Draupadi. Suyodhana’s kind heartedness and his rebellious nature towards the vehement Brahmin dominated caste system in the then India probably has made him a villain and social disgrace to many vernacular kingdoms of India at that time. His affiliation towards the poor and needy made the higher castemen of the society turn against him and befriend the Pandavas, who were more inclined towards usurping the throne rather than being interested in the welfare of the downtrodden of the vast and powerful Hastinapura kingdom. Taking this as an opportunity, Suyodhana was cleverly dragged into a dispute with his cousins (Pandavas) by his cunning uncle Shakuni, who vowed to destroy India as a vengeance for the destruction of his Gandhara kingdom and assassination of his father by the Grand Regent of the Kurus, Bhishma. The book ends at the point where Pandavas lose their entire kingdom along with their wife in a clever game of dice, planned by Shakuni in revenge for Suyodhana’s insult in Pandava capital, Indraprastha, after umpteen number of twists and turns in the tussle for upper hand between Suyodhana and the Pandava brothers. The story is to be continued in the sequel “AJAYA II”

Pros: The best part of the author is that he always sees good in bad and a possible bad in good. The genetic lineage presented in a diagrammatic form at the beginning shows the effort the author has put in to create this book. The story of Suyodhana, just like Ravana, in the author’s previous blockbuster, reveals so many hidden and twisted facts that every Indian grows up to listen as bed time stories from their parents and grandparents. Every minute story of great characters of Mahabharata epic like Suyodhana, Sushashana, Aswathama, Ekalavya, Karna, Takshaka, Guru Drona, Guru Kripa, Parashurama, Lord Krishna, Balarama, Jarasandha, Subhadra, Draupadi, Kunti etc have been exquisitely captured from Kaurava side, rather than the usual Pandava side which almost every Indian heard right from his/her childhood. The author’s ability to create an unparalleled fiction without disturbing the true meaning, from Kaurava point of view is highly commendable, and requires a standing ovation. At the same time, the high handed approach of Brahmins and Kshatriyas in those days over the downtrodden Shudras is well criticized and tactfully opposed. The reader would be highly mesmerized over the facts produced by the author through his extensive research of various books. One would get kindled and angered by the atrocities and inhumane behaviour of the upper castes on the lower castes just to protect their identities and lifestyle, in the name of ‘Dharma’. Even the beloved God of the Hindus, Lord Krishna was not spared for his cunning and tricky methods of proclaiming himself as an Avatar of Vishnu, and favoring the caste system through Pandava affiliation. I really felt glad for having not being born in those days of Mahabharata, described by the author in this wonderful book….that was the kind of effect this book brought upon me. The scientific explanation of the birth of hundred and one Kauravas to a single couple in connection with modern science is mind boggling.

Cons: I bet that there will be scores of young minds that imbibe the author’s books seriously and develop a kind of hatred towards their deep-rooted beliefs on the ideology itself. I also have a feeling that any foreigner who gets a hand on Ajaya and Asura will start mocking at the great Indian culture and tradition, which is greatly influenced by its epics.
Coming to the story, there seems to have been some characters that disappeared suddenly in between, like Guru Drona and no mention of him in the later stages also. The violation of some of the codes of conduct by pious women in Hinduism had been brought out in a raw and unacceptable form, like Kunti bearing one child before marriage and three children through some other men after marriage, whatever may be the reasons, underlying.

My rating is 4.5 out of 5

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