Anon by Bhavani Iyer
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 31/05/2018
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback
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Bhavani Iyer is a screenwriter for many Hindi films and television shows, so when I received this book, I knew I would not be disappointed. Anon is her debut work published earlier this year. The storyline is based in Calcutta of 1960s-70s where Jazz clubs are still lively.

The storyline revolves around two personalities, who are different by a vast amount of surroundings between them yet, they found each other become friends. One is a son of a wealthy landowner and another is born into a fisherman’s family. One is a genius vagabond, another is an ambitious dreamer. However, both of them share a common passion. They both are aspiring writers and have their own share of struggles.

Their friendship is however not only based on the common passion they share. It is actually the different personalities, like two opposing forces attracting each other. It is their story, where one gets the chance to live and other to die.

The narrative style third person and is used very well. The charm of this book is in its characterization. Apart from the two main protagonists of our novel, the characters are lively and cope well with their own roles or the amount of time they are given to appear. The development of the two protagonists can be observed throughout the novel. The writing style is excellent and engrossing. It is because of the manner it is written that as a reader I could observe the emotions that change with time inside a human mind. Crushing memories from past, nostalgic ones from the childhood, this book is full of them.

4 out of 5!

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Infin-Eight: Eight Principles for Infinite Professional Success by Prajeet Budhale
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 01/05/2018
Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship, Self Help
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
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Keshava by Bhawana Somaaya
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 20/04/2018
Genres: Fiction, Mythology
Pages: 240
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Bhawana Somaaya is a journalist and an author of 14 books. Her latest book, Keshava – A Magnificent Obsession. Lord Krishna is one of the many gods in Hindu religion. He can be identified in various forms and his identity is spread in a variety of cultures all across the nation. That said, he has been a significant part of Indian Mythology.

This book does not have a significant plot that concentrates on character building with twists and turns. This book is something altogether different. It is divided into nine different chapters in which the lord is himself represented as different entities. These entities vary from being an obsession, lord of knowledge, cows and trees, love, guardian to royalty, and other materialistic things. The fascinating fact I learned from reading this book is the popularity of Lord Krishna among different cultures and he is recognized in them through more than hundreds of names.

There is no wonder why his popularity resides outside the boundaries of Indian culture over the past few decades. In each chapter, he is representing himself and telling tales or observations from the different point of views. The writing style is smooth, clear and I appreciate the author’s effort in creating them out of nowhere.

Though the absolute religious mythology is not for me I will still recommend this book to various mythology lovers out there.

3.5 out of 5

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Such is Her Life by Reecha Agarwal Goyal
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 20/04/2018
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
Pages: 184
Format: Paperback
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Such is Her Life is the debut work of writer Reecha Goyal published earlier this year. It is a heartwarming collection of thoughts. These thoughts are based mostly on reality and presented to us as a reader in the form of musings. It is as clear and raw as if I, the reader is picking on her brain.

Expressed over 184 pages long, the whole concept works well as it contains around 150 musings. The common theme of these musings is the role a woman plays in lives of everyone as a mother, daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, but societal norms do not appreciate all the effort to the life giver herself. I know that the western world has accepted or adapted or changed for the better over the period of time with some force but societies in countries like India are still retrograded. Some of these musings are short and some are long enough to make you think what a woman has to go through in every phase of her life.

Life kept changing and she kept accepting it. Until the day she started questioning. And that changed the game. Changed her life. - @AgarwalReecha
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Some of the author’s thoughts are bold for the society to absorb and I think this is what we need. Some of the highlights of this book are honor killing, dowry, neglection, societal expectations, gender discrimination and the tenderness of a mother or a woman in love. It talks about these realities in lesser words that will make one think hard. Written in simple language, some of these proses are going to stay with me for a long time. Hats off to the publishing team by coming with a genuinely themed book that does match with the theme of the book.

4 out of 5!

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Clarity is the Only Spirituality by Susunaga Weeraperuma
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 02/2018
Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Self Help
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
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How often to do you think a human brain, your mind, is at peace? Not the ultimate peace, but the one from all the daily chaos that makes it scattered and eventually affects our decisions. Susunaga Weeraperuma who devotes different forms of yoga, organic gardening, creative writing, reading, and meditation, thinks has the answer to the above question and has come out with a book with the same level of wisdom to enlight his readers.

The book starts on a high note and directly with the first chapter. The author addresses the title of the book in the first chapter and goes on talking about ‘attention’ span of a human mind in the first chapter. The whole book is divided into eighteen chapters. Broadly, these chapters are about the importance of communication, religious tolerance, forgiveness, giving, societal activities, utilizing time, books and solitude, stress, chastity, and death. Each chapter is an essay which describes author’s experiences with the title or the subject.

Sounds a like a self-help but I think it is not a traditional one. Moreover, it is a collection of essays that revolve majorly around one thing, YOU. The writing style is easy to understand and cope with. The flow of each easy is interesting as the author tends to build a story and then dives deeper into the matter. The length of the is around 220 pages but that does not make it a light read. It is time-consuming and heavy.

Some of the essays do no conclude well in my opinion. They resemble the writer’s personal opinion in particular situation or in life but that is not true for everyone. There are things which can be generalized such as the way he talks about stress, not many have done in their work. That kind of effort is appreciable. Having a strong opinion is good, but nothing is constant except the change. Forcing down one’s opinion and passing it to the reader as a proclamation tells a lot about the writer and is disappointing. Overall, most of the essays are good to read.

3 out of 5

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Voice of the Rain Season by Subrata Dasgupta
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 03/2018
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
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In past two years, I feel Indian fiction is on a rise. Not only the authors are trying to do the lonely job of writing elegantly, publishers have started acknowledging it. Such a book I came across, Voice of the Rain Season written by Subrata Dasgupta. A tale full of warmth.

The plot is based on the intertwining lives of two individuals, Martin Shawncross and Joya Bose, both in their twenties one American student and the other a Bengali teacher who teaches Indian Literature in the United States. The plot dives deeper into the lives these two characters as Joya learns about Martin’s Bengali background and is intrigued by the fact stated. She is attracted to the friendliness but also to the mystery that Martin’s family’s long-forgotten secret.

The storyline clearly surpasses the geographical boundaries in order to entertain the reader and at the same time answer to the question that it possesses. What I liked about the development of the storyline is that steadily progresses with giving enough time for a reader to be intrigued by it.

It uses in third person narrative voice as a medium to unfold in front of its reader. It is rich in human emotions and a lot of emphasis goes that way. There were never any hints of twists from the start but as the story moves, an unexpected surprise element is used by the author that defines the outcome of the book. I was much thrilled by it since the book does end on a mediocre romance fiction note. The characterization as to my expectations did not develop much after a point but the plot was enough to drive me further until I reached the last page.

I recommend you if you are looking to read a book written by modern-day Indian origin or a writer with Bengali background. It is enjoyable, a bit time consuming and rich of literary forms that go back to Rabindranath Tagore.

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Before You Start Up: How to Prepare to Make Your Startup Dream a Reality by Pankaj Goyal
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 24/11/2017
Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship
Pages: 200
Format: Paperback
Goodreads

The debut novel of Pankaj Goyal, Before You Start Up is about preparing for the life of an entrepreneur. This book offers insight on more than having an idea, evaluating it, the financial hurdle, and other pragmatic steps of launching your own product or a service company. It is a business book that I recommend especially to someone who might have doubts in their mind about the journey.

Doubts are not at all like holes in the brain cells. They are an essential part of a critical thinking process. But they often lead to low creativity levels. I urge not to dwell in them much. Instead, read this book. The first 50 pages of this book are highly critical. The author/entrepreneur himself starts by telling his own journey, a brief period of three years of his own product. All over the book, he has used quotes and cites text from the book that is already bestsellers and popular in the business world as well as with readers. He refers to the to his story in between the chapters. But that is not the reason I want you to read this book.

This book offers a lot of pragmatic advice that is important to observe if not implement all of it. I suggest you take his advice and his personal experience as his own point of view but at the same time you will find things useful. The world is full of them. You have your own and that is very necessary. No one has succeeded in their life by walking the track already exists. It is not a linear track for anyone.

The topics this book puts emphasis on are the generation of an idea, evaluating it, finding a co-founder, but most important one I found is understanding your “why”. It is all about your “why”. Everything starts and end at the “why” part. Best chapter of the book I would say.

Rest, as I said, his opinions are his own, I do not agree with his three-year breakup analogy of running a startup. You cannot judge a company or a product with that. What if it fails in the fourth year? He sounds too harsh in first pages of the book which in my opinion could have been anatomizing over the book instead of appearing all at once with more reasoning and understanding of the reader, especially, the first time readers. Here, at this point, the author assumes, the reader is already familiar with the sense of a topic. What if he is not?

3.5 out of 5

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Let Me Go by Shriram Iyer
Published by Fingerprint! Publishing on 01/11/2017
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 280
Format: Paperback
Goodreads

Shriram Iyer’s new book is about a relationship between two friends. Belonging to opposite gender, it tries to breakaway the taboo, the society has been implementing for many years. Does the book succeed in covering the theme? You will have to read this review to find out.

Anshuman Kale and Indira Kelkar are friends. All it takes to bring them close is a lost school bag, a missed school bus leading to a walk back home, and a few cutlets to beat the after-school hunger. As the now best friends grow up together, there is nothing that can come between their friendship. Or so they think!

Estranged for years, Anshuman, well settled in Australia is looking forward to marrying the love of his life while Indira is waiting to hear back on her euthanasia appeal. A glimpse of their past makes Anshuman to drop everything and return to her friend Indira. Will Anshuman’s soon to be bride accept the relationship? Why Indira appealed for euthanasia?

The plot is constructed in a manner that it brings the best of the characters. It moves forward with an equal amount of past story of both the main characters. The book is not a traditional romance fiction. It is a story about friendship with complexity that is possessed in the mind of an individual. The theme is unique and is touched by displaying the mixture of emotions and brave acts.

There is enough peek into what characters are if one reads the blurb of the book. It only develops further on reading the book. As I dwelled on it by turning pages, I adored the characterization. The writing style is good and authentic.

I recommend this book if you are looking to read something distinctive with a bit heart warmness.

4 out of 5

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