Solitude and Books

Antara Mukherjee’s poignant debut novel, Beyond Our Births, tells a touching story about a young girl searching for a place to call home.​ It is a chronicle of the un-belonged.  A bildungsroman- a coming-of-age story thats gonna touch many hearts I can gurentee. The book starts near the India-Bangladesh border, where a five-year-old girl named Nimki is left behind by her family after her mother gives birth to another child. Nimki is taken in by the Sengupta family in Kolkata.  They give her a roof over her head, but in return, she has to help with the housework. Because of this, she feels like she is living in a strange middle ground, she is cared for, but she never truly belongs. She longs for the love of Bina Ma, the mother of the house, but always feels second best compared to Bina Ma's own daughter, Ira. This felt heart breaking for she was just a lil kid. Its like weaving together the silent heartbreaks of those who live on the edges of countries ...

What would you do if your best friend went out to celebrate and never came back alive? Dead in the Quarter by A C Frieden drops you straight into a messy web of corporate greed and dark secrets. Lawyer Tod Rochon dies after a celebratory dinner in New Orleans. His partner Jonathan Brooks refuses to accept the official story and starts investigating.  Did you know the search uncovers a mailed FedEx package containing a July 2007 CD ROM and a note detailing war secrets from Al-Ghazaliya Street in Baghdad? Jonathan finds hidden photos and a deadly link pointing to former Colonel Vincent Labat, who is trying to thrive and run for public office in New Orleans.  Can you guess how a past military cover up connects to a murder in the French Quarter? The plot shifts between gritty war zones and the high end Four Seasons Hotel. It is a smart political thriller that keeps you guessing.

What would you do if a simple business trip suddenly turned into a race for your life? And worse, what if every clue led you closer to spies, hackers, assassins and a country where secrets seem to have secrets of their own? The Pyongyang Option by Jonathan Brooks Thriller pulls us into a world where trusting the wrong person can be a very expensive mistake. Jonathan Brooks is a New Orleans attorney trying to rebuild his law firm after Hurricane Katrina. With work not coming easily, he accepts a business deal in Ukraine. Sounds manageable, right? Well, not for long. His client's executive disappears, Jonathan is attacked, and soon he is chasing clues through Kyiv and even near the abandoned areas around Chernobyl.  I really enjoyed how quickly his ordinary legal work turned into something much bigger and far more dangerous. At the same time, Jonathan's ex wife Linda is in North Korea, reporting on important nuclear talks. She starts asking que...

Sapna Bhattacharya’s When A Met B is a good story set in 1990s Bombay. It is set against corporate world which revolves around two professional women whose lives meet while working at a software company. “A” is a hardworking technical writer. She quietly handles the financial needs of her family.  “B” is ambitious, confident, and very competitive. However, but she has insecurity and fear around technology.  Both women are very different, very contrasting personalities. But what makes it feel realistic is they are like us , having their own sets of fears, doubts, and struggles in life and career.  Its not like one of them is better than the other. Both characters have their own strengths, weaknesses and insecurities but their workplace rivalry feels real and shows how difficult it can be to balance ambition, honesty, and personal values. People in IT jobs can relate to it much more deeply.  As its all happening in the backdrop of 1990s Bombay , the setti...

Have you ever had a friendship that felt so safe and special that you could not imagine your life without it?  That is the kind of warmth I found in Hearts and Hiccups by Divya Ramaswamy. Set in college, this sweet romance brings together friendship, love, dreams, grief and the confusing little moments of growing up. Nia is brilliant, awkward and dependable, Amanda is the cheerful chaos everyone needs, and Jay is calm, sincere and quietly caring. There is no tiring big drama added just to keep things moving. Instead, we get small moments, playful conversations, misunderstandings and thoughtful acts of care. Nia, Amanda and Jay are not perfect, and honestly, I liked that. They make mistakes, get confused and sometimes hurt each other. But don't we all? The story begins with fun college days, silly jokes and easy friendship before slowly touching deeper emotions like grief, loss and healing. I enjoyed how the book does not rush these feelings. Nia...

 ✨️"Maybe that's the gift, if it is one. Not answers. Just permission to trust something before you understand why." — This captures the main message of the story I feel, reminding us that we don't always need to have everything figured out to move forward and trust our path. _______________________ Finishing this short story of 90 pages, felt like sitting by a quiet river after a long walk just like Aruni's gradpa and him. It is a moving tale about a boy named Aruni who leaves his home to search for answers, only to discover that life isn't about solving every mystery. The story focuses on the essence of ordinary things: tending a fire, carrying questions without needing immediate answers, and learning to sit comfortably with the unknown. The characters from Meher and her heavy gift to Pallav and brave young Kiv, bring meaning. ✨️"The saving isn't the point, boy. It never was. The going is." — Spoken by Palla...

This is a real story. Not a story, but a biography of the author, Moa Ijaz. It is his life through his nani's love, childhood sexual abuse in the most unexpected place, teenage perceived guilt and shame, and adulthood mental health breakdown. From infancy till his middle age, he shares how family, friends, relatives, and society downgrade us, and how that leads to us losing our identity, lowering our confidence, and later becoming like a "ghost." But why all this? Just because of some conventional, meaningless rules of families and society that refuse to look deep into the issues that need upgradation. I really felt for him. The evil preacher, who was really far from being God's voice, installed the virus, as the author says. But I would say he corrupted the thought process of a very pure human mind, leading him to feel shame, along with the shame he received from teachers, peers, and even his small uncle. I wish parents would be more open to sit and speak...