Category: Book Review

Book length: 466 pages
Genre: Fiction; Adventure Thriller
Format: Paperback
Personal Rating: 4.5/5

Buy the book here: https://amzn.to/39y8mJf

Book Review: Ambitions. Dreams. Goals. Achievements. The slightest sound of these words ignite a fire within your mind and soul, doesn’t it? That’s the reason why I call them the fuel of our lives. Our ambition is the mother of dreams, and dreams the mother of achievements. And hence, the ambitious find success wherever they set their hearts to. Such is the story of George Mallory, whose dream was the on the tallest height of the earth, which got him all the admiration and respect a man can hope for, but also ultimately led to his departure from the world. Jeffrey Archer narrates his story inside out, and what the Paths of Glory lead him to.

George Leigh Mallory was a celebrated British mountaineer and explorer, who led the early British expeditions to Mount Everest. He was one of the best mountaineers of his era the world had known. He was professionally a school master, who had also fought in World War 1. The British had launched 3 expeditions to Mount Everest, and Mallory led all of them. The first expedition was for reconnaissance, the second for actual action (which failed by a narrow margin) and the third to amend that.

George and Sandy Irvine; an extremely young and comparatively less experienced climber were the ones who made the final assault to the summit, and met an unfortunate as well as mysterious fate in their conquest. The two started out from their last camp at 26,800 feet (8,170 metres) on the morning of June 8. Another member of the expedition claimed to have caught a glimpse of the men climbing in the early afternoon when the mists briefly cleared. Mallory and Irvine were never seen again.

Ever since, their success or failure have been a mystery. The Alpine Club is torn between whether they did succeeded to the summit, and if they did, who was the first. An expedition had set out in 1999 which found Mallory’s corpse at 26,760 feet, but Irvine’s body was never discovered.

Jeffrey Archer makes an attempt to put forth the life story of the man whose chosen path of glory brought his demise. In a way, the book is a biography, which maps the entire life span of George, although its included under fiction. The book also ends on a note which proposes Jeffrey Archer’s point of view of the actual ending. A story consisting of varied elements like history, romance, technical mountaineering knowledge, state of different places around the world in that period and most importantly.. Who was George Mallory as a human, you are in for a treat if you’re a reader like me.

Personal Opinion: As you can guess from the rating, did not regret a split second of reading this book. If George was anything like described in the book , then I am in love. I don’t know why, but reading this book stirred something within me. Frankly, I collapse into a thought slump after reading any book, the one I had after this was the longest in some time. But again, since it’s fiction, we don’t really know if this was really George, or an imaginative fruit. That is the only aspect which I personally find disappointing, specially after some essays I read on him. Rest, do give it a read!

Genre: Humour, Non-Fiction
Length: 304 pages
Personal Rating: 5/5

Buy this book here: https://amzn.to/2T9YKAb (Paperback)

https://amzn.to/3Aa0gTp (Hardcover)

Book Review: Who am I? What am I? What is this world? Why is everything the way it is? Who decides the present and the future? What was the past? Was it really the way we think it is? What is our aim here? Why are we here? I’m sure these questions cross all our minds, at least once in this lifetime. Its a natural human instinct, and even the renowned actor, comedian and author Timothy Alan Dick, or ‘Tim Allen’ isn’t able to escape that. That’s the base idea of his book ‘I’m Not Really Here’.

The entire book plot happens over a weekend, when Tim is home alone as his wife and daughter are out for a camping trip. Tim wakes up suddenly from a strange dream, which is a result of his constant readings about ‘quantum physics’. Whatever he discovers about reality, along with a mid-life crisis which he faces, keeps his conscious and subconscious occupied.

As a cherry on the top, he loses something deeply valuable and important for him (Why is it so? Even he doesn’t know). So now he sets on a quest to find his missing property, and introspect the thousand thoughts which have clouded his mind.

A series of conincedences and unfathomable events, help him delve deeper into his inner self. Lost pieces of his past show up on his doorstep, forming a noticeable pattern… Which will help him with everything his mind needs if he’s able to decode them.

While at it, he also shares a ton of insight from his life. His childhood, career, marriage, religion, parenthood, time in prison… Everything. He shares lot of excerpts and stories along with his feelings, emotions and viewpoints (with his iconic dash of humour of course). As the weekend draws to a close and his wife and daughter return, he not only finds what he seeks for.. but also way beyond.

My honest opinion: My favourite June month read along with Mountain Mist &Meghalaya (check out the blog section for its review!), without a doubt. Enjoyed every moment of reading it. Its got me so hooked onto quantum physics, so if I just disappear one day, you know who and what to blame. Apart from that, his signature comic style makes the book a fun ride. I resonate a lot to Tim’s thoughts, the book puts your mind to a great exercise, which feels so effortless. Worth the rating and every minute I spent.

Genre: Non-Fiction
Format: E-book
Personal Rating: 3.5/5

Buy this book here: https://amzn.to/2TPMAMu

Book Review: Dating, relationships, love… The sheer thought of it sends our heartbeats spiralling.. doesn’t it?(come on admit it, it does, even though just a little bit). But like every other thing in the world, it comes with strings attached, especially if you’re looking for love. Datebook: The New Age Guide to Modern Dating by Anushka Mehta is a book aimed to help you navigate and give you insight into the dating world.

The book majorly focuses on how the course of dating and relationships is changing in today’s digitally advanced world, and how technology plays a role in it. It covers all aspects of dating, from traditional to modern, the methodology, the boundaries, the problems and some solutions.

Every chapter of the book covers specific topics, there are 18 such chapters covering 18 topics. It also covers some closely related concepts like sexual identities and the various terms related to it which we might not be aware of.

The book also makes an effort to erase the stigma around sex, and openly discusses several pointers on the same lines, explaining the role of healthy sex life in a relationship. It also speaks about the ways to a successful and thriving relationship, and solutions of the problems which might arise.

My honest opinion: Overall, I liked the book. It is to the point and acute. There was only one part which I find a little bit inaccurate was the mentioning of signs that show a ‘girl’ liking someone. Frankly, I feel that is something extremely diverse and can never be generalised. The points which were mentioned as ‘signs’ can very well indicate a deep friendship. It doesn’t necessarily display romantic interests. These ‘signs’ might be misleading for the readers. Again, this is just my perception.

Genre: Children’s Fiction
Length: 173 pages
Personal Rating: 3.5/5

Book Review: Ranthambore Adventure is children’s wildlife adventure book by Deepak Dalal. He is a famous Indian author, who left a career in chemical engineering to write for children concentrating on wildlife. This book is a part of his ‘VikramAditya’ stories series, wherein he records the ventures of two best friends, Vikram and Aditya, in wildlife and nature with animals.

The book follows two stories, one of Vikram, Aditya and their friend Aarti and second of a family of tigers. Vikram’s father is the head of a wildlife conservation organisation in India, and the increasing tiger crisis takes a toll over him. They almost succeeded on their mission to capture the biggest poacher responsible, Shankar Chand, but somehow he still manages to escape.

Aditya can’t bear his mentor’s dejection, and sets on a trail to find evidence against Chand and get him arrested. Meanwhile Vikram goes to visit and stay in the Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary. Aditya manages to find Chand and steals away his important diary, which would form strong evidence of his deeds. But before Aditya could even inform anyone of his find, Chand discovers him and kidnaps him.

His friend Aarti gets to know about the whole affair, and manages to follow Chand’s men and reach Ranthambore, to inform Vikram and the authorities of Aditya’s abduction as well as Chand’s devious plan to poach the king tiger of the sanctuary, Genghis.

A chase, both in the wilderness and in the lives of Aditya, Aarti, Vikram and Genghis unfolds, where all they rely on is luck, prayers, strangers and hope.

So what happens next? Does the evil win, and the life of the king of the sanctuary, Genghis end? And what about Aditya? Do Aarti and Vikram succeed in saving Aditya from the clutches of the merciless poacher? Or does it all go down the drain. That’s Deepak’s story to tell…So why don’t you read the book too itself?

My honest opinion: The book beautifully describes the life cycle of tigers, giving us fascinating insight on what life means to this nature’s child. I loved the way it captures the essence and highlights the danger associated to fauna which is still present even today. But when it comes to the human stories, even though they are well articulated, to a minute extent I find them problematic. The book is written for kids, and the incidents which are shown in the lives of the teenagers is unrealistic to some range. It might create impractical expectations in their minds, because as kids we are prone to mixing fantasy and reality. It could have been better if the story would have been a little more clear sighted and detailed. PS: Again, this is just my personal opinion.

GENRE: Fiction
LENGTH: 264 pages
PERSONAL RATING: 3/5

Buy this book here: https://amzn.to/3iWL4CW

Eyesight. One of the most important parts of our life, isn’t it? Most of our life is based on our perceptions, directly or indirectly. And our eyes are our gateway to this world of perceptions, views, notions and.. gazes. Our entire life is standing on the foundation of seeing and being seen, is the baseline of the book ‘The Gaze’ by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak is a renowned Turkish author, the mind behind one of the bestselling books ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’. In this book, The Gaze, Shafak tries to explain how the power of sight and the ability to see influences our own life and the lives of others around us. She does this with a series of different stories, but the main plot of the book is the story of a unique couple; an obese woman and her dwarf lover. Now we are already aware how this world treats people who are quite different than an average human. And this couple doesn’t receive a treatment any lesser than that. Sometimes fuelled of pity, sometimes disgust and sometimes surprise. Tired with that, they only find comfort in confiding themselves and their relationship in the four walls of their apartment. But one day, B-C, the male lover, comes up with two simultaneous ideas.

He is portrayed as an extremely quirky and opinionated man, with an unusual behaviour. He is working on a ‘Dictionary of Gazes’ wherein he lists many words alphabetically and tells short excerpts based on them, related to seeing. To get enough material for this, the couple starts going out in disguises and putting themselves in several situations which are not a part of their normal lives. But apart from this, the author includes a few abstract tales from different parts of the world, that emerge from the concept of being seen and seeing.

My honest opinion: While I absolutely adored the concept of the book, I didn’t much like the articulation. Abstract is the best word I can use for the entire book. The language at many places is quite irksome, and at many times you might want to stop reading it, because things are just not making sense. Either the metaphors are too complex or they are actually just written for the sake of being written. There are certain statements in the book, mostly gender biased, which I find stereotypical and problematic. This should have been avoided. And few concepts in these specific stories are a bit too much of exaggeration, even for fiction.

But there is one thing which is excellently highlighted and should be a lesson to everyone who reads it, is that how difficult life is for someone with appearances which are considered as ‘abnormal’. There is much people having them already go through, and us fellow humans with our behaviour marinate their wounds. We have to be better than that. We should treat someone on basis of their conduct and not appearance. Everyone knows this, but less people follow. I appreciate this effort of Shafak’s, but overall, this could have been much better.