Book Review: Rage of Angels

ISBN04: 46366611

Author : Sidney Sheldon

Pages  : 504 pages 

Warner books, 1980

(Borrowed book no. 2 from ChaiCofi)

I have sinned and yet I'm purged from any crime. A validation to this dates back to my school days when my school library, in the brightly lite corridors of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, was my favorite places of all in the school and my librarian, Ms. Sushma, whose pet I was, carefully guided me through all the right books I should have read from the vast collection they had in there. She was a darling, in that she let me have the best of books at all times. She even let me slightly bend her rules. Everyone, but me, could pick one book a week and could return it only after that week. Everyone, but me, had also to write a detailed review of the books they read. I think the one thing she liked about me was my obsession over keeping the books neat. I never used to dog-ear mark pages and she taught me to hold the book properly, in that the binding are in 45'. I Loved all that about her. Even today when I walk into a library and I half expect to find her standing there, as I've not known a better librarian than her.

But while all shelves in that library were open to me, one wasn't. This was one afternoon after lunch when we had our library period and I had chosen two books from a shelf I always look beyond. This was a shelf on a closed wooden cupboard with glass doors. I had chosen The Godfather by Mario Puzo and a Sydney Sheldon book. But, like God forbade Adam and Eve from tasting Satan's apple, Sushma ma'm forbade me from reading both these books and any other books by the authors. Maybe she thought that I wouldn't enjoy it of she thought it inappropriate for my age, I might never know. But what I do know is that she putt me off these authors up until now.

Coming back to our subject, I have sinned and yet purged of crime. Behold while I take you through my experience with my first Sydney Sheldon book, Rage of Angels. It's one of those self discovery, coming-of-age stories, where Jennifer Parker, freshly out of law school landed a job at the DA's office and is very excited about her first day at work. 

The story is one of the most fast-paced and dramatic one I've come across. It actually reads like one of those serialized drama series you watched in late 80s and early 90s. Without giving away any spoilers let me just tell you that this story has been re-created on the silver screen in many languages, including Malayalam, my mother-tongue. And atleast the Malayalam movie was just as enjoyable as the book. 
So the most significant question here is whether I will read another Sydney Sheldon? The answer is-YES. I'm dying to read Tell me your dreams if not anything else. Will you tell me which one's from the Sydney Sheldon bandwagon did you enjoy? Post your comments here and do let me know; I would love to hear your suggestions. So until we meet again. Keep reading!

Quotes: My Story

"One's real world is not what is outside him. It is the immeasurable world inside him that is real. Only the one who has decided to travel inwards, will realize that his route has no end."

Pg. 103, The Psychoanalyst

"Society can well ask me how i became what i became, although born to parents as high-principled as mine were. Ask the books that I read why i changed. Ask the authors dead and alive who communicated with me and gave me the courage to be myself. the books like a mother cow licked the calf of my though into shape and left me to lie at the altar of the world as a sacrificial gift."

Pg. 147, Penfriends

Quotes: Sharp Objects

"I was a lingual conservationist."

"Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom."

"Lately, I've been leaning towards kindness."

Book Review: Sharp Objects

ISBN13: 9780307341549

Author: Gillian Flynn

Pages  : 336 pages 

W&N, 2007

Format: Digital

Gillian Flynn! Gillian Flynn! Gillian Flynn! For me she sparkled right through 2014. Gillian Flynn had me first excited about her book, Gone Girl, which was my first tryst withe her creative brilliance, and then the movie, which she screen wrote herself. (To find out how I felt about her book click here.)  

So, I naturally wanted to progress onto her other works. But you know how you don't want to OD over heady, dark and gritty books? That's exactly what kept me away from this one for this long.

Let's now venture into what this book is about. Camille Preaker, a journalist who is just out of an asylum is dealing with her own self when she's handed her first major assignment, to cover a twin abduction and murder in her native, Wind Gap, which is the last place she wants to be. The turn of events following the investigation of the twin murders puts her face-to-face with a lot of issues she isn't equipped to deal with yet. As the story unfolds we find us reeling in a whirlpool of mess Carmille is in.

The story is intensely disturbing and complicated, fiercely raw, dark and gritty. This one is not for teenagers or kids, given the number of teen aged characters it has. Unless you are a grown up you don't want to read this, not for the sexual content (it's not the least bit erotic), but for the bod rawness.

I often wonder what being in Gillian Flynn's mind would be like. I read this book at a time when my mind was clouded with dealing with some of the toughest decisions of my life. It was a time when I questioned by sense of self worth and this book urged me to take control over my life. You know how sometimes knowing people with much more messed up lives than you puts your life into perspective? That's sort of therapeutic. That's what this book did to me. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: The book hits the right spots if you like dark, raw and gritty subjects. 

Quotes: Rage of Angels

It takes a man to make a woman feel female, Jennifer thought, to make her feel beautiful, to make her feel wanted.

Jennifer about Michael

Time was a swiftly floating river that had no shores, no boundaries. Its seasons were not winter, sorting, fall or summer, but birthdays and joys and troubles and pain.

Sudney Sheldon

Book Review: Rozabal Line

ISBN10: 1780221355

Author : Ashwin Sanghi

Pages  : 359 pages 

Westland, 2007

(Borrowed book no. 1 from ChaiCofi)

Pardon me for being tardy to this blog here, but with life and work all spiraling all over and around me, this is one thing I don't want to let burden me. Hence, I do solemnly affirm that I shall and will write in my time and ease and record my will in this tiny virtual pocket of mine. When it comes to writing about books, the 3rd love of my life, nobody and nothing will ever be allowed to force me to pour my heart out. This is and will be my stress-buster and escape route from reality till I find a time machine! Enough about me now. With that reference to a time machine, let's get on to our task at hand (yes, I said t-a-s-k) at hand, and deal with this book-Rozabal Line.
But before we get into this book, the universe wants us to talk about Dan Brown because the entire universe has been comparing this book with The Da Vinci Code.
Now, Dan Brown is a diligent researcher. Period! I had to read two of his books, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, to reach this conclusion. Don't get me wrong, but I'm not judging his literary skills here (I'm not up to do that!). I've read the likes of Amish Tripathi and Devdutt Pattnaik, who are better known for their ideas, perspective and stories rather than their literary proficiency, and I have enjoyed their works boundless. So, mythology is not a new genre to me. And yet, my bone of contention with Dan Brown is exactly that. I appreciate both his consistent and diligent research and his dexterity in piecing one and one together to get the story going. And that brings us to Ashwin Sanghi's Rozabal Line.
This story is the saga of the three. It has three storylines merging into one to finally reveal what the whole book is about. There is an American priest, Fr Sinclair whose regressed memories from past lives start emerging causing him much surprise and terror. Then, there is an elite army of 13, who call themselves Lashkar-e-Talatashar, with Armageddon as their agenda. And then there is the Rozabal tomb in Kashmir which holds the key to a riddle that will unfold the Armageddon. The story has enough twists and turns to entangle you into confusion and chaos, much because of the absurdity of the tangents the story goes into defying logic all the while. I cannot deny that the research that went into this book is pretty neat. But that's about it. This book is all research and no story with some fiction that goes all over the place.
But if you like conspiracy theories and history and mythology, like I do, you might like this book here and there. So, it's neither all bad, nor all good. It's just one of those books you like, but not in its entirety.

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: If Dan Brown's  research are your forte, if you hated the way he completely ignored Indian mythological texts in his extrapolated conspiracy theories, and you hate his extremely repetitive plot-lines, then Ashwin Sanghi is most definitely what you had been waiting for. You will L-O-V-E this book.

Where do you love to read?

Life has its way of throwing adventures at you such as that one moment you fear that it could be too much to handle and the next moment you know you'll be fine. Just when I thought monotone would colour my life it threw in a few more colours. A new job, a new city and a sea change of people. What more could I have asked for?

View of ChaiCofi from my favorite couch

And, the ferocious mosquitoes and the tardy traffic apart, Cochin has been anything but benevolent. The best about Cochin so far, you ask? This place called ChaiCofi, from where I'm actually typing out this blog. Yes, they have free wifi. But that's not the only thing good about this place. The couches are to sink into. the cappuccinos and hot chocolates are all to be demanded extra-strong (That's how I like mine). The 'Lord of Chocolate'pastry piece is meant as an indulgence, and boy oh boy it's one hell of an indulgence. I treat myself to one evertime I finish a book from here. Which brings me to the best thing about ChaiCofi- the bookworm corner.

The wall of books. *sigh*

This place has a wall of books, a fairly good collection, which you can just grab and read. They also lend you books for a membership fee, which isn't as exorbitant as the food here is (yes, the food is good, but pricey). And besides you get a 10% discount on all your bills if you are a member (ka-ching!) Two books for a week does not look like a bad deal to me. They also have board games and FIFA gaming points, if you'd like. But I'm not the kind so I'll refrain my comments in that quarter. I'm here for the books and the coffee/chocolate, of course. Though I do wish they'd tone down the music a few notches at times.
Let me know of the places where you like to read. I'm sure your bed is one of your favorite places to read. And, did you know that they had a name for it? So didn't I up until today when I saw this on Facebook, which gave me this spark of an idea to write this blog.

Until later then. Keep reading. Ciao!

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