A Babbling Booktrovert

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Remnants of Separation Author : Aanchal Malhotra ISBN :  9789352770120 Publisher : Harper Collins Genre : Society / Non-fiction  Publication : 2017 Pages : 400 Format : Hardback BOOK BLURB: SEVENTY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE PARTITION, and a momentous event now recedes in memory. Generations have grown up outside the shadow of the communal killings and mass displacement that shaped the contemporary history of the subcontinent. Despite being born into a family affected by the Divide, artist and oral historian Aanchal Malhotra too had thought little about the Partition until she encountered objects that had once belonged to her ancestors in an Undivided India. A gaz, a ghara, a maang-tikka, a pocketknife, a peacock-shaped bracelet, and a set of kitchen utensils: these were what accompanied her great-grandparents as they fled their homes, and through them she learnt of their migration and life before the Divide. This led her to sea

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Homegoing Author : Yaa Gyasi ISBN :  9780241242728 Publisher : Viking Genre : Semi-Autobiography / Fiction Publication : 2017 Pages : 320 Format : Hardback BOOK BLURB: Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself. RATING: 5 ☆'s REVIEW: Sometimes you feel a draw towards a particular book without knowing anything about it or knowing why it is calling out to you - that is what homegoing was for me... I

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Serpent's Revenge Author : Sudha Murthy ISBN : 9780143427858 Publisher : Penguin Genre : Mythology Publication : 2016 Pages : 200 Format : Paperback BOOK BLURB: How many names does Arjuna have? Why was Yama cursed? What lesson did a little mongoose teach Yudhisthira? The Kurukshetra war, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which forced even the gods to take sides, may be well known, but there are innumerable stories set before, after and during the war that lend the Mahabharata its many varied shades and are largely unheard of. Award-winning author Sudha Murty reintroduces the fascinating world of India s greatest epic through the extraordinary tales in this collection, each of which is sure to fill you with a sense of wonder and bewilderment. RATING: 2 ☆'s REVIEW: I have always been a fan of Sudha Murthy's works - her writing is so simple, yet it touches upon the deepest fibres of your soul..

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Silent Companions Author : Laura Purcell ISBN : 9781408888100 Publisher : Bloomsbury Genre : Gothic Ghost Story Publication : 2017 Pages : 384 Format : Paperback BOOK BLURB: Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. But inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself... RATING: 4.5 ☆'s REVIEW: I love reading scary ghost stories, but I am never really scared easy. So I keep looking for spooky reads and that's how I came across this book. It was definitely a good read as is obvious from my rating though sa

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : 40 Rules of Love Author : Elif Shafak ISBN : 9780241972939 Publisher : Penguin Genre : Literary Fiction Publication : 2015 Pages : 358 Format : Paperback BOOK BLURB: Ella Rubinstein has a husband, three teenage children, and a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident and fulfilled. Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of Ella's life - an emptiness once filled by love. So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, and his forty rules of life and love, her world is turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious author of this work. It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism and verse, taking Ella and us into an exotic world where faith and love are heartbreakingly explored... RATING: 3.5 ☆'s REVIEW: Somehow buying books at the airport has always had a different kind of charm for me. With the limited selection, you end up d

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Bear and The Nightingale Author : Katherine Arden ISBN : 9781785031045 Publisher : Del Rey (Penguin) Genre : Fantasy / Russian Fairytale Publication : 2017 Pages : 312 Format : Hardback BOOK BLURB: In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church. But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods... RATING: 4.5 ☆'s REVIEW: The book derives inspiration from Russian Fairytales and their characters. And thus, it comes close to my heart. I don't really belong to a reader family even though my maternal grandfather was an English Teacher. So, the cr