Books And Writing - Blog Posts

They were sitting together silently and watching their shudders dissolving into sighs. Their oblivious stares weaving a music and tears making promises to make it up to sunrise.

A Vision Of Life

This is the first story of the “Avonlea Story Club” for the month (January 15th- February 15th). We tried to write the genre “Adventure” for this month. Hope you like it. My another club member is @emerald-notes​ . Please check out her story for the month too. P.s. The photo has been taken from the internet.

*****

I woke up at 9:40 PM. ‘Shit!’ I’m gonna miss my train,’ I thought. I quickly went to the bathroom, trying to fresh up, but to my unfortunate life, I could never do anything fast. I came back from the bathroom and started applying all sorts of lotions and moisturizers contained in my daily skin care list. But ugh! It always takes a lot of time. However, I tried to finish dressing up as quickly as possible because I had to catch the train at 10:15 PM. It was getting super late. I did not even look at my watch, fearing it would already be 10:15. Instead, I just quickly hopped in my car and started driving to the direction of the train station. But again, the traffic lights! “It’s gonna kill all of my time” I thought. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, I tried not to think what would happen to me if I was to miss the train. I started to feel very nervous and stressed. But then, to my great relief, the green signal came, and I started driving right away. The speed I was following was greater than ever because there was no way I could afford to miss the train. Finally, I got to the station. But again, to my utter disappointment, it was already 10:20 PM, and the train had already started running. I stood there watching it run. I could not stop thinking only if I had come 5 minutes earlier. Why did I even stop at the signal? What if I’d woken 5 minutes earlier? But there was nothing to do. What happened just happened. I missed the train. I was in great despair. What was I going to tell my parents? They would be disappointed with me as usual. I found a bench and sat there. My phone rang. I did not look at it because I knew it was my mother calling to know whether or not I got to the train safely. I couldn’t just receive the call and tell her that I didn’t get to the train, let alone safely. I started to get annoyed when my mother kept calling me for the third time. I wasn’t to face the situation. I couldn’t even decide what I was going to do now that I’d missed my train. “But I must do something”, I kept thinking. The whole situation was very pressurized, and I didn’t want to be in it. As I couldn’t stay undecided even for some time, I decided I would just sit there until I thought I should move. I knew it wasn’t an effective decision or maybe no decision at all, but I needed it in order to feel relaxed. Yes, I needed it, I needed some free time to make myself distracted. Yes, distraction was all I needed. I deserved it, I couldn't let myself get pressured. I was extremely tired, and I was beginning to feel restless. My eyes were closing. And then everything became black. 

I woke up again with a start. ‘Where was I?’ I thought. It seemed that I was in the station and fell asleep. ‘Of course, I didn’t leave it and didn’t even talk to mom and finally decided to rest here instead. What a silly thing to do!’, I thought. Suddenly, my eyes caught the stare of another  pair of eyes. The pair of eyes belonged to a man. The man was a bit gigantic.  He was looking at me with a wicked smile on his lips. He reminded me of someone I knew but couldn’t remember at that moment. I could not help hating him. He was making me uncomfortable with his continuous staring and annoying smile. I knew that that particular behaviour of that man was intentional. I kept thinking what I would do if this cruel man suddenly attacked me. I could not remember where I had parked my car. But that was not an issue because the keys are going to lead me to my car. So I started to search for the keys. But, Alas! My bag wasn’t with me. Quickly I reached my pocket, and it was what I had expected, my wallet was gone too. ‘What was I going to do?’ I started to become very tensed. I imagined the cruel man to have taken my stuff to put me in this dangerous situation. ‘How can I be this careless?’ I blamed myself. Then a worse thing happened. The man seemed to call someone without moving his disgusting stare from me. He was surely telling his friends to come meet him in the station. I seemed to guess what was going to happen if his friends had arrived. He and his friends were gonna surely hurt my feelings. I was going to be doomed. And yes, to make it obvious, I saw his friend arriving in the direction of that cruel man with a disgusting laugh. ‘No, this is not going to happen’, I pleaded to myself. I stood up and, without thinking twice, started running in the opposite direction. I thought maybe running from the situation would save me that time. But I was wrong. I heard mocking footsteps behind me. Yes, they were also running after me. As I said, I was doomed!

I had to quicken my steps as I was running for my life. I could swear that I had not run that fast in my entire life. There was a kind of forest near the station. Finding no other convenient place, I directly ran into it. As expected, the forest was very dark. As I was running deeper, it was getting darker. At some point, I could not even distinguish the trees. So, I had to slow down as I didn’t want to get hit by a tree and cause me more trouble. I noticed that the footsteps were no longer audible. I thought maybe they became busy with something more exciting. However, I was relieved. So, I sat down under what seemed to be a huge tree. I was sweating and struggling to breathe. I began to  think about a lot of things. I didn’t think it was worth living. Never in my life I did something extraordinary. It was rather boring as hell. I didn’t even like my parents. I was sure, neither did they like me. What was the point of calling each other and knowing stuff, I could not understand. Suddenly I saw a glimpse of light at the far end of the forest. I started walking towards it because my brain was incapable of thinking about anything else. 

As I reached the source of the light, I found a house. It was a wooden house. The house appeared very dark, perhaps because it was made out of very dark colored woods. I knocked at the door. I knocked it twice. An old woman finally opened the door. Her hair was all silver and she gave me a soothing smile. As I was just going to ask her something, she moved away from the door gesturing me to step inside. I obeyed her because she seemed friendly. I thought maybe she was the one who could actually help me get out of the situation. I sat on a tool near the fireplace. The old woman sat beside me. It seemed like she was ready to hear me talk. I could not decide where to start. It was always very difficult for me to start the discussion. Instead I started looking around her house. The house had only one room in which we were sitting. There was no other furniture other than the two chairs (where we were seated) and a table. The contents on the table were really weird. There were some moving dolls and a glass tube filled with a sparkling purple liquid. The dolls were very lovely looking. They had smooth skin and rosy cheeks and were glowing and radiating charisma. I was pleased at their beauty and their movement. Then, the woman spoke. 

“You seem to like the dolls, don’t you?”

“Yes, they are very comforting and lively”, I replied.

“You can be like them, you know, if you want.”

She took the glass tube from the table.

“This is called the ‘Elixir of Beauty’. This can make you happy just like it made the dolls happy”, she said pointing the tube towards me. 

I took the tube. 

“You can drink it” she seemed to suggest. I was hesitating. Things can happen this easily, I did not believe. “Can I really be as happy and lively as the dolls? Shall I trust the woman?” I kept thinking. 

Suddenly I woke up hearing a beep. It was my alarm. I really woke up this time from this peculiar dream. Was it a nightmare or an excitement, I could not tell. But I realized that, I didn’t yet miss the train. The train which was to take me to the job interview was still waiting. I could not miss that chance like I did before. I knew I needed it. ‘No slow-motion work this time’, I told myself. But firstly I had to take some moments to finish up my skin care routine peacefully because it was important. I had plenty of time but I had to make it useful. 

And I did reach the station and hopped on my train timely and safely. As the train was running, I decided what I would be doing after I had appeared for the interview properly. I needed to call my mom. Probably she liked me or liked me not but I did not have to think about that. I also do need to call my therapist and thank her. She was a good adviser after all. As the train started to run faster, I kept thinking about the dream. It felt too relatable. Like I had lived my life in that dream. 

Our first ever story writing club 💚

“Dracula” Book Review

Just completed reading Dracula by Bram Stoker. I’ve got mixed feelings for this book. There are some things which I liked, some things I did not enjoy at all. I would like to discuss thoroughly though I am afraid that I won’t be able to as I have forgotten many things. However, lets get started...oops!

The Things I’ve liked about Dracula:

1. The story itself is very good. It has gothic elements, the environment is very scary. 

2. The whole novel was explained indirectly by using different character’s daily journals which is quite interesting.

3. I loved the concept of Jonathan’s going to Transylvania and literally everything happed in there.

4. There were some things which were explained really well. This book contain some little mysteries which were good to read.

5. Totally loved the character of Renfield. Never seen such an interesting character.

The Things I’ve disliked about Dracula:

1. I couldn’t help feeling that this novel could have been a little shorter. There were some really unnecessary details which needed to be excluded to make it more better. 

2. Other than Renfield, none of the other characters I’ve found interesting. Even, Lord Dracula himself wasn’t that fascinating as I’ve thought at the beginning of the book. 

3. Other than some chapters, most of the chapters or scenarios were a little boring.

4. The relationship between the characters seemed really mechanical to me. I didn’t got them as they were portraited. 

5. Last but not the least, I haven’t enjoyed the writing style of Bram Stoker at all. The writings are really hard to follow. 

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Book Review

“To kill a Mockingbird” is not like other classics. Many of us think that classics are usually big and a bit boring. But this novel is not at all like this. It is soo good and enjoyable from the very beginning. The writing style of Harper Lee is very natural and understanding. 

The novel has represented many matters of the society very clearly through a young girl’s eyes. Many discriminatory factors of the society has been discussed thoroughly. This is a very simple novel but the simplicities are explained seriously. In fact, the whole novel is very pleasant to read and it has soo many details in it. 

The society of the Maycomb County is an interesting one though in a peculiar way because everyone knows about other other people’s every business. Even Jem and Scout know very little affairs of others like who’s loosing his third teeth which is really funny. 

The characters in this book is well described. I obviously loved the character of “Atticus”. It seems soo good that almost like every interesting character in any good novel is a reader. He is a great father and adviser as well. I am really proud that he is also a fellow INFJ! Some of his quotes are really mesmerizing. One of them is like” Before I can live with other folks, I’ve got to live with myself”. Another one is “A gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human”. He is great teacher and this thing that he literally shares many of his experiences and many other good things about people to his children and that is what making his children so smart and brave. 

I adore the relationship between Scout and Calpurnia. I have also loved some of the Cal’s dialogues like “It’s the same God, ain’t it?” And about Scout I would say, She is really and extraverted girl. And, the brother-sister relationship between Jem and Scout is very sweet. One of the Jem’s dialogue is strong too like “Clowns are sad, it’s folks that laugh at them”. One of the best part of the book is Scout, Jem and Dill’s acting of different plays as summer games. 

I can’t complete this review without mentioning one of the Tom Robinson’s dialogue. The most touchy one is “I’s scared I’d be in court, just like I am now”. Even Mr. Ewell’s character didn’t seems that bad. After all, he was a war veteran and never learned any behaviors so he obviously has his reasons to behave the ways he behaves. 

Now. I will talk about some of the scenarios I have loved. Like I have enjoyed the church part.  I have never been to any church. So the scenery was new to me and hence was a new experience. The court scene was great too. I have made another new experience regarding the court stuffs. This scene was explained with details and it was really easy to get along with. Some small details of the book is soo good that I really can’t bus just appreciate them. Like, in the court scene, in the middle of this serous event, Scout (as she is a child) didn’t even forget to tell Dill to have a look at the judge who was smoking cigar in his peculiar way. As they are kids, of course they will be noticing and enjoying these little things more. Overall, the scenes in the novel are explained very distinctly which make the novel very atmospheric. 

Reading the book, I have realized that it isn’t actually only about discrimination that occurs in the society but also mostly about how we tend to judge people outwardly. Every person is very different on the inside that we don’t seem to know by knowing them outwardly. I would definitely recommend this atmospheric, natural book to everyone irrespective of age. 

“All Summer in a Day” Review

Margot feels the sun more than other children because she was more closer to it and more distant from them.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ Book Review

‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a beautiful book which is hilariously written. It is a very social novel. The different matters of society explained in this novel is very much relatable to my own society. The errors and doings of the society then has been shown hilariously. The whole novel was arranged systemically and has represented the situations of women in the society. 

I enjoyed the conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Bennets in the first chapter. It represents how passionate the mothers were (still are in some societies) to get their daughters married to any fortunate, wealthy men. And the mothers kept competing with the others of their kind for this reason. And it was also not very uncommon that as much as they were in favor of those wealthy men, they were also very suspicious of them in every little matter. 

There is soo much things to say about the plot of the novel but i am afraid that i am going to spoil it and I want to keep my review spoiler free as much as possible. thus explaining this book is actually explaining the characters I think.

The character ‘Elizabeth’ reminds me of the character ‘Jo March’ from ‘Little Women’. She is very sensible woman.

Mr. Darcy isn’t the particular kind of hero that I like but certainly his character is very interesting. He is a great critics that I must admit. Some mechanical conversations of Mr. Darcy made me laugh. At first it seemed to me that there was a great change in Mr. Darcy’s character and disposition after falling in love with Elizabeth. Then I realized maybe those were always there but only concealed and waiting for a chance to be shown to only his dearest one and none else. Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters are similar as both of them are somewhat really awkward in front of the society and that is one of the best part of the novel other than the social humors.

To me the character of Mrs. Bennet is very funny. But the character of Miss Bingley is the funniest and was soo much needed in the book.

I disliked the character of Mr. Collins. He seems to me that kind of person who lacks individuality of his own. Lady Catherine is just the kind of old lady who interferes in almost every business of other people. 

The character Jane is soo sympathetic and kind. The part where jane’s mental condition was emotionally unstable was really touching. The relationship between Jane and Elizabeth is soo sweet and it is kind of like the relationship between me and my sister. They share each others happiness and sorrows soo comfortably. 

Mary is a bookish nerd which I liked very much. She is literally out of everything but her books. But she is a little bit inattentive towards her family but that’s okay because she has her own mechanical way of thinking. Lydia is very cheerful, talkative and silly. Kitty’s and Lydia’s character in the book were almost the same.

This novel perfectly represents some states of human behavior such as agitation other than Pride and Prejudice of course. I highly recommend this book to everyone because this novel is so natural and relatable. But the plot and the matters happening in this novel are a little bit plainer. The story is little shorter and limited. I expected some more side plots. But in the whole, the novel is very good and it felt soo realistic to me.

‘The Alchemist’ Book Review

‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho is a short, simple book but still bears so much significance. The language is simple and easy to understand but the meanings appears somehow really deep. The story follows a young shepherd boy who searches for treasure and realizes and learns so much meanings in the way. he learns about luck and destiny. He appears to understand gradually about specific values of certain things.

I have realized many philosophical things over and over again. Like I have realized, one who experiments and learns new things must move forward with his life without binding herself to any activities. In the book, the travelling is that sort of experiment. There is always a way out from any kind of trouble no matter how hard it is. It is no coincidence, it is destiny. There is nothing impossible for us to do or gain because everything needs to make the matter possible lies within our souls. Human soul is the greatest of all as Allah Himself has said.

After reading this book life seems beautiful. Even if there are troubles and disturbing phenomena going on, it is worth to believe and to rely on life completely. 

‘The Alchemist’ is a book of realization. The things we already know but haven’t have enough before to realize. This is a great spiritual and moral book. I will definitely recommend this to all the philosophy lovers.

This third book will be the death of me, I swear...

Aka: "Meanwhile, in this episode of Jenni's Keyboard Drama..."

*finishes chapter after 3–4 attempts*

"Hey, I really ought to write *key conversation*, even though it happens off-screen for 💯-legit narrative reasons"

*writes conversation*

*realises that whole ****ing chapter needs re-writing again*

*cries*