Books Reading - Blog Posts

"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El- Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The story follows two of our protagonists belonging to two different futuristic worlds which are against each other. It follows different timelines, describing from the past historical events to the things which are probable to happen in the future. Basically, it is a story of time travelling to the past, could be for saving something or destroying things. Red is a time-traveling agent from a world more collective and dependent. Blue's one is calculating and more independent. So, red's the one who runs and Blue's the one who ruins. Red and blue eventually get a form to connect to each other: through letters. So, it's more like a "enemy to lover" romance story in the historical and sci-fi world.

I have really liked the concept and storyline of the novella. But i have found the language a bit difficult to get by. The books at the beginning and some points also seemed a bit messy. I lost the tract and did not understand some of the rapidly mentioned historical references. It took me much time to understand the plotlines as well. I just wish it was more understandable and swift to grab a whole bucket of information (the ongoings) all at once. But the good thing is, as we keep reading, the things start untwisting and it feels less confusing. And slowly you starts to love it.

The message of the story is the best. War is the worst thing we can do. Love is the one thing everyone needs to live truly and fully. Love is another name for freedom, not war, of course.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 Review

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, is simply a good book that everyone should read irrespective of sex. The accuracy of the relevancy in this book is up to the next level. I felt each and every situation Kim Jiyoung had to go through as a woman. Like seriously, we never really think about the fact that how women are treated by the patriarchal society as a daughter, sister, mother, partner, employee, student, collegeue, daughter-in-law etc etc, like literally every sphere of their lives. I wonder whether this discrimination would end someday or not. However, some of the very favourite quotes from the I want to share and these are: "The world wants our uterus to be drug-free. Like sacred grounds in a virgin forest". "My routine, my career, my dreams, my entire life, me self- I gave it all up to raise our child. And I've become vermin." Loved the book very much

Our first ever story writing club 💚

“The Haunting of Hill House” Book Review

It starts the quote “whatever walked there, walked alone”. This quote somehow seems to explain the whole story, right? The book wasn’t something I had expected. It deals with mental horror more than it deals with the ghostly horror which was not something I had expected though I knew there would be something psychological to it.

 It starts with Eleanor going to the Hill House by getting an invitation from Dr. Montague. The descriptions added about the town downstream the Hill house were like something we expect from a typical haunted house story. However, I too enjoyed the journey of Eleanor going to the Hill House, the writing was very effective in that part. The atmosphere inside the Hill house which has been described made me feel suffocated. The Hill house was described to consist of different rooms with different colours of the rainbow but still very dark and deep, just to think about this it feels like nature is against lighting the house. All through the book, Hill house did not only spread horror, it also had spread hatred, loathing, jealousy and suspicion. But at some points, I felt that though Hill house was disastrous, Hill house was also their comfort zone to an extent. One very disagreeable thing about the book is that it’s very draggy. You’ll have already gone through almost 2/3 of the book but you’d feel nothing major is happening actually. I would have liked it better if it did contain a bit more things going on. 

 Now, talking about “The Haunting of Hill House” means talking about the characters of the book. The protagonist is of course Eleanor and everything is about her. Her life seems really boring which needed excitement and hence the decision of going to the Hill house has arisen and she was genuinely happy to go there. She is very imaginative and keeps imagining a lot of stuff at the time of the journey. She is actually very insecure and an overthinker. She always keeps thinking about what her mother says or how she would have reacted in all of the situations. I felt like she had been controlled by her mother for the whole time. She troubles herself in every small matter. She is very pathetic and desperate which is very normal for her as she was brought up very strictly. And then comes Theodora. She is a chill kinda person who also seems to like excitement. One of the lines from the book is very appropriate as it has described the characteristics of both Eleanor and Theodora, “Theodora’s face was stiff and sulky, she likes attention, Eleanor without thinking, moved and sat on the floor beside Theodora.” Dr. Montague was the most adventurous among them. The only thing I want to say about Luke is that he is a flirt.

 Jackson’s writing style is very simple and easy to understand. She added many small details to make the hill house appear scarier and darker. But I did not like the style of her writing in case of conversations. It was messy with a disturbing flow which lacked smoothness.

This was all about the book. I enjoyed it though my expectation was a bit higher.

Review “Men Explained Things to Me”

Just some random thoughts I had while reading the book:

1. Solnit was so pissed with the so-called everlasting knowledge that the men try to represent they have. Literally in every matter, they try to put forward some illogical, unreasonable and irrelevant garbage of the theories they posses and try to stop the women, violating the rights to speak laws everyday.

2. It has become a necessity to start talking about women and their rights by stating about their unprivileged condition first. Many people may find this as cliché or rather boring, but just think about it in this way, we guys  might have become bored to hear about these regular women tragedy everyday where this shitty condition of women is not changing for these whole periods of times those had finally made you bored!

3. I loved how Solnit talked about the violence women are facing in her country as well as tried to talk about some of the problems of India. Some of her quotations are very very strong. She has a great political as well as philosophical views.  She wasn't confined in talking about feminisms and women's problems only but also shared her perspectives as a writer in different artistic values.

4. In one of her essays, she also mentioned that time is definitely changing though. Women are suffering true, but not as much as they used to in the past. I think writing this is definitely an example of optimism which again gives us hope (the famous Pandora's box's hope in the good sense you know). The essay called "Pandora's box and volunteer police force" and "Thinking out of the box" are my absolute favorite.

5. In her essays she also talked about some other issues like capitalism etc. which shows her other sides like unbiases. 

My Top 5 Favorite Books of 2021 <3 

“A Christmas Carol” Book Review

“A Christmas Carol”! What a wonderful story! I never thought this book to be this humorous and heart- warming at the same time. Dickens was a great writer indeed. This book has every Christmas vibes to it  starting from presents to foods and family time. 

I was really impressed to find out how the story proceeds. Particularly, how Scrooge was learning and realizing how he should have treated people on the basis of what he had experienced in the past. I felt like sometimes we ought to see things with our own eyes to feel it, to believe it. The story has an interesting way to teach us humanity and humanitarian activities. 

And what can I say about Scrooge? He was such a miser. I felt like there was no juice of life left in him in the beginning. But he was definitely not like him in the past. Loneliness and childhood trauma make people feelings-less and hard. So was the case with him.

I was impressed with this book. Highly recommend it. Perfect for the Christmas!!

“Frankenstein” Book Review

Frankenstein...what an interesting way to begin a story. Absolutely loved the beginning of the novel. In fact, Victor Frankenstein’s name was mentioned in a very unique way. The whole novel was written beautifully and Mary Shelley’s writing style is total chef’s kiss! I have a lot of thoughts and things to share which I have gotten throughout this novel.

We all know that a little learning is a dangerous thing. But Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein teaches us that sometimes knowing beyond the limit can be dangerous too. In my opinion, that is more fatal. We don’t have to acquire all of our nerdy dreams. Sometimes, giving up makes us more successful. Frankenstein indeed was a brilliant man but to me he still couldn’t cross the boundaries of ignorance. He is a total stupid and bad decision maker.

Less knowing people can lead their lives simply and without much worries. But as we get to know more, more thoughts keep peeping in our minds and some of them keep making us uncomfortable and unstable. We can’t bide ourselves to anything particular, we become so shaky then which is sometimes really tormenting. Sometimes, without thinking even with profound knowledge, we do something that can later on leave such consequences which can be unbearable. Such was the situation of Frankenstein. He suffered soo much after creating the creature and it was really despairing. 

This book keeps reminding me again and again that we should not judge someone by their appearances. And also that people usually don’t become just a bad person. It is actually the treatment of the society that cause it. This case happened with the poor creature. Even Frankenstein treatment wasn’t kin at all. I felt really sorry for him.

Besides all of the horror and gothic scenarios, “Frankenstein” also has created some peaceful scenarios. The beauty of Switzerland was represented all through the novel. I enjoyed it a lot. Highly recommend it to everyone. 

“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.

‘Oliver Twist’ Book Review

‘Oliver Twist’ is a hard and bitter novel. This is the first Dickens’ book that I have read and surely not to be the last. The novel follows the terrible, struggling life of the orphan named Oliver. He has been struggling right from his birth. 

By reading this novel it is understood that the lives of rich people actually go smoothly at least externally, but poor people always suffer in every little matters both externally and internally. And especially if you’re an orphan like Oliver, nothing is sweeter with you rather everything is bitter and cruel.

 The novel has perfectly represented the condition of England then. The riches enjoyed literally everything and the poor on the contrary just suffered and suffered. Discrimination and prejudices were everywhere. As the poor folks had no idea about the rich folks’ business’s, the rich folks too didn’t know how things worked for poor. The things were only known by the people who were in between them. Then the justice system for the poor was as low as their lifestyles were. The magistrates themselves were the most corrupted sometimes. Not only them actually all of the persons related to the guidance of the poor orphans were terribly corrupted and heartless maximum times. The faults of the poor were always talked of and punished where in some cases the faults might also had been done by the riches too. It is also very certain that sometimes fate just only chooses our paths where we really can do nothing.

I really felt traumatized even to think to spend this kind of miserable life when there are really some poor kids out there who are being ignored right from their birth. In some extreme points it was really hard for me to believe that Oliver was still struggling to live in this brutal world where he had gained nothing but torture. 

As we always say there is obviously some good people around us, otherwise we would have been distinguished. This kind of good and kind hearted characters are also be seen in the novel for whom Oliver still managed to survive in this brutal world. When you are really good or at least intend to be good, no power in the world can change that.

I truly appreciate the character ‘Nancy’ for she is very Feminist, straight forward, clever and Brave. I really get shocked to think that how can that Old Jew (Fagin) talks to everyone addressing them as dear, so sweetly every time even when he is really wanting to make them do some dirty and cruel works. So without any doubts, he is the most wicked and brutal character ever.

As in most of the Dickens’ books remain some traces of mysteries, ‘Oliver Twist’ also follows no exception. There is a good mystery related to the identity of little Oliver Twist.

I loved everything about the ending. After going through such miseries, the ending brought me joy and little hopes that the power of truth remain very higher than the lies.

‘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.

Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.

Ray Bradbury

‘Anna Karenina’ Book Review

‘Anna Karenina’ is a beautiful novel. This novel is soft, simple and it is a very social novel. The upper/higher middle society of Russia has been represented very beautifully. Though the novel is quite longer but it is elaborated rhythmically.

The main story of the novel not only focuses on Anna but also on some other characters like Levin and the household of Oblonsky. But obviously Anna is the main character. From Anna’s point of view, the story shows that how human mind affects or works when one is in a miserable condition for a longer period. 

And it is worth mentioning that the character Levin is also represented with much emphasis. So if we see from Levin’s point of view, it is seen that He is very self-esteemed. He values his works so much and considers every little matter carefully. He always thinks and thinks. He confuses himself in every little matter. He is always in an excited mood to find out whether he is doing right or wrong. But his life goes on like that even smoothly which he doesn’t even know himself.

I love the romance between Kitty and Levin soo much. No matter how many times Levin tries to put Kitty out of his mind, he just can’t. He loves her terribly. Levin is one of the best kinds of lovers that I will always prefer. He loves as well as respects Kitty. Eventually Kitty also realizes her secret affection for Levin. I really adore the conversation that has been taken place between Levin & Kitty while playing this chalk writing game. Kitty said “If you could forget and forgive what happened. Levin replied” I have nothing to forget and forgive, I have never ceased to love you.” These two sentences have just melted me.

I also love the character of Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin. He appears so hard and emotionless. But in real he is not at all like that. He does have a soft corner in his heart. I really fancy that part where he really cares for little Annie and how unconditionally he forgives Anna.

The miserable condition of the ladies then are also shown in the novel. Often it is seen that the husband had lost interest in their wives after some years of marriage. Such is the case of Dolly. 

The whole plot has been represented in a beautiful manner. It is seen that Anna’s life becomes duller from the beginning to the end and on the other hand Kitty’s life becomes happier. And behind this there is only the event of one ball.

Sometimes I kept thinking why did the novel is named ‘Anna Karenina’? Here we can see other main character like Levin too. But I came to a conclusion that it was named so because the whole story had been created on the action of Anna’s one decision i,e to love Vronsky avoiding all the odds. It is one of the greatest novel obviously.

Guys, where do you get your book recs? And do you have recs? (Of books or of bootuber/ig/substack/podcast/...)

Guys, where do you get your book recs? And do you have recs? (Of books or of bootuber/ig/substack/podcast/...)