The Books We Read

Recommend: Yes, Spoiler: Not really This story is about a girl who wants to live life on her terms and does not apologize for making decisions (related to her life), even if they might lead to upset families, disgruntled kingdoms or potentially wars. She leaves her home a spoilt princess but her adventures help her learn about her "gift", the real problems in her and other kingdoms and also temper her biases. She meets two accomplices along the way who make her journey interesting and enable her transformation into the queen she eventually becomes :). This is a three part series and I enjoyed every moment of it.      In my ranking I would give it a 7/10 :)

  Spoiler : No Recommend : yes, for the style of writing, and also to get a perspective into life in our own country. Each time I visit India I pick up random Indian authors. Generally without reading reviews in search for variety and something different. This is the second book from my Feb visit. The book left me feeling unsettled. The narration style was different and made it impossible to keep the book down. I ended up reading it in one sitting. But the book ended up being open ended. I don’t like open ended books. I like there to be a logical ending. However, it was a befitting ending. The other reason this left me unsettled was the shady portrayal of army. The story is based in Kashmir and takes you through the life of 4 characters who grew up together. Oubaid - the son of the shepherd related to the Puj and part Zaeldar, Tufail - son of the Zaeldar, Sabia - daughter of Puj, and Muzaffar - son of a journalist. The story reveals the deals people make that make them all accompli...

Recommend: Yes; Spoilers: No You know that feeling... that feeling when you go... "yes, I had read/felt this in a book...".... and you don't remember anything else. Just snippets of why a particular part of *some* book put its hooks in you. The Ten Thousand Doors of January, has been like that for me. There's been this tiny tug in my brain concerning a girl, a door, and the door leading to.... And I could not remember which book. I bumbled across Harrow's "Once and Future Witches" (in NPR's 2020 books' list and our local bookstore: Words ) and read it. And at the end of *that* book I saw another name: The Ten Thousand Doors of January. And I went Aaah.... is that the book which had the door. Or is that the book which lead to the feeling that we assume protagonists are white (even when they are not). It turns out the answer was the same for both those thoughts. But I could not chase it down. But flicking through pages of my Kindle, I actually saw ...