Adventures of Aqualand is a cute book. It is informative, engaging, adorable and colourful that definitely grasps attention and retains it. It is ideaAdventures of Aqualand is a cute book. It is informative, engaging, adorable and colourful that definitely grasps attention and retains it. It is ideal for kids to teach them the parts of the brain and their functions. I would like to recommend this book to parents who wish to teach science to their children in a creative, fun and engaging manner.
The inclusion of fun activities and tasks within the books make it educational and stir up the creative juices in kids. The book also highlights the themes of friendship, love, care and unity amongst different species of wildlife. It also highlights how unified action and proper planning can prove helpful in the face of problems....more
Women, Dreaming by Salma translated by Meena Kandasamy is a narrative about Muslim women belonging to a middle class neighborhood bound by shackles ofWomen, Dreaming by Salma translated by Meena Kandasamy is a narrative about Muslim women belonging to a middle class neighborhood bound by shackles of patriarchy and religion, thus doubly marginalised. It is a narrative of women constantly aspiring to be someone stronger, both mentally and emotionally. It is a narrative of women baring their hearts out and dreaming of being holding the reins of their lives.
In my time of reading this book, I felt all the emotions I think of except sympathy for the protagonist. It is agonising to read the parts where her situation is described. On the other hand, two women have been incredible in doing what they thought was right for them, of course, going against the man of the house. They have had their occasional regrets, yes but no so much that they tried to stop each other in moving on in their lives. As a feminist myself, I believe in sisterhood, women standing for fellow women, especially in times of distress or when they need support the most after having been shunned by men. This book is tangential to the entire concept except a few moments. I know, the concept of the book is to show how women often breed patriarchy but it became too much to bear. I felt anger, frustration, distress, headache, eye pain, agony, lament, regret, disrespected and what not as I went deeper into the narrative. I only finished the book because I didn't want to first, DNF it, second, I wanted to know how much lamentation and crying could go on, third, I wanted to read if a particular character does what she wanted, fourth, I wanted to just read it for the sake of reading it.
The protagonist could have committed suicide and I wouldn't have blinked an eye. That is how much I hate the damned woman, and the antagonist, of course. I know people have loved this book but I, for one, did not. Pick this up with caution. You might want to pull your hair halfway through it....more
'Slip' by Marika McCoola and debut artist Aatmaja Pandya is about Jade who's been accepted into a prestigious art camp almost instantly after her best'Slip' by Marika McCoola and debut artist Aatmaja Pandya is about Jade who's been accepted into a prestigious art camp almost instantly after her best friend, Phoebe's suicide attempt. Thus follows the story of Jade who is struggling with achieving her go of getting into an art college through scholarship programme and realising Phoebe's immense pain and on top of that, dealing with her own problems. With alk this happening at once, she meets Mary at the camp and romance kindles between them both. It was a good plot and storyline with mental health issues being depicted with preciseness with the extremely beautiful art. However, i felt that the execution would have been way more better. The most important lack of the graphic novel, that too with the entire story being around art and sculpture, was the colour. The colourlessness of the entire novel was stark and ironic. I had been very excited to read the novel and i liked it, but that's just about it; i liked it. The characters had no development, they were flat. The romance between them both lacked spark, i wasn't really, as a reader, invested in it. There are signs of aggression in their tiffs. There was no real need for the romantic angle, honestly. The characters are only teenagers but there ought to be character development; alas! there wasn't any. Phoebe's suicide attempt is not really understandable because there's no background given for why she did what she did; again, lack of solid context and reason. And above all, the main character, Jade, is shown as feeling bad and later, worse for not being able to understand why her best friend did not take her into her confidence instead of trying to understand her friend. I, however, liked the red art which was included to make certain parts of the story pop out and the lyrics of certain songs that just accentuated the scene and the emotions related to it. The art is beautiful and the inspiration that Jade draws from her emotions and puts into her art is amazing....more
'City of Incident' by Annie Zaidi is my first book by the author. Having heard laurels about her 'Prelude to a Riot', I had high expectations from her'City of Incident' by Annie Zaidi is my first book by the author. Having heard laurels about her 'Prelude to a Riot', I had high expectations from her latest novella in 12 parts. I must have said this a lot many times already but I can't help myself from juxtaposing amazing, evocative, narrative of next-door lives with Rohinton Mistry's work (here, Tales from Firozshah Bagh). Conveying the social issues, subtly yet strongly in a few words, in a short book is sheer expertise. No excessive vocabulary, no euphemism, no hard and fast display of feelings instead the flowy language displaying the truest feelings and thoughts. The chapters or stories give what-to-expect as a matter of fact to the reader.
The city in the narrative is well-known, down to the ground level and presented in its daw form to us, the characters are nameless, each living in the disparity of their lives. They are everywhere, their apartments, the railway coaches, buses. All characters portrayed by Zaidi have a back story which are eerie and serve as a foreground of their present selves in the narrative. The contrast of lives is depicted, example, a bamboo-maker intently watching a new habitant of the city, a woman; both of them in the same frame but in different worlds, urbanic and slum area. Both weighed down by their helplessness, "nothing he can't do with his hands, but nothing he can do either". The stories have a picaresque quality to them. I could, word by word, with each sentence, complete the picture the author weaves, simultaneously, at many places, even imagining myself as a part of it. The synopsis says that it is a novel in 12 parts but I do not see it honestly. The stories do cross paths and intersect but they are incoherent.
The ending of each story or part leaves the reader open to imagine the subsequent events which is a boon and a bane. Boon because we'll, you're left to imagine the consequences and bane because your imaginative events may not be what the author actually would have wanted. I don't know, it did not fit well with me, i personally prefer closures or decided endings. Except this, I loved the narrative, the 12 stories I'd say, not the novel. My first Zaidi and a great one!...more
It's been years since I last read a history non-fiction narrative. 'A Venetian At the Mughal Court' by Marco Moneta was refreshing. It almost felt likIt's been years since I last read a history non-fiction narrative. 'A Venetian At the Mughal Court' by Marco Moneta was refreshing. It almost felt like reading a fictional adaptation of the life and adventurous of Nicolo Manucci. The book is translated from the Italian by Elisabetta Gnecchi Ruscone.
It begins with a very young Manucci who travels all the way to India where he discovers the subcontinent equal in wealth and abundance to Europe. His travels, discoveries, sixty-year stay in India, the political and social shifts in the subcontinent during his life and so on. The book is a result of in-depth historical research, loosely based on his autobiography penned by Manucci himself. It starts with a prologue that is explanatory, not only in terms of how Manucci's life began outside of Venice but also in terms of it subtly draws a similarity between Europeans and Indians in cultural, technological and social aspects while also again, very subtly drawing a line of difference between the 'primitives' and the former. This comparison and similarity sets the foreground for what the book holds ahead of itself; a depiction of India's riches and fertility. This is one of a kind non-fiction that draws the reader in and manages to hold their attention. From the very beginning, the narrative comes off as fictional, using his etiquettes to gain him a place in the Mughal courts from being a nobody in an unknown land.
The narrative, being about the life of Manucci is interlaced with the highlights of shifts in the Mughal empire, with Manucci joining Shah Jahan's son's Dara Shikoh’s army as an artilleryman and ending his working years being a pharmacist and facilitating negotiations between European settlements. The narrative is chronological, clear and descriptive diving alongside deep into a vivid understanding of the Indian livelihood. The author provides a crisp yet descriptive understanding of the late 17th to early 18th century, also giving Manucci's autobiographical accounts into the history of Mughal reign which adds to the overall delight in reading the book.
I have a keen interest in the history of the Mughal empire but always shied away from reading the history books, which use heavy vocabulary and quite difficult to comprehend terminology both of which this book overcomes. Like said earlier, a delightful narrative for both non-fiction lovers and those who only seek fictional narratives (like me). The translation is perfect, easy, accessible and comprehensive.
Also, I would love to talk a little bit about the cover. Gorgeous and colorful as it is, like the narrative, it is sort of self-revelatory in that the front cover shows a young Manucci and the back cover shows an old Manucci —doing his physician's work....more
A building and many rooms, all on rent to diverse souls dealing with their pasts and present(s) in the best way possible. This is what is 'Gods And EnA building and many rooms, all on rent to diverse souls dealing with their pasts and present(s) in the best way possible. This is what is 'Gods And Ends' about, in the simplest of terms. It is an uncomfortable read, made me shift on my seat time and again. It is a difficult read, making me having to make my mind into reading it further. It is an eye-opening experience, making me wade through the pages to read more. It is a sentimental read, making me feel a plethora of emotions, all at the same time. The tenants, a widow, a drunkard, an unhappy couple, an abused wife, a sexually harassed girl, an abusive father are all dragging along their lives without any hope, aspiration or ambition. They just go on, soulless and carrying the heavy burdens of their claustrophobic pasts and bleak present that have made them stagnant. The narrative started slowly and was rather bleak challenging me to go on which I sure did. I was apprehensive about reading it further since it was frightfully unsettling but I was attracted to reading it all the same. The compelling writing style and the dark nuances and the thrill of knowing the past made it un-putdownable. The phenomenal characterisation is an icing on the cake. Each character is a neighbor to the other, are so unconnected yet share a similarity. They all are not happy with their past lives, hasty decisions and unfruitful actions, and continually wish to be able to change them, undo them to live a happy life in which they were loved and cared for. There were many characters I felt empathetic for, but when read about their side of the story, I couldn't hide my disgust for them. Each chapter is a point of view, an addition to the cramped air of the Mansion. They are presented in their absolute stark nature and rawness resembling the real life and its complexities and they bring forward the true nature of the society by subtly highlighting some grave social issues that make one stop and think hard, take a deep breath, swallow the harshness and move on.The narrative made me cringe and sometimes smile, at times both, at the silliness of thoughts or the unimaginable actions. The characters posed questions relevant to their times and the present, they acted older than their age, sometimes even younger, did hard-to-believe things, thought silly yet powerful notions and staged their real selves yet remained secretive to the world and to each other.The narrative brought the deep rooted misogyny and the gender biasness to the forefront through the perspective of its characters. It puts forward the entire society in a debatable position wherein the readers are left to judge the sentimentalities of them characters, the narrative giving a mere account of things as and when they happened and continue to happen.
It is laced with numerous trigger warnings and each act a blow after the other. Just when you think nothing worse could happen you're given another hard blow with your eyes turning as big as saucers at the harshness of the words leaving you numb and making you force into believing what you just read, as it happened with me. I couldn't stop my pencil from running freehand, underlining and annotating and writing what I felt for the fear of rereading it and reliving those shocking episodes. The narrative ended and I felt a void inside me, a hollowness. I guess I wanted a happy ending after all the dark-ness and the unsettlement but I didn't get one and that is making me feel empty and...and sad, maybe? In its sheer rawness with the stark characters speaking out their minds and figuring out the others', it again brought me closer to feeling what I felt while 'living' Rohinton Mistry's 'A Fine Balance.'...more
The need to belong, this is the core of the YA fantasy "The Gilded Ones." Deka, the protagonist wants to be recog"Today, you’ll show them you belong.”
The need to belong, this is the core of the YA fantasy "The Gilded Ones." Deka, the protagonist wants to be recognised as a part of her village, as one of them villagers; she wants to belong, desperately and completely. A ritual takes place in the village that promises her her human desire and she clings to that hope. If her blood turns out red she is pure and will belong, if it's not red, she is impure and will be banished or sent away to a brothel. She despises even the thought of coming out as impure but who can control their fate after all. Her blood runs gold, glimmering through her skin, the shiny cursed gold that changes her life forever. The narrative opens up with Deka's desperate need to belong, for her blood to run pure to validate her identity as a human, this is because of her appearance. Imagine being born and raised somewhere and still being treated as a stranger, this is what happens with Deka. The constant need to belong and the voicing out of that need throughout the first few pages of the book can easily drive any reader mad but it has serious underlinings of the presence and the danger from the Other, which resonates Deka's entire being. This Otherness has serious consequences for Deka since it snatches away her identity. She is shunned by the society, humiliated time and again and looked down upon. This Otherness is all but conceptualised on the appearance of Deka.
Her journey starts after she chooses her desire and she meets an entire army of women's and girls like herself, impure and outcasted by the society. She forms a strong bonding with the girl warriors and this marks the growth of Deka as an individual, her discovery of the self. This self-discovery is an ongoing process, a slow and steady one where she finally starts coming out of the shell of patriarchy, and recognises her worth for who she is with the girls around her having bore witness to a great deal of such things themselves.
'The Gilded Ones' is a strong feminist narrative which sucks the reader into its world of the fantastical in that it has the girls' standing together, voicing out their hurtful past and bonding over the same, pulling themselves and the others up to be great warriors with their supernatural powers fighting against the deathshrieks and the patriarchy. The characters bore into the reader, leaving a lasting impact on their minds. It gets brutal and chilling with the gruesome and vivid descriptions of violence, death, war, body dismemberment and what not. It does shy away from exploring the difficult topics of coping with life threatening situations, the impact of restricted movements within the society and the constant disregard of one's identity and the consequent self-hatred.
The characters experienced wholesome development, especially Deka who comes full circle from wishing to die to willing to live. The heavy misogyny that Deka herself divulged in really challenged me to even attempt to reading it further and I'm happy I did because it only got better putting across important notions of sel-worth, self-love, and hope. The romance was short but great for it brought hope of a positive change rather a ray of sunshine in Deka's dark (past) life. There were a few places where a little explanation or detail would have helped, like why what happened happened and a few obstacles would have been great along with the characters not buying into stuff too easily like they did. I'll look out for the brewing romance in the sequel. I do have high expectations from the author after reading this book. All in all, it's a must read for fantasy lovers....more
"Moonbeams reflected back in her irises, like silver flecks dotting a deep emerald landscape."
A fantastical fairy tale, 'On The Tips of Her Fingers' b"Moonbeams reflected back in her irises, like silver flecks dotting a deep emerald landscape."
A fantastical fairy tale, 'On The Tips of Her Fingers' by Bibiana Kerpcar is a delightful read. Adela lives a peaceful happy life with her mother who spins fantastical stories for her with much love. It's been dark since months for the sun has not shown up at all and Adela disturbed by this attempts to find a way to end this catastrophe. Adela becomes a ray of light in a literal world of darkness and discovers, on her way, her superpowers. She meets several magical characters, Djinn, dragon etc to name a few. These are fictional but become real-life like in the text.
The text does a great job in keeping alive the fairy tales in it, conjoining several folk tales and weaving them into the life of Adela. Adela embarks on a journey which is an integral part of the fantastic world which marks the departure from the ordinary world into the imaginary landscape. The journey trope makes her comfortable with own self and her powers, makes her grow like any other fairy tale with the possibility of happiness. The text has overwritten descriptions of things and places that could have been omitted to make it easy to weave through the story.
The tale gets really dark at some instances as it deals with escapism and realising self-identity in a new way (a grimm fairy tale) while consistent wonder and adventure keeps one holding on to the book and cheering up Adela as she perseveres towards a promising future....more
" If you spend your life trying to protect yourself from getting hurt, you'll end up missing the best parts. Some people are worth breaking your heart" If you spend your life trying to protect yourself from getting hurt, you'll end up missing the best parts. Some people are worth breaking your heart over."
'Glimpsed' by G.F Miller is a cutesy book. It revolves around the teen fairy godmother Charity and her ability to 'glimpse' the wishes and wanting of people around her. The book is the perfect YA book with all the wittiness, cuteness, magical, dreamy and so much more. The kind of book I wanted after my heartbreaking relationship with the previous YA contemporary. The protagonist lives up to her name since she goes around selflessly helping people achieve their dreams on the condition that her cindies (the recipients of her interventions) must be kept secret that she does until the dorky Noah makes an entrance into the picture. Noah, I found, complemented Charity in every way, as if he was moulded into shape and existence for her. His self-confidence reflected upon Charity made her see her magic in a new light. He teaches her self love, the ability and the need to appreciate one's own efforts and breaks down her emotional barriers to see her true self. The book felt like a soothing presence on a cloudy day. It's omnipresent cheeriness, laugh out loud trope and the blooming romance subtly called for a warmth travelling through the being. One could not help but smile frequently at the heartwarming moments. The book is like a journey, a quest for self-love and happiness, what Charity had spent most of her life finding in others but now she must find hers. And this quest helps in making her own life vivid and enchanting, adding to her experiences and finally finding her happiness....more
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