The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis My rating: 5 of 5 stars Where do I begin unloading this colossal bag of thoughts that are raging in my mind since yesterday? Well, my friend, you seem to be the victim today. So be it. Don’t term me evil; it is just the scent of one, I … More Book Review: The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis (1942)
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig My Rating: 5 of 5 stars “Wanting to play chess against yourself is a paradox, like jumping over your own shadow.” But what fun is life if words like manic, insanity, paradox and contradiction are not put to test once in a while? Even at the cost of years of discipline and rationality? … More Book Review: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig (1941)
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry My rating: 5 of 5 stars The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. Flipping through the pages, my heart leaped many times; those waves bearing the ring of countenance were from still stream but the ones with ripples of accusation roared thunder. Accusation? Accusation hurled towards whom? … More Book Review: Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (2001)
Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ever wondered if stark realities of life were humans, how would they converse? What would death reveal to Satan which may surprise agony? What may joy surmise on pain that might recall God’s support? What might greed and insanity bring to table worthy of … More Book Review: Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert (1876)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys My rating: 2 of 5 stars A few years ago, I happened to have a chat with an old friend. We were catching up after a long time and like most friends do, we picked up our favorite teen (innocent) crimes to gorge on. One of our best memoirs … More Book Review: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)
Bonsaï by Alejandro Zambra My rating: 4 of 5 stars What does a resonating journal do? Arrest us in the powerful aura of words? Dispatch us to the comforting cocoon of our memories? Render a blanket of dignity to our failures? Exhort our fledgling dreams to a palpable fruition? Cast a succor net on our … More Book Review: Bonsaï by Alejandro Zambra (2006)
The Stranger by Albert Camus My rating: 4 of 5 stars What happens when we bump into a hive of sticky words that seem delectable on the surface but grasping them blurs the lines etched in our minds? How does it feel when some kind of hurricane is unleashed on our notions that were, until … More Book Review: The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal My rating: 5 of 5 stars Existence. Tearing Existence. Endearing Existence. Suppressed Existence. Spirited Existence. Delusional Existence. Resuscitating Existence. Multiple Existence. Solitary Existence. Existence. Overriding all the comprehensible and perplexing spaces enjoining the various uneven points of existence in the larger lattice of congruent existence, I have pushed … More Book Review: Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal (1983)
English, August: An Indian Story by Upamanyu Chatterjee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Indecision will be your epitaph. As the statement rung in my ear for more minutes than I cared to count, I stared at the mouth that just uttered it. No, it was not Agastya, the hero of this story but his … More Book Review: English, August: An Indian Story by Upamanyu Chatterjee (1988)
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas My rating: 5 of 5 stars When a few dotted lines can cuff my heart into a promise and bind my palms over it in sombre armory, keep me lain in its pristine shadows for hours and yet freeze the time in crystalline imagery, I beam at the prospect: … More Book Review: The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (1963)
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