2022 Reading Challenges

Like every year in the past years, I am signing up for a couple of reading challenges and here are those that I am looking forward to .These reading challenges take me out of my comfort zone and I am more than happy to explore genres that I have been missing out on.

1. The 52 Book club Reading challenge  - 52 unique prompts that can be intrepreted as you wish! The goal is to read atleast 52 books, new authors, new genres and most of all have fun!!

2. ABC Soup Challenge - As the name suggests, read books for the corresponding alpahbets and fill a bowl of books!

3.Reading 52 books in 52 weeks challange - Yes, 52 books for 52 weeks. Ther are sub themes to get to these numbers but I am just doing the basic challenge.

4. Finishing the series Reading Challenge - To finish the remaining books in a series that was read before 2022. I have a couple of authors I want to read and will update details in a later post.

5. Around the world in books - This is my own challenge, where I want to track the countries visited through the books.

6. New Releases of 2022 - Another one that I am doing to see how many new releases I will be reading this year. I don't have any fixed number as I depend on the books that come in for review this year.

7.New authors  - This is also my own challenge where I want to read atleast 22 new authors this years.

8. Around the clock reading challenge - This is a fun challenge where we have to read a book with number 1- 12 on the title. My list is ready!

Let's see how this goes.

Will update more about these challenges later.

Until next post....

2021 New Releases Reading List

This is a challenge that I set for myself to count how many new releases of 2021 I will be able to read. All of there books are those that came in for review .Heartfelt thanks to the authors, publishers, review organisers!

1. My Little Book of Love by Priya Kumar -1 January 2021
2. Saudade - Simran Agarwal - 1 January 2021
3. When the heart Speaks - Seema Pradeep - 1 January 2021
4. The Little Saint - Swathi - 1 January 2021
5. P for Podcast - Bhargavi Swami - 1 January 2021
6. Shivshakthi - The continous Continuum - Anita Rajani - 1 January 2021
7. This too shall pass - Elango Thambiah - 4 February
8. 14/2: The Attack in Pulwama - Vikas TRivedi and Smitha Agarwal- 10 Feruary 2021
9. A Regal Man - Life and Lessons of Vasu Shroff - Priya Kumar 22 February 2021 
10. Club you to Death - Anuja Chauhan - 26 February 2021
11. Once Upon a Bharata Desham - Mahesh Kotakere -10 May 2021
12. Discerning Grave - Emma Lombard [Audio Book] - 24 May 2021 
13. Back Ender - Udayan Mukerji 28 May 2021
14. Let Love Take Over - Tomson Robert - 9 July 2021
15. Raashi Ghoshal will find her prince charming - Aneesha Brahma - 8 August 2021
16. The Lonely Castaway - Pushpa B Voddi -21 August 2021
17. Sunshine and Dynamite - Niket Raj Dwivedi - 11 August 2021
18. Everything Led Me To You - Sara Kate - 31 August 2021
19. A house Full of Men - Parinda Joshi - 8 September 2021 
20. Killing Strangers - Ram Gopal - 11 October 202
21. Thinking Out Loud - Tapan Ghosh - 26 October 2021
22. Death of a District Magistrate -Nachi -  30 October 2021
23. Pedelling Journey - Deccan Cliffhanger - Dr. Ravinder Singal, Dr. Vaishali Balajiwale - 17 September 2021
24. The subtle art of dealing with people - Aruna Joshi - 3 October 2021
25. Daughter of the Night - Nandini Gupta - 20 October 2021
26. The Ten commandments of evil - Vignesh Sivashankar - 1 December 2021

2021 Alphet Soup Reading Challenge

 There are the books that made it to the 2021 Alphabet Soup Challenge . Some of these books cross over to other challenges and some are new.

A - A Castle with two doors - Dilip Jayarama

B -  Back Ender - Udayan Mukerji 

C - Club you to Death - Anuja Chauhan

D - Discerning Grave - Emma Lombard 

E - Everything Led Me To You - Sara Kate

F - False Impression - Jefferey Archer

G - Girls Only!  - Victoria Parker

H - A house Full of Men - Parinda Joshi 

I - Idlis to Ipads - Nirmala Ramasamy

J - Jewels - Danielle Steel

K - Killing Strangers - Ram Gopal

L - Loves Lost - Sourabh Mukherjee

M - Malgudi Days - R.K. Narayan

N - Northanger abbey - Jane Austin

O - Once Upon a Bharata Desham - Mahesh Kotakere

P - Pedelling Journey - Deccan Cliffhanger - Dr. Ravinder Singal, Dr. Vaishali Balajiwale

Q - HeartQuake - K.Vijayakarthikeyan

R - A Regal Man - Life and Lessons of Vasu Shroff - Priya Kumar

S - Sunshine and Dynamite - Niket Raj Dwivedi 

T - The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris. 

U - An unusual Honeymoon by Mamta Kashyap 

V - Vendor of sweets - R.K.Narayan

W -  When the heart Speaks - Seema Pradeep 

X - New songs of Survivors [ The Exodus if Indians] - Yvonne Vaz Ezdani

Y - Yes, my accent is real - Kunal Nayyar

Z - Zikora - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  

2021 reads for 52 Club Reading Challenge

I had made a list of books for the 52 book club reading challenge and that list underwent a lot of changes through the months. These are the books that were finally read for this wonderful challenge.And here is what happened in the year of books....

Initially I had planned to read books that I had or purchased just to suit the prompts. But later when I had a lot of books coming in for review, I matched most of them for the prompts and the rest were read to fit into the time I had to finish off the remaining prompts.

I played around with intrepeting the prompts and the 52 book club reading challenge group members thought it was a fun way of reading between the lines!

Read on and you will see what I meant!

Click on the title to take you to the review. The ones not highlighted are those that I wanted to read but couldn't finish on time...

1. Set In A School - Nutritive cooking for children - Shaila Santhanam

2.Featuring The Legal Profession - Certain Prey - John Stanford [Re-read]

3.A Dual Timeline - The Krishna Key - Ashwin Sanghi [Re-read]

4.An Author That Is Deceased - Emma - Jane Austin

5.Published By Penguin - The great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald

6.A Character With The Same Name As A Male Family Member - A castle with two Doors - Dilip Jayarama. [Character and family member name - Siddharth / Sidhart]

7.An Author With Only 1 Published Book -  The Lonely Castaway - Pushpa B Voddi

8.A Book In The 900's Of The Dewey Decimal System - Pedelling Journey - Deccan Cliffhanger - Dr. Ravinder Singal, Dr. Vaishali Balajiwale

9.Set In A Mediterranean Country - Easy everyday Mediterranean Cookbook - Larry Williams

10.Related To The Word "Fire" - Inferno - Dan Brown

11.Book With Discussion Questions Inside - A Regal Man - Life and Lessons of Vasu Shroff - Priya Kumar

12.Title Starting With The Letter "D" - De-Void - Deepak Kaul

13.Includes An Exotic Animal - How to train your dragon- Cressida Cowell

14.Written By An Author Over 65 [When published] - Here, there and everywhere - Sudha Murthy

15.A Book Mentioned In Another Book - Wuthering Heights

16.Set Before The 17th Century - The Vizard Mask - Diana Mask

17.A Character "On The Run" - Discerning Grave - Emma Lombard [Audio Book]

18.Author With A 9-Letter Last Name - The Chocolate Log - Cheryl Kumar Templeton

19.Book With A Deckled Edge - Jewel - Danielle Steel

20.Made Into A TV Series - Malgudi Days - R.K. Narayan

21.Book By Kristen Hannah - Angel Falls

22.A Family Saga - Climbing the Mango Tree - Madhur Jaffrey

23.An Ending That Surprises You - The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides [Completed but review not written yet]

24.A Book You Think They Should Read In Schools - The Little Saint - Swathi

25. Book with multiple character POV - Everything Led Me To You - Sara Kate

26.An Author Of Color - Zikora - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

27.First chapter ends in the odd number page  - Club you to Death - Anuja Chauhan

28.Includes A Historical Event You Know Little About -The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris. [Completed but review not written yet]

29.Featuring The Environment - My favorite nature stories - Ruskin Bond

30.Watch Out For Dragons! - Dealing with dragons - Praticia C. Wrede

31.Shares A Similar Title To Another Book-  A house Full of Men - Parinda Joshi [ Same title by another author - Pauline Marrington]

32.A Selfish Character - Once Upon a Bharata Desham - Mahesh Kotakere [ selfish character - Kripalaya]

33.Featuring Adoption - Sheru - A Loving Dog - Sudhanshu Mohanty

34.A Book You'd Rate 5 Stars - The Help - Kathryn Stockett

35.Set In A Country That Starts With The Letter "S" - Solo in Singapore - Tanushree Podar

36.A Nameless Narrator - 2050 - Deepak Kaul

37.An Educational Read - The subtle art of dealing with people - Aruna Joshi

38.Recommended on BookBub - To kill a mocking Bird - Harper lee

39.An Alternate History Novel - 1984 - George Orwell

40.Found Via #Bookstagram - Reasonable Lies - T.A.Rosewood

41.An Endorsement By A Famous Author On The Cover - Unforseen Desires - Anil Chopra [Ruskin Bond]

42.An Epistolary - Let Love Take Over - Tomson Robert

43.A character with a pet cat - The girl with a dragon tatoo - Stieg Larsson

44. Includes a garden - The secret Garden -Frances Hodgson Burnett

45.Coming of age novel - Mohini - Ramender Kumar

46.Winner of National book award , any year - Joy luck club - Amy Tan

47.A Character With A Disability - This too shall pass - Elango Thambiah

48.A Cover With A Woman Who Is Facing Away - Daughter of the Night - Nandini Gupta

 

49.A Flavor In The Title - Low salt Cookbook - Sanjeev Kapoor

50.A Shoe On The Cover - Devil Wears Prada -Lauren Weisberger [ Completed but review not written]

51.Published in 2021 - My Little Book of Love by Priya Kumar [1/1/2021]

52.Re-Do One Of The Previous 51 Categories From This 2021 Challenge -  Back Ender - Udayan Mukerji [ Prompt 51. Published - May - 2021]

Death of A District Magistrate | Book Review

 Review of Nachi's Book - Death of A District Magistrate

At a Glance:  

• Title - Death of A District Magistrate
• Author - Nachi
• Pages - 278
• Publishers - Notion Press;1st editon [30 October 2021]
• Format - Paperback

Blurb :

The death by gunshot of a powerful and controversial District Magistrate brings in the idealistic and puritanical DSP Arjun Iyer to the District Magistrate’s residence, where his large joint family lives. It seems like a suicide at first glance, but is it really one? 
And if it isn’t, then…
Along with his assistant, the deeply loyal but irascible, devil-may-care Inspector Munuswamy, DSP Arjun leaves no stone unturned in investigating the case where surprise upon labyrinthine surprise awaits them until they arrive at the final conclusion.

My Review

DSP Arjun Iyer and his assistant Munuswamy investigate the case of death of a District Magestrate- Govind Pratap. It looks like a case of suicide- an open and shut case until a phone call tells them it is a murder! The two investigate and uncover the murderer.

There are a lot of characters in this and each one [apart from the police department men] look like the suspect. Arjun Iyer wades through the interviews and investigates the case from all angles to catch the killer.

The background of each and every member of the Magistrates family and house helpers’ makes you wonder what sort of people they are and why they behaved in such ways. It is all justified and the death of the Magistrate brings out all the secrets in their lives.

The plot is good but I was able to sort of guess the killer but the author has a story behind it that I did not expect.

There are several twists and turns in the plotline and each time the ‘killer’ is pin pointed, something comes up to exempt him / her from that situation.

My Reccomendation:

If you love murder mystery / thrillers you will not mind this slightly lengthy read and will surely enjoy solving the case enjoying  Arjun Iyer’s annotations and Munuswamy’s nonchalant  off-hand remarks!

A huge thanks to Writers Melon and Notion Press for the review copy!

Check out the 50+ books that I have reviewed so far in the Book Reviews page.

Until the next post.....

The Calling - Unleash your True Self - Book Review

 Review of Priya Kumar's The Calling - Unleash your True Self 

At a Glance:  

• Title - The Calling - Unleash your True Self 
• Author - Priya Kumar
• Pages - 149 pages
• Publishers - Books that Inspire
• Format - Paperback

Blurb :

All Answers Lie Within
The Calling is a spiritual adventure, an encounter with the truth, the wisdom and the force that is innate to us all.
At the brink of a divorce and personal breakdown, Arjun took a trip into the Himalayas, on the insistence of a Sadhu, who predicted that the journey up to Hemkund Sahib would align him to his purpose and change his life forever.
At every turn the mountains hold secrets and tests that urge Arjun to evolve into the person he had denied to be—himself. Pretenses, falsities, confusions and untruths fall apart as Arjun is forced to confront the mess he had created with his life.
What started off as an opportunity to escape reality, turned out to be an opportunity to escape from the dwindling spiral of self created misery. Filled with spiritual insights and sprinkled with light humor, this story will help you find your calling, your voice and who knows, even your true self.

My Review :

The book starts as a story about Arjun and his failing marriage leading him to wonder why things are going wrong in his life. Be his job or his marriage, nothing seems to be going in the right direction! As he is driving uphill and delibrates over several things, he meets with an accident. Then comes the real purpose of the book.

He is rescued by a Sadhu who asks him to make a trip to Hemkund Sahib. He decides to take the trip and is helped by a transporter Chandu whose wisdom betrays his age and occupation! As both of them climb the trail, Arjun faces a lot of troubles / difficulties / confusions and finally realises his calling! He realises the reason behind his misery and at last knows what he must do to rectify them through the second Sadhu he chances upon!

Like many of author’s book that I have read in the past, this one too impressed me. The philosophical point of view of life is told so well in the form of a story where you can relate to the various ideals and reasoning behind each of the things that we are searching  an answer for.

The simple sentence – As you sow , so shall you reap- now holds a lot more meaning and is more lucid! You can read this book when you have a question about why life throws a curveball and the answer is in the book, which tells you to search within yourself to solve it !

The part where Arjun meets the second Sadhu is my favourite. He gives Arjun 3 tests to free him and the reasons the Sadhu gives to explain why Arjun failed each of the test really awakened me. The explaination for his actions and why is failed is the place where you really feel the awakening.

All in all, a very insightful book that can explain a lot of things that you have been thinking about like the philosophy of life, Karma,Sadhana and the likes.

 Other Books by the same author....

• A Regal Man - Life and Lessons of Vasu Shroff
• The Wise Man Said
• My Little Book Of Love
• Turn the tables

           

                                          

Let Love Take Over - Book Review

 Review of Tomson Robert's Let Love Take Over

At a Glance:  

• Title - Let Love Take Over
• Author - Tomson Robert
• Pages - 184
• Publishers - Srishti Publishers and distributors [July 9,2021]
• Format - Paperback

Blurb :

“Josh, so you see, battles are not won with weapons, but with faith and courage. Someday you would grow up and become a hero, like David.” Joshua decided never to be a hero again after the tragedy from his teenage days. The demons of his past profoundly affect his present and he stops taking charge of his life.
Be it his toxic boss Mayur who exploits him and his friends, or the challenges his wife encounters, he is unable to take a stand for his loved ones. His fears even wreak havoc on his beautiful marriage with Susan.
Will he find his redemption? How will he save his marriage and win back her love?
Let Love Take Over is a riveting story of true love which overcomes all adversities, and challenges the notion of a ‘hero’.

My Review:

Joshua is an average kinda guy who used to be a rebel and never missed a chance to pick up a quarrel or play hero. But a teenage incident has left him scarred and hurt in body and mind and he starts avoiding confrontations and fights! Susan on the other hand takes on challenges heads on and faces all that life throws at her. Since she grew up parentless, she is independent and never fears in making bold decisions. She lives with her brother.

Joshua and Susan get married and things are rosy for a while. A while later,it  go a bit off. Susan stands up for what she thinks is right and Joshua, impacted by the teenage incident, wants to brush it off. When Susan faces a real challenge against her boss, she wants to put her feet down but Joshua thinks otherwise. After a simple talk with his grandfather, Joshua decides his course of action. Does being a hero suit Joshua? Does he take on Susan’s boss and succeed? Read Tomson Robert’s – Let Love Take over to know.

The author has penned this story in really simple words and the storyline flows smoothly. Joshua’s character shows how a teenage incident can have a lifelong impact and how not all Heroes need to wear a cape!

One of the best characters in this story is Joshua’s grandfather. He is a person who tells stories, gives the right advice mixed with a dose of humour, life experiences and wisdom. Kavitha is another character who I liked. She is a good and supportive friend to Joshua.

Another thing is this book reflects on the Covid effect on the job sector and how it affected people of different levels emotionally and financially.

The best take away from the story is the author’s mention of the “Occam’s Razor” principle which says – the simplest solutions are the right ones but the human mind looks for complex ways to solve it!

The only thing could have been cut short is the story of David. Joshua grows up listening to this story through his grandfather but it is elaborated and referenced many times throughout the book which I feel could have been shortened.

I definitely would not have liked this book if it had ended in a filmy way but this made for a good weekend read!

If you are looking for a quick and light read, pick this up and you’ll be able to finish it in one sitting.