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Wednesday 30 September 2015

Book Review: Made In India By Biddu

About the book:

As a child, Biddu dreamt of going west and making it big as a composer. At the age of sixteen, he formed a band and started playing in a cafe in Bangalore, his home town, At eighteen, he was part of a popular act at Trinca's, a nightclub in Calcutta devoted to food, wine and music, At nineteen, he had college students in Bombay dancing to his music. 

In his early twenties, he left the country and ended up hitchhiking across the Middle East before arriving in London with only the clothes on his back and his trusty guitar. What followed were years of hardship and struggle but also great music and gathering fame. From the nine million selling "Kung Fu Fighting" to the iconic youth anthem of "Made in India" and the numerous hits in between. Biddu's music made him a household name in India and elsewhere. 

In this first public account of all that came his way: the people, the events,the music tours and companies Biddu writes with a gripping sense of humor about his remarkable journey with its fairy tale ending. Charming, witty, and entirely likable, Biddu is a man you are going to enjoy getting to know.

My Review:

 I usually resist reading autobiographies or memoirs, not so much because I'm a fan of fiction as because I fear the person might not be able to express his words right. This one is the best exception to this case I've ever had. I've no issues using the superlative because Biddu's thoughts have been so organized, his precision of information so endearing that one wonders if they remember things this well.

So it is by and by the usual storyline with many points of heart-warming melodies, and the book is just as much a  treat to eyes and brain as is his music to the ears.
The language though succinct and on-point, also leaves scope for descriptions and explanations.

This book is a good read as far as recommending it is concerned. A welcome change for me, from all the sci-fi I had been reading off late.

 

Saturday 19 September 2015

Book Review + Giveaway: The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

About the book:


Title: The Girl in the Spider's web
Published on: September 1st, 2015
Pages: 432 pages
Genre: Thriller/Crime fiction
Rating: 4/5
Blurb:
This fall, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in the highly anticipated follow-up to Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

In this adrenaline-charged thriller, genius-hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist face a dangerous new threat and must again join forces.

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a trusted source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female super hacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering.

Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Lisbeth for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. In The Girl in the Spider's Web, the duo who thrilled 80 million readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest meet again in an extraordinary and uniquely of-the-moment thriller.

About the author

Lagercrantz studied philosophy and religion at university and subsequently graduated from the Gothenburg journalism school. His first journalist job was at the in-house magazine of carmaker Volvo. He later moved to the daily tabloid newspaper Expressen and worked until 1993 as a crime reporter, covering some of the major criminal cases of the late 80s and early 90s in Sweden, notably the Åmsele murders. His first book was released in 1997, a biography of the Swedish adventurer and mountaineer Göran Kropp (1966 - 2002).

Find the author here: 
   

My Review:
Thrill and intrigue are two key elements of any book in the millenium series, or so I hear. Will David Lagercrantz be able to keep up the thunder that Steig Larsson's style entailed? Will the fourth book keep up the sanctity of the series?

Rest assured, it sure does. This books goes on to prove that after all, posthumous continuity isn't such a bad thing after all. Lagercrantz keeps the book as close to Larsson's creations, and one might even forget if this was written by someone else.

To me personally, the book held its charm from the word go. Balder and Blomkvist- as soon as I read the first two chapters, I knew a great story is awaiting my reading it.

It is the kind of crime fiction that involves the most mainstream elements- artificial intelligence, cyber gansters. journalism in peril and the like.

Having read some fairly fast-paced cyber thrillers, this book had a different intrigue. It didn't disappoint, although the pace could've been set even higher without hindering comprehension of the events. And then I'd say it is a decent read- no dark violence, no sullen sadism, no gory details.

Read it for its worth it, read it because there's always a charm in reading how one carries a legacy.

And I loved Lagercrantz's writing style so so much, that I might just read his other books as well.

Links to the book:






Quotes from the book:

Money talks, bullshit walks- The girl in the spider's web by David Lagercrantz(Reading the book as a part of blog tour by Hachette India)#readthegirl
Posted by So many books, So little time. on Saturday, September 19, 2015


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Source of the review copy: Hachette India Blog tour

Participate in the Giveaway:


The giveaway prizes will be provided by Hachette India, subject to availability.
Hachette India is not responsible for prizes that are lost in the mail.
The giveaway will be in India ONLY.
Any disputes arising from this contest are subject to jurisdiction in Delhi.
Winners will be determined by the management of Hachette India. The decision of the management will be final and no queries will be entertained in this regard.
The entries may be screened for defamatory content/language .Hachette India reserves the right for last minute cancellation and change in terms and conditions.
Participants should be Indian residents.
The contest will start on 17th September, 2015 at midnight and end on 16th October, 2015 at midnight. No late entries will be accepted.
Spam entries or entries that are not valid will be immediately disqualified
There will be seven (7) winners. Each winner will win a copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest , The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl in the Spider's Web and one book from the titles listed below:
1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
3. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
4. Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
5. The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy
6. An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy
7. Rescue by Nicolas Sparks
8. Under the Dome by Stephen King
9. Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
10. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
11. The Elephant Catchers: Key Lessons for Breakthrough Growth by Subroto Bagchi
12. In Spite of the Gods by Edward Luce
13. Living History by Hillary Clinton
14. To The Moon and Back by Jill Mansell
15. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
16. Theodore Boone,Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
17. One Day by David Nicholls
18. The Devotion Of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
19. Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer and Yvonne Gilbert
20. The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R.Carey
Each winner will get a total of five books, subject to availability.
All entries that are only entered in the Rafflecopter widget will be valid.
Number of entries for each task has been provided in the Rafflecopter widget. Every person who enters the giveaway needs to do at least one task that is listed above for their entry to be valid.
Winner has 48 hrs to respond to intimation by Hachette India before another winner is chosen.
Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway.
Blog Tour hosts cannot enter the giveaway.
The same giveaway is being hosted on all blogs. There is no separate giveaway on all blogs.

Find the rafflecopter here
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/105f6d761/






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Kritika's bookshelf: read

Angels & Demons
The Story of My Life
The Hunger Games
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Ruined
A Tale of Two Cities
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
Sense and Sensibility
Emma
A Christmas Carol
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Kidnapped
The Time Machine
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Da Vinci Code


Kritika Narula's favorite books »


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