A(NU) Thought

Touted as India’s answer to Harry Potter, Samsara: Enter The Valley Of The Gods , authored by Saksham Garg and published by Penguin , this book is an engaging read.   It's great to see Indian authors drawing from country’s rich cultural heritage to create fantasy worlds that can captivate readers globally. Now imagine this: an overlooked teenager bullied all his life, has no friends or relatives to support except his mother, is suddenly brought into a mystical world. His journey starts as a chosen one among the 11 to protect the valley. Aman Chandra, here among strangers, finds a purpose of his life in this mysterious valley. The story is about his journey of becoming courageous protector of the valley.

Harsha, authored by Rajat Pillai, and published by Jaico Books, is an action-packed thriller loaded with suspense, detailed narration, and an engaging plot. The story is about a 17-year old prince relying on his competent elder brother to reign the kingdom and live his life happily ever after. But such was the turn of events that all his plans fall flat, and destiny takes him to a different path. In a snap, he loses his family and a lot more. The author has very intriguingly developed the story around politics, which stuns the readers. Despite all the difficulties, Harsha keeps moving ahead to save his sister and his kingdom. Though less experienced, he was highly motivated.

Book : A Useful Death Author : Sriram Chellapilla Publication: Westland Books A Useful Death – sounds like an intriguing title, isn’t it?   The plot is indeed as captivating as the title appears to be.   Authored by Sriram Chellapilla, A Useful Death, published by Westland Books, is a murder mystery set in Hyderabad. A young girl commits suicide and there are several people from an influential family who would have driven her into it. The protagonist, Partha is up to find the truth, but when he and his team digs deeper, they realise there’s a lot more than just what appears on the surface. The journey to deciphering the truth is interesting.  

Book : Honey, I Lost All Our Money! Author : Anil Rego Publication: CNBC TV 18 In today’s time, we believe in earning money (and a lot of it) and spending it (most of all) lavishly, unlike our parents’ generation which believed in saving for the rainy day. Most of us today are either unaware of various saving schemes and the tax benefits they provide or disinterested in pursuing it at early stages in life. When we eventually realize the importance of saving, we do so hastily by investing in schemes that we don’t understand. There is a lot of information on the internet with respect to saving money through debt and equity related instruments. Almost all the information are represented in a monotonous manner and evokes little interest among the readers.

Book: The Blue House In Bishop   Author: Sunanda J. Chatterjee Publisher: Sunanda J. Chatterjee This is my first book by the author and I have to admit, it was quite an interesting read. The Blue House In Bishop has romance, suspense, mystery, thriller and some bit of action too. The author has weaved all these elements neatly in the story with well-defined characters. Described as a romantic suspense book, the story revolves around four main characters and their quest for finding the answers to their miseries. Alisha, Sunil, Duke and well a mysterious woman (not giving any spoilers here), who come from different directions settle down in the Blue House in Bishop. The author has vividly explained the various pasts and backgrounds of the characters and sensibly brought them all together where the main story awaits the readers.

The greatest villain of our legends, burnt down every year, reduced to ashes again and again, only to rise anew. His is a cycle of death and rebirth that never ends, a legend that refuses to die. And there is a reason for that. The tale of Rāvan still screams to be told, to break free of the falsehoods that have buried his truth. But in the vastness of our myths, there are bits and pieces of his legend scattered all around, leading us to the truth of what could well be the greatest unsolved mystery of all time.  The truth of Rāvan’s life, and his death by a God in mortal flesh.

Book : Finding Anya Author : Sundari Venkatraman Publisher : Independently Published Blurb Anya Chhabria wakes up in a hospital room with no recognition of who she is and where she belongs. In her troubled times, Anya finds her anchor in a handsome stranger. But is he really unknown to her? Dev Wadhwa's past finds him when he sees Anya lying unconscious in the middle of the road. Not willing to let go of her one more time, Dev takes her to the hospital and later to his farmhouse, where he helps her recuperate. Sparks fly and Dev and Anya fall for each other! But the feisty Anya refuses to commit herself to marriage as her loss of memory looms larger than life. Things aren’t easy with an ex-husband, not-so-understanding parents, and a jealous neighbour thrown into the mix. What if Anya’s memory never comes back? Will Dev and Anya get a second chance?

Book: The Party orker Author: Omar Shahid Hamid Publisher: Pan Macmillan India The Party Worker is a full-fledged masala movie material, oh yes!!! The story starts with an attempted murder and gradually moves on to a wider net of politics, murders, corruption, underworld secrets, rising of a don among others. The book revolves around the lives of four important characters a hitman, a cop, a journalist and an old man. The plot connects them all very strategically. Certainly credit goes to the fluid narrative and flawless storyline. Their lives crosses that of each other’s, while there are several parallel stories also. The story is set in New York and Pakistan. The author has successfully penned an interesting book, that’s just not put downable. It’s a gripping crime thriller that’s racy and an exciting read.      Wait for some hard-hitting and shocking events in the story. I received a copy from Pan Macmillan India in exchange for an hones...

Book : The Diamond Heist Author : Sai Daksh (11 year old) Publisher : Notion Press Blurb: Life was all fun and play, with a few small adventures and mishaps, for Daksh, Arsh, Garv, Om, Swarit, Aditi and Simran till…  They are recruited by the Indian Detective Agency.  They are summoned to the headquarters and given a mission – to recover a lost diamond.  With all the plans and props in place, they set forth to hunt down the diamond.  By chance, they stumble upon a conspiracy that is connected to the theft.  Do they succeed in foiling the conspiracy? What happened to the lost diamond?