Hitler's Nepal Connection by Evangel Athial

A Good Effort.....

I was curious to read this book after I received it but because of other priorities had to keep it aside for a couple of days. Looking at the book daily and not reading was a tough task to do and I finally got a chance to keep my hands on it.

I started reading and with the chapters moving on, I was so much attached to the story line that I wanted to finish the book as soon as possible. Strange topics discussed in the book about Hitler, Black Magic, A silent love story in the parallel run, sex description on a mild note......a lot of things to keep the reader stick to 135 pages.

If I have to summarize, I liked the book and efforts of the author. It is a nice piece of work however needed some professional hands to make it perfect.

The book looked like a Syllabus Book to me when I saw it for the first time. But content of the book is nowhere behind a thrilling novel.

ISBN number is missing from the book which clearly shows that it will be difficult for the author to reach the correct and potential audience. The book will not be available in many world class stores as they do not keep books without an ISBN number on it. This book had the potential but have no idea to why was it self-published.

There are some major editing errors evident in the book content. The biggest example I would like to highlight here is the date of birth mentioned in the book, which says that Hitler was born on April 20th, 1929. Now this date is something which cannot be true. I know it would have been a typo error but who so ever edited the book, did not do justice to his job. These small errors questions the authenticity of the information shared in the book.

The normal trend is that book is released as "Fiction" or "Non Fiction" but this book does not give any idea of the category of the book.

I would not like to highlight any other editing errors as there are a lot and it is not to do with the author. It is all about flaws left by the editor of the book. The author has done a remarkable job and the book is a worth read. Reading about Hitler, some of the secrets about him, about his inclination towards black magic, a couple meeting after seven thousand years, having a discussion over an ice covered mountain are just enough to take reader to a different journey all together.

The Group of Fools by Yaagneshwaran G

Genre: Fiction; Pages 136; Paperback: Rs 150, ISBN no. 978-93-81205-66-2

"The Group of Fools"

The Group of Fools is a tale of a group of friends in a Business School.

Each had a different attitude, a different mindset and was from a different background.

And then there was love, ambition and more complications.

A recession that worsened the situation.

Will they rise to the occasion?

Welcome to the journey of the Group of Fools.

These lines welcomes the reader, looks light as a read and cover page compliments it. 

A nice cover page to start with, a very important factor in success or failure of any book. Cover creates a scene before even someone start to read the book. 

A light version of writing, sometimes straight, sometimes deep, sometimes lost the track, sometimes straight - The book doesn't grip till reaching the mid parts. Incidents happen very fast and with chapters time, scenes, importance, depth changes. 

While reading the book, I lost the focus many times. Author did not try to link readers to any character. Story just moved on as if no-one is very important to the book. But, I waited and read more, and it happened, story gripped me after finishing almost half of pages and later it was entertaining and the book finished with a positive and a strong message. The Author managed to close the story successfully and the book was entertaining and gripped attention in the second half.

There were other factors as well, which grabbed my attention. Minor flaws, some positives and some negatives. Content page was not really required in the book but was added, that's fine, but giving the list of content in the "Chiller" font confused me, this font is normally used to give a suspense or a horror gesture. Why it was used in the content page remained unanswered even after finishing the read. 

Later, the print of the book is in the font "Comic S", this font is liked by teens and gives a feeling of a "Light and funny" read. I was pleased and expected the book to give that content, in some chapters, yer it happened however towards the end of the book when the Author was really serious in discussion and the story line was meeting eyes, that font gave a funny feeling. 

I would call it the "Editing Errors" - for the story which is mixed in emotions, Using basic fonts like "Arial" or "Georgia" is the best strategy. Author should not be blamed for this at all.

This book will be liked by people who are/were ever related to Business Schools. I scanned a thorough life cycle of a B-School through this book. Author was successful in this part and managed to deliver his area of interest and a should read for B-School related people.


For a normal reader book may seem to be boring for fist half but the second half of the book is a worth read for all.


A good read, I personally liked it. The Editing part of the book is not satisfactory part however the Author should not be blamed for that.

Three Times Loser - Akash Verma

Overall I liked the Book. It was a decent read.

A different story line, looked fresh and I wanted to read more, a curiosity developed as three stories in one Novel were coming the way one after the other.

Megha, a home maker in Gurgaon receives a letter.

Mandira, a top MNC executive in New Delhi receives a letter.

Shonali, a Corporate slut in Mumbai receives a letter.

Three unknown people; three different lives; one common thread that binds them together, Alok.

These lines behind the book cover attracted me, I wanted to read, to know what is going to happen.

Author successfully managed to narrate three stories, one after the other; it went on well and entertaining. Characters mentioned in the book are well portrayed and locations are descriptive.

It was entertaining to read the book.


Three different stories makes the reader flow in three different ages and surroundings. Good work done by the Author on that front. 

Now coming on to the “Areas of Improvement” for the book –

There are evident editing errors in the book, those can be turn off for an attentive reader. A character by the name of Happy singh is a cut Surd, it surprises how come the shopkeeper knows that he is a ‘Sardar’ in Delhi Market. To continue the turn off for the readers, the same error was repeated with the pimp on GB road incident.

In the first story, friends go to Delhi, the chapter has no correlation with the story line and I felt it was a interruption in the story. Story was to show the relation of Alok with Megha but I felt that as a barrier for the flowing story. If we think about the reason of Author putting so much efforts to write this chapter would be only to show the way of living of characters involved in the story, which was important. 

Name of “Megha” used in place of “Mandira” – I was surprised for a moment and when I read the line again, I understood, it was an editing error. It was again a turn off a I was all engrossed with the story and all of a sudden the face changed.

Basic errors were also observed like. “Hello” spelled like “Hullo”.

Overall I liked the book and it is a good read. 

Death Wore White - Jim Kelly

Death Wore White

1

Monday, 9 February

The Alfa Romeo ran a lipstick-red smear across a sepia landscape. Snow flecked the sands at the edge of the crimped waters of the Wash. To the landward side lay the saltmarsh, a weave of winter white around stretches of cold black water. And out at sea a convoy of six small boats were caught in a stunning smudge of purple and gold where the sun was setting.

The sports car nudged the speed limit as Sarah Baker-Sibley watched the first flake of snow fall on the windscreen. She swept it aside with a single swish of the wipers and punched the lighter into the dashboard, her lips counting to ten, a cigarette held ready between her teeth.

Ten seconds. She thrummed her fingers on the leather-bound steering wheel.

It was two minutes short of five o’clock and the Alfa’s headlights were waking up the catseyes. She pulled the lighter free of its holder. The ringlet of heated wire seemed to lift her mood and she laughed to herself, drawing in the nicotine.

A spirograph of ice had encroached on the windscreen, so she turned the heating up to maximum. The indicator showed the outside temperature at o°C, then briefly – 1°C. She dropped her speed to 50 mph and checked the rear-view mirror for following traffic: she’d been overtaken once – the vehicle was still ahead of her by half a mile – and there were lights behind, but closer, a hundred yards or less.

She swished more snowflakes off the windscreen. Attached to the dashboard by a sucker was a little picture frame holding a snapshot of a girl with hair down to her waist, wearing a swimsuit on a sun-drenched beach. She touched the image as if it were an icon.

Rounding a sharp right bend she saw tail lights ahead again for a few seconds. And a sign, luminous, regulation black on yellow, in the middle of the carriageway, an AA insignia in the top left corner.

DIVERSION

Flood

An arrow pointed bluntly to the left — seaward down a narrow unmetalled road.

‘Sod it.’ She hit the steering wheel with the heel of her palm. Slowing the Alfa, she looked at her watch: 5.01 p.m. She had to pick her daughter up at 5.30 outside the school. She was always there, like clockwork. That was one of the big pluses of owning her own business: she kept her own time. And that’s why she always took the old coast road, not the new dual carriageway, because this way there were never any traffic jams, even in the summer. Just an open road. Once, perhaps twice, she’d got caught up at the shop and phoned ahead to say she’d be late. Jillie had walked home then, but Sarah didn’t want to let her down. Not tonight, when snow was forecast. She’d make it in time, even with the diversion, as long as nothing else delayed her.

Looking in the rear-view again she saw that the following car was close, so she put the Alfa in first and swung it off the coast road onto the snow-covered track. The headlights raked the trees as she turned the car, but she failed to see that they fleetingly lit a figure, stock-still, dressed in a full-length dark coat flecked with snow, the head – hooded – turned away. But she did see a road sign.

As posted at - http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312570811#Excerpt

The murder is a classic locked room mystery, only this one happens in a snow-bound car, trapped at the head of a column of other similarly trapped cars. How the murder was committed and by whom is the crux of the book and the plot is handled competently by Kelly. There are several suspects, each with motives of varying degrees. There are more bodies too - one washed up on the shore near the stranded cars and one found on a sandbank by some cockle-pickers.


Book runs smoothly and locks the reader. The description is intense and it gets the reader to the scene and one can not stop visualizing reading the pages. One thing that interrupts the readership is that scenes are dragged at some parts and hits the fluency and interest of reading.


Overall it is a worth read and pick.

The Wrong Chase - Vikrant Shukla and Laxmi Natraj

To Buy this book Click Here

The Wrong Chase by Vikrant Shukla

Subtitle Line is catchy - Assumptions and Presumptions are not always correct

There were no negative thoughts before I grabbed the book. The title made it very clear that it will be an entertainment full ride. 


I was also curious to see the collaborative efforts of Vikrant Shukla with Co-Author Laxmi Natraj. Co-Authored books are a rare find in India and it was very much successful in this case. The book is just remarkable.


There are two thoughts flowing together in the book, and you as a reader is forced to think, what's next? A true thriller.......


What does a reader expect from a "Thriller", suspense is the key and that was maintained till the last page of the novel. Story moves on with a lady who can not be judged, if she is right or wrong or maybe a white colored criminal. A police squad, running behind a criminal, who they themselves doesn't know who is? An orphanage...... A lot of scenes, which you will not understand meaning of, but will later realize why they were planted.


A worth read, a true experience, a magical trail and a novel worth spending your money on!

Be prepared for a shocking end, I am sure no one would be able to guess what happen in the end. CLIMAX of the book is amazing, I was bowled.

Where I was disappointed with this book is - Vikrant in his first book was over frank in discussing topics related to sex and adultery however in this book I did not find anything of that sort. Book for a change was clean. 

Partnership of Laxmi and Vikrant is a Success and hope to see more Novels from the duo soon. 

Call Centre An Inside Story - Vikrant Shukla

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Review of Call Centre – An Inside Story; by Vikrant Shukla; Mehta Publishing House; Rs 250

Review by Mahesh Awasthi

What happens behind the big buildings of glass? What does a small-town youngster do in a big city? Vikrant Shukla answers these questions in his Call Centre: An Inside Story. The story line is amazing, well-written and managed by Shukla. The transition phase of Shiv – the protagonist of the book – from a small town boy to a big city man is portrayed really well.

After an unsuccessful stint in a law firm, Shiv tries his luck in a call center. Getting the job was only half the battle. He faced further mind trips when the work culture of a call centre dawned on him. Gradually he understands the hardships, hectic schedules and effects of the fatigue of the night shift on its employees though it offers attractive salaries and incentives. The book also deals with the causes that make youth addictive to bad habits that get them temporary relief of their frustrations, but the long hard of recovery seldom creeps into their minds, at least not until the last moment.

The author’s words are just too GOOD. I myself started thinking about how it is for a migrant man to face the perils ahead of him in his new city of choice. Initially, the story just walks like a tortoise, the middle part is fast like a man’s stride and end shoots like a tiger. Kudos to the writer as it is a practise that big names follow and he’s done it well. With his first book the author has proved that there is some potential in him and he can make a blast. (I am waiting to read his next book!) I would like to meet author some day as I want to appreciate him for his truthfulness in writing this book.

I feel that the price of the book is just too much, at Rs 250, in comparison to Chetan Bhagat 2 States and other books in the similar category. But this factor can be excuse when we look at the cover page. The quality and execution is good and print is simply awesome. Over bold is what best describes the cover of the book: I should say it takes quite a bit of courage to put the picture of a condom on the cover! If I am able to read publisher’s mind right, it was done for attracting potential buyers in big stores. And no doubt this idea worked and people are buying this book. Nobody knew Vikrant Shukla’s name as a writer, but now a small marketing tactic worked for him and he has joined the ‘author of a bestselling book’ club.

Two chapters in the book are no way related to the story line. They increased the page numbers but no value added to the story line. Good as entertainment part but negative impression on readers as they are useless for the story running in background. You wait for something to happen and nothing happens. Author seems to have a strong family bonding as many times his lectures go on about the strength of the family ties, but at times I found them dragging and boring. As to the characters, I felt bad for Sumit; Tanya was amazing and Alex made me laugh a hundred times. Author could have ended this story on a positive note, if he wanted to, but it’s a tragic one. I hate stories with a painful ending.

Verdict: The book tries to give the readers a saaf-saaf idea about what goes on in a call centre. Chetan Bhagat’s One night @ a Call Center was all fiction and nothing else. Shukla managed to stick to the reality. Good work!

The reviewer, Mahesh Awasthi, works for an IT firm in Mumbai. Reading books is his primary passion and writing about them is the second in row. He is 36 years old and makes his home with his wife and two kids. He does not have any favourite authors. If he likes the book; he likes that author. He loves to read fiction that is close to reality.

As published at - http://www.indianbookreviews.com/2010/08/05/the-goings-on-in-a-call-centre/