Photo Credit: Brad Flickinger on Flickr

Even though I have an iPad the one type of book I hadn’t read until now was of the interactive kind, so when Pankaj Gupta got in touch with me to review his interactive Blue Jackal series based on tales from the Panchatantra I jumped at it, even though the books are for children.

Since it’s my first interactive book I wasn’t sure about what to expect or even what parameters to gauge by. I figured I’d give the stories a spin at bedtime and see what I felt about some aspects of it. Over a couple of nights I took a look at two stories/apps –

1. The Blue Jackal

2. The Blue Jackal in America

Languages

‘The Blue Jackal’ had multiple language and voice options. I could choose between English Male, English Female, French Female and Hindi Female. I enjoyed trying out the different options and listening to the story in Hindi.
I really liked the idea of the same story in multiple languages as it has the dual benefit of reaching out to a larger audience and getting children to listen and learn more than one language.

‘The Blue Jackal in America’ however had only one option for narration – English Female.

Story

The story of ‘The Blue Jackal’ is the old tale of how the jackal became the blue king. The story is told well and even has a moral at the end.

‘The Blue Jackal in America’ starts where the previous book ends – the animals get caught and are shipped to a circus in America. This story is longer with an introduction to classic American landmarks, a plot hatched to escape the circus and a sub-plot from the Panchatantra to inspire the animals to escape.

Over all this is also a well told story with a moral at the end that children will enjoy. However I did not like some messages in the story. America is repeated talked about as the land of the free, the land that everyone aspires to be in, etc. Considering the brain drain we are already facing, this isn’t the message I’d want children to take away from the story at that vulnerable age.

Characters

The first book has some common characters from the forest apart from the jackal – the lion, the hare, the tortoise, the elephant, the mouse, the bear, the monkey, the snake and the giraffe. Though there are quite a few of them, they don’t have much to contribute except play the supporting roles in the story.

However in book two some of them come back to play more substantial roles. There is the lion, the rooster, the monkey, the parrot, the elephant, the deer, the mouse, the tortoise and the hare who this time round add to the story. The jackal along with the other animals set the stage for a good plot and variety in characteristics.

Music, Sound

Both books have a lot of music and sounds that children will enjoy, but Book Two definitely has more than the first. I found myself clicking on the characters and all over the screen constantly trying to find new dialogues and sounds that were built in.

The dialogues, music and sounds add to the story and make it entertaining even in repeated reads. I think children will enjoy revisiting the stories over time.

Animation

There is also a lot of animation but just like with music there is more animation in Book Two than One. It took me a while to figure out that there were interactive elements in Book One, but once I did, I had to click on everyone of them. And ‘The Blue Jackal in America’ kept me busy for quiet a while with the amount of animation it had. Kids are sure to like the bit where you shake down a Christmas tree and redecorate it.

My Thoughts –

‘ + + + ‘

On the whole the stories were engaging and fun. The working of the apps was quite intuitive and easy to figure out. Children of all ages will enjoy them but younger children will enjoy them repeatedly.
Each story seems to end with a connection to the next, so I’m looking forward to the next story in the Blue Jackal series where I think the animals will visit France.

‘ – – – ‘

There were a few things I felt were missing in the books like there was no pause button in either book to stall the narration, so I had to go back a page to restart the narration if I missed something. I would have also liked a button to repeat the narration on each page.
The Blue Jackal had a counter showing how many interactive elements there were on each page so they were easier to find. However The Blue Jackal in America did not have a displayed counter, so I had to click on absolutely everything on the page to make sure I didn’t miss out. That said, the narrator did give instructions to animations on some pages.
I also would have preferred to have more language options than just English in book Two.
Lastly the apps did hang on me a few times and that needs some looking into.

Going by what I saw in the first story and the next, I think the team at Five Axioms Inc. is learning and getting better at the stories and apps. The Blue Jackal series is definitely something for parents and kids to look forward to.

Have you read an interactive book before? Reviewed one? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Title: Penelope
Author: Anya Wylde
Paperback: 302 pages
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (January 13th 2013)
Genre: Regency Romance
Read: e-book
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Amazon
Summary: (Goodreads)

Leaving behind the rural charms of Finnshire, Miss Penelope Fairweather arrives in London with hope in her heart and a dream in her eye. The dowager, no less, has invited her for a season in London, where she will attempt to catch a husband.

Thus begins our heroine’s tale as she attempts to tackle the London season with all her rustic finesse. Unfortunately, her rustic finesse turns out to be as delicate as a fat bear trying to rip apart a honeycomb infested with buzzing bees.

What follows is a series of misadventures, love affairs, moonlit balls, fancy clothes, fake moustaches, highwaymen, sneering beauties, pickpockets, and the wrath of a devilishly handsome duke.

My Review:

Thanks Anya for offering me your book to read and review 🙂

Cover: Makes you want to pick it up!

Paper and font: The font and layout is good.

Readability, language: : Easy Read!

Why did I choose this book: Look at the cover, how could I not 😀

Penelope who has a knack for saying and doing the most idiotic things at the most inappropriate of times is invited by the dowager at Blackthorne to London for a season, where she hopes to catch a husband. The idiosyncrasies start right from her arrival when she arrives dripping wet with her pet goat Lady Bathsheba in tow to the surprise of the Blackthorne Household.
The rest of the story is a hilarious tale of Penelope’s season as she learns London society-etiquette and goes about finding a husband.

When Anya got in touch with me for a review of ‘Penelope’ it was the cover that first caught my eye. With a pink background, a dainty girl and a 4 line introduction to Penelope, it was just so Julia Quinn and P G Wodehouse that I had read it.
And the cover was balanced well with a blurb that completed and sealed my interest in the book.

The plot of ‘Penelope’ is the age old one of a simple naive girl finding her prince charming. However Anya tells it in a refreshing way and I laughed my way through the book as Penelope puts her foot in her mouth and puts herself in a spot repeatedly while prince charming is right there under her nose.

Set in Regency London Penelope’s rustic charms of rural Finnshire stand out and make for a good comparison with the big city, it’s society and it’s people. London with all its rules and stipulations still has its quirks and moments.

Anya has created a set of memorable characters with endearing quirks that I’m going to remember for a while. There’s Sir Henry Woodville with his fixation for moustaches that goes so far as to require a supply of fake moustaches. Lady Bathsheba the goat who adds to every situation with full gusto. Jimmy the Falcon who is a poet, a highwayman, a deer stealer and a burglar of some note. And not to leave out Miss Penelope Winifred Rose Spebbington Fairweather who is at the root of it all!

Along with Penelope we get introduced to a lot of new characters and plots as she makes her way through London Society looking for a husband. However Anya neatly ties up all the loose ends and wraps the story up well with the couple living happily ever after and making lots of babies 🙂

‘Penelope’ reminded me and left me longing to revisit Wodehouse. There’s clear influence of P G Wodehouse in Anya’s writing and though no one can touch the master, Anya has done a good job and written an enjoyable regency romance with a good sense of humour and comic timing.

If you’re someone who enjoys Humourous Regency Romance, this is a book for you. A great read to curl up with on a rainy afternoon. And don’t forget the hot coco 🙂

About the Author:
Anya Wylde lives in Ireland along with her husband and a fat French poodle who’s now on a diet she says. She can cook a mean curry, and her idea of exercise is occasionally stretching her toes. Anya Wylde can be reached through her Facebook Page.

Buy On: Amazon

Photo Credit: Andrew Subiela on Flickr

As a reader one of my biggest pain points has always been getting more books. While growing up my biggest challenge was my limited pocket money; my budget still is my biggest challenge.

Libraries helped solve this to some extent through the years but I’ve exhausted a few and there aren’t many left. Ebooks have also helped in price and availability but nothing beats paper books. I belong to book communities like Goodreads to make more reader friends but exchanging books across countries is unfeasible. Well, you get the gist of the problem, don’t you? 😀

Then a while back I heard of Woodpie – a site that encourages the exchange of paper books. This I had to check out.

Woodpie’s main page says that it helps you explore what’s trending, what your friends are reading, find rare books you’re looking for and even make real friends.

Here’s what you get when you login. I’ve filled in a bit of my profile, added some books and a review to see how the site works.

So, How does it work?

As a new user after setting up your profile, the first thing to do would be to add books to your shelf. When adding books you get two options – shelf and wishlist. In both cases you can choose who your book is visible to by adding circles and specific friends names. The shelf option also allows you to mark the book as read, reading or will read.
Circles here work just like on Google+. You categorise your friends into circles that you can then use to share relevant books.

Challenges –

I couldn’t find an invite friend option, and that would have been helpful to reach out to my friends on G+, Facebook and Twitter.
I would have loved an import G+ circles option, since it’s circles here too.

Plus –

Choosing circles and friends gives me privacy control over each book and I like that. No everyone needs to know what books I have and read. 😀

Library

Your library (separate from shelf) is a collection of books your friends have shared with you and all the books members have shared publicly. Basically these are the books that are accessible to you.

If it’s a book you want, you can request it from the main library page. Clicking on the request button gives you a list of people who own the book and options in the mode of exchange.

Clicking on the book takes you to a page with more details on the book, user ratings, reviews and a list of people who have the book. If its a book from your shelf you’ll also see a list of people who want the book and offer it to them with a click of a button.

Challenges –

The book details page does not have a request book button. To request a book you have to come back to the main library page.

Requests

We saw one way to request for books above but you can also request for books directly from on your wishlist. Aside from that there is also a page for all requests, where both sent and received requests can be tracked.

Matches

This is a interesting feature to me as it compares my shelf and wishlist against that of my friends and public and gives me a list of books I can share or borrow. Simply put I can see who owns books on my wishlist and request for them easily. I can also find people to pass a book onto after I’ve read it.

Plus –

It’s a great way to make new friends, share books, and save paper and save money.

Offers

The offers section works just like requests. You can track all your sent and received offers. You can also recall/cancel an offer.

Trends

This section gives you a snapshot of the most active books and members.

My Thoughts –

‘ + + + ‘

On the whole I like the idea and site. I have a lot of books on my bookshelf I’d like to share and Woodpie lets me do just that with relative ease. It also helps me find books I want to read without having to buy them. And all of this helps me make actual new friends and widen my reader circle. This is good stuff.

‘ – – – ‘

That said, the site still has a long way to go. There isn’t a large base of members yet, and that means that there isn’t a large variety of books to choose from. The probability of finding books from your wishlist on people’s shelves is currently quite small. I couldn’t find anyone to borrow Chanakya’s Chant from and that’s a fairly famous book.
The various social networks used by readers are not integrated into the site. I’d like to see options to invite friends, announce book requests & offers and import book lists. Adding books would be easier if I could import a book list from Goodreads, rather than add one book at a time.

Woodpie is a great idea and if there are enough people using it, there’d be a lot of happy readers. I’m going to be watching the site to see how things go.

One question though is picking at me – In the age of ebooks, where we are seeing libraries disappear, can a paper book exchange program work?
Are you on Woodpie? What do you think of it?

Title: Jacob Hills
Author: Ismita Tandon Dhankher
Paperback: 259 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (May 2013)
Genre: Murder Mystery
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
Buy On: FlipKart
Summary: (Goodreads)

It’s just another evening at the Tiller’s Club.

Near the bar, Capt. Rana, the Young Officer undergoing training at the War College stands among his course mates, consciously avoiding his pregnant, Muslim wife, Heena. Rumour has it she had forced him to marry her because of the baby.
Saryu, village belle turned modern babe, drink in hand, chats up a YO. Her husband, Maj. Vikram Singh, shoots angry glances at her. She isn’t bothered; the question is, who will she go home with tonight?
Pam and Gary, the flamboyant Sikh couple, chat merrily with the senior officers, charming as ever. Who’d ever guess that they lead the infamous Key Club, an underground swinger couples’ club.
And in one corner stands the Anglo-Indian wife of Maj. George Chandy, Eva, who finds herself at the heart of a murder mystery when a woman’s bleeding body is discovered at the old church under the black cross. The murdered woman’s body is covered with cigarette burns. A six-year-old girl’s wrist is similarly marked. Another little girl shows signs of severe abuse.

Jacob Hills: an army station that houses the War College where young officers receive training. A world of army officers and genteel conversation, of smart men and graceful women. Set in the 1980s – in an India that was at the cusp of tradition and Westernized modernity – this is the story of the ugliness that lies beneath the garb ofJacob Hills’s beauty and sophistication. An ugliness the Chandys find themselves confronted with. Will they uncover the truth behind the woman’s murder? Will their love survive Jacob Hills?

My Review:

Thanks Ismita for offering me your book to read and review 🙂

Cover: Bright, eye-catchy and a bit gaudy!

Paper and font: Smell-worthy!

Readability, language: : Easy on the eyes!

Why did I choose this book: Army life has always fascinated me but I’ve never read a book about it.

A woman is found murdered with cigarette burns on her body in Jacob Hills. Eva, who has moved here with her husband Maj. George Chandy, finds that Jacob Hills is not what it seems, the army station has a lot of undercurrents with much happening under the surface.
As Eva tries to solve the murder of the woman she found bleeding in the church, she uncovers some dark secrets of the residents – abnormalities in the ordered life of an army station.

Filled with the colours of sunset in the hills the cover is bright, eye catchy and a bit gaudy, but the name made me stop and relook at the book. The blurb is a good snapshot of what to expect and supports the title with a clear pointer to the army station at Jacob Hills.

People and the TV had created this image in my mind of an army station. A place filled with class, finesse and style. Jacob Hills was an insight into what happens behind the glossy veneer of army life. The infallible men are just as human and crass as everyone else.
The story is about a lot of things – a young couple, an abusive man, wife swapping, sexual favours and more. Eva who is a new army wife finds her way around in the army life of Jacob Hills discovering well hidden secrets. Ismita has woven a good plot that kept me reading right to the end.

The book is set in 1980’s India, a time when things were changing and there was a lot of tussle between the old and new schools of thought. Ismita explores the conflicts and emotions of people during that time.
Though there isn’t much place description in Jacob Hills except where needed. It gets balanced by the in-depth descriptions of people and society in the 80’s.

Jacob Hills has quite a few characters telling the story and it took me a while to figure out and remember who was talking and who was who. Though seeing the story through a characters eyes was insightful, I would have preferred fewer characters narrating. It did confuse me.

The story starts out with murder that is followed by instances of abuse, scandal and suicide. There were a lot incidents that I felt would tie up to the main crime but they worked out into different sub-plots in the last part of the book. Though there were no loose ends and each thread was neatly tied up, I was a bit disappointed. The murderer did not make an appearance until the end and Ishmita took me on a wild goose chase though the book. There should have been more of the main murder I think, and less distraction and dilution with irrelevant seperate incidents.

The story is interesting and written well. It seems clear from the story that Ismita has an army background and knows the life well, else she has done her research 🙂

Jacob Hills is an easy read, though I felt it was more of an insight into army station life than a murder mystery. That said, it is still a book worth reading, and you should check it out.

About the Author:
There isn’t much known about Ismita, but here’s what I found out. Ismita had studied in Sophia College, Ajmer before doing her MBA and working with the foreigh exchange division of Thomas Cook for a short time. She now writes books and poetry full-time. Other than Jacob Hills, Ismita has also written a romatic thriller ‘Love on the Rocks’ in 2011. She blogs her poetry at www.lesserknownpoet.com.

Buy On: FlipKart

Title: Chanakya’s Chant
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Westland Ltd. (January 1st 2010)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
Summary: (Goodreads)
The year is 340 BC. A hunted, haunted Brahmin youth vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father. Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with a complete absence of accepted morals, he becomes the most powerful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the Great. Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and succeeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan empire.

History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya. Satisfied—and a little bored—by his success as a kingmaker, through the simple summoning of his gifted mind, he recedes into the shadows to write his Arthashastra, the ‘science of wealth’. But history, which exults in repeating itself, revives Chanakya two and a half millennia later, in the avatar of Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin teacher in smalltown India who becomes puppeteer to a host of ambitious individuals—including a certain slumchild who grows up into a beautiful and powerful woman.

Modern India happens to be just as riven as ancient Bharat by class hatred, corruption and divisive politics and this landscape is Gangasagar’s feasting ground. Can this wily pandit—who preys on greed, venality and sexual deviance—bring about another miracle of a united India? Will Chanakya’s chant work again?

My Review:

Cover: Eye-catchy!

Paper and font: Easy on the hands and eyes.

Readability, language: Easy read…

Why did I choose this book: Because of Chanakya.

In 340 BC Chanakya sets out to take revenge for his fathers death. In a revenge that spans years he thwarts Alexander, unites Kingdoms and puts Chandragupta Maurya on the throne. Having accomplished his revenge and dream he steps back to write his Arthashastra.
Ages later Gangasagar Mishra stumbles upon a chant written by Chanakya. Possessing qualities like Chanakya, he sets out to play the game of political intrigue with the objective of making his chosen disciple the Prime Minister on India.

Considering the book is about a cursed chant discovered, that is connected to Chanakya the title is quite appropriate. A copper tinted cover with a mix of ancient and modern coins is eye catchy and the blurb makes you want to read the book.

Chanakya is a known name, almost everyone has either studied about him in school or watched a story on TV. The one thing Chanakya is known for is his cunning. He is the Indian equivalent of Merlin, scheming and plotting until he put Chandragupta Maurya on the throne.
Sanghi retells the story of Chanakya with a twist – Gangasagar Mishra, the modern day Chanakya. He switches between Chanakya’s time and the present day as he draws political parallels. The plot is interesting and for a political noob like me it was an insight into what transpires behind the curtain.

The book is set in present day India and Chanakya’s time around 340 BC; both have been described well. It was a trip down memory lane re-imagining places I’d read about first in school – Takshila University, Pataliputra, Magadha, Paurus, Alexander… How I wish I could have studied at Takshila.
In the present day the story travels from small town Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh to Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi on a journey that makes a small time party a national political power.

Mainly revolving around Chanakya in old times and Gangasagar in present day, the story has a host of other characters supporting the plot. Both the protagonists go about using the people around them to achieve their goals, losing sight of the people themselves most times. Chanakya uses Suvasini, the woman he loves without remorse in furthering his grand plans. Gangasagar gets his disciple Chandini shot when he thinks it would benefit their political career.
The cunning and witty Chanakya may have been the best at the political game but he was also a cold calculating man with very few emotional attachments. Chanakya’s Chant is an insight into the man Chanakya was, and not just the political strategist.

Sanghi maintains a good pace and ties up the story well. There are of course a lot of plots and sub-plots, and sometimes you get muddled about characters but it all fits in at the end. Considering that it’s two stories running parallel, there was a lot happening and sometimes I lost track of things. But it could also just be the naive political me who missed the nuances.

When I first came across the book, I thought it was about Chanakya, so I was disappointed to find Chanakya sharing page space with Gangasagar. That said, I don’t have any other complaints about the book.

This was the first book of Ashwin Sanghi’s that I read, and it set the benchmark for his work. No wonder then that The Rozabal Line, his first book was hugely disappointing and The Krishna Key, his third was a redemption as it looks like Sanghi is getting better with each book.

Unlike The Rozabal Line and The Krishna Key, Chanakya’s Chant is a political thriller and if that’s your thing, you’ll enjoy this book.

About the Author:
Ashwin Sanghi is an entrepreneur by day, novelist by night and has all the usual qualifications of an Indian businessman. ‘The Rozabal Line’ was originally self-published in 2007 under his anagram-pseudonym—Shawn Haigins. In 2008 Westland published the book in India under his own name. Ashwin lives in Mumbai with his wife, Anushika, and his eight-year old son, Raghuvir. His website is www.ashwinsanghi.com.

Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart

Title: Scammed: Confessions of a Confused Accountant
Author: Anonymous
Paperback: 182 pages
Publisher: Grey Oak/Westland India (2011)
Genre: Accounting Fiction
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
Buy On: FlipKart
Summary: (Goodreads)
Life is miserable for Hitesh Shah, despite his coveted job in a top accounting firm. Labelled a nerd by colleagues, ignored by women and rebuked by parents, Hitesh cannot resist when offered a lucrative job as the CEO of an off shoot of the failing automobile company, Supreme Motors. So what if the owner Venugopal Reddy, a sleazy businessman with political connections, actually wants Hitesh to fix the company to save his skin? Hitesh’s drive and quest for success helps turn the Company’s fortunes around; he is seen a rising corporate star, he begins dating a model and is pampered by parents.

Championed as the poster boy of emerging India, Hitesh’s fairy tale ends quickly. As his cursed luck would have it, he is soon on the run from the law – allegedly as the perpetrator of a financial scam and accused of defrauding thousands of investors! With his back against the wall, and growing public and media opinion against him, will Hitesh come out of the mess he finds himself in?

My Review:

Cover: So-so!

Paper and font: Smell-Worthy! Would have preferred a bigger font though.

Readability, language: Oh boss, It’s easy yaar!

Why did I choose this book: An anonymous author got me wondering about what was hidden in the book.

A depressed Hitesh who is at a dead-end at work gets a lucrative job offer. He gets to be CEO and set-up a company. But in trying to solve one problem he takes on a host of them. He gets money, car, house and status at a huge price. Caught in a scandal not of his creation, Hitesh is on the run to save his life.

Considering that this is the story of Hitesh who is an accountant who unknowingly is involved in a scam, the title is appropriate. The cover is very ordinary, nothing that makes the book stand out. The blurb though does spark an interest and expectation of action in the book.

I haven’t read a lot of accounting based books so this was a new sector for me. The intelligence and audacity behind scams astounded me. This book was a learning in White Collar crime in India. The plot is well laid out and the perpetrators are known, what’s unknown is how Hitesh will get out of the pickle.

Set in Hyderabad and Vizag the book is full of ‘boss’ and ‘yaar’ to a point where it started to irritate me. But yes, the author is authentic to the places and people in Andhra today. And in a country currently passing through a phase of scams, the story is believable.

The characters in Scammed are quite well chalked out. I don’t know if it was the intention of the author but I came to detest Hitesh. Initially I thought he was naive but you soon realise he’s plain dumb. He gets used by two girls, abused by his parents, walked over by his boss, scammed by his new bosses and in all of this he doesn’t learn. And yet in the end he gets a second chance and the girl. He’s the poor victim!

Like almost all big scams, even this one has a lot of facets and levels to the scam. They are all introduced, matured and tied up in the end by the author. I don’t have any complaints of the story, though the love bits were a bit ‘katcha’, not well written and as I read it I was thinking, is this for real.

The climax wasn’t so bad but the end was disappointing. Why do authors have to write an ‘After __ Years’ at the end.

The language of the book is good except for exceptional mistakes like the lead characters name changing from Hitesh to Aditya suddenly at one place in the book. The dialogues are realistic and you can almost hear the character say it, but if ‘boss’ and ‘yaar’ is actually used so much, I’m glad I don’t live in Hyderabad, I’d go nuts.

After reading the book I’m wondering why the author chose to stay anonymous. There’s definitely nothing in the book to give him or her reason to hide. Looks like the “Anonymous’ is just a sales gimmick.

A good book to read if you have an interest in politics and finance, and love the words ‘boss’ and ‘yaar’.

About the Author:
A little investigation led me to find that the Anonymous author was Ahmed Faiyaz. A BookChums interview said, he was known as “a Chartered Accountant and Management Consultant by accident, a civil servant by day and a writer by night. A voracious reader and a lover of cinema. And of course the Managing Director, Grey Oak Publishers.”. You can follow his blog at simplyfiction.wordpress.com

Special Note: Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Vidya for lending me this book. Head over to Vidya’s blog to read her review of Scammed.

Buy On: FlipKart

Title: My Wife and Other Problems, My Husband the Only Problem
Author: Johnnie and Barbara Alves
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Better Yourself Books (2011)
Genre: Autobiography (short stories)
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Printasia
Summary: (Goodreads)
Here the writer-couple is poking fun at each other, making mundane matters laughable and painful confusion bearable.

My Review:

In school every year we would have a book sale organised and run by Christian Nuns and all proceeds would go towards a charitable cause. I used to save money through the year to be able to buy a couple of books. They were Indian prints, not great quality and fairly expensive, not by today’s standards but back then in the 90’s, thirty rupees was a lot of money. I remember reading Heidi, The Little Princess and a few others thanks to the Nuns. Heidi became one of my all time favourites, read so many times that I have lost count and I still have that old copy from childhood. 🙂

Last month I had a another sinus attack and off I went to St. John’s Hospital to get it checked before it got really bad like two years ago. The Nun’s had a stall up at the entry and the sight of those books filled me with nostalgia. Feeling all warm and fuzzy I decided the Doctor could wait, I needed to browse. As I skimmed the titles, one book jumped out at me, it would to any married woman 😀

“My Wife and Other Problems, My Husband the Only Problem”

At 100 bucks it wasn’t a big risk and my money would anyway go to charity so I didn’t think much and just picked it up. And it paid off, the book was a laugh riot, well mostly.

Three fourth of the book is written by Johnnie Alves and the rest is finished by Barbara Alves. We women always have the last word don’t we 😀

The Alves’s live in Bombay and the city shines through in Johnnie’s writing. The people and Anglo-culture brought many a smile to my face as I remembered friends and people I know.

Johnnie’s writing is like a breath of fresh air, simple with no fancy words, he tells stories that make you laugh. However he does seem to be giving a sermon in a few stories. Barbara on the other hand; I expected a lot more of her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s good. But after Johnnie’s introduction to her, I had pictured a more potent Barbara.

The book is a collection of short stories in which Johnnie and Barbara recount stories from their married life, the high’s and low’s and up’s and down’s, that any husband or wife will immediately relate too. Of course both of them may interpret it differently and that’s right there in the title – The husband would see sarcasm but a wife sees truth in the title “My Wife and Other Problems, My Husband the Only Problem”.

This is a fun must read for anyone who’s married or been married 😀

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy, and I haven’t been able to blog much. Just getting the book reviews posted was a challenge. But things kind of eased off a bit recently and Che and I have been doing a lot of stuff.

Last Sunday I went to the Microsoft Office 365 Education Indiblogger Meet. This was my second Indiblogger event. I’d felt like such a stranger at my first one, it was nice to look forward to faces this time. A shout out to my friends – Vidya Sury who is such a wonderful bubbly person, Farida an awe-inspiring woman who writes ‘Chapters From My Life’, Priya who writes a Home Living in Style blog, and last but not the least Siddharth, who is so little and yet so much… 🙂 It was nice catching up with you guys. Special thanks to Vidya for tipping me off about the event and offering me an incentive to attend.

The event itself was so-so – the seating arrangement was non-existent, and so was the food. We had been promised lunch but we only got starters, which also disappeared even before the serving plates were put down. The Microsoft guys spoke for ages, and after a while a lot of people drifted away. I did have fun but more because of the people not the event. Highlight was that I won a Swatch watch in the twitter #Cloudblogathon contest.

This week Che also had a shoot at the KYNKYNY Furniture factory and I tagged along as assistant. Watching the precision they work the wood with was an awesome experience. I love the work and Vivek’s obsession with perfection. I hope to own a lot of KYNKYNY furniture someday 🙂

The highlight of my week was seeing fruits on my tomato and chilli plants. This is the first time I’m growing vegetables and herbs and I was so looking forward to this.

Other than all this, just when I thought I had caught up with my reading list and brought it under control, I got flooded with new books. Che gifted me with the Feast of Roses & Shadow Princess, book 2 & 3 of the Taj Mahal series by Indu Sundaresan for our 3rd anniversary. Vidya gave me three books at the Indiblogger event – The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian, Scammed: Confessions of a Confused Accountant by Anonymous, The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. Got Once Upon a Prince by Rachel Hauck from Booksneeze. And there’s two more from authors – Rising of a Dead Moon by Paul Haston and Jacob Hills by Ismita Tandon Dhanker.

I’ve got a packed week ahead with books and a holiday. 🙂 Che and I are taking a few days off to visit a friends farm. I’m looking forward to some time away from the city, without lists and to-do’s. I so need some quiet time. Have you ever felt like you’ll burst if you don’t get away for a bit?

Title: The Krishna Key
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Paperback: 475 pages
Publisher: Westland (August 24th 2012)
Genre: Historical Fiction/Thriller
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
Summary: (Goodreads)
Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age—the Kaliyug.

In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar.
Only, he is a serial killer.

In this heart-stopping tale, the arrival of a murderer who executes his gruesome and brilliantly thought-out schemes in the name of God is the first clue to a sinister conspiracy to expose an ancient secret—Krishna’s priceless legacy to mankind.

Historian Ravi Mohan Saini must breathlessly dash from the submerged remains of Dwarka and the mysterious lingam of Somnath to the icy heights of Mount Kailash, in a quest to discover the cryptic location of Krishna’s most prized possession. From the sand-washed ruins of Kalibangan to a Vrindavan temple destroyed by Aurangzeb, Saini must also delve into antiquity to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice.

My Review:

Cover: Eye-Catchy!

Paper and font: Ebony and Ivory that’s Smell-Worthy!

Readability, language: An easy and fun read.

Why did I choose this book: After reading Chanakya’s Chant that was good and The Rozabal Line that was BAD, I had to read The Krishna Key to see if he gets better. He does.

The story involves a historian Ravi Mohan Saini getting sucked into a web of intrigue when his close friend is killed and he is accused. Prof. Ravi evades the police and is on the run while the assassin who believes he is Vishu’s 8th avatar is killing people and stealing valuable artefacts. The pieces being stolen are supposed to belong to Krishna’s time and when put together unlock a valuable secret.

The title is appropriate and the book has a nice cover that shows a padlocked door that is slightly open so a sliver of light shows, though the embossed book title in gold print wears off as you read and by the end, the book title is unreadable. Almost as if the book wants to hide it self 😀

Sanghi lays out a very intriguing plot through the story, constantly keeping me on my toes. It’s clear he has researched really well (the citations confirm it) for the book as he weaves a web that all ties up in the end. Sometimes it was difficult to believe the same guy who wrote Rozabal Line wrote this book. The Krishna Key is as good as Rozabal Line is bad.

Sanghi starts each chapter with a snippet of Krishna’s history from five thousand years ago and then comes back to today’s day and age as Prof. Saini rushes from Dwaraka to Somnath then Mount Kailash and other places trying to solve the Krishna puzzle. Saini describes the places well so I found it easy to imagine it all and to help he also has a lot of illustrations through the book.

Saini has quite a few characters in the book but they are memorable. He has given them all personality and depth. There’s Inspector Radhika Singh who makes you feel warm and proud even though she is quite a cold woman. Then there’s Priya Ratnani who is the eager student who wants to learn for learning sake and Prof. Ravi Mohan Saini who is intelligent and wise and yet gets swayed by love when it comes to Priya. That’s the first bone of contention I have with Sanghi. Did he really need to build in a love story to sell this book? Even without it the story is tight; the love mish-mash makes it wishy-washy.

The Krishna Key is a well written story in all aspects but one. The story is tight with a good pace, there are no lose ends, the characters are well sketched, the places well described with a good climax and anti-climax. My only complaint is the RSS propaganda. Just as in Rozabal Line, The Krishna Key is also filled with data about how it all started with Hinduism, only here its packaged better.

Of all the three books I have read by Ashwin Sanghi, The Krishna Key is the best. I may have trashed Rozabal Line but with each book Sanghi is getting better. I’m looking forward to his next book, it definitely looks like it’s going to be even better but I’m hoping it won’t be a Hinduism promotion again. You don’t need to be a mythology or folklore buff to enjoy this book, but if you are, you just might enjoy it a wee bit more 🙂

About the Author:
Ashwin Sanghi is an entrepreneur by day, novelist by night and has all the usual qualifications of an Indian businessman. ‘The Rozabal Line’ was originally self-published in 2007 under his anagram-pseudonym—Shawn Haigins. In 2008 Westland published the book in India under his own name. Ashwin lives in Mumbai with his wife, Anushika, and his eight-year old son, Raghuvir. His website is www.ashwinsanghi.com.

Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart

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