PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 5/5 CLIMAX: 5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 5/5 “When Breath Becomes Air”, a posthumously published memoir is divided into two halves – the first half chronicles Paul Kalanithi’s early life and his life-altering career switch from English to medicine. His motives for doing so are deeply philosophical – to solve metaphysical […]
Pancakes in Paris | Craig Carlson | Book Review
SUBJECT: 3.5/5 CANDIDNESS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 “Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France”. The subtitle says it all. This book is every man’s ticket to making the American Dream work in Paris. Personally, I feel the book couldn’t have had a better title than this. So before you start […]
Running with Scissors | Augusten Burroughs | Book Review
PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 5/5 Running with Scissors is a memoir recounting American author Burroughs’s outrageous adolescent life. As a child, Burroughs was a neat-freak, obsessive about keeping his hair, clothes and surroundings picture-perfect. His parents were constantly having violent fights and when they finally decided to divorce, Burroughs was sent […]
Eat Pray Love | Elizabeth Gilbert | Book Review
WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5SUBJECT: 4/5CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5RELEVANCE: 3.5/5ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 Eat Pray Love is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from Amazon and sat down to read it. I don’t […]
84, Charing Cross Road | Helene Hanff | Book Review
PLOT: 4/5CHARACTERS: 5/5WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5CLIMAX: 4/5ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 5/5 84, Charing Cross Road is a compilation of letters between author Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, a bookseller at 84, Charing Cross Road, London. Hanff, a resident of New York City and a voracious reader constantly in search of rare classics to add to her collection, first wrote to Doel in 1949 to enquire about books she had long wanted which were either unavailable or unaffordable in New York. Doel responded, agreeing to send the books across from his store […]
My Life: An Illustrated Autobiography | APJ Abdul Kalam | Book Review
WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CANDIDNESS: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 INSPIRATION QUOTIENT: 5/5 Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam needs no introduction. He is known by one and all and yet he opens this biography with such a humble introduction and such humble beginnings. The man is an epitome of simplicity and “living it real”. “My Life: An Illustrated […]
Guns and Thighs | Ramgopal Varma | Book Review
SUBJECT: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CANDIDNESS: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 The film industry is full of all sorts of characters – some are revered and some are frowned upon. While we know why some characters ( the likes of Big B, Om Puri etc) are revered, often we do not know the real reason why […]
Mrs Funnybones | Twinkle Khanna | Book Review
SUBJECT: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CANDIDNESS: 3.5/5 HUMOUR: 4.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 To be able to write humour is a gift and after reading “Mrs Funnybones” I can surely vouch for Twinkle Khanna in this department. Reading her book is akin to having a dose of the laughing gas as throughout the 233 odd pages […]
I Inspire | Neerja Malik & Megha Bajaj | Book Review
SUBJECT: 3.5/5 CANDIDNESS: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 Of all the ghastly diseases that plague the citizens of this world, Cancer is the deadliest, ugliest and the most widespread. God forbid, it should never happen to anyone. The insanely tough chemotherapy sessions and the incessant hair fall are just a few of the […]
Cracking the Code | Ayushann Khurana & Tahira Kashyap | Book Review
SUBJECT: 3/5 CANDIDNESS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 Most of us have, in our younger and juvenile years, dreamed of making it big in the tinsel town and maybe some of us still harbour that dream. But honestly what are the odds? What are the chances? Somewhere down the treacherous path, we all […]
Real Heroes: Ordinary People Extraordinary Service | CNN-IBN | Book Review
CONCEPT: 4/5 RELEVANCE: 4.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 These words reflect upon the meaning of true love. What is love if not giving, and giving if not service? This book titled Real Heroes: Ordinary People Extraordinary Service is dedicated to 48 anonymous heroes who have dedicated their life, time, energy and resources to […]
Stolen Years: A Memoir of Simranjit Singh Mann’s Imprisonment | Pavit Kaur | Book Review
SUBJECT: 3/5 CONTENT: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 CANDIDNESS: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5 Simranjit Singh Mann was an Indian Police Officer posted in Bombay when he resigned from the services of his organisation as a gesture to protest against the wrongdoing on the part of Indian government by causing harm to the holiest shrine of the […]