Biography & Memoir

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth | Chris Hadfield | Book Review

SUBJECT: 3/5 RELEVANCE: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5 1969 is a landmark year in world history. It is the year in which Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. This brought astronauts into the limelight; Star Wars, released 8 years later, certainly helped. Since then, most of us, at one point or other in …

Read more

Bird in a Banyan Tree

Bird in a Banyan Tree | Bina Ramani | Book Review

SUBJECT: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 CANDIDNESS: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5 Initially, I had reservations about Bird in a Banyan Tree, and most of them were about the author’s close connection in the Jessica Lal case. Based on all the media attention the book has so far generated, it should have been filled with pages and …

Read more

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi | Jung Chang | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 RESEARCH: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 HISTORICAL RELEVANCE: 4.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Being a woman, I love reading about women in general and it is, therefore, surely a treat when one gets to read about someone as powerful as the Empress of China – Her Highness Dowager Cixi. You must not have heard about …

Read more

The Diana Chronicles

The Diana Chronicles | Tina Brown | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 RESEARCH: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 Who doesn’t know Her Royal Highness Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales and the queen of hearts who ruled the whole world by her charming ways and stunning beauty? We all have seen her, admired her, loved her and mourned for her at her …

Read more

True Grit

True Grit | Bear Grylls | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 RESEARCH: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 “You can’t become a decent horseman until you fall off and get up again, a good number of times. There’s life in a nutshell.” The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word survival is ‘Bear Grylls’. He is a renowned survival …

Read more

The Race of My Life

The Race of My Life: An Autobiography | Milkha Singh | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 HISTORICAL VALUE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 We all have heard of the Sikh that doesn’t run but fly. “The Flying Sikh” and “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” are phrases that almost every Indian is familiar with. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has truly, and in every sense of the word, immortalized Milkha Singh and …

Read more

Wise enough to be foolish

Wise Enough to be Foolish | Gauri Jayaram | Book Review

PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 Everybody loves a good biography. It inspires us, seduces us to dream big in spite of humble backgrounds, and gives us a sneak peek into the life of the author. I am no exception and have had the pleasure of reading quite a …

Read more

Songs of Blood and Sword by Fatima Bhutto

Songs of Blood and Sword | Fatima Bhutto | Book Review

SUBJECT: 5/5 RESEARCH: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 Scholastic textbooks on history give a vivid account of life in the Indian subcontinent, weaving through different time periods. As students advance in their school years, we reach the Late Modern – Mughal India – and Post-Colonial period, with the information being presented in increasing …

Read more

Buck A Memoir by M.K. Asante

Buck: A Memoir | M.K. Asante | Book Review

PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 4.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CLIMAX: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Zimbabwe-born American author, filmmaker, producer M.K. Asante is a household name in the United States. Son of the widely known Molefi Kete Asante, the famous African American scholar, historian and philosopher, best known for his work on African-American studies and writings on Afro-centricity, …

Read more

Walking with Lions | K. Natwar Singh | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 RELEVANCE: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 I have always been a fan of memoirs and I prefer the ones written by politicians. K. Natwar Singh has been a diplomat, a politician and an author. He has served as India’s ambassador to many countries, has been an MP and has also served …

Read more

Kasab The Face of 26/11 Rommel Rodrigues

Kasab: The Face of 26/11 | Rommel Rodrigues | Book Review

SUBJECT: 4/5 RESEARCH: 4/5 RELEVANCE: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Throughout modern Indian history, there have been some events which have forever left a cavity so deep, that even the mighty Arabian Sea cannot attempt to fill it in its lifetime. One such atrocious disfigurement of the beautiful face of our Mother India …

Read more