I usually steer clear of women-oriented writings, for various reasons. The main factor, however, is the intense emotions portrayed in the stories by the female characters, and somehow I find them to be too strong for my reading tastes.
It’s very rare to see that a short read can hold a world of knowledge. 6 secrets SMART students don’t tell you by Chandan Deshmukh, is one such book that proved to be a boon to my niece, who’s in 8th grade now. I can now see a drastic change in the study pattern of my niece.
Rape isn’t just that one time of sexual violence; women have to live with it long after it’s done. Once you’re dead, it’s over. Murder, at least in my opinion, is not the best, not the most accurate response to rape
And indeed, this the best moment that has happened to me during this lockdown. So let us all rejoice the little happiness we get!
To talk about books is to talk about my dreams, and to talk about books is also to talk about my blunders. I was born into a family of publishers
What if Anne Frank hadn’t died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp?
We are always interested in hearing about new books and we love it when someone contacts us to review a book. Just give us a chance by talking to us about what you want? What’s in your mind on any of our social media platforms or through the Contact Us page.
Okay, where do I start from? My thoughts are scattered here and there, freaking everywhere. And I am so pumped-up. It’s like I am struck with a bolt of Athalar’s lightning; the shockwaves of it have send my emotions on a tizzy so intense that I am still in a daze. And these are all just the aftermaths of reading the most electrical charged book ‘House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas. Just imagine, if the after effects of reading this tome of 796 pages was so potent. How was the entire experience? Let me tell you; it was a roller-coaster, that didn’t stop until the last page. And the last page was a promise for more adventures to come. Weirdly though, despite it being a fascinating read; I had this love and hate relationship with this book. Why, you ask? And I say the beginning of Sarah J. Mass’s book ‘House of Earth and Blood, was torturously slow. It took 200 pages to make sense of the characters and the imagery world building. But once past that biggest hurdle, it was the most exciting fantasy-slash-whodunnit book I read in a long, long time. And what’s more, it had both the genres, I love devouring. So yeah, I slowly started falling in love with this book. Each turn of page brought me closer and closer and closer to characters Ruhn, Hunt and Bryce. But it took time for me to fall in love with them. I found them a bit aloof. Cold, if I may say so. Bryce, especially. A snarky and a snobbish of a person. I seriously did not like her. Everytime she came into the scene, I wanted to bang some sense into her; tell her not to be so heartless. But then there came a moment in the book, that made me realise that she, after all is a human; shaped by the fear and experiences of the past. Thenceforth, I completely and irrevocably fell in love with Bryce and the book. And, and, and did I tell you about Danika? Ooo She is my most favouritest character. Though she had the minutest role, but the impact she had on me was earth shattering. I so wish, she had a bit bigger role. What’s more, cherry to this yummilicious cake is Sarah J Maas’s beautiful,beautiful writing style. I wouldn’t have ploughed further 50 pages in the beginning, if not for her writing style. And thanks the Gods, that I read this epic of a book, or otherwise I would have missed on something so amazing. Sarah J. Maas’s House of Earth and Blood, is a book that should be read slowly with your eyes, heart and soul. It is a heaven for Fantasy and mystery readers.
It was an exhilarating evening at Taj Palace, New Delhi that saw a heart-warming celebration of women on Women’s Day. Times of India and JK Papers joined hands to celebrate women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. The AutHer Awards 2020 was attended by the who’s who of the town and the hall jam packed with authors, academicians, publishers, bureaucrats, politicians, artists and book lovers, cheering at the winners was a sight to behold. And the awards went to…….. The awards were handed over in 4 categories and consisted of a trophy and cash prize worth Rs 1 lakh each. There was a Lifetime Achievement award and a Popular choice award too. In the category Fiction the award went to Madhuri Vijay for her book, The Far Filed (Harper Collins Publishers India)-(Literary Fiction) and Sutapa Basu for The Curse of Nader Shah (Readomania)- (Historical Fiction). The Best Author Non-Fiction award went to Saba Dewan for her book Tawaifnama (Westland). The Best Author Debut award was split between Rudrakshi Bhattacharjee for This is how it took Place (HarperCollins Publishers India) and Rehana Munir for Paper Moon (HarperCollins Publishers India). The award was given to Rudrakshi posthumously who passed away at the young age of 16. It was an emotional moment for the entire gathering when her parents Debasree Bhattacharjee and Ratnadip Bhattacharjee received the prize on her behalf and said how happy and incredulous she would have been to receive it. Bijal Vachharajani was given the Best Author Children’s award for her book A Cloud called Bhura (Speaking Tiger). The Popular Choice Award went to Sutapa Basu for garnering maximum number of votes online. Legendary author Nayantara Sahgal was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award that was received by her daughter who read out a soulful message by Nayantara, thanking TOI for giving her an award that she had never received earlier-a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution as a woman author. Times Group CEO Raj Jain who graced the occasion with his presence, emphasised on the need of focussing on the contribution of women and said, “Since times immoral women have always played an integral role in all aspects of life and indeed have been at the forefront of the creation and origin of existence. Sadly though, they have always been praised out of fringes and have never been a part of the mainstream social and historical narrative.” The journey of the awards The books were chosen, post multiple layers of screening, out of a whopping 850 entries submitted by both publishers and individual authors for the coveted national award, the first of its kind in India. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2018 and November 2019. Eminent writer and politician Shashi Tharoor who was the Chief Guest of the event, said: ” Of course, things have changed very much, but the fact fundamentally remains that too much of our history, too many of our stories have been written simply by men and if you look at the global picture, the vast, vast majority of published writings have not just been written by men but by white men. Therefore the literate public have looked at the world or have been shaped and conditioned by perspectives of these men.” The jury The chairs for the AutHer Awards jury consisted of author Ashwin Sanghi (Fiction), actor and author Sonali Bendre (Non-Fiction), columnist and author Shobhaa De (Debut), and author Bulbul Sharma (Children’s books). The other jury members were author Jaishree Misra (Fiction), author and former Deputy Secretary, Sahitya Akademi Gitanjali Chatterjee (Fiction), author Yasser Usman (Non-Fiction), author and journalist Manimugdha Sharma (Non-Fiction), author and comic writer Arjun Gaind (Debut), Co-founder of ScoopWhoop Rishi Pratim Mukherjee (Debut), actor, compere and Director of The Study School Shivani Wazir Pasrich (Children’s books), and author Ramendra Kumar(Children’s books). Vinita Dawra Nangia, Literary Director, AutHer Awards beautifully summed up the need for having a special award for women authors, “Why should there be an award for women authors? This is to encourage them and recognise their talent because men still seem to have a disproportionate advantage in the field of publishing. It was 174 years ago that Bronte Sisters wrote under the pseudonym of a man because it was felt women writing fiction would not be acceptable in men and although a lot has changed after that, but women continue to use pseudonyms and initials and men dominate the bestselling lists. We need to change all that.” The AutHer Awards was hosted by popular stand-up comedian Papa CJ who interspersed his conversation with humorous anecdotes and added a lively nuance to the gala evening.
Join our vibrant community where readers find new adventures and authors get the spotlight they deserve.
Welcome to Booxoul, where books are our soul! We devour stories, craft manuscripts, and deliver stellar reviews. Ranked No. 2 in India and Asia, we spotlight authors and ensure your book shines and captures hearts. Dive into literary magic with us!