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Friday, December 28, 2018

Let's talk about Readers

Few facts about the readers

1. They Read (Duh!)
2. They Collect Books
3. They Cherish Books
4. They have a huge To-be-Read pile or bookcases

All four are true for me for with reading my biggest passion is collecting books because sometimes the deal is too good. Other times you can't even be sure that the book would be in store for long. And that results in many books that you still have to read. 

For me those books now fill two bookcases almost completely and I stuff my bookcases because more than the display they are the place to safeguard my books. So that's that and if you are curious here are the two bookcases.


 

The space you are seeing the top shelf of the Red bookcase is already filling up and I already have 5 more books on the way. And yes before I forget to brag, here's another bookcase which is currently back at my home and it contains all the books I had read till the point I switched the cities.


Needless to say I have few more books here too which I have read and I store them properly so they don't get dust or other issues. So that's so far about the current status now coming to the thought which just came into my mind. I love buying books, I love arranging them, I love reading them, I love having them but space is something which is limited. So I will try to minimize book buying in the new year let's call it my new year resolution but let's not get too crazy, it's not a ban after all just in a week's time there's going to the World Book Fair, and I am ready. But after that I would focus more on emptying the bookcases first before filling them again. 

It's not that I don't read, I read and in fact I read more than 300 books already and hope to finish few more before the final hour rolls of the year. But all the same out of more than 300 books only 70 odd were physical rest all are e-Books and because I can listen to my e-Books while I am doing other work and that's lead to many books which I can now mark as 'Read'.


So, let's plan so the plan for next year is again to have lot of reading but I would also focus on the physical books in my bookcases. And particular focus would be on the books which are in my bookcase for years and still waiting to be read. I did forget to talk about the books which are there with me for 10 years and still waiting to be read but that's topic of a separate talk of its own. So till then, I hope you had a great Christmas and here's wishing you a very Happy New Year in advance. 

Vikas
Keep on Reading




Thursday, December 13, 2018

Author Signed Books - Ashwin Sanghi

It's my 50th post for my blog 
"Keep on Reading" 
and I am starting a new series. 

"Author Signed Books showcase" 
from my home library.

Please Enjoy

It's always a fun to read a physical book and if that book is signed by the author then it becomes a collectible items. Of course out of so many of my books few are author signed some I got that way few of them were signed by the authors in person like the ones I am presenting today. 

Today I am presenting by books signed by the wonderful author Ashwin Sanghi


Lucky Me with Author Ashwin Sanghi
Selfie time with none other than Ashwin Sanghi 

The very first book is "The Krishna Key" by Ashwin Sanghi

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi


Second book is Private India by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson


Private India by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson

The Third and the Final book is Chanakya's Chant by of course Ashwin Sanghi



Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi

And that's all for this time, till next time when I will be back the signed books by another wonderful author Anand Neelakantan.

Book Review - Double Down by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a wimpy Kid - Double Down by Jeff Kinney


Double Down is 11th book in the very famous "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. These are middle grade books with funny story told in the graphic format. Maybe while reviewing next part I would post pictures of few pages too. Now they may be middle grade books but I love them too, these books are funny and gets over very quickly. 

In the middle of the adventure

Book Synopsis:


The pressure's really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his "creative side".

As if that's not scary enough, Halloween is just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.


When he discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can Greg get his mom off his back by making a movie.... and will he become rich and famous in the progress? Or will doubling down on this path just double Greg's troubles?

The Review

Well like all the parts this book is also high on fun quotient and can be finished in just one quick sitting. Gregg again goes down the rabbit hole of issues and poor guy has to find ways to overcome his circumstances. 

This are fun stories and I read this one a long time ago, reviewing now because the 13th book was released this year and I should get in in few days and soon would be the time to review that.

This book is super fun and kids and adults both can enjoy this book equally. So pick these up and then just Keep on Reading.

Ratings is 5 of 5 stars



Friday, December 7, 2018

Flower Children - Book Review

"Flower Children" is second book by award winning author 'Maxine Swann'. This was first published as a short story in 1997 and it had won many prizes. It was based on author's own experience growing up.

Honestly I had never heard about Maxine as we don't get to hear about many smaller authors in India. I got her book second hand from a book fair. 

I read this book a long time ago in 2013. It's a nice little book and I think this is the best format to convey a story of growing children or it wouldn't be 230 pages but 2300 pages. All stories are good but the overall story suffer because apparently these short stories were written separately and then combined to make this book. All the stories never come together as one. Every other short story would change format from Third Person to First Person. I enjoyed the book but wasn't hooked to it due to these problems. But at the end of the day its a nice little book to pass your time. After all its only very short 230 pages

My final ratings is 3.5 out of 5 stars

Book Series Showcase - Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini

One of my most favorite book series Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

This series has four books so far

01. Eragon
02. Eldest
03. Brisingr
04. Inheritance

And finally after many years of the series ending the author is finally releasing a new book and it would be released on 1st Jan 2019. So the new year is already beginning with a bang.



When the author had written the first book he was just 15 years old. These books are of fantasy genre, these are set the world of Alagaesia and has knights, evil emperors, magicians and best of all Dragons (Saphira is main Dragon as she is Eragon's friend and dragon) 


And now after 7 years of the last book here comes a new chapter in the world from Christopher Paolini.

.

Can't wait to get my hands on this new book and dive back in to the lands of Alagaesia.


Saturday, August 18, 2018

Book Showcase - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Illustrated Edition) - J.K. Rowling & Jim Kay

J. K. Rowling gave us one of the most loved book series of all times in the shape of Harry Potter and the love and mania lives on. I have the complete set which was completed by collecting books from different parts. But now there are new Illustrated Editions of the Harry Potter Books, so enjoy




So far there Bloomsbury has released illustrated editions of the first three Harry Potter books and the Forth book will be published in 2019 which can't come soon enough. I am presenting the First book here, actual illustrations are for another post. Illustrations are by Jim Kay and they are wonderful just look at the cover. I would try to cover all three books in details.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Book Showcase - Fire Girl - Matt Ralphs

A Young Witch. A Grumpy Dormouse.
A Magical Adventure

Book Showcase
Fire Girl by Matt Ralphs


This time I thought of showcasing a book which most of you might not know about, at least I didn't so please do excuse my cluelessness if I was the ignorant one here.




Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To be a classic and to be reader who avoided almost all the classic books so far. hmm like all things come to pass slowly but surely I am also catching up on my classic books and oh look at me, two 19th century books completed in a row :) .

Coming to the actual reason I am writing this, well everybody and their grandkids know the story of March sisters and March family and it was a revelation for me. Well the reason I avoided the classics was because I thought that since the books are old their english would be old english and difficult to read but what do you know or what did I know?

The language even though the book is almost 150 years old the language is very easy and book was wonderful to read and listen to. Thanks for (Time for another shout out) TTS on my Moon+ eBook reader I was able to finish the book in two days and it was surely fun to read the book in a go and to go on the journey of life with March sisters.

I liked the book very much and understand now why this book is so revered and is considered a classic and thankfully this one was fun and I would ask you if you like me have avoided this classic for so long then avoid no more and read it and more classics and then Keep on Reading.

View all my reviews

Book Showcase - Little Women - Louisa May Alcott



I am currently reading this book on my mobile phone's e-Book reader as a project Gutenburg e-Book, so what better time than to introduce these awesome rubber covers. Like they say Old Wine in New Bottle and what a wine these classics are, If Reading be wine for mind then drink away,  Keep on Reading.

The book showcased is a special new version of the old classic - "Little Women" by "Louisa May Alcott"

There are other gorgeous classics in the new rubber covers and I would try to share all of them. Let's see how quickly I can achieve that.

Book Showcase - The Gene - Siddhartha Mukherjee


In this new series while reviews may be in short supplies for now I would also like to bring different books to people's notice so these posts for Book Showcase.

The First Book for the Showcase is The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee



Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad by Twinkle Khanna

This is the second book by Twinkle Khanna also known as Mrs. Funnybones in her weekly article in TOI and that was also the name of her first book which I have yet to read.

Now coming onto this book, it's a short stories collection consisting just 4 short stories. 3 of the short stories are fairly smaller if compared with the 4th one which is easily the size of a novella.

The title of the book is taken from the first story where in a young girl takes it upon herself to change the societal norms

Second Story tells the story of two old widowed sister out of whom the elder one embarks on a love affair with a fellow senior citizen.

Third story tells the story of Elena a free spirit who is unluckly is love and despite being married five times she is alone.

Forth and the final story is the biggest of all and like I said easily the size of a novella. This tells us story of Bablu who works to develop a cheaper alternative to the senatory napkins.

All the stories are simple and focusing on the human emotions also the movie Padman starring Akshay Kumar was based on the 4th story which itself is a fiction account of real person Arunachalam Muruganantham from Tamilnadu.

I finished the book in a single sitting and it was thoroughly enjoyble. Give it a chance as it's a easy read so enjoy the time and Keep on Reading.

My Final Rating for the Book:
4/5 or ****/*****


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