Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman GENRE: Short Story Collection, Fantasy. PUBLICATION DATE:  November 1, 1998. RATING: 4 stars. What do you do when you adore two-thirds of the short stories in a book and detest the rest? Simple, you just state your opinion and leave the decision in the hands of the reader. That's what I'm going to attempt here. Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of 29 short stories (some of these are in poetic form) by the master of fantasy, Neil Gaiman. Written over various years, the collection has stories from fantasy, mild horror, sci-fi and magical realism. In some ebook editions, there are three bonus stories. Plus, and I believe this is Gaiman's special gift to those readers who diligently read introductions even if they are long, there's a beautiful story even in the introduction. This makes it 33 stories in all. Of these, I really relished 22 stories. Though from various genres, these 22 stories are astounding and leave a great impact with their creativi...

AUTHOR: Marjan Kamali GENRE: Historical Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: November 28, 2019. RATING: 3.5 stars. On some days, one just needs a book that is not taxing, a light read, meant to delight and not stress. On such a day, a book you can easily try out would be The Stationery Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. ( US editions have the title as "The Stationery Shop." ) The book tells the story of two young lovers, Roya and Bahman, in the politically unstable Iran of 1953. Circumstances bring them together, fate drives them apart. What happens after their separation? Do they reunite? Does destiny give them a second chance at happiness? Does life and love always turn out the way we plan it? The Stationery Shop of Tehran is a bittersweet story. There are many poignant moments. Is it one of the best books I've read in this genre? Not really. I could have done without some of the extra gushy-mushy stuff in between. I guess I'm too old for over-the-top romantic encounters.  But ...

AUTHOR: Fredrik Backman TRANSLATOR: Alice Menzies GENRE: Parenting, Nonfiction. PUBLICATION DATE: August 27, 2012. RATING: 3.5 stars. There are so many books about mothers, by mothers, for mothers. But the same figure when it comes to books about/by/for fathers is pitifully low. So I decided that on Father's day, I'll pick up a book by a father, to get more insight into the male mind about parenting. Did it work? I'm not sure. The male mind seems to have different properties than the female mind when it comes to parenting. 😄 "Things My Son Needs to Know about the World" begins well enough. Backman has humour in ample amount and he uses that to his full advantage in this book. Most of the chapters are replete with funny sentences, humorous situations and realistic quandaries about parenting. But sometimes, the jest seems a bit too forced. It was like Backman was desperate to sound like a cool dad and in the process, he overdid it. Yet, I feel it is a good enough a...

AUTHOR: Lisa Genova GENRE: Contemporary Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: March 20, 2018. RATING: 4 stars. Many of us might have heard of ALS as the disease Stephen Hawking suffered from. Some of the millennials might know ALS because of the (idiotic?) Ice Bucket challenge popular a few years ago. Few of us might also know about ALS because of its alternative name, Lou Gehrig's disease, named after the famous baseball player who first brought international attention to ALS in 1939 after being diagnosed with the debilitating and life-threatening disease at the age of 36. ( You can watch the 1942 Gary Cooper starrer "The Pride of the Yankees", which was based on Lou Gehrig's life story. ) But merely hearing about ALS is one thing; living with ALS and caring for an ALS sufferer is totally different. Every Note Played gives you an insight on what ALS entails for the patient and the caregiver. Richard is an accomplished and acclaimed pianist; he gets diagnosed with ALS when he...

AUTHOR: Vijayalakshmi Harish GENRE: Short Story Collection. PUBLICATION DATE: June 4, 2020. RATING: 4.5 stars. Strangely Familiar Tales has just 3 stories, each from a different genre. But all are interconnected by 2 things: 1. All derive inspiration from Indian mythology. 2. All are thrillers but of varied subgenres. My personal favourite was the 2nd story, entitled Bitter Fruit. From its first word to its last, it left me mesmerised. Such a captivating narrative! The 3rd story was an eye-opener to me in a different sense. As someone who is comparatively ignorant of mythical beings in Indian legends, I was surprised to see the variety of supernatural beings we have in our mythology and how a compelling narrative uniting all of them can be woven. What I enjoyed almost as much as the stories was the introduction and the acknowledgements. The introduction left an indelible impression on my mind with its straightforward and intelligent nature. This line especially will stay with me for a ...

AUTHOR: Chen Weng GENRE: Graphic Novel. PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2020 RATING: 3 stars. As a mother of two, I could related to most of the jokes in this book. Some of the situations were very realistic and I actually laughed out loud. I just wish that the illustrations were better. They were too stark and simple. It is a good one-time read for parents. I don't know if I'd buy this book because there are better graphic comics out there, both in terms of content and illustrations and with far more pages. With thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

AUTHOR: Misty M. Beller SERIES: Hearts of Montana, #2 GENRE: Historical Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2020. RATING: 4.25 stars. I had opted for this book because I had read "Hope's Highest Mountain" by Misty Beller and was very impressed. The story was simple and sweet, the writing immediately making a connect to your heart. When I saw that this book was part of the same series, I jumped at the opportunity. And I wasn't disappointed. The lead characters in this book, Joanna Watson and Isaac Bowen, both make their appearance in the first book. I was hoping then that the two of them would get a happy ending some time in the future. I'm glad this book gives them exactly that. "Loves Mountain Quest" begins with a tragedy. Joanna's little son, Samuel, and her friend Laura Hannon have been kidnapped by a couple of brutes. Like any mother, Joanna immediately decides to locate her son and her friend in the mountainous area, and Isaac is her support and ...

AUTHOR: Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani GENRE: Young Adult Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: September 4, 2018. RATING: 4.5 stars. Khaled Hosseini had written in The Kite Runner, "Some stories don't need telling." A corollary to that would be that some stories need to be told. Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree (BBBT) is one of them. BBBT tells the story of a brave young girl, whose name and age aren't revealed throughout the story. You can guess from the writing that she might be in her teens, possibly around 15-16 years of age. At first, she seems to be a typical girl of that age, a clever girl with dreams, a girl intent on education to ensure future success, a girl worried about class tests and menstrual leaks while in school, a girl harbouring a secret crush on a local boy, a girl who loves spending time with her friends,... But as the chapters move ahead, you see that this girl is much stronger, much more intelligent, and much more responsible than an average teen. And all of this i...

AUTHOR: Daniel Pinkwater SERIES: Neddie & Friends, #5 GENRE: Middle-Grade Fantasy. PUBLICATION DATE: September 30, 2020. RATING: 3.25 stars. When I was just learning to cook, I had once tried making a lettuce salad using varied ingredients. Its flavour turned out to be pretty decent but the feedback I received from my family was, "You have tried to put a little bit of everything, but haven't kept any dominant ingredient. Putting equal quantities of each of the main ingredients just messes with the overall flavour." I have always kept that advice in mind because it did seem to make a lot of sense. The author of this book seems to have made the same amateurish mistake. He has tried to put in fantasy, horror, thrill, humour, adventure, bad guys, good guys, evil guys, silly guys, clever guys,... all within a 192 page book. At the end, there is no dominant idea and the book just ends up as the book version of a jack of all trades and master of none. Does that mean that the...