Books read in 2018

Reading in 2018 till now, that is middle of the year, is not so regular, so as to say.  I was busy with sorting our finances or watching TV or reading newspapers and reading random books in between. I had not listed the books in the blog but had made a list on paper, so now is the time to return to blog.

01. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Classic) *****
02. Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan *****
03. Karna's Wife by Kavita Kane ***
04. Mustard Seed by Laila Ebrahim ****
05. Victoria and Abdul by Sharbani Basu ***
06. I am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll **
07. In Farleigh Field: A Novel of WW II by Rhys Bowen ***
08. Tied in Knots by Sundari Venkataraman **
09. Lioness of Morocco by Henrietta Meire and Julia Drosten ****
10. Love in Exile by Ayse Kulin

Books read in 2017

The list of books read in the current year i.e. 2017. This year most of the books are read on my Kindle and I am loving it. When I bought Kindle Paperwhite I tried to read books available on Amazon for free, but those were not at all my choice. And as all books lovers know, there is so much to read in this short life that we can't waste time on bad books. So I purchased Kindle Unlimited and voila!!! Am I loving it? Ohh I am just ecstatic...More on Kindle in other post 

01. A Woman in a Million by Monika Wood **
02. Demons in My Mind by Ashish Gupta ***
03. Dust by Patricia Cornwell ***
04. Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani *
05. Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland by Amanda Berry **
06. I spy, I saw her Die by Ian C.P.Irvine (Book I & II) ****
07. Kentucky Bride by Norah Hess ***
08. Last train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin *****
09. Room by Emma Donoghue ****
10. Secret Sister by Emelle Gamble ***
11. Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi *****
12. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty **
13. The Last Safe Place : A Psychological Thriller by Ninie Hammon **
14. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah *****
15. The Secret Diary of Kasturba by Neelima Dalmia Adhar ***
16. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult ****
17. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison ***
18. The Tea Planter's Daughter by Janet Macleod Trotter ****
19. Their Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis **
20. Wreckage by Emily Bleeker ****
21. You are the Best Wife : A True Love Story by Ajay K.Pandey ***

Infidel

Book - Infidel
Author - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Other Books by Author -  1. Heretic : Why Islam needs a reformation Now
2. Nomad : Islam to America: A personal Journey through the Clash of Civilisations
3. The Caged Virgin
4. The West and the Future of Islam

About the Book: This book is the Autobiography of the author. She is a Somali Muslim, who ran from there and took Political Asylum in Netherlands. In this book she writes about her childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya; female mutilations, her beatings, her forced marriage, about her flight to the Netherlands , her courage and her will to study and work. She became a politician. Her election to Parliament, and the murder of Theo Van Gogh, with whom she made the film Submission.

My Take: The most interesting thing for me was the story by an intellectual Muslim woman, who gave insight in the mind and society of a muslim woman.

Brunch Book Challenge 2016

I am taking the Brunch Book Challenge 2016. I will be adding the books, I am reading, I will add in this list with the names of their authors. The star rating is also provided.

01. Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner ***

02. Four Past Midnight by Stefen King **

03. Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry ***

04. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee ****

05. The Help by Kathryn Stockett ****

06. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ***

07. The Bolivian Diary by Ernesto CHE Guevara ***

08. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ****

09. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ****

10. Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna ****

Books to Read - List VII (alphabet U,V,W, X,Y & Z)

From time to time I come to know of some of the names or recommendations of some good books. I make list of the books, so that I could remember to read them in future and then when I search for some new book to read, I forget about the list only.

I made a list in a Diary and kept it, then I forgot about the Diary :p . After that I made a list on my laptop in a file but while buying a book to read, it was a bit difficult to consult the file.

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here in alphabetical order and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy.

But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organize the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order ....here are alphabets U, V, W, X, Y and Z

V

01. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

W

01. Walking the Himalayas by Levison Wood
02. We were Liars by E. Lockhart (young adults)
03. What She Wants by Cathy Kelly
04. Welcome to  Nowhere by Elizabeth Liard
05. West with the Night by Beryl Markham

Y
01. You by Caroline Kepnel

Books to Read - List VI ( alphabet T)

Here is the list of books starting the names with alphabet T...

01.Tale of two cities by Charles Dickens

02. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh 

03. The Feudian Families of Village Gangauli(Aadha Gaon) by Rahi Masoom Raza 

04. The Valley of fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

05. The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh 

06. The great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor

07. The Trial by Franz Kafka

08. The Enigma of Arrival by V.S. Naipaul

09. The Castle by Franz Kafka 

10. The Curse of the Lonesome Mariner (three parts) by Mark David Green

11. The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly

12. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
13. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
14. The Tournament by Matthew Reilly
15. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
16. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob
17. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
18. The Kind worth Killing by Peter Swanson
19. The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlaine
20. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
21. The secret in their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri
22. The Darkest corner by Elizabeth Haynes
23. The Hundred Year Old Man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
24. The Hundred Year Old Man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
25. The Black Hill by Mamang Dai
26. The Speech by Bernie Sanders
27. The Parent's Tao Te Ching: ancient advice for modern parents by William Martin
28. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
29. The Girl from the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter

30. Trying to Grow by Firdaus Kanga

31. Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali

32. The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie

33. The Stranger by Albert Camus

34. The truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicke

35. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

36. The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir 

Books to Read - List V (alphabets O,P,Q,R & S)

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here in aiphabetical order and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy.

But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organise the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order....the alphabets are O, P, Q, R & S

O

01. One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan

02. Our Moon has blood Clots by Rahul Pandita
03. Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

P

01. Playing with fire by Tess Gerritsen

02. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

03. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
04. Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback by George Plimpton

R

01. Ravan & Eddie by Rohintan Mistry

02. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

03. Restart by Mihir Sharma (politics)

04. River of Fire by Qurratulain Hyder
05. Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond

S

01. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra

02. Second Life by S.J. Watson
03. Serena by Ron Rash
04. See Jane Run by Joy Fielding
05. Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel
06. Stolen Lives by Malika Oukfir

Books to Read - List IV (alphabets J, K, L, M & N)

From time to time I come to know of some of the names or recommendations of some good books. I make list of the books, so that I could remember to read them in future and then when I search for some new book to read, I forget about the list only.

I made a list in a Diary and kept it, then I forgot about the Diary. After that I made a list on my laptop in a file but while buying a book to read, it was a bit difficult to consult the file. 

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy. 
But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organise the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order.

K
01. Kindred by Octavia
02. Karna's Wife by Kavita Kane
03. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

L
01. Life after Life by Kate Atkinso
02. Lord of the flies by William Golding
03. Long Man by Amy Greene 
04. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
05. Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner
06. Live the dream by Josephine Cox
07. Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah
08. Land where I flee by Prajwal Parajuly
09. Looking for the Rainbow by Ruskin Bond

M
01. Missed Connections by Sophie Blackall
02. Mari by Easterine Kire
03. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier. 

N
01. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
02. Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
03. Night by Elie Wiesel

Books to Read - List III (alphabets E, F, G, H & I)

From time to time I come to know of some of the names or recommendations of some good books. I make list of the books, so that I could remember to read them in future and then when I search for some new book to read, I forget about the list only.

I made a list in a Diary and kept it, then I forgot about the Diary. After that I made a list on my laptop in a file but while buying a book to read, it was a bit difficult to consult the file.

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy. 

But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organise the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order.

E

01. Em and The Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
02. Emma by Jane Austen

03. Embassy Town by China Mievillle

04. English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee
05. Everything I never told You by Celeste Ng
06. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follet


F
01. Far from the maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy
02. Fire on Mountain by Nanda Kaul
03. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

04. Free Country: a Penniless adventure the Length of Britain by George Mahood

G
01. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
02. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

H
01. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book of the Year award)
02. Her by Harriet Lane
03. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

I
01. I, the Jury by Micky Spillane

02. In Custody by Anita Desai
03. Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera
04. Intensity by Dean Koontz
05. In the Woods by Jana French
06. In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
07. Intensity by Dean Koont
08. I Worked alone-Diary of a Double agent by Lily Sergueiew

Books to Read - List II (alphabets C & D)

From time to time I come to know of some of the names or recommendations of some good books. I make list of the books, so that I could remember to read them in future and then when I search for some new book to read, I forget about the list only.

I made a list in a Diary and kept it, then I forgot about the Diary. After that I made a list on my laptop in a file but while buying a book to read, it was a bit difficult to consult the file. 

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy. 
But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organise the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order.

C
01. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

02. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

03. Cemetery Girl by David Bell

04. Curious Lives by Richard Bach


05. Chasing Tomorrow by Sydney Sheldon

06. Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese


07. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

08. Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman

09.Codename Tricycle - True story of II WW's most extraordinary double agent by Russell Miller

D
01. Descent by tim Johnston

02. Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little 

03. Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

04. Defending Jacob by William Landay 

05. Difficult daughters by Manju Kapur

06. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston

07. Double Agent-First Hero of World War II by Peter Duffy

Books to read - List I (letters A & B)

From time to time I come to know of some of the names or recommendations of some good books. I make list of the books, so that I could remember to read them in future and then when I search for some new book to read, I forget about the list only.

I made a list in a Diary and kept it, then I forgot about the Diary. After that I made a list on my laptop in a file but while buying a book to read, it was a bit difficult to consult the file. 

Now I have come up with this idea, I will keep adding the names of books in a list here and whenever I will be able to read the book I will remove it from this list and add it to the Books Read list. This list could also be useful to the readers like me, who want to have names of good books handy. 
But now as list has grown considerably its necessary to organise the names. For this I have arranged them in alphabetical order.

01. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup 

A
01. A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman

02. A Village in Bengal by Chirodeep Chaudhuri
03. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
04. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
05. An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma (Hemingway Foundation/PEN award and Whiting Writers' Award)
06. Alex by Pierre Lemaitre
07. All the Light we cannot See by Anthony Doerr
08. An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
09. And then there were None by Agatha Christie
10. A Child called it by Dave Pelzer


B
01. Baumgartner's Bombay by Hugo Baumgartner
02. Boats on Land by Janice Pariat
03. Broken Harbor by Tana French
04. Before I Go to sleep by S.J.Watson
05. Bailey's Story: A Dog's Purpose Tale by W. Bruce Cameron

Brunch Book Challenge 2015

I took the Brunch Book Challenge 2015 for reading 30 books in a year. This challenge was given on Twitter by @HTBrunch #Brunchbookchallenge. The list of books read by me in the year 2015 with the ratings by me, are as given


01. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins ***

02. Pregnant King by Devdutt Pattanaik **

03. Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar - Review available *****

04. 1920s Omnibus by Agatha Christie ***

05. Poirot the Perfect Murders by Agatha Christie ***

06. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood ****

07. Nemesis by Jo Nesbo ****

08. Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad *****

09. Child/God by Ketan Bhagat ***

10. The Recession Groom by Vani **

11. Other Colours by Orhan Pamuk ***

12. Malala - The Girl who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala **

13. The Agony And The Ecstasy by Irving Stone ****

14. The Accidental Prime Minister : The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru ***

15. And then One Day : A Memoir by Naseeruddin Shah ***

16. God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian ***

17. Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

18. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger ****

19. Resonance by Ajai **

20. 1984 (Nineteen Eighty Four) by George Orwell **

21. Looking for Alaska by John Green ***

22. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin **

23. Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon ***

24. Small Remedies by Shashi Deshpande ***

25. Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins **

26. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini *****

27. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini ****

28. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini *****

29. Adultery by Paulo Coelho *

30. Dilip Kumar - The Substance and the Shadow : An Autobiography **

31. Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat **

32. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte *****

and other books in 'iBooks' of my Phone

1. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad ***
 

Cuckold

Book : Cuckold
Author : Kiran Nagarkar
Award for this Book : Sahitya Academy Award
Other books by Author: 
1. Ravan and Eddie
2. Extras : *ing Ravan & Eddie
3. God’s Little Soldiers
4. Seven Sixes are Forty –Three
5. Bombay
6. Black Tulip and Bed Time Story: A Play

About the Book: A Historical Fiction set in the early 16th Century of  Rajput kingdom of Mewar, India. According to the author, he had started with a fiction but to put some geographical accuracy in his story, he started his research and ended in this beautiful life story of a fictional character Maharaj Kumar. This character is based on the real life ruler Bhojraj Singh, son of famous Rajput king Rana Sangram Singh or Rana Sanga. The character of his wife, who is known as Little Saint in this story is based on and resembles the wife of Bhojraj, Mira Bai.

The book is written from the perspective of the narrator, i.e., Maharaj Kumar himself.  Here Little Saint is shown having jealousy for her husband's second wife and behaving in childish manners many a times. But in Indian history Mira Bai was considered as one of the pillars of the Bhakti Movement in India and many legends are attached to her, making her Divine. She was a devotee of Lord Krishna and there are little known facts about her.

In the Book, The History is depicted beautifully.

Rajput kingdoms, the internal politics of the Palaces, power of moneylenders in small Rajput kingdoms of that time, values and honours of Rajputs, Hindu Muslim disturbances, attackes of Mughals and battles, the Society of that time and the fight of a Crown Prince for his right, his sacrifices, his love for his wife; who considered Lord Krishna her husband, the struggle of the prince to change the old habits and values of Rajputs in battlefield. His calling himself a cuckold in spite of his courage and thus this title of book.

My Take: While took the book in my hands, I thought it to be a fiction set in Rajput Kingdom. I don't like a fiction which seems like real and plays with the historical facts. But when started reading it, I came to know about the research gone in writing the book. And how I learnt some more reading about Rajputs and their history. Mesmerizing and captivating novel. 

Brunch Book Challenge 2014

In the year 2014, I had taken the Brunch Book Challenge 2014 to read 24 books. This challenge was started in 2014 by Hindustan Times on Twitter as @HTBrunch #Brunchbookchallenge. The Books read by me in the year and the star ratings are as follows

01. Bougainvillea House by Kalpana Swaminathan **

02. Wicked Widow by Jayne Ann Krentz **

03. Calculated in Death by Nora Roberts ***

04. Indulgence in Death by Nora Roberts ***

05. Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee *** 

06. For the Love of a Son by Jean Sasson ***

07. The Kill Switch by Tucker Wayne **

08. Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez ***

09. The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike 2) by J. K.Rowling ****

10. The Cuckoo's Calling by J. K.Rowling ****

11. Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi  ***** 

12. The  Secret Of The Nagas by Amish Tripathi *****

13. The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi *****

14. Don't Loose Out, Work Out! by Rujuta Diwekar ****

15. Women & The Weight Loss Tamasha by Rujuta Diwekar ****

16. Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar ****

17. Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore *****

18. Losing My Religion by Vishwas Mudagal  **

19. Ten Thousand Miles Without A Cloud by Sun Shuyun ****

20. Barbarians At The Gate:The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar ***

21. Prison Diary: Purgatory by Jeffrey Archer ** 

22. A Prison Diary by Jeffrey Archer **

23. As The Crow Flies by Jeffery Archer ***

24. First Amongst Equals by Jeffery Archer ***

25. Twist in the Tale by Jeffery Archer ****

26. The Fourth Estate by Jeffery Archer ***

27. Best Kept Secret (Clifton Chronicles 3) by Jeffery Archer **

28. A Time To Kill by John Grisham **

29. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett **

30. The Alchemy of Desire by Tarun Tejpal *

31. Worth Dying For by Lee Child **

32. A Tug on the Thread by Diana Quick **

33. To Kill a Mokingbird by Harper Lee ****

34. Bankerupt by Ravi Subramanian ***

35. Devil in Pinstripes by Ravi Subramanian **

36. On a Clear Day You Can See India: The Little World of the District Official in India's North East by C. Balagopal ***

37. Srinivasa Ramanujan: Man of Mathematics by Sridar Elumalai ****

38. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger ***

39. Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger ***

 

and other books in 'iBooks' of my Phone

1. After Dark by Wilkie Collins ***

2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ***

3. The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins ***