Saturday, 17 September 2016

Book Review: The Speaking Ghost of Rajpur




The Speaking Ghost of Rajpur by Priyonkar Dasgupta is a story of a group of boys embarking on an adventure in a town called Rajpur in suburbs of West Bengal. Shoumo, the protagonist, along with his elder brother, Shomik is visiting his cousin Joy. They are joined by Joy’s friends and together spend their time roaming around, chatting, gaming and exploring the neighbourhood. The story line is peppered with little twists and turns here and there.


I picked up this book while travelling. Little did I know, I would have a little adventure of my own. The first thing that attracted me to the book was the cover. The cover of the book is beautiful (I judge the book by its cover ;)) and so are the illustrations.



The narrative style of writing made this book an interesting read. The author has so vividly described the events, it made me feel like I was the part of the setting. I could feel the excitement building up within me. Soon, I was laughing with them and nervous with them. It took me back to my childhood when I used to read Famous Five Series. Reading the book was a trip down the memory lane. It reminded me of the good old time I spent during my vacations meeting cousins, relaxing, sharing stories of ghosts and seeking adventure.

All the characters are very relatable. Shoumo is the younger brother who wants to feel included in his elder’s brother group. You could feel his struggle. Shomik and Joy are typical elder brothers pulling Shoumo’s leg. The parts where all of them wander into the woods are my favourite to read. Though there seem to be some loose ends while reading, the author has culminated them perfectly at the end.

Though the story was gripping and kept me turning pages, I felt that pace was a little slow. While the details certainly helped in creating imagery in the minds of readers, they were an unnecessary distraction sometimes, adding nothing new to the plot.

In a nutshell, pick up this book if you are looking for something light and adventurous.

Leaving you with my favourite quote from this book:
“It was that same, familiar smell of old books, which never fails to stimulate that strange longing in the heart that pulls one towards them each time.”

P.S: I won a review copy from The Tales Pensieve as part of Reviewers Programme. Register on #TTP for lots of #book fun and activities.


Bookish Questions Book Tag

Hey! I came across this interesting list of bookish questions on the Internet and I decided to do it. Hope you like it.

1) E-Books or Hard Copies?
    Most definitely hard copies. I love the feeling of holding a book in my hand and turning the pages with occasional sniffing. I love the smell of old books.

2) New books or Used Books?
     New books.

3) Paperbacks or Hardbound?
    Paperbacks. Hardbound for aesthetics, though.

4) Favourite Genre?
     I love reading different genres but if I had to choose I would say YA.

5) Favourite Book?
    Is that even a question? I can't even.


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6) Favourite Author?
    John Green, Dan Brown, Colleen Hoover, Agatha Christie, Neil Gaiman, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Haruki Murakami, Arundhati Roy.... You get the drift, not an easy question to answer either.

7) Best Movie to Book Adaptation?
     Hunger Games

8) Worst Movie to Book Adaptation?
     Paper Towns. They just ruined an amazing book.

9) Favourite Place to read?
    In bed snuggled up in the blanket with a cup of coffee or lakeside

10) One book at a time or multiple books?
     I am definitely a monogamist. I just can't read multiple books at the same time. Once when I tried, I ended up mixing up the plots and characters.        
     

Thursday, 15 September 2016

Five Things Every Reader Can Relate to

1. Buy 10 new books even if there are 100 unread books on the bookshelf.


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2.Going to a bookstore and spending money like there is no tomorrow.


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3. Constantly living in fear if there's a big sale on books coming up because you already splurged on the last one.And now you have no money even for food, so you end up sounding like Max.


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4. Choosing what to read next because there are literally thousands of books you NEED to read ASAP.


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5. When someone disturbs you while reading and you kill them in your mind.