Bookmarks and Popcorns

  Genre: Fiction, Romantic comedy Author: Siddarth Raj Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Almost everyone who goes to college for the first time will have a mind prepared for crushes and proposals, for love and heartbreaks. Not everyone will find love but the ones who do will assume it to be everything. After all, this could be the one, right?! Never Date a Senior Girl is a book I won in a Giveaway. I was very excited to read it, for the concept was unique and it was the first giveaway that I had won. When at last I started to read the book, 10 pages later, I was no more an adult. Instead, I was the 14-year-old girl who had run to the library after discovering Chetan Bhagat and Durjoy Dutta, and picked every Indian Author’s romantic comedy books one by one because of the mere surprise that Indian authors could write so well and loving the way the stories and people...

  Genre: Gothic fiction, romance, tragedy Author: Emily Brontë Rating:  Read the disclaimer Disclaimer: This is not a review. Rather consider this a discussion. Yet, it might contain the storyline because I feel not many have read Wuthering Heights, merely because it’s not being spoken about much. I always wanted to read Wuthering Heights because of the contrast in people’s opinions about this. This mainly tingled my curiosity when I noticed some people who normally liked romance novels hated this book, in spite of it majorly being a romantic novel. Initial part of the book, left me wanting more because this is the first Gothic Classic I read. But after finishing the book, I closed it and stared at it for a while, saying nothing, thinking nothing. Lockwood is a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, at Wuthering Heights where he meets some unwelcome, incongruous people. He stays there that night only to be frightened by a ghostly presence...

  As a kid, I was not told many stories except for a few Indian Mythological ones. I still remember my friend's reaction when I told her that I have never read fairy tales and asked, "What is Sleeping Beauty?" Two years later, in my fourth grade, we had a period called Library. 👀 An entire 40 minutes in the school library, with books. That was the most absurd thing I had heard back then. But then, when the period actually arrived, when I stepped into the most clean and quiet place in the school, I discovered that just piles of books stacked against the unreachable length and breadth of 4 walls, could be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Forty minutes later, when we were asked to return the books and head back to our class, I was sad. I, someone who ran at the idea of reading, felt like a piece of gum stuck to a chair and that huge table, unwilling to detach myself from there. I felt belonged. I felt a lot of things. But there was this one feeling that rushed over...

Genre: Historical fiction Author: Uday Singh Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I don’t want to be one of the majority that don’t seem to care about others. I don’t want to be adding to the problem; I want to be a part of a solution.” India, being the most populous democracy with the coexistence of various cultures, faces many questions and problems that arise day by day in large numbers. This book takes aim at a problem and answers many questions. Pokhran is the story of Chaintanya who was born a few months after the Smiling Buddha nuclear test held in the underground of a remote village in Rajasthan named Pokhran. The test was a success, but at a cost paid by the people of Pokhran is left unattended. Chaitanya is born disabled. Taken care by a loving sister and a stern father, Chaitanya goes through a lot at a very young age. Lost innocence and blood-bound passion are things hard to change. When his father is killed for trying to uncover the nuclear fallout to the world, Chaitanya is forced to ...

  Genre: Psychological Fiction Author: Anna Burns Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Another book of which I could not ascertain or classify the genre and had to Google it. The genre suggested is also not something I completely agree with.) All of us have a habit that makes us unique. That makes us stand alone. Not a habit that many or anyone else has. A habit that is not offensive or bothering anyone in any way. Just you and your harmless habit. Imagine being judged by that habit. Imagine being judged, categorized, classified, and objectified by the society merely because of that habit. Milkman is the story of a girl with such a habit. In a society where mundane is preferred over an interesting lifestyle, lives the protagonist, an 18-year-old girl who is rumored to be in a relationship with Milkman who is twice as old as she. The rumor, being spread by her first brother-in-law, has tormenting and cascading consequences. Some of which, even prove to be fatal. Will she save herself from these ru...

  Genre: Novel of manners Author: Jane Austen Rating: Read the disclaimer Disclaimer: I should admit, I picked up Emma purely because of Pride and Prejudice. I did not write a review for Pride and Prejudice and so I was not sure if I should write a review – considering the fact that it is a classic. But I so badly wanted to rant about it. So here we go - A book discussion of Emma – NOT a book review. After reading the book, while drafting this, I was wondering what genre this book belonged to. Romance? No. Friendship? Nope. Comedy? Nah. Coming-of-age? No way. Drama? Not exactly. So I ended up Googling it and found a whole new genre whose existence I was clueless about – Novel of Manners. Emma is a novel about “youthful hubris and romantic misunderstandings” that “involves the relationships among people from a small number of families” is what Wikipedia says. I say Emma is a futuristic novel. Why, you ask? Let me explain the story and its relatability to the present. Emma ...