Book Review

The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

So this is the second book in the Rosie series and just like its predecessor, this one’s awesome too. I’ll try to summarise this one without giving anything away, but I still suggest you to read The Rosie Project before reading this review.

🔆Storyline:- Don and Rosie are married are they have moved to New York for their career benefits. Rosie is pregnant and Don, being his own self, doesn’t really know how to react or behave but he loves his wife and wants to support her and be a good father. His unconventional methods to do this are creating so much problems in their marriage that Rosie decides to leave him.

Plus, in this book you’ll also get to know a lot of things about Gene and his relationship with Claudia.

🔆My opinion:- In this book you see so many changes in Don. Rosie is making him a better person. To see all that he is doing to support Rosie and be good at fatherhood, really melts your heart. Again, this book is so much fun to read. Don’s narration of the whole story is filled with humour.

I think the message in this book is that what you see on the outside is not always how things are. You may feel that people are not making any efforts for you while they are actually doing their best and that’s what we need to appreciate.

I don’t think I even need to say that you should read this book and all because once you have read The Rosie Project, you’ll yourself want to read this one too. I really thank Bill Gates, because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have even known about this book series. And I’m really excited to read its third part, The Rosie Result, which is coming out next month.

Hamlet – William Shakespeare
Book Review

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

🌹Genre- Tragedy, Drama

🌹Recommendation- Can Try

✨Storyline:- Prince Hamlet has come from Denmark to attend his father’s funeral. He is in a state of mourning but he is even more disturbed to see that his mother has married his uncle. Hamlet is seeing the ghost of his father now, who is trying to tell him something even more shocking.

✨My Opinion:- I decided to read this book after it was mentioned in so many of the shows that I watched (one of them is Pretty Little Liars) and Shakespeare is so famous, I just wanted to know why. After reading the book, I’m still wondering the same. I mean I did read his Julius Caesar in school and I think I liked it, but I don’t remember the story as such.

Shakespeare writes in poetry/prose form which makes it hard to read and understand. Luckily, in my book, I had this summary section for every prose which helped me follow the story. The story as such was not so much fun to read. A lot of parts were illogical (like interacting with the ghost). The story is quite short so it will end soon but it’s not enjoyable. You can totally guess what’s coming next. Maybe it will look better in play, I don’t know!

💮After this book, I realised Shakespeare is not for me. I think you can try reading one of his plays because for Shakespeare you have to know your type and you can only figure it out after having read one of his plays

Book Review

The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion

Stuti Gupta3 Comments

I found out about this book when I saw a list of Bill Gates’ recommended novels. The book mentioned there was The Rosie Effect, which is the second part of this book so I looked it up on internet and I picked up the first part first.

Storyline:- This is the story of a guy, Don, who is socially awkward and has a fixed pattern for everything. He is on the project of finding a wife for himself so he made questionnaires for women to make the best decision. His friends Gene and Claudia are helping him and trying to make him more practical.

He is just like Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang theory, only a little less annoying.

My opinion:- This is a great book. You just smile all the time while reading it. It is actually so much fun reading this book. If you are having a bad day or you are in a bad mood, this book will surely cheer you up.

It is so much fun seeing Don evolve and change himself for love. On the other hand, another relationship is going on; of Gene and Claudia. They are also going through some stuff and it’s worth seeing them figure it out.

The message this book sends is that love can change anyone and that it is sometimes worthwhile to deal with difficult people because it can turn into something difficult, but don’t worry it’s not just any other romantic novel, this one’s really special. It shows how unexpected things can sometimes lead to your lifelong happiness.

Overall, this is an amazing book. It is one of those light-hearted books that you can just so effortlessly read and will uplift your mood no matter what. I think it is a book that everyone should read in a lifetime. (I’ll upload the review of ‘The Rosie Effect’ in the next post)

The Girl who Kicked Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson
Book Review

The Girl who Kicked Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

Storyline:- This book is all about the aftermath of the second one. It’s all about how everyone of Salander’s friends are trying to help her out of the situation she got into. The focus is, however, shifted from Salander to the internal working of swedish police and investigation agencies, highlighting their dirty truth.

My Opinion:- Again, I loved this book. The suspense, the thrill is all crazy in this one too. In this book Stieg Larsson has highlighted more on the corruption issue of society, moving away from sexual harassment and exploitation, for a change. This book, too, is big on page count but at the same time it is very engaging and interesting to read. It is 720 pages thick but I finished it in around 2-3 weeks because it is so amazing. So don’t be scared of its length. And you know what, once you read the second part this part becomes a must because Stieg Larsson left the story hanging in the end. You would definitely wanna read this.

Just read this whole series, this is what made me include Stieg Larsson in my favourite writers’ list. Best thriller series I have ever read.

The Girl who played with Fire
Book Review

The Girl who played with Fire

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

Storyline:- The focus of this book is mainly Lisbeth Salander. If you have read the first book, you know what she has been through and if you think that was a lot, get ready for another crazy ride. The story focuses mainly on her past and how she became what she became.

Two journalist friends of Blomkvist have been murdered and Salander is the prime suspect. Now, you’ll find out what’s right and what’s not. (I can’t tell you more than this without giving away any spoilers)

My Opinion:- Just like Millennium one I am a fan of this one too. Usually what happens with book series’ is that if you just love the first part your expectations increase and the second book doesn’t stand up to them which just leads to disappointment. But this is not at all the case with this series. I had huge expectations after reading The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and this book was way beyond them all. Sometimes, I just wonder how this guy’s brain worked when he was writing these books, because it’s such a fabulous story and so well narrated.

Although I would suggest you to read it only after the first part because this one takes a lot of the story background from it and you won’t understand half of it otherwise. But if you have read the first part just go for this one, you will be thrilled. Yes, the page count is a bit large but just think about how the first part was and add a level higher to that for this one.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
Book Review

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

Storyline:- Millennium magazine publisher Blomkvist is approached by Henrik Vanger, retired CEO of Vanger Corporation,  regarding his grand-niece Harriet who has been missing for around 30 years. Everyone thinks Harriet is dead but Henrik Vanger believes she’s alive and he has a good reason to believe so. Henrik hires Blomkvist to find her or at least what happened to her in return for solid proof against Wennerstrom, against who Blomkvist lost a libel case and will have to serve prison time.

On the side lines, the story of Lisbeth Salander is going on, who is great with computers and is the best researcher but have a really messed up life.

How these two come together and how they investigate it together and everything that goes on in their lives separately is full of suspense and thrill.

My Opinion:- I became a fan of Stieg Larsson after this. The way he has created the story and the characters is just mind blowing. This is a book which can actually create an addiction. The writing is also easy to understand.

Yes, the book is 463 pages long and starting story can be a little bit de-motivating but just bear with it and trust me this will be one of the best mystery books you have ever read. You won’t even know when you have already finished the book because you get so engrossed in the story. Once you actually reach halfway through you just don’t wanna stop reading because the suspense is killing you. You just wanna know what happened to Harriet and be done with it.

Apart from that, the book also highlights women exploitation and how different women deal with it differently.

I don’t think I need to say more. This book is a gem in the world of mystery and crime thrillers. Must must must read!

Book Review

The Millennium Trilogy – Stieg Larsson

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Don’t call yourself a crime thriller/ mystery lover if you haven’t read this trilogy. This is one the best out there. This is something you just can’t miss out on. You have to read all three of them. It’s a wonderful experience. Once you start you just cannot stop.

I can safely call this one – unputdownable!

So I’m gonna post the reviews of all the three books in separate posts. Stay tuned!

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
Book Review

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

Stuti Gupta2 Comments

Storyline:- It the story of a shepherd boy who has this recurring dream about finding a treasure. He goes to a fortune teller to know its meaning and then starts his adventurous journey. It’s a story about following your dreams, literally

My Opinion:- I am not a fan of this book. When I started it, I liked it and it seemed so interesting but as I moved forward with it, I started to get bored. I won’t deny that the overall story is good and the ending is fabulous but I didn’t like all the supernatural stuff in between. Not that I’m not a fan of supernatural, I love it but it has to fit in, which it didn’t in this book. Some parts were really interesting some were really boring. The language of the book is extremely simple; you can even read it in your sleep!

The message this book tries to send is really beautiful. The journey of the shepherd boy teaches you to trust your instincts and how hardships can be delightful too.

There’s one more thing that I would like to point out is that the journey towards the treasure is explained nicely but his journey back isn’t even mentioned, which is a little disappointing. After reading this book, I don’t wanna read Paulo Coelho again.

Weighing it all, the book is better than average and if you are just starting to read, this book will be good for you. Despite everything, this book does deserve a shot, and I’m saying this only because of the message it sends and the ending.

Book Review

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Stuti Gupta1 Comment

Storyline:- Harper lee shows the world through the eyes of a six-year-old, Jean Louise Finch (Scout). She lives with her Father and elder brother Jeremy (Jem) in Maycomb, Alabama. Like every other six-year-old she runs around, plays with her brother and friends, gets scolded and loved by everyone. When her father, Atticus Finch who is a lawyer, starts fighting a case for a black guy accused of rape, she witnesses how harsh and cruel the world is.

She and her brother have this fascination with their infamous neighbour, Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley, who never comes out of his house. They try to make attempts to make him come out but fail every time which just feeds their imagination more and more.

My Opinion:- The book starts rather abruptly and it takes some 5-10 pages to get the grasp of the story and what is going on. You just have to give the book some time because what follows is a great story. The vocabulary can be a barrier in the start (at least it was for me) and can distract you many a times but you gotta keep going.

Now to talk about the story, it is really enlightening. The story highlights racism, social discrimination, bullying, judgmental society etc. The book makes you change your perspective towards others, it tell you that things are not always the way they look like, you gotta look at the bigger picture and understand people’s circumstances. Plus it is written in a way that you can feel the emotions; you can feel what Scout feels, hate the person she hates and love the ones she loves. This book has humor, suspense and emotions.

It is a highly recommended book not just because it has a good story but also because it teaches you a lot. Just keep in mind to not give up if you can’t understand it in the start because as you move on, it’ll all start making sense.

Favourite Quote:- “You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Book Review

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

Stuti Gupta3 Comments

This is a book that I just came across over internet one day and since it was just 157 pages long, I decided to read it.

Storyline:- The story is set during World War II. It is the story of a Jewish family’s escape from Copenhagen, Denmark and how their neighbours/friends help them with it. This book is written in first person in the voice of a 10-year-old, Annemarie Johansen who is doing her best to help her friend.

My opinion:- It is a really good book; short and simple with a great story. Once you have read a few pages, knowing what happens next, gets you hooked to the book. It’s a really interesting read.

This book teaches you what courage is; courage is not about not being afraid in dangerous situations, courage is to face the situation anyway and it’s okay to be scared. This book sets such great examples of friendship, family and present-mindedness.

This is a great book to read. I mean it’s just 157 pages long, you don’t even have to think before starting it. You can finish it in just 2-3 days because the story is so interesting and thrilling. You’ll love this book, it’s really good.

Favourite Quote:- “It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything.”