[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Mythological Fiction by Amish - Ram & Shiva series. An uncle of mine loved these books and is looking for something similar on Lord Krishna. Any recommendations?

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B008JCHMXY/...ng=UTF8&btkr=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ma...exander_Secret

Check out the works of Ashwin Sanghi , Alexander Doyle . They write on the similar themes.

[deathwalkr]

The new Brad Thor book is out today. Happy reading

[subraiyr]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Mythological Fiction by Amish - Ram & Shiva series. An uncle of mine loved these books and is looking for something similar on Lord Krishna. Any recommendations?

You would want to suggest Krishna Coriolis series by Ashok Banker. Pretty much similar to Amish. Somehow i feel there is a sudden plethora of such books which focus on mythology and India - i did read something about Harappa by Vineet Bajpai. Again quite similar but was more to do with ancient civilization. These books are fast pacers but does not leave an impression. Good for a quick read

[ninjatalli]

The Good Shepherd : 4 / 5

A thrilling narration of a fictious story based on real incidents that happened between Germany uboats and American, Canadian and British ships before the US officially entered WW2.

The author does a fantastic narration based on naval warfare, with hardly any dragging of the story. Makes for a good long week/weekend read for sure.

P.s. Also the basis for the script of the 2020 Tom Hanks movie, Greyhound.

[N.A.GTC]

Originally Posted by poised2drive

After a long time, I have begun reading fiction and yet again I understood why I stopped reading fiction for a long time- Because they are so addicting and you risk sleep rather than putting down the book.

GAME OF THRONES

Hey!
Big fan of the TV show myself, and had started reading the books (until work kicked back again). Thanks a lot of sharing your review.

That being said, I would have appreciated if you would have marked your review with a 'spoilers ahead' or a similar warning - especially the dead-characters bit.

Your review did make me want to go back to reading it. But to know whether someone dies (or does not, contrary to beliefs perpetuated by the TV show) can often be a buzzkill for a lot of people.

A sincere request to all the members here! Thanks!

[whitewing]

Don’t Go There: From Chernobyl to North Korea—one man’s quest to lose himself and find everyone else in the world’s strangest places [4/5]
Currently reading this, and found it an extremely entertaining travelogue. The author has a great sense of humor and with the occasional sociological thought thrown in.
If you have enjoyed Bill Bryson's style of writing, you'll enjoy this one for sure.
A great book for an arm chair travel to alleviate one's mood in the quarantined, lockdown-ed world of today.


The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared [4/5] Quirky, fun book. About a hundred year old man, a murder and it involves an elephant. And also Einstein's brother and Stalin! A Swedish version of Forrest Gump.

It has a sequel The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man [3/5], though it has its good parts, found this one a bit of a drag compared to the first one.

The same author has one more good one Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All [3/5]. Think of this as a farcical version of the Girl in a dragon tattoo...

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by N.A.GTC

I would have appreciated if you would have marked your review with a 'spoilers ahead' or a similar warning - especially the dead-characters bit.

Your review did make me want to go back to reading it. But to know whether someone dies (or does not, contrary to beliefs perpetuated by the TV show) can often be a buzzkill for a lot of people.

A sincere request to all the members here! Thanks!

Apologies for the unintentional mistake.

Nevertheless, I suggest you can continue the reading as the arc of the said character is pretty different from that of the series ,thankfully . And I have not given any major spoilers which would impact the new reader's perspective as the story completely deviates from that of the TV series.

And do not try to read online reviews about it ( like I did ) because many of them give away major spoilers .

[rakesh_r]

Recently got hooked with Ashwin Sanghi's books-
1- The Chanakya Chant
2- The Krishna Key
Just purchased The Rozabal Line.

[Samurai]

I hope we can discuss non-English novels too... (my inner-mod says yes )

This post reminded me of the popularity of Yandamuri Veerendranath, a fiction writer in Telugu. His books were instantly translated and available in many Indian languages. In the 80s, I read his books in Kannada, when it used be published in Taranga magazine as serials and when I found them at the local city central library. Since I used to read 2-3 novels a week, there was no question of buying them. Still, I read many books of his using the above methods.

He was like the Sidney Sheldon of South India, he wrote lots of thrillers using plots unheard of in India until then. Can you imagine a novel where leading lady and leading man never meet? His books also contained lots of puzzles, which made the readers work hard at solving them. I still remember the 3 red, 3 black bindi puzzle, and how to solve it. The most lasting impact for me personally was the book Anando Brahmma, which turned me from shaky believer to an agnostic at 17. I lost my guilt about not having piety based on one conversation between a grandfather and his grandson, about the new school teacher. His books were simply glorious, for that time. His heroines were the good kind of feminists, confident, daring, independent, yet sensual. Hundreds of his fans named their kids after the characters of his books.

Back in 2011-2012, my company was hiring freshers. And I started seeing a certain name showing up disproportionately among the resumes. The name was Anusha, the daring heroine of novel Marana Mrudangam which was released 1-2 years prior to the birth of all these candidates.

But his books haven't aged well. I made the mistake of re-reading one of the books few years back, 30 years after it was published. It felt tacky. It didn't feel like that when I read it in 80s. I think it has to do with exposure of both author and the readers in that era.

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by Samurai

In the 80s, I read his books in Kannada, when it used be published in Taranga magazine as serials and when I found them at the local city central library.

At home, we used to fight to grab the 'Taranga' magazine on it's arrival. Even 'Sudha' used to carry his novels. I distinctly remember one of his novels 'Shanyora' speaking of links between crop loss in Africa, and based on that stock price movements in India. In those times, it was kinda inspiring to learn to connect dots and make informed decisions.

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Mythological Fiction by Amish - Ram & Shiva series. An uncle of mine loved these books and is looking for something similar on Lord Krishna. Any recommendations?

@Eddy, If your uncle is comfortable in reading Marathi & Hindi, you should consider two masterpieces from Shri Shivaji Sawant.

Yugandhar - On Lord Krishna
Mrutyunjaya - On Karna

The reason for my saying fluency in Marathi and / or Hindi is this.
The books are originally written in Marathi. The books were then translated into Hindi and that Hindi version was finally translated to English.
Essentially the English books is a double translation and we know that a lot can get lost in the translations.

I have the English versions of both books and since I am fluent in Hindi & Marathi, I will eventually read the Marathi original of both books.

Both books are available on Amazon / Flipkart. They are currently available as paperbacks with a significant price drop and now cost Rs 668 & 450 respectively for their English versions.

If you can, I would suggest you go for the hardbound versions since they are 584 & 628 pages respectively in paperback.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Have been spending time with Count Alexander Rostov and musing over his years spent in Hotel Metropol, Moscow, where he spent over three decades as part of the 'home' imprisonment by the Bolsheviks.

That's the premise of "A Gentleman in Moscow", debut novel by Amor Towles. It's historical fiction and, by far, best fiction novel that I have read in a long, long time. With a handful of characters and just one location, Towles weaves his magic through the words and thoughts of Count Rostov, who is a gentleman in every sense of the word. So many philosophical gems, strewn nonchalantly across the pages and in such mundane discussions that they keep catching you off-guard. Making you read and re-read it, and smile to yourself as you get transported to a corner of Hotel Metropol, eavesdropping on a private conversation.

It is a wonderful, wonderful book and deserves a leisurely read.

[Ithaca]

Dalal's Street by Anurag Tripathi
Rating 4/5

Debut book by Anurag Tripathi, an alumnus of the Indian School of Business with a course in Advanced Creative Writing from The University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education.

The book is about four friends from business school who take up their first job in a cut throat trading house. It shows their journey within the trading house. How they are made to indulge in corrupt practices while trying to find their standing within the house.
Of the four, one person develops a conscience and shifts from actively soliciting trading accounts into the back end work of compliance.
Won't give out spoilers about how the other three fare but suffice to say that it is not an easy journey for the remaining friends.
The trading house boss is shown to be a ruthless carpet bagger who takes orders from a shady player to manipulate the price of a certain stock that has no fundamentals.

Being a debut novel, this is a very honest attempt at a financial thriller.

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by poised2drive

After a long time, I have begun reading fiction and yet again I understood why I stopped reading fiction for a long time- Because they are so addicting and you risk sleep rather than putting down the book.
GAME OF THRONES

Originally Posted by N.A.GTC

Hey! Big fan of the TV show myself, and had started reading the books (until work kicked back again). Thanks a lot of sharing your review.

George R R Martin - Fire & Blood

I recently found out that GRRM has written backstories for the Game of Thrones book series. "Fire & Blood" and "The World of Ice and Fire"

Fire & Blood confines itself to House Targaryen. It is a 700 page book with illustrations. For some weird reason, the hardbound book costs just ₹24 more than its paperback version and being such a big book, I opted for the hardbound version since we know papers will get loose in thick paperbacks as time goes bye.

The World of Ice and Fire is an illustrated book that explores the history of the prominent houses of Westeros. Amazon India lists the paperback for ₹1332 & hardbound for ₹3545

In my opinion, GRRM has seen how the TV series botched his entire vision of the book series and has become broken hearted to write any more and is now releasing side stories of the Houses. I sincerely hope he releases the next two books soon so that readers can read what he envisioned.

Fire & Ice begins with Aegon the conqueror and his sisters riding their dragons and conquering the other kingdoms. It tells the story of events from the beginning of Aegon's reign leading upto the civil war that destroyed the kingdom.
One grouse - as with all GRRM books, too many characters, too many alliances to keep track of. I am slowly plodding through the book and 200 pages in, it is a great book.

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This post reminded me of the popularity of Yandamuri Veerendranath, a fiction writer in Telugu.

A Big Fan . He is one writer who made me take up reading as a full-time hobby and even my mother was a fan of his. His non-fiction "Vijayanaiki Aidhu Metlu ( 5 steps for success)" was first of its kind in Telugu and magnum opus ( though the critics would call his writing plagiarized)

Originally Posted by Samurai

His books were instantly translated and available in many Indian languages. In the 80s, I read his books in Kannada, when it used be published in Taranga magazine as serials and when I found them at the local city central library. Since I used to read 2-3 novels a week, there was no question of buying them. Still, I read many books of his using the above methods.

Never knew his books were popular outside Telugu States.
Even my practise was similar. We had a book-borrowing stores in Hyderabad ( @ Punjagutta and Madhapur ) where I used to gobble it up in 2-3 days and run to the store to get a new novel .

Originally Posted by Samurai

He was like the Sidney Sheldon of South India, he wrote lots of thrillers using plots unheard of in India until then. Can you imagine a novel where leading lady and leading man never meet? His books also contained lots of puzzles, which made the readers work hard at solving them. I still remember the 3 red, 3 black bindi puzzle, and how to solve it. The most lasting impact for me personally was the book Anando Brahmma, which turned me from shaky believer to an agnostic at 17. I lost my guilt about not having piety based on one conversation between a grandfather and his grandson, about the new school teacher. His books were simply glorious, for that time. His heroines were the good kind of feminists, confident, daring, independent, yet sensual. Hundreds of his fans named their kids after the characters of his books.

+1.
His themes varied from Sci-fi to Horror to Romance to Crime to Financial Thrillers . His Ashtavakra , centered on powerful secret groups, used to give me chills and he used to speckle the books with bits of information of science , which was really impressive.

Many of his novels were made into movies which became superhits like 'Dabbu to the power of Dabbu (money to the power of money)' - Challenge , Abhilaasha ( Desire) - Abhilaasha ( both were Chiranjeevi starrers and an all-time hits )

Originally Posted by Samurai

Back in 2011-2012, my company was hiring freshers. And I started seeing a certain name showing up disproportionately among the resumes. The name was Anusha, the daring heroine of novel Marana Mrudangam which was released 1-2 years prior to the birth of all these candidates.

Again, I have friends with names Vihari, Anudeep, Pravallika , Revanth , Anusha , whose names were inspired from Yandamoori's novels.

Originally Posted by Samurai

But his books haven't aged well. I made the mistake of re-reading one of the books few years back, 30 years after it was published. It felt tacky. It didn't feel like that when I read it in 80s. I think it has to do with exposure of both author and the readers in that era.

Spot on.

With the amount of information exposure and the international books availability, now his style appears silly and pretentious . But back i n1990s and early 2000s, his books were like a revelation.