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Book Review: Elizabeth I- The Making of a Queen by Laura Brennan

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The Book Elizabeth I- The Making of a Queen by Laura Brennan isn't exactly what you call a biography. Yes it does talk about Elizabeth and somewhat about her reign as the Tudor monarch but what it also does and does very well is talk about how Elizabeth reached the throne. It talks about the circumstances in England that led to her crowning, the people involved and also about what was happening around England at that point in. time to give you a complete perspective on things. Why You Should Read It? What this does is let you know what an astonishing feat she, Queen Elizabeth I of England, managed to pull off what with being a woman who ascended the throne. She not only managed to keep her head on her shoulders but also proved to be an astute ruler warding off conspiracies to malign her name and conspirators to take away her throne. The Writing Brennan writes with quite a command over her subject. Her writing makes for an easy reading on this heavy subject and though it not really

Book Review: Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

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The eerily atmospheric novel, Harrow Lake by Kate Ellis is a book set in the fictional town called Harrow Lake. Lola Nox is sent to live here with a grandmother she has never met after her father is attacked and left to die in their apartment in New York. Lola's father is a famous film director. He specialises in making horror films and had made a film called Nightjar in this small town, some twenty years back. The book opens with Nolan Nox being interviewed for a magazine article. As soon as the questions begin about his wife's and then his daughter's disappearance in Harrow Lake, he gets miffed. From here on the camera kind of shifts its gaze to his daughter Lola and we are brought in to see her character closely. Lola is a very lonely girl, the price she has to pay for Nolan's fame, who takes pleasure and thrills in creating and burying her secrets written in paper slips  everywhere and anywhere. the other thing that Lola is very good at is making stories. Some say,

Birthday party Koro na

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We are in the third phase of the Corona virus induced lockdown. While in the first phase we all probably did not know where we were headed and were probably treating the lockdown as a respite from life in general, this time around we are almost pro at what we can and how we can do in these demanding (or maybe far simpler) times. Today was the birthday of a dear friend's daughter.  Since we have known them almost every year this day has been a huge celebration because my friend takes the kids out and treats them to whatever their hearts desire, no bars. When I called her up during the day to congratulate her and wish the child, I was sent the address of the party venue. The only difference was that this time around the kids were to meet virtually and not physically. They were all to Zoom in from their houses. Hats off to my dexterous friend for arranging an hour filled with games, jokes, banter and fun between this bunch of girls.  How liberating it must have been as

A2Z that was and wasn't

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I participated in the Blogchatter A2Z on almost the last minute. I was not confident about my ability to write a blogpost everyday. I have been at blogging for donkey's years now but consistency, well, who knows what that is. I signed up with a lot of trepidation for sure and made no promises to myself yet when I uploaded my last post on alphabet Z, I could not but smile at the journey I had undertaken via these posts. They say that you should write about something that you are a master of. I have been parenting for more than a decade and having really not studied anything dedicatedly in my whole life ( Jack of all trades was coined for yours truly) did not actually have a subject to write upon. Well, so I set out with the first alphabet- A . As could be expected with my first alphabet I woke up to the need of being organised and prepared for the herculean challenge. Anyway, that is the way things are with me. Always in the retrospective. But finish I did the 26 alphabets

A2Z Challenge: N is for Nani teri morni ko

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नानी तेरी मोरनी  को मोर ले गए बाकी जो बचा था काले चोर ले गए (O grandmother your peahen has been carried away by the peacocks and whatever was left has been taken by the thieves) You must have heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. If you are bringing up a child/ren you will know exactly what this means but if you don't have children of your own yet take my word for it. Raising a child can't be done single handedly by anyone. You need emotional and physical support, you need advice, you need a sounding board and most importantly sometime you just need someone else to take charge. Grandparents play a huge role in our Indian homes in helping raise a child. Whether it is teaching them values and morals via stories, or enforce good habits, they have extremely important roles to play. My children have been very lucky to have a set of doting grandparents on both the sides. On   the paternal side my mother-in-law is always ready with her bag of exciting sto

A2Z Challenge: C is for Choti si Pyari si

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छोटी सी प्यारी सी नन्ही सी आयी कोई परी भोली सी न्यारी सी अच्छी सी आयी कोई परी If this isn't hint enough, I am going to talk about my daughter in this post. This child gave me the exalted status of Mummy. I will probably be more famous as Netra ki Mummy than anything else at the time. Netra, my 12 year old daughter, was born after a difficult pregnancy and that has been the easiest part so far. She is a sweet, gentle and generous child at, and I have complete strangers stopping me in mid-way or calling me up, to tell me how she has offered help seeing them in a tough spot. Sometimes she has held doors for the, sometimes helped carry their bags, soothe their child and at others just greet them, every time she sees them in the complex, in the lift or on the road. This very child can be very stubborn, adamant and exasperating preteen several times a day. As all of us, she is full of contradictions and I had a very difficult time learning how to be okay with that. It is stil

Book Review: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

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All reader everywhere probably are aware of Tayari Jones' name whether or not they might have read her books or not. Her novel American Marriage won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2019. Silver Sparrow is her first UK publication since American Marriage, being brought out by Oneworld Publishers. Silver Sparrow tells the tale of two sisters, rather secret sisters Dana and Chaurisse. Set in Atlanta in the 1980s and 90s, it takes us into the secrets and doings of the two families of Jams Witherspoon junior. The book is told from the point of view of the two girls and begins with perspective of the secret daughter Dana giving us her side of the story and introducing us to the characters involved in her life- her mother, grandfather, teachers, boyfriends. The second half is the story of Chaurisee and characters that shape her. Another central character is their father's friend Raleigh who quietly plays a role in propelling and maintaining the story of all these varied char

Book Review: Only Lies Remain by Val Collins

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A psychological thriller Only Lies Remain by Val Collins is a ride which you wouldn't want to get off in a hurry that is once you have got used to the pace. It took me some time to warm up to Aoife's story but boy, once I did, it wouldn't le go of me easily. Aoife is looking for a job, her estranged husband has showed up at her door telling her that he wants to improve his relation with his daughter and wants to give their marriage another chance, not caring much whether Aoife wants it or not. Maura, her mother-in-law is suspected of killing her father-in-law whose dead body has just been discovered after years since his disappearance. The characters are well developed and seem to be full of surprises as much as people are in real life. For example Aoife seems like someone who can be easily pushed around but eventually her character progresses through trials and tribulations and she develops into someone who is strong and can hold her own in the face of adversity.

Book Review: How Selfish! by Clare Helen Welsh and Olivier Tallec

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How Selfish! is a soon-to-be-released word and picture book by Clare Helen Welsh and Olivier Tallec, published by Quarto Publishing Group. The book tells the story about a Duck and her friend Dot. Duck finds a stick but Dot makes away with it. duck tries to get the stick back from Dot but ends up losing all the other toys to her as well. And Dot though now has things, she learns a most difficult lesson about friendship and sharing. Beautifully illustrated and with excellent (and minimal) writing this book catches attention and manages to deliver an important message , teaching children not to be selfish. The quirky illustrations are not your run of the mill ones. They capture the child's imagination. I read the book with my 5 year old and after we were done, he went back to it to just look at the pictures. Quarto publishes fantastic books for the younger audience and I am a big fan of their Little People, Big DREAMS series which bring to life various world leaders for smaller

Book Review: In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

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I am a reader of course but I since I began my second innings as a reader I have mostly been hooked to mysteries, thrillers and crime novels. In between, I have often found that up comes a book- sometimes a non-fiction, a classic, a children's book or any other -that just blows me away. And today if I were to typify the book that I am going to be taking about then I would put it in league with my two other favourites from the similar feeling genre- Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us  and Vibha batra's Glitter and Gloss . Rebecca Serle's In Five Years, isn't really a book that I can put in a particular genre. I might have called it a romance because love runs all along the book as a theme but so does friendship and sisterhood so maybe, women' fiction but then well there are elements of a mystery too in the early pages. So you see my problem and also why I absolutely adored this book and you might too. In Five Years is the story of an up and coming lawyer Danni