5 Mythology Based Books I want to Read This Year #Connect 5 Friday

Hi guys, welcome! Sorry for posting the Connect Five Friday post today instead of yesterday, this time it took me a lot of time to come up with a new topic. Anyway let’s begin. Recently I finished The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which was my first mythology read. I loved this book so much that I feel I might have found a new favourite genre in mythology. So I thought why not try and read more mythology books and see if my love for mythology is one-tine thing or is it here to stay. Thus here I am with a list of 5 mythology based books which I want to read this year.

Connect Five Friday is a feature/link up hosted by Book Date. For this feature you will have to make a list of five books or things connected to books. There is no set topic, so you can make a list of any bookish things.

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 

First on my list is another book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This time it is the re-imagining of Indian epic Ramayana. As I really loved The Palace of Illusions, I hope that I will love this one too. Fingers crossed.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe is based on Greek Mythology. Circe, the character was a enchantress or sorceress in the greek mythology and this book is her story. From the synopsis I feel that this book is going to be a powerful read with a strong woman protagonist. Y’all know how much I love a strong woman protagonist, so can’t wait to read this one.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Another Greek Mythology based book by Madeline Miller. According to the reviewers this is going to make me ugly cry. I am not a big fan of sad stories but I saw that the sad parts of The Palace of Illusions were the parts I loved the most. So maybe it is different with mythology or maybe it was because I already knew what was going to happen as I was familiar with the original text. Whatever may be the reason, I am still really excited read The Song of Achilles. Hopefully I will like it.

Lanka’s Princess by Kavita Kane

Lanka’s Princess is based on Surpanakha, Ravan’s infamous sister from Ramayana. Surpanakha has always been portrayed as a villain, at least in the children adaptation of Ramayana and the movie adaptation which I have grown reading and watching. So I am really excited to read her perspective, and to know whether she was actually a villain or just another victim.

Ahalya’s Awakening by Kavita Kané

Another book by Kavita Kane which is also based on Indian Mythology. This time it is the story of Ahalya who was turned to stone when she was discovered by her husband making love to the Hindu god Indra who came to her disguised as her husband. Really excited to read this one. Plus I can get this for free through prime reading service of Amazon so even more excited to read it.

Have you read any of the books mentioned above? Did you like them? What are your favourite mythology based books?

8 Reasons Why I Love Mystery & Thrillers #Top Ten Tuesday

Hi guys, welcome! Today I am here with an Top Ten Tuesday Post and today’s topic is Reasons Why You Love a particular genre, author, etc. Upon reading this topic the first thought that came to my mind was this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about my favorite book genres mystery and thrillers. So that is what I am here doing, talking about why I freaking love mysteries and thrillers. So without wasting any time lets get to the list.

1. The suspense: Hands down the best thing (at least for me!) in a mystery or thriller novel. That feeling that something is going to happen…. something terrible…. The Best thing about a thriller.
2. The Psychology: Hotch of the show Criminal Minds once said, “All of us are capable of doing unspeakable things”, and most thriller novels prove that only. This is one of things that pulls me towards a thriller or mystery…… the reason why people do what they do….. What puts them over the edge….
3. Flawed humans: I love when my characters are flawed, and thrillers have abundance of those. Everyone has secrets, everyone is hiding something….
4. The thrill: I love when a thriller or mystery keeps me at the edge of my seat throughout with its twists, secrets and action.
5. The Twists: For twists, I just have to say one thing the more the merrier. Good twists I think are the most important part of a mystery/thriller, and it is one of the main reason I dig these genres. I love love twists.
6. The final revelation: For me a thriller/mystery has to have a unpredictable and shocking final revelation. I just wanted to be shocked out of my mind….. That is literally a necessity for me.
7. Way out of a Reading Slump: Mystery/thrillers are my sure shot get out of the slump free card. Whenever I am in a slump I generally go ahead and pick up a thriller and mostly I will snap right out of the slump.
8. Creepiness/Scariness: It is one of the things that I love about a mystery/thriller…. Just before bed I am reading the book and suddenly there happens a crazy twist…… And after I close the book I am like literally scared, and this always happens after I put down the book for the day….. a chill goes down my spine…. I love this feeling…. Really really love.

Guys, that is it. All the reasons why I love a thriller/mystery.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, for this feature you have to make a list of 10 books for the prompts given.

Do you also love thrillers or mysteries? If yes, why is that? If thrillers are not your jam, then what is your favourite genre?

April Reading & Blogging Wrap Up

Hi guys, welcome! Today I am here with my April Reading & Blogging Wrap Up. I hope all of you are healthy and safe! India is still under lockdown but it is no longer the complete lockdown as before, the shops are opening and we have more freedom than before. Plus in some place public buses have also started.

Now, moving on to my Wrap Up.

Reading Wrap Up

All through the month of April I was in a slump and ended up reading only three books and dnfing one. And I also miserably failed my OWLs readathon 😞Anyway, I will come to the readathon in a bit, first I would like to talk about the books I read last month.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The first book I finished last month was Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Overall I enjoyed it but maybe it was because I was in a reading slump when I read it that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as everyone did. I ended up giving this book a 3.75 stars. I will post the review of Six of Crows along with Crooked Kingdom’s review, which I have yet to read.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Little Prince is the second book I finished last month. This book is just awesome. I can’t recommend this book enough. The Little Prince gave me life lessons that I will never forget. You can read my full review for this book here. I gave this book 4 stars.

The Sister-in-Law by Sue Watson

The the last book I finished last month was a thriller, The Sister-in-Law. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit okayish for me. Nothing too remarkable but definitely enjoyable. You can read my full review for this book here. I gave this book 3.5 stars.

Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza? by Andy V. Roamer

This is the book I DNFed last month. It started out quite well but soon it got too slow and I was very bored, so I decided to DNF this one. You can read my full review for this one here.

Magical Readathon

As I have mentioned earlier, I failed very miserably in this readathon. I was only able to read one book whereas I had to read 3 to finish my OWLs for my opted career plus I wanted to do a training, so in total I had planned to read 4 books. But soon after finishing the last book of March I went into in a reading slump, and it continued till almost the end of April. After finishing Six of Crows I tried reading 2 books from my TBR, but they just didn’t hold my interest so I had to put them down. I was only able to read one book for this readathon, that too more than 15 days after I had finished Six of Crows. The book I read was The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. After finishing this one too, I tried picking up another one for this readathon, but just could get into it. I read The Little Prince for the Astronomy prompt for which I had to read majority of the book while there is dark outside. The Little Prince is a very short book, I read this book in 2 hrs, from 11pm to 1 a.m.

Twitter

Hi guys, I have recently opened my Twitter account, my handle is @Mayu27460135. I will love to follow some of you guys. If you have a Twitter account please leave your Twitter handles in the comments section below.

Blogging Wrap Up

Connect Five Friday

5 Comfort Reads

5 Books on my TBR I think will be 5 star reads

Discussions

Do you set Goodreads Goal?

Reviews

Review: The Sister-in-Law by Sue Watson

Review: Idiot by Laura Clery

Top 5 Tuesday

5 Popular Books I haven’t read yet (but want to!)

Monthly Reading & Blogging Wrap Ups

March Reading & Blogging Wrap Up

Others

I am participating in Magical Readathon! + My TBR

The Sunday Post: Weekly Wrap Up 05/04/20

That is all for this month’s wrap up. Are you’re countries also under lockdown? And what did you people read and posted last month? Did you participate in the Magical Readathon? How did you do?

Review: What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

To Be Published on: 15/05/2020

Genres: Thriller

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads/Amazon

Synopsis

Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave.

They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.

My Thoughts

“I received an eARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in return for an honest review.”

I think I have only two words for this book….. mind blowing. For me this is the best way I can describe this book.

What Lies Between Us’ story arc, my god! Never in a million years would I have guessed from this book’s synopsis that this story could go in that direction. To be true this book had the most incredible plot twists I have ever encountered in any book. This book didn’t have one big mind blowing twist or turn in the tale, it had series of them.

It has been a few hours since I finished this book and the one thing that I can’t forget is how all my theories were dashed by John Marrs. Every single one of the theories I formed regarding the motives were thrown out of the window when the final reveals were done.

For most books I can say that this percent of the book was the best part or the most thrilling part but with this book I just can’t because the whole thing was so good. I literally don’t have anymore words to describe how great this book was so…. Just read it already.

One last thing I need to talk about before I end my review: the reason I deducted the 0.5. The reason being that there was one little part of this novel where the things got a bit slow as a lot of predictable reveals were happening. But it is only a tiny part of the novel and soon this book gripped me like a vice again. I think another reason for this deduction was the ending of the book. it was great but not the kind of ending I prefer. This book was near to perfect for me. It was definitely one of the best books I have read this year, but it was still not absolutely perfect for me, but please don’t let this deter you. It is an awesome book and I think everyone who will pick this book up will enjoy this.

Overall

What Lies Between Us shocked me, surprised me and most importantly I enjoyed every moment I spent with this book. This is one of the best and most engaging books I have read this year, and definitely would highly recommend it.

View all my reviews

My 5 Favourite Book-to-Movie Adaptations #Connect 5 Friday

Hi guys, welcome! I am here with a new Connect 5 Friday post. For this Connect Five Friday post I have decided to talk about my favourite book-to-movie adaptations.

Connect Five Friday is a feature/link up hosted by Book Date. For this feature you will have to make a list of five books or things connected to books. There is no set topic, so you can make a list of any bookish things.

So let’s begin.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie is based on a short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This movie is just remarkable. It is sometimes funny, sometimes heartwarming, but mostly heart breaking. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Shutter Island

Next on my list is this thriller Shutter Island which is based on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same. This movie kept me at the edge of my seat throughout with numerous twist and turns. But the best part of this movie was that twist near the end, my god! the best twist I have seen in any movie till date.

Beauty & The Beast

I love both the Beauty & The Beast movies, the animated one of 1991 and the recent one with Emma Watson. Both of them are awesome and I highly recommend them both.

Raazi

Next on my list is a Bollywood book-to-movie adaptation which is based on Harinder Sikka’s 2008 novel Calling Sehmat. In this movie Sehmat is an Indian girl who marries into a Pakistani family of military officials to work as an Indian spy. It is such a awesome movie, it is full of suspense from start to end and there is also a bit of romance. All the actors, both side and main did a really great job in this movie. It has been over a year since I watched this movie, but I still remember it like I watched it yesterday, it had such an impact on me. Highly recommend it.

Harry Potter Series

I am one of those people who believe that Harry Potter books are better than the movies, but still these movies hold a very special place in my heart. I am not a re-reader so I have never re-read Harry Potter books, though I really want to someday, but I just feel guilty about rereading a book, when there are so many unread books on my shelf. Anyway this is a discussion for some other post. So coming back, as I am not a re-reader so the only way I can experience the magical world of Harry Potter and it’s great characters again and again is through the movies only. That is why till date I have watched the Harry Potter movies at least 10 times if not more and I will keep on watching them till I die.

What are your favourite book-to-movie adaptations?

Review: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Publisher: Vintage

Published on: June 4th 1998

Genres: Historical Fiction

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads/Amazon

Synopsis

This story is a rare and utterly engaging experience. It tells the extraordinary story of a geisha – summoning up a quarter century from 1929 to the post-war years of Japan’s dramatic history, and opening a window into a half-hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation.

A young peasant girl is sold as servant and apprentice to a renowned geisha house. She tells her story many years later from the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Her memoirs conjure up the perfection and the ugliness of life behind rice-paper screens, where young girls learn the arts of geisha – dancing and singing, how to wind the kimono, how to walk and pour tea, and how to beguile the land’s most powerful men.

My Thoughts

I loved this book. It was very impactful and heart breaking at places, and a beautiful read. The first 90% of this book was so great but the last 10% disappointed me. Because of this last 10% I had to unfortunately lower the rating from 5 stars to 4 stars. Before I go into why this last 10% disappointed me, I would first like to talk about what I liked in this book.

What I Liked:
Memoirs of a Geisha was a very engaging read and I just couldn’t stop reading this book till I reached the very last page.

I learned so much about Geishas through this book. Did you know there was(I don’t know if there still is) actually a school only for Geishas where teachers used to teach dancing, playing different instruments, etc? This book also helped me clear a lot of misconceptions that I had about the Geishas. I have seen a lot of places questioning the historical accuracy of the Geisha culture portrayed in this book. They are questioning this historical accuracy because they think that Geishas in this book were portrayed as sex workers, but in my opinion I don’t think whatever I read in this book ever portrayed Geishas as sex workers.

Apart from Geisha culture, through this book we also get to know about some Japanese culture too, like things about teahouses, and other few things. I love knowing about different cultures, so I really liked this.

Another thing I really liked about this book was the character of Chiyo or Sayuri. I was able to relate to her, to her feelings and thoughts immensely. Chiyo’s triumphs became my triumphs, her failures, my failures. If something hurt her, it broke my heart too.

Chiyo’s character had such an impact on me. I think she was a very brave and resilient girl. Though there was this one thing I couldn’t agree with her on but still I liked her character.

Two other characters I really liked were Mameha and Auntie’s character. Auntie is someone who has faced a lot of hardships in her life and has accepted the things as they were but still she was kind and caring. And Mameha was someone I really liked, if you read the book you will know how important a role she played in little Chiyo’s life. I really really liked Mameha’s character. She was a mentor we all deserve. I guess you can call some of her choices morally not correct but still you have to agree that she did everything she could to make Chiyo a success.

Arthur Golden in this book also talked about how war affected the lives of the people of Japan. It was only for a few pages but it had a lasting impact on me, as a reader. I am so happy that the author touched upon this topic of Japanese history.

What I didn’t like:
So now lets talk about the last 10% and why it disappointed me. When I think about it I feel that because the first 90% impressed me so much I was this disappointed with the rest 10%. There was this one twist that happened near the end which in my opinion was something that can never happen in real life. One might argue that this incident was a heartwarming touch to the mostly sad-ish rest of the novel, but in my opinion this twist should not have been introduced, it just diluted the overall atmosphere of the book. Apart for this one twist the rest part of this last 10% was averagey not great as the rest 90% of the book. So overall this last 10% disappointed a lot.

There was another thing I kind of didn’t like. I just wished that some more time was devoted to Chiyo’s thoughts about her father, the person who betrayed her deeply.

Overall
Memoirs of a Geisha is a beautifully written book, which was heartbreaking and hard hitting at a lot of places. I would love to recommend this book to everyone.

Have you read Memoirs of a Geisha? Did you like it?

May Readathons

Hi guys, welcome! So as the title suggests I am here to talk about the readathons I am participating in this month. Last month I participated in the O.W.Ls readathon and failed it miserably, but in my defense I was in a slump all through the month of April, so…. but you will hear all about my Readathon and other April reading related stuff in my April Reading & Blogging Wrap up so lets not waste any time here. Since a last few days my reading Mojo has returned so I have decided why not participate in not one but two readathons. So the readathons I am taking part in are Tome Topple Readathon and Asian Readathon. Now lets get into my TBR for these two.

Tome Topple Readathon TBR

The main aim of this Readathon is to read as many books above 500 pages as possible. But there are also some reading challenges/prompt that you can choose to fulfill. This readathon will run from May 9th to May 22nd and this readathon is hosted by Thoughts on Tomes. For more info on this Readathon visit her Announcement video here.

This readathon will run for two weeks, so realistically I can’t read more than 2 books in this time frame so I have selected 3… because well I am a bit over ambitious, what can I say.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Prompts: Standalone Tome / Adult Tome)

The Pact by Jodi Picoult (Prompts: Tome that has been on your TBR the longest/ Read one Tome)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Prompts: Tome on my TBR with most pages/ Tome from a genre you don’t usually read)

Asian Readathon TBR

Asian Readathon is hosted by readwithcindy. This is a month long readathon that runs from May 1st to May 31st and for this readathon you have to read books fitting the prompts. And as the name suggests the books have to be Asian in some way. For more information visit the Announcement post here.

I have selected 3 books that I want to read for this one and I have utilized one book for multiple prompts.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Read a book featuring an Asian character or written by an Asian author who is different from you / Read a book featuring an Asian character or written by an Asian author who you can relate to)

Jhumpa Lahiri has been born and brought up outside India so she is different from me as I am an Indian who is born and brought up in India and as the characters in this book are based in the same city in India I am from, i.e Kolkata, so I might be able to relate to the characters of this book, so I think this book will fit the prompts mentioned really well.

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (Read any book by an Asian author/Read a book recommended by an Asian)

This book is by Khushwant Singh, who is an Asian and this book has been recommended to me by Helly, who is an Asian Booktuber, so I think this book will fit the prompts mentioned perfectly.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

This book is the group read along and the optional fifth challenge of this readathon. I will try to participate in this read along but as I don’t own the book till now, I am not sure.

What Readathons are you people participating in this month? Are any of you participating in the readathons mentioned above? If you are then I will love to hear your TBRs for them?