Book Review: The Secret Wishlist by Preeti Shenoy

Is it true that true love really still exist or is it just a cliche? Can a single kiss really change your life? 

The book unfolds the hidden secrets of Diksha, when she was at sixteen. Like any other girl of her age, Disha, finds her life revolving around school, boys and endless hours of fun with her best friend. However, all this changed one day, which put her to misery for the major part of her life.The novel starts with the present-day Diksha, who is 34 years old, the protagonist of the story. The book revolves around the character and with flashbacks she starts to tell her tale when she was around sixteen.

It starts with an innocent crush explodes into something far beyond her control. And, now after eighteen year, she finds herself at the crossroads of life. Urged by a twist of events, she makes a wish list. But, do you think this wishlist can help her getting her life back? Will she fall into the place to commit illegitimate things for the sake of her wish list? Or will she be thrown into the life of misery forever? Find out the answers by reading the novel by Preeti Shenoy, who has once again brought out an extraordinary story that tugs at the heartstrings, with insight and astuteness, as she explores the frail and fragile matters of the heart.The Secret Wish List is an enchanting, interesting, a racy tale about following your heart, hounding your dreams and the valuing the friendship in your life. 

My Take:

I personally like Preeti’s work for the fact that she is a great storyteller. She has a potential to create a magical story out of a mediocre plot and to some extent she has proved it. The plot itself is not much to talk about; as it is another emotionally inclined story of an abused housewife whose married life takes a toll on her and finally one fine day she stands up for herself and break the shackles that tied her, which breaks her free from stifling marriage. The first half of the novel seems to be repetitive and looks like it is just another emotional story like other books.

However, the second half of the novel that picks up broken pieces of the plot and delivers a collision. Preeti’s easy and straightforward narration along with her consideration to little details create a graphic representation. The characters are well-etched out and again and has delivered minute details about the behavior of the character, which has been carefully thought of. For example: In the initial pages of the book when Diksha joins a Bharatanatyam class, even though she wants to learn Bollywood dancing, yields to her mother’s decision. The character of Diksha has been shown as subservient and submissive. This detailed attention to the characters is the signature of Preeti’s writing style.

The novel is written in a flowing manner with simple and easy language, except for a few editing glitches that does mar the book otherwise.

A warm, heart-touching anecdote about a woman who tries to break free from her abusive husband and find her own calling. The novel is an enjoyable read! The book is available at lelobooks, an online bookstore in India.

Read this book? Now, what are you waiting for? Go and write down your wish list, you never know, how it can change your life.

Reminiscing India Indepence Movement with literary gems

Here is a call for the readers as every reader and a book lover has his taste or I would rather say his favorite subject. And, in my context, I must confess that I like books that evokes a feeling of patriotism in me and recall me about the independence movement. As these books, not only help me to get a better understanding of the history of India but also evokes a feeling in me to do something for the nation. To add this subject in my taste, I would say blame it on my background being involved in the Independence movement, my grandfather in person.

Thus, on the eve of Independence Day, I could not think of a better time to come out with the best books with my top 3 titles on Indian Independence Eve. Read on and celebrate the eve of Independence Day.

Freedom at Midnight ByLarry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

The book mainly centers around the movement of India Independence, during the time between 1946 and 1948. The novel includes the series of events that happened during the period and are worthy of this book being categorized as the historical one. The book has been written with an extensive research and provides incredible details that has been never revealed. The book is highly recommended on India Independence and partition. The book also includes interviews of Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of British India.

The Proudest Day:India's Long Road to Independence By David Fisher and Anthony Read

The book is brisk, racy and the incident-laden narration, from the founding of the Indian National Congress to the period of independence, attained by India. The explanation has been perfectly given, as has given a great feel to the book. Do not get intimidated by its size and yes, it has revealed the likes of Gandhiji and Lord Mountbatten, which seems to be worse.

 India: A history By John Keay

The novel has been penned by John Keay, an English journalist and author, who is specialized in writing popular histories about India, particularly focussing on the colonization and discovery by Europeans. In “India: A history”. In this book, John provides a panoramic view starting from the cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley civilizations all the way to the current modern India. The book is a great guide for the history students in India

If you have more good books that need to be reviewed, do let us know at lelobooks, an online bookstore in India. Stay tuned for the reviews of great literary gems!

Unraveling teaser: Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Half-Girlfriend’ is just a cliché!

Love him or hate him, but you just can’t ignore him. Half Girlfriend, a new chestnut, actually holds quite true for Chetan Bhagat and guess what he makes damn sure that it does. The author of best-seller books like Five Point Someone, Three Mistakes of My Life and 2 States has made an attempt to cease your wait.And for all the Chetan Bhagat’s fans out there, there is a good news for you!
Your wait is finally over as after a wide gap of three years, India’s biggest storyteller, Chetan Bhagat has finally come up with his another much awaited novel, Half Girlfriend, a love story with a setting of Bihar. The author has released an official teaser of his upcoming novel, Half Girlfriend, through which he has revealed the detailed synopsis of the novel. The story of the book revolves around a boy from Bihar, Madhav who fells in love with a girl, Riya. The story is about the love life of these two and the conflicts between them for having a relationship and this Bihari boy want to be in a relationship with the love of her life and this girl wants to be just friends with him. So, she decides to be his half girlfriend.
However,after watching its teaser you will discover that this novel has a semi-rural love story has got nothing new to offer and the plot in it really seems nothing more than old wine in a new bottle. The novel is set to be released on October 9, 2014.

His new novel with a unique title is creating buzz across the nation. So just get ready to read this book and for this kindle book you can place your online order of book at Lelobooks, an authentic online bookstore in India. Get ready for another blockbuster hit and soon-to-be-movie novel. 

The creator of Chacha Chaudhary died at 75

The creator of the iconic Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary, Pran died today at the age of 75 in New Delhi. The great Indian cartoonist, Pran Kumar Sharma, according the official website of  chacha Chaudhary, was the first Indian artist-writer to come up with comic books whose protagonists were characters rooted deep in Indian rural and middle class ethos.

Some of his most popular creations and one of them is of course Chacha Chaudhary, a short, lean man in a huge red pagdi,who fought everyone from hooligans to pretty robbers with flamboyance. He always had been accompanied by a giant man called Saboo, who was apparently known to be from Jupiter.

The celebrated character of Chacha Chaudhary was created in 1971 and it was a milestone work, which has been contributed to the society and has been known as the fusion of sci-fi, filmy action and Indian middle class oddities and has been offered as a wholesome entertainer for people across the ages.

The originator of this great comic character, Pran was born in Kasur near Lahore, in the undivided India. After completing his bachelors degree in political science from Gwalior, he went to Mumbai for studying art in the JJ School of Art, but left the course midway.

Pran started his career as a cartoonist in the year 1960 with Indian dailies. His  works in comics includes Billoo, Pinki, Raman, Shrimatiji and later created a separate series of comics on Saboo, Chacha Chaudhary's assistant.

What is common in all his character is that they are superheroes, who even exists today and resemble in their own small ways like while Billoo was an unbearably naughty boy, he was extremely sharp and could wriggle out of any soup he was in. Pinki, another of Pran's character, was again a small girl, who was extremely brave and ready to take up challenges. Chaudhary, famously, was said to have a brain 'which worked faster than a computer'.

Pran's superheroes were utterly adversative to the erection of the superhero popularized by saying a Marvel Comics in the West. Most of Pran's characters did not possess any super-powers - they were average humans who used their brains well. Chaudhary's superheroes, essentially, were ideal human beings and looked and sounded like any of us. No wonder then, they were household names and were loved by generations of comic book lovers in India. Many of Pran's works were animated, turned into cartoon films etc.

The Chacha Chaudhary website says about Pran, "He travelled widely over the globe including countries like America, England, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, China, S.Korea etc he delivered speeches to the gatherings of cartoonists on the subject wherever he went."

Pran, the website quotes, had said, "If I could put a smile on the face of people, I would consider my life successful."

To be in touch with the latest news, stay tuned with Lelobooks, an online bookstore in India!

Book Review- The Emperor’s Riddle By Satyarth Nayak

The Indian Fiction has struggled for over the years in the process of taking its position in the society and this substantial literature, incorporated with the genres like a thriller and mystery, which in turn has finally given a ray of hope to the Indian literature.

After devouring  the author Satyarth Nayak’s debut novel, you will get to imagine and realize how bright does the future lies for our young author and the Indian readers. As soon as you will open the book, you will be provided with the recommendations from Amish Tripathi, which will raise your expectations from the book. And, my dear friends, the book will not be a disappointment at all!

The novel by Satyarth Nayak, The Emperor’s Riddle has an intricately woven plot, which keeps shambling between uncovering a mystery with its roots buried somewhere in the past and the forgotten corridor of history of Buddhist epoch. The books like this often run the risk of being just another having one of those western plots, which is a revision work for the Indian audience. This is the point where Satyarth manages to catch the unawares completely. The book has all in it like history, mystery, sci-fi and philosophy, which is seamlessly intertwined into a plot, this is one book you will find hard to put down until you reach its climax.

The plot of the novel with its commencement will start tingling your imagination tingling. When in the story, the historian Ram Mathur is murdered under stimulating circumstances, his daughter Priya joins forces with the renowned mysterious author Om Patnaik to ravel the evidences in the form of riddles that Ram Mathur has dotted over different eras of history. Together, they set on the course of history with the dark forces together with shattering at their heels. They find the circumstances more complicated than they anticipated, Priya and Om are up against a historic wing that has taken a perpetual oath to look after the secret, no matter what it takes.

Start Nayak is a Delhi based writer, scriptwriter & journalist and has been honored in English Literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. His debut novel clearly reflects his interest and understanding in mystery. With much success and applause, which his first novel has already earned for him, I personally can hardly wait for more from our very own Indian Dan Brown.

The book is available at Lelobooks, an online bookstore in India. So, in order to get this literary gem by our very own Dan Brown, order now and get your book at your doorstep.

For more updates, stay tuned with Lelobooks, an authentic online bookstore in Gurgaon.

भगवद्गीता का सार

भगवद्गीता विश्वभर में भारत के अध्यात्म ज्ञान के मणि के रूप में विख्यात है। भगवान श्री कृष्ण द्वारा अपने घनिष्ट मित्र अर्जुन से कथित गीता के सारयुक्त 700 श्लोक आत्मसाक्सात्कार के विज्ञान के मार्गदर्शक का अचूक कार्य करते है। मनुष्य के सव्भाव उसके परिवेश तथा अन्ततोगत्वा भगवान श्री कृष्ण के साथ उसके सम्बन्ध को उद्घाटित करने में इसकी तुलना में अन्य कोई ग्रन्थ नहीं है।

कृष्णकृपामूर्ति श्री श्रीमद्.ए.सी भक्तिवेदान्त सवामी प्रभुपाद विश्व के अग्र्रश्य वैदिक विद्वान है और वे भगवान श्री कृष्ण से चली आ रही अविच्छिन्न गुरू-शिष्य परम्परा का प्रतिनिधित्व करते है। इस प्रकार गीता के अन्य संस्करणों के विपरीत वे भगवान श्री कृष्ण के गंभीर संदेश को यथारूप प्रस्तुत करते है-किसी प्रकार के मिश्रण या निजी भावनाओं से संजित किए बिना है।

महात्मा गांधी

जब मैं मुसीबतों से घिरा होता हूं और जब मुझे आशा की कोई किरण नजर नहीं आती तब मैं भगवद्गीता के शलोक को पड़ कर अपना हृदय शांत कर लेता हुं। मुझे भगवद्गीता को पडक़र अपनी मुसीबतों से निजात मिल जाता है और मेरा चेहरा फिर से गुलाब की तरह खिल जाता है।

For more updates stay tuned with Lelobooks, an online bookstore in India and keep yourself in touch with the cultural roots of India.

Book Review: Right Here Right Now by Nikita Singh

Right Here Right Now, penned by Nikita Singh is a tale of a seventeen year old girl, Kalindi, suffering from memory loss after a dreadful accident. The novel begins with a story of the protagonist, Kalindi, where in the scene, she wakes up and finds herself in the hospital. She turned completely in a state of shock, but to add to her shock, she found that she even has forgotten her name. As you will turn the pages, you will find her adjusting with the present and preparing herself for the future.

Will she be able to recall her past? We she be adjusted in her present? Will she be able to know about the cause of her accident? Will she be able to lead a normal life? Read the book and find all your answers.

“Reinventing yourself is harder when you don’t remember who you were. Kalindi doesn’t know what happened to her and—worse—she doesn’t know who she is. She enters her own life as if for the first time. Feeling like an invader, she meets her parents, friends and boyfriend. Everybody says her life was perfect, but she’s having a hard time accepting who she was, and the kind of person she wanted to be. She’s also got boards to pass—but she doesn’t remember anything she learned! And the recurrent nightmares don’t make it any easier.”

The good

The author, Nikita Singh has been in the profession, for many years now and has penned many books previously. However, the challenge with the book is its theme as the author has only written fictional romances in the past and this book, there is a change for the readers, which is however interesting with its name itself, let alone the story and its theme. She has very cautiously portrayed the protagonist, showing her dedication towards the work, which is really a commendable as the story rests on the shoulders of Kalindi. The story reveals the helplessness and misery with such a strength as will touch your heart. The book revolves around the main characters, yet the other characters have been well defined in the novel, giving them their own space.

 The book is indeed a page turner and the language used in it is quite smooth and will grip you till the end of its suspense. The dialogues in the book are relatable and humorous.

The bad

The theme of the book is undoubtedly very interesting but as you will turn the pages, you will start losing your zest to read as it all about a teenage drama. The book has been covered with more of the love life of the protagonist rather than her routine life and background. There was so much scope to explore the life of the protagonist, which the author missed in her writing. Then, there are some editing mistakes, which grabbed my eyes as it interrupted flow of reading.

The book is definitely a good weekend read, but will not linger in your mind for too long. If you are feeling like reading something light and breezy, then go for it, it will serve you well.

The book is available at lelobooks, an online bookstore inIndia, so just grab this weekend read and have a delightful holiday. You can indulge in online book shopping, which will give you a favor of getting your book delivered at your doorstep. Hurry now and place your order.

Celebrate Friendship Day with Friendship-themed literary gems

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain

Friendship is a bond between two different souls, it shows the compatibility of two different individuals, who share and care each other. We all have lots of friends in our life, but a few are special ones for whom we all like to do something. This celebrated day is celebrated on the first Sunday of August every year. So this year it is falling on 3 of August and is standing just after a day, so guys have you planned something for your friends. Giving gifts and friendship bands is an old idea of giving your friends a token of love, this year I have brought you with a unique idea of showing love to your friends and it will be with them forever, making them realize the value of the bond between you two. Books on some real friendship is one I would like to opt as it is said that books are friends forever and when it is given by your best friend it all the more increases its importance as telling you the importance of your friendship and will help them to carve their lives. Moreover, if your friend is among the bibliophiles, then there is nothing better than a book by his/her favorite author.

Here below are some books with the theme of friendship that you can gift to your friend, showing their importance in your life.

The 3Mistakes of my Life

The book by the youth icon of India, Chetan Bhagat, who has made his contribution to the Indian literature. Known for his informal style of writing, has written one of the most recognized books in India, The three mistakes of my life, which has even been adapted by the Indian cinema and has been a huge hit, not only in India but all across the world. The book is the story of Govind, Ishaan and Omi are three friends, whose friendship is in danger when dirty communal politics drives frictions between them. The novel unravels the actuality of relations, when on stake and shows that how even the truest of friendships may even lead to split by pressures, however, when talking about the real and true friendship,  this unraveling is temporary.

The JoyLuck Club

The book is about the four Chinese-born women, who emigrate to America for looking out better standard of living for themselves and most importantly, their children. The novel tells the reason of their regular meetings in the name of the games of Mahjong, sharing their lives, competing with each other to present their own families in the best hope and supporting each other in the times of crises.

Penned by Amy Tan as her debut novel has given her an instant prominence. She has incorporated an evocative style of writing, which has been beautifully presented with lots of expressions, making readers to delve completely into the book. A must-read novel!

The LittleBook of Friendship

‘There is no greater desert or wilderness than to be without true friends.’ The expression has been rightly portrayed in the novel which has a collection of stories based on friendship. In this beautiful assortment, Ruskin Bond has incorporated his favorite proverbs on friends and friendship. This charming assemblage is told  in the most simplistic manner with a blend of gentle humor, which is a trademark in the books of Ruskin Bond. It is indeed a heartwarming book, meant for those times when one’s spirits are at their ebb. Read this book which will surely bring a smile on your face.

The above mentioned books are available at Lelobooks, an onlinebookstore in India. So indulge in a fun-filled activity of online book shoppingin Gurgaon and have your desired books at your doorstep. Connect with Lelobooks and get attractive discounts.

Liked our picks? If you have names of better books which should be included, the so called, friendship-themed literary gems. Do tell us.

Make your future bright with books

Books tend to be an amazing conduit of entertainment and knowledge as these stands to be the foundation for each individual to rise and reach at greater heights. Not only these entertain you, but will also provide you various benefits with sound knowledge and even make an individual’s base, further boosting the linguistic skills of a reader. It is rightly said that, “ Books are friends forever”, which helps in developing an eternal relationship between the reader and the book. In addition, one can find books of every genre in the market as well as onlinebookstores at amazing prices.

Books that will help in cracking Civil Services Exam

It has been said that Civil Services exam is one of the most difficult tests to crack and for the ones, who are not familiar with its arduous history, allow me to share some information with you which will help you in cracking your exam, this time. It has been surveyed that in the year 2012, there were about 4.5 Lakh students who appeared for this exam and out of which 15,000 qualified for the prelims and only 998 made it into the final list. Where as there is a section of candidates who appeared to be as bad as landing an airplane in the dark with no radar. And trust me, there is no room for weak hearted people out there. So, in order to support and help these people I have made an attempt to provide them with some of the books that will help them to pay a war against the cantankerous enemy named UPSC. A comprehensive study of the N.C.E.R.T Books will be enough to jog your memory with the basic concepts in all subjects.

Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh 

We all know that Indian Economy is in disaster. The Government is making an to recuperate from the downward spiral. Even when the Prime Miniter of the country which spanned four long ten years who is a renowned economics I can’t figure out why the government did not find ways to redeem the economy.

Thus, Ramesh Singh introduces this subject in a very beautiful manner. The essentials are demonstrated with a deep and thoughtful plot incorporated with appropriate examples and real life circumstances. Similar to that of the Indian Constitution, the subject is also crammed with a truck load of technical terms which may appear mysterious at the beginning, but the writer has portrayed and demonstrates it so well as the book will keep the reader engaged and on the track of understanding and learning things. The author is an experienced person in this subject and steadfastly represents this through his writing expertise. The syllabus is expansively enclosed with sufficient attention as it has been paid to the MCQs without making the subject dull. A highly recommended book not only for IAS aspirants, but also for commerce students who are pursuing their education in similar areas.

Indian and World Geography by Majid Hussain

To me, Geography is a mind-numbing subject. The author, Majid Hussain has made an attempt to provide enough information in order to provide an assistance to you so that you can gauge the basics of the subject. The book is written in a simple language supported by relevant diagrams. The book contains various topics, however, has failed to provide the details of each topic. The book will interest you; however, it may provoke a complain, leaving you famished for more information. By and large, the book will surely keep you engaged and help you build up the right approach.

The books are not only interesting but will also help you in cracking Indian Civil Services Exam. Available at lelobooks! Indulge in online book shopping and avail attractivre discounts while getting books at your door step. So, order now!