Travel With Books!

  Pygmalion is a verbose, satirical, romantic play, distributed over 5 Acts, with no scenes!   The play opens with the following preparatory lines- “ It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him. German and Spanish are accessible to foreigners: English is not accessible even to Englishmen”   I am resistant to above lines, as I am blessed with great English friends, who definitely don’t despise me, but help me to become a better version of myself! 😊   The play focusses on social-class distinction, so maybe GB Shaw, used the above lines as a prop, loosely! I wish, he could have used other tools/examples to exemplify,  or made it more of a general approach, than a geographical divide! ! Coz of the opening lines, in a flash, I deducted 1.5 stars 😊 I couldn’t relate with the lines at all. A human in himself is a complex being, irrespective of geographical boundaries! So, I openly defy...

  A mandatory Warning - If you are a “The Starless Sea” enthusiast, immediately exit the review, as I can’t help but rant, to regain back my braincells:-/ Beleaguered and with insuperable reluctance, I take total responsibility of all the ranting, raving and griping below (while citing examples from the text!). Erin Morgenstern, is a craftswoman of enamouring captivating words! But just catapulting a mountain of lurid words, with no solid rhyme-or-reason, is definitely not sufficient to redeem a book! Pet-Peeves : - This book is a quintessential of “Pettifogging". I had to extricate all the convoluted knots in my head, post the read! ☹ It was the most tedious task, to be subjected to the trial and tribulations of finishing a bulky plot-less book!! No disrespect or hate for this work, as I am not the most read or knowledgeable person, so I might have missed out on something! This review, is just to vent out the angst and frustration I was subjected to, so pardon me if I go overbo...

  My Views- Villagers gather at the town square, in an idyllic fictional small town, to participate in an age-old ritual of “The Lottery”! Children gather stones, not to build or play, but for a more diabolical plan! ☹ Pieces of paper are stored in a black wooden box. The colour black, foreshadows, something ominous! But none can guess. Chits are pulled out, by one, by all, but lightning falls on one of the housewives . She pulls out a chit with a black mark, And what follows is fiendish, alas! ☹ She begs, she pleads, she calls it unfair, but a ritual is a ritual, and needs to be executed for all. Please read for yourself to know!  😊 (no-spoilers)     This Shirley Jackson’s(SJ) story, published in 1948, is “devastatingly shockingly dramatically intricately edifying”   Lottery, is an age-old tradition, followed with a superstition of- “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon ” The fertility of corn has been linke...

  I am iffy, if the Irish author, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, wouldn’t have died early, hadn’t he sued Bam Stoker and many others, for blatantly nicking the plot premise of “Carmilla” and replicating into Dracula and so many others (both written and motion)!! 😊   Carmilla, a mid-1800s, first novel on female vampirism, tastefully captures the European wilderness, with the narrow roads, gothic bridge and the drawbridges. This gothic masterpiece, has been classified as one, displaying lesbianism, and accused of homophobia, which is quite vexing and questionable for me!   Can’t two females, devoid of love, with a lacking childhood, find solace and ardour, in each other’s company? Yes, the love between the two, has been portrayed a wee erotically, but I didn’t find anything obscene or smut!   I read the scenes between, the two repeatedly, and didn’t find anything vulgar, but for acute fondness for each other. Laura keeps talking of her antipathy for Carmilla, bu...

  My Views- My incorrigible propensity for books with Biblical references and teachings, decoyed me into this precious work of gracious civility in the midst of hardships! Agnes Grey, delineates, that amidst all the tormenting, hardships, lamentations and broodings, the tenets of love-laden Christianity can flourish life, infallibly! The tenacity of enduring hardships at home and vexations in profession, and abiding by the endearing Christian tenets, earned Agnes a loving husband, home and children! Persistent unshaken firmness, devoted diligence, unwearied perseverance and unceasing care, towards family and profession, qualified Agnes, to earn a happy ending for herself. I applaud the positive ending of this novel, on a happy-note!! We are often shielded by our own obscurity, and secure ourselves, by closing all doors to vulnerability. But Anne Bronte, audaciously, lay her life and views, all naked, in this first novel of hers. Commendable! Isn’t it? Agnes Grey, is a d...

    My Views-   There was once an authoress with a dogged-determination, To give her readers heebie-jeebies, By weaving a plot around a notorious deranged Victorian Hill-House, Standing tall for 80 years, With an impressive long-list of tragedies in it’s honour. We all live and die somewhere, afterall! She constructed a tale of sheer-brilliance, for her readers to construe. Is it a tale of the supernatural? Maybe yes… Is it a tale of psychiatric anomalies? Maybe yes… Is it a tale of the subconscious deciphering the real-life battles and the more? Maybe yes… Is it a tale of self-deception? Maybe yes… Who knows, maybe one of the above or all! Read it yourself, to know! 😊     A middle-aged quizzical professor of anthropology,  Dr. Montague , an occult scholar, invites three folks with telekinetic abilities, to support his research in unravelling the mystery of the Hillhouse, for his research paper.   Out of...

“The Mayor Of Casterbridge” , an intrusive third-party omniscient narration, swamped with disconcert, poignancy and calling out for intermittent perusals throughout, belongs to the 19 th century England, revolving around the county town of Casterbridge (fictional name for Dorchester, in south -western region of England)!   It is about the rise and fall of the fortune and mental health of the protagonist, Michael Henchard (MH) , who becomes penitent, every time he muddles up situations for himself. For me, he is a self-sabotage expert !  But soon enough, he falls into remorse and deep despair. So this cyclic pattern of self-sabotage and falling into despair, enwraps the plot in entirety The story is about his journey from 0 to 1 (with his past lurking him, throughout his success), and then again from 1 to 0!   The part of his rising graph from 0 to 1, was bearable for my puny brain, but the gargantuan and convoluted plot-twists in the second half of his journey f...