Travel With Books!

      On my last-minute whim, I grabbed, a story of an erotic love affair between a 15-year-old German boy, Michael Berg, and 35-year-old, Hanna Schmitz ! Suffering from hepatitis and Hanna nurturing him, In due course both develop passionate feelings for each other. They keep their relationship under wraps. <b>The key point</b>  – he would read out to her, and not vice-versa (avoiding spoilers, on why?) Eventually, as Michael matures, the relationship starts dwindling, <b>Hanna disappears into thin air!</b> Destiny bestows a second encounter between the two, but in vexatious circumstances. He is a law student, and Hanna is on a trial as an SS concentration camp guard, with numerous deaths charged against her during the bombing! What follows is all circled around discovering whether Hanna is guilty and be incarcerated, or is innocent (avoiding spoilers)? <b>The biggest remnant-</b> He couldn’t love anyone other than Hanna! <u...

  The novel exhibits paramount power of smell, as the ultimate invisible agent in channelling emotions, and the same power used to befool humans and victimise them, as we all perceive smell with our senses before discerning it with our own mind! It is a perfect psychological thriller, inundated with the gamut of smells! 😊   This could have easily ended-up being one of my longest reviews, but tried my level best to make it as succinct as possible ! I openly divulge, it was outrightly daunting to review a novel of this gigantic amplitude, expounding on themes beyond my creative contemplation !   Patrick Suskind , had done his deep-research on all olfactory senses and scents , on the power of dreams , on cold-hearted and greed-driven evil . Above all, he astutely drove his protagonist on a pathway to acquire godlike omniscient powers , thus leading to a tragic end !   It is an epic tale about the journey of Jean Baptiste Grenouille , the most gifted and abominable per...

  A story of a destroyed but undefeated thin, old, gaunt man, Santiago , with an unlucky boat. A story of a decrepit man with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck, Everything was old about him, but for his cheerful and infallible eyes! With no fisherman luck for straight 84 days/salao, For 40 days accompanied with a boy, Manolin , but now alone in a skiff, But the boy with an empathetic heart, Would be sad to see him come back every day with an empty skiff! Few made fun, others were sad for him! The bond between the two is way too adorable! Both have sincere love and care for each other . Deciding to stake the outer lying areas of the sea, He ventures rowing early dark morning, Lost in his musings, a gigantic fish, Marlin , eats his sardine bait, Breaking his reverie ! The line gets stretched taut, almost to the breaking point, But the fish stays parallel to the boat, and sails along! He keeps wishing fervently for the boy, And feels alone, keeps cursing his diminishing strength! ...

  I  HAD TEARS AND SMILE THROUGHOUT.   Warning - This novel is endearing and filled with ardour to a dangerous level, that one can risk into crooning and canoodling with the novel throughout! Nothing could put the 2 of us asunder! 😊 Reading this was like finding a niche in the middle of this gruesome reality!   Quick Plot Summary- Trying to bring together all the broken pieces of life, coming out of the fear of living, after knowing she has only a year left to live (coz of a fatal heart disease), the 29-year old Valancy Stirling (labelled as an oldmaid) no longer cares about the society, and family members. In short, she decides to stop impressing others, and takes an avowal to start living for herself and experience what all she had dreamt till date for herself! She wishes to experience being with the man of her dreams and be in her dream house, which she refers to as “ Blue Castle ”. Taking the reins of her life in her hands, she decides to live, ...

  Summary- While killing crabs in the courtyard during a rainstorm, A couple discovers a wearied, old and disoriented man, He is peculiar and an outcaste, Shabby with large wings, and unaware of the local language, Latin! Concluding him to be an ANGEL, as their sick daughter recovers, upon his arrival. They decide to keep the old man alive and not butcher him! But they butcher him in ways far more treacherous than a one-time slaughter! ☹ They throw him in the chicken coop, to suffer incessantly! People from far-off places visit to see him, The couple makes money from every visit, Villagers pelt stones at him, pluck his feathers, and disregard him in every way possible! ☹ A day comes, when the coop collapses, The old man starts wandering from room to room in the house, infuriating the wife! Finally, a day comes, when the old man stretches his wings, And takes off, escaping the ceaseless cruelty imposed by the humans. The wife sees him go, till he disappears over the horizon!!  ...

  An efficacious story on “ revenge with impunity ” and “ premature burial ”. For me, it is a perfect “story of VANITY! ”. A revenge which laid hidden for half-a-century, and is revealed to the readers by the redresser & narrator (the main character), Montresor. We as a reader turn into a confidant, to his macabre tale of revenge ! The victim, Fortunato , unaware of the sinister scheming against him, is sealed in the walls of the moist family catacomb.   The story begins with the main character, Montresor , mentioning about his silent endurance of 1000 injuries and vowing a revenge with impunity- “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” Here, the insult borne, is related to the prideful knowledge of Fortunato on wine. We notice that Montresor, can get easily insulted/offended!   Montresor is quintessential of patience . Searing...

  There is a tempestuous storm outside, husband and son are stranded in a store, drenched in mud. Calixta, the wife, is back home, busy with the household chores, not disconcerted about the storm or their well-being. The ex-lover drops-by seeking shelter, they share an erotic moment, and disperse! Post that they all live happily ever-after! 😊   All characters remain stolid, irrespective of the events in their lives, or their current situation, the storm! The husband and wife are proclaimed as dutiful and conscientious, but nothing about their chemistry/biology has been revealed 😊   Omitting the adultery, passion, the story has a strong message of how fulfilment of ignored needs, can infuse new life and make the present more colourful and vivacious! The storm brings two married people into a transient fleeting affair. With no repercussion, everyone involved (including families) live happily ever after. Kate Chopin, having composed the concept of extra-marita...