Travel With Books!

This play belonging to the 1890s, depicts the hypocrite aristocratic group of people from London. It in all perceptibility and plausibility, delineates that the concept of “ an ideal husband ” is just a misnomer 😊 It is just titular! Women end up idolising their husbands, silhouetting them in an image which they never adhere to, turning out to be mere impostors ! :P   The play divulges themes of public and private honor, social status, while using mediums of blackmailing and political -social corruption ! The other two most important themes are marriage as an institution and the power of forgiveness in it . Why and who forgives is the question?   Robert Chiltern (the ideal husband), working as Under-Secretary of the Foreign Affairs office is enjoying a perfect marriage and social image. Is he or is he not? That’s the question 😊 ########################################### Spread across 4 acts, following is a spoiler-free abridged synopsis- Th play opens w...

Are you willing to dwindle away your invaluable life for coveting expensive, precious, materialistic possessions? Yes, or no?   Whatever may be your answer, do read this short story baring the avaricious and mercenary female, Mathilde , and bringing her face-to-face with her own shallowness, but alas, she fails to learn, becoming more penurious than what she was, both materialistically and morally!   “ The Necklace ” is a remarkably compelling story teaching the readers lessons on appearance vs reality, avarice and it’s evil-outcome, beauty and the mirage, covetousness for material possessions, and the ephemeral superficial delight that comes along! It is a hands-down blockbuster 5-star read for me! 😊   Mathilde , born to a low-class, with no money for dowry, is married to Monsieur Loisel , a clerk! “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” She thought herself entitled to all the luxuries, and indef...

  It is a poem of connect! A connect with all those who have experienced the dark, onerous, and dreary moments of life!   Frost wrote the poem in terza rima (a verse stanza consisting of three-rhyming-sentences), to link his own depressive journey to hell.   The poem is set in the urban environment, exemplifying utter depression in the middle of city!   This is allegory can be applied to us all who live in cities of concrete and mortar . We can effortlessly relate to the difficulties and desolation, which come as a package-deal of living is such high-rise cities!   I personally gauge, the first line of the poem to be the most powerful line - “I have been one acquainted with the night”   He refers to himself as “one” using the word “acquainted” exhibiting no formal affection or propensity to know but is just simply aware of, and uses a profound word with several implications – “night”. The word “night” divulges the difficult, dark, oner...

  It is incredible to see that I am ready with the review of my childhood favorites, that propelled me towards philosophy and to cherish the novelty of nature!  When I conjectured it would put me to sleep, this book woke me in ways inexplicable !  😊   A perfect example of a book whose likeability is sheerly based on  the reader’s age, circumstances and future-wants-and-desires . If one wants to be a  minimalistic , this one is for you. If one wants to enjoy the  materialistic  side of life, this will surely irk you!   Being a ginormous, bulky and a slow, difficult read, I highly recommend to make it your bed-side read . Devouring hungrily, but in bit-and-pieces!   Though there are swarming  youtubers , already professing the same idea including modern-life concepts, but this book of the 1800s,  will never lose its charm and chastity for me !   One can foray into the brilliant forage and live vicariously along with Thoreau...

  The Black Tulip proffers the readers a full magnanimous range of human emotions, ranging from hatred, greed, loyalty, jealousy, obsession, and above all the 3 most striking emotions of tolerance, love, and dedication!`   The first-seven chapters with gruesome political-historical content turned out to be tough and gritty for me ( due to my oblivion towards the topic ). The first few chapters put forward the cruel ghastly politics of the 17th-century  Dutch , where 2 dutchmen are butchered by the mob (in the course of the political state of affairs)! Once I was past these tough chapters, the story gathered for me and I stayed riveted.   Without imperiling the readers interest and not sharing any spoilers (I guess the blurb reveals a lot more 😊 )-   Two brothers are murdered by the mob in course of political events, and the main character of the story Cornelius (the godson of one of the brothers), fanatic about tulips , is wrongly incarcerated, due to the j...

      I had a hankering for reading a premise around love, so was decoyed into this by the title “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “ .   T S Eliot dodged me by offering a fallacious title! :-D It doesn’t have to offer anything around love or romance. 😊   The prosaic name “J Alfred Prufrock”, suggested me some physics professor/scholar with an uninteresting name and a wearisome life, experiencing a lavish unusual love story/song!   But hold on, TS Eliot skilfully manoeuvred the readers into the intricacies and realities of life by offering a bewitching title! Neither is it a love story nor is the man a professor or a scholar . But yes, he is desolate, lonely, with truckload of complexes and bearing the tedium of the harsh raucous world! He just wants to break free from the humdrumness, but fails to do so! He isn’t articulate and resorts to self-mockery and lastly lamenting over his failed desires! It is a feat packed with irony! He...

      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...