The Book Critiques

Article By Yashika.

Thinking of Halloween, we always remember kids hanging around for candies, people with pumpkin carves on their heads and all kinds of scary dresses people can wear in parties. Because we all lie in India, we’ve never celebrated Halloween and just enjoyed watching the movies. Countries like US and Ireland and Scotland celebrate this with a festival called Samhain. These both are celebrated on 31st Of October every year when its the end of summer season and the harvest season and the beginning of winter (There summersend in October) As harvest is often associated with life, and Winter with Death, people believe that during this day dead citizens from other world comeback for a day to earth.
In the later 19th century, people associated Halloween more with parties and treats and less with religion which makes it more of a festival.
On this day people wear scary cistumes and place a carved pumpkin on their heads because they believe that this will trick the ghosts who have returned back to earth and will scare away. This is also known as Jack O Latern because there’s a story when the first person, Jack does the same trick to scare away the ghosts. Which made the trick to be named after him.

Halloween is always been a great festival for people in US because of huge parties and trick or treat tradition. But here, in India people don’t know much about this festival. And here we have an awesome community called #bookstagram where we celebrate Halloween and have fun. People there celebrate it by reading spooky books throughout the month, Dressing up as spooky book characters, having fun Ghost photoshoot and many challenges and readathons. People have various giveaways to spread joy around the world. People here also do candy swap. This is to exchange candies. We have quite a lot of fun here and challenges makethe celebration better.

Also do checkout my discount code at Bookish Santa for some discount at their website! “YASHIKA123” Easy,isn’t it?
Here’s the link to their website:- https://www.bookishsanta.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8rT8BRCbARIsALWiOvQnEuJGNGbtH2kG-S7JEc-kvci3G-AbkTTU-q27vU_qkiLZ8hwb7rsaAv2REALw_wcB

BOOK – Paperboats
AUTHOR – Tanvi Jha
PUBLISHER – Xpress Publishing
GENRE – Poetry
PAGES – 115
REVIEW – ‘PAPERBOATS’ by Tanvi Jha is a beautiful compilation of 100 poems divided into 4 categories –
1. About a girl
2. Fairytales and fireflies
3. Reality
4. About a boy
All these poems come directly from the heart of the author.
Through these poems, Tanvi has shared her life experiences and her passion for writing and this thing made this book more appealing.

“She was a little girl who wrote
About impossible things,
About distant lands and castles in the sky.”

It happens very rarely when I read poetry because I don’t connect with them easily, so I try that whenever I read poems, it is something that just touches my heart and Paperboats is one such collection of poems with which I was able to relate.
I enjoyed reading every poem and I know I will read some of the poem times and again.

The best part of the book is its language which is super easy it comprehend and can be easily understood by beginners.

Overall, you can enjoy this book during rainthe season with a cup of hot chai(tea).

I surely recommend this book to poetry lovers.

BOOK – Just Missed

AUTHOR – Himanshu Bhatia

PUBLISHER – Fingerprint Publishing

GENRE – Fiction

PAGES – 294

REVIEW – ‘Just Missed’ is the story of Siddarth, Shivam and Shreya.
Where Siddarth is a perfectionist and a person whose only love of life is his AVP job, he dreams to become VP of his company and for this, he works very hard.
But we all know-how Indian parents are, once their child gets a decent job and start earning in 6-7 figures they start budging them for marriage and Sid’s parents were no less.
On their recurrent budging, Sid agreed for the marriage.
Soon they found a girl way too perfect for Mr Perfectionist.
But the twist came when Shivam Malhotra enters in Shreya’s life. Shivam was a Casanova, a womaniser or he pretends to be.
What will happen next?
Will Shreya marry Sid?
Or will Shivam steal her from Sid?

Starting from the cover, it stole my heart, it gives an idea that the story is about a love triangle and is set up in Delhi.

I like the way how the author beautifully shares the real meaning of Love. Through Shreya and Shivam the author tells us that love is way beyond bodily affection, it is the purest thing which could ever happen to anyone and only a few are lucky to go through this emotion.

For me, the story was quite predictable. After reading the initial chapters I got the idea of the whole plot. I didn’t find anything new in the story. But it doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it or it disappoints me, the story kept me hooked until the end.

From Kanika to Nandini all the characters are well developed and have been given equal importance.

Overall it’s a well penned love triangle which can be read by the beginners.

‘The thing about exploring is that you have to know whether the thing you’ve found is worth finding. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Like a dead mouse at the back of cupboard.’

BOOK – The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas

AUTHOR – John Boyne

GENRE – Fiction (Holocaust)

REVIEW – THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS is the story of a nine-year-old Bruno who lived in Berlin along with his father, mother and an elder sister.
One fine day when he returned to the home he saw his housemaid packing his belongings and when asked his mother told him that they are going to a faraway place called ‘Out-with’ because of his father’s job who work for Fury.
Well, Bruno doesn’t know who Fury was and what his father’s job was.
And at Out-With he didn’t like anything and he terribly missed his old life and his 3 best friends for life.
Bruno has a window in his room from where he could see the outside world, where he saw a fence beyond which there were huts and people in striped pyjamas.
And one day Bruno get out of the house to explore the place beyond that fence, there he saw a boy name Shmuel sitting cross-legged, after interacting with Shmuel Bruno gets to know that he and Shmuel were born on the same day.

The storyline is set up in the time of Wolrd War II where Jews were considered as filth and were kept as hostages in concentration camps just like Auschwitz or Out-With as pronounced by Bruno in this book.

The book is narrated from the point of view of a 9-year-old boy who was oblivion to the things going at that time in the world and that his father works as a commandant in Hitler’s army.

This book left me in shock, though I was not expecting any happy ending, at the same time was not ready for the ending which this book has.

If you like to read about Holocaust then do pick this book!!

Q. Please introduce yourself.
I was born and brought up in Jaipur. I spent my whole childhood and early 20s in this city. I had been a student of Engineering and Journalism, which gives me completely different perspectives towards life. I started my career as a Content Writer, and I work as a Hindi Linguist these days. I translate and localize to earn bread and butter, and I write to feed my soul.

Q. What does the title say about the book?
The title of my book comes from one of its poems. The poem is about how a small-town girl sees the world when she sets foot in a big town for the first time. It depicts how she is trying to be in front of everyone and how she actually is from inside.

Now, the thing is that I wrote these poems when I got to see the difference between a not-so-big town like Jaipur and Metro cities like Delhi/Mumbai. And it is not about how you grow up or how anyone is better or lesser than the other. It is more about their perception of the world and the way they are perceived when they are at a different place than where they grew up.

A whole lot of poems included in this book were written in the time-frame when I got to see a different world than what I saw during my childhood and early adulthood. Therefore, the title manifests the overall idea of all the poems included in the book.

Q. How did you develop an interest in writing? Is this something you always wanted to do?
I have been a reader since the age of 6 or 7. My father introduced the world of books to me. I would not deny that it’s something that I always wanted to do, but I didn’t know that it is my calling for a long time. I was very studious during my school days and always aspired to achieve something through my academic excellence. But the world of stories never left me. It had always been an integral part of my life. And then the time came when I realized that writing is something that I want to do for my whole life.

Q. Other authors and their work that inspires you?
As I said earlier, I started reading books at a very early age. I love fiction. I just can’t read non-fiction. It is difficult for me to choose my favorite authors. As a teenager, I was a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, and I still am 😉 (I read the whole series in Hindi because I was not very good at English at that time. And I’m reading it in English these days).

Apart from that, I love Manu Bhandari’s work. Her novel Aapka Bunti remains my all-time favorite. I have read a lot of Rahul Sankrityayan’s books and loved it. Vibubhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay is also one of my favorites. I have read his translated work (he used to write in Bengali), and his novel Adarsh Hindu Hotel never fails to inspire me. Among the contemporary Hindi writers, it is Manav Kaul whose work touches my heart.

I have not read much of English literature. Although, I have followed the work of Indian authors like Preeti Shenoy and Anuja Chauhan. I like how Preeti Mam’s work gives so much positivity. And it’s lovely how Anuja Mam creates the world and characters of her story.

Q. What are the problems as per you faced by Hindi authors?
The problem faced by Hindi authors is somewhat similar to that of language itself. It is not respected enough. As the majority of people in India speak Hindi, the literature written in this language is not well-received or appreciated by the readers. With the emerge of social media, everyone wants to be a writer (which is okay). But they think that they know Hindi well as it is their primary language of communication. They don’t try to study the science of the language, which makes it difficult for the people who have learned it for a long time. The good literary work by the authors who are working hard to deliver quality content to readers goes unappreciated.

However, there have been some publishers (like HindYugm) lately who are continuously working in this direction. They are trying to help and promote such authors and their work. It brings some hope for Hindi literature. And hopefully, we would get to see more recognized quality work in Hindi.

Q. Are you working on any other book right now?
I have always had a dream of writing a novel. I have been working towards it for a long time now. It is funny how I published two books before I could finish writing that novel. However, this novel thing is still on, and I hope to publish it very soon.

Q. How much time did you take to complete this book?
This book was never planned. The poems included in this book were written very randomly, and that is why it covers so many themes and topics. As far as I remember, I wrote most of them within two years without any intention of collating them as a book. One fine day, I felt like putting all my poems in one document. They were more than 50. I picked and edited them and finally sent them to the publisher with no hope of them selecting my work. They replied positively, and this is how the book got published.

Q. What does make your book different? Why do you think a person should read it?
The most important thing that makes Chhote Shehar ki Ladki different from others is that it talks about feelings. It is something that most human beings can relate to easily but hardly talk about it. They seem relatable because they express emotions without any complexity, in simple words. Each poem tells you a story as it takes you to the situation that might have been the inspiration behind it.

The book also talks about a different kind of feminism. It is a kind of feminism that advocates the freedom of expression and is about finding your own identity rather than comparing yourself with the other gender(s). Read it if you want to experience some heart to heart writing and see if it helps you connect with your inner self.

Q. A fun fact that no one knows about you.
I am a cinephile. I don’t write much about it, but movies inspire me as much as the books do. During my childhood and teenage, I was a big fan of Bollywood. Later on, I indulged in Hollywood movies. And these days, I am exploring the world cinema. I have done a few short courses at the Film Institute, Pune. And I hope to be a Script/Screenplay Writer someday.

Q. Say something from your side for The Book Critiques and your readers.
The Book Critiques is doing commendable work by promoting books in this digital era. Being a bibliophile, I feel great when I see people putting efforts to get others reading books. Also, the promotion of budding writers like me helps us reach more and more readers. I give you all the best wishes and hope that you keep doing the good work.

To the readers who have already bought and read my book, thank you so much, guys! It means a lot to me. Keep giving me all the love, support, and appreciation.

And to the readers who have not read my work yet, please buy my book Chhote Shehar ki Ladki. I will wait for your reactions and reviews.

Q. Please introduce yourselves so that the readers can know you better.
Hello, we are Navya and Bhavya. 13 year old twins, Our book – ‘Post Millennial Tales’ came out last year and is written by Bhavya and illustrated by Navya. We have a YouTube channel – ‘The Inspirers’ where we make videos on social causes.
We also have a bookish merchandise shop on Instagram – ‘Reading Magic’ where the amount we receive is donated to charity. We also run
a blog called the ‘Thinking Twins’. We study in DPS Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Q. What does the title say about your book ?
‘Post Millennial Tales’ literally means tales written by a post millennial, we
wanted to give it a title that implies the book is written by someone who is a post millennial but also keep it unique.

Q. How do you develop an interest in writing, is this something you always wanted
to do?
Coming from a family of literature lovers, I have grown up listening to stories and talking about books. I started writing at the age of 8 and I wrote daily and I used to write tales of our book on pieces of paper. I showed the tales to my parents and they liked them. Their support gave me motivation to be a writer.

Q. Was it easy to give pictures to the words of your sister?
I have always liked drawing and have been good at it. I realized that it would be a good idea to illustrate the book. It was not very easy since there are many ways a picture and a tale can be interpreted. We used to sit for hours together and decide on an illustration that goes best with the idea behind the tale. I have drawn all the illustrations multiple times to give the tales an accurate picture.

Q. Other authors and their work that inspires you.
Both of us love Sudha Murty and are greatly inspired by her philanthropic work.
We are also inspired by Malala Yousufzai and her fight for equality.

Q. How much time did you take to complete the book.

We started writing and illustrating it when we were 11. It was a process of almost 2 years to write, illustrate and publish it.

Q. How do you people manage your studies along with reading and writing?
We just know that we have to write daily. An idea or a thought can strike up at any time so we jot it then and develop it when we sit to write. We have a study routine so we usually study first and then sit to write so that both are balanced.

Q. Are you working on another novel?
Yes, we are in fact on two.

Q. A fun fact about you two that other people don’t know.
We do the same mistake in exams even though we sit in different rooms.

Q. Do you two fight just like other siblings or share a special bond?
We do fight but that is rare. Twins do share a special bond unlike other siblings as they have someone who is the same age and almost shares the same thoughts. It is like having a mirror with you all the time.

Social Media links :
https://instagram.com/the.bookish.twins?igshid=1k7nfe3cwysby

– Our Instagram Account
https://instagram.com/reading_magic_?igshid=1acwist17meak

– Our Instagram Shop’s Link
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNlWQVbqGI2qRkzs6dZXumg

– Our YouTube Channel –
The Inspirers
https://thethinkingtwins.home.blog/

– Our blog – The Thinking Twins
https://www.amazon.in/dp/9389647002/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_metnEbD896YA5 – Link to
our book

Title:-My Lifeline 1
Author:- Sevak
My Rating:- 3🌟/ 5🌟


The book, through Nishan’s life, talks about how precious life is and also how fragile it is. Everything can change in a single moment. Nishan is a very selfless guy who comes from a poor background. He does everything in his power to bring a smile upon the faces of his loved ones, a trait rare to find in these days. The book revolves a lot around the ways he helped his near and dear ones without expecting anything in return.
The book was nice however there was no plot in particular. The grammar was wrong in many places and words were used too often like “melted” and “innocent”.
Yes, Nishaan’s behaviour was nice but describing it as “innocent” did not go well with the story.
The book was nice altogether, though I disliked the fact that grammar was wrong at multiple places. And the book was not very descriptive. On a positive note, it described the helping nature and how giving your best is very essential. One needs to have faith in yourself to accomplish bigger achievements in life. Nishaan was very caring and affectionate and did his best to keep everyone around hin comfortable. He has led a humble life, happy with what he has, a very admirable trait. There are many positives one can pick from the story.

Review written by Ananya.

BOOK – Chhote Shehar Ki Ladki

AUTHOR – Prachi Trehan

PUBLISHER – Hind Yugm Blue Publisher

GENRE – Hindi Poetry

PAGES – 80

REVIEW – ‘CHHOTE SHEHAR KI LADKI’ is a collection of 44 poems written in Hindi.
The themes of these poems are love, heartbreak, loneliness, father and daughter poem, patriotism, self-love etc.
Though through this book, the author has shared some of her life experiences yet we all can easily relate with them, we all have gone through different phases in life which the author has given her words.

All of the poems are remarkable but some of my favourite poems are:-
1. Papa Jesi
2. Mein or Papa
These two poems depict the beautiful bond of a father and daughter. These two poems stole my heart and I think all the daughters can easily correlate with these poems.

3. Sab theek ho jaega
A poem which says everything will fall in the right direction, have faith. Even, in this time of the pandemic poem like this work as a dose of positivity.

I loved the way how Prachi has put forward her feelings using simple language.

The title of the book is apt and the cover does justice.

All Hindi lovers do check out this book.

I give this book 4.5⭐

BOOK – Post Millennial Tales

AUTHOR – Bhavya Singh & Navya Singh

REVIEW – 21st Century’s generation is much ahead of us, they are more modern, their thought process is different. And somewhere or the other they are more susceptible towards the issues prevailing in the society.
But in my opinion, one thing which is a curse for today’s generation is Technology. They have lost the personal touch, they don’t know the joy of playing outside until the sun sets and somewhere they are becoming more and more ungrateful.
But but but not all are same!
There still are some youngsters who love reading, writing, spending time with nature.
And two such young girls are Navya and Bhavya who have conveyed their thoughts in a very alluring way in their book ‘Post Millennial Tales’ which is a compilation of 50 thought-provoking quotes written by Bhavya Singh and her words are given shape by her twin Navya Singh.
These quotes vary from self-love to female foeticide, LGBTQ+ to Faith, Hope to Love, Success to failure.
There were few quotes which were hard to believe that they came from a 12-year-old, one such quote is
Kohl-eyes and red lipped
and with a man’s voice,
the transgender tip-toed
out… hoping the world
had changed.
But had it?

I loved each and every quote. I read them and then reread them and I know I will read them again in future. The illustrations are also beautifully drawn and make the book more natural and appealing.

I recommend this book to all, read this book and support these young authors.

And I give this book a 5⭐