Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by: Sandhya Menon

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Book, Book Review, review, Romance, Sandhya Menon, When Dimple Met Rishi, Young adult

But that was Rishi… he was like a pop song you thought you couldn’t stand, but found yourself humming in the shower anyway

Summary

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.” – Goodreads

The Review

 After reading and enjoying Sandhya Menon’s From Twinkle, With Love, I decided to give When Dimple Met Rishi a try. When Dimple Met Rishi is a cute and light summer read. Although I found the plot predictable, I really enjoyed watching the romance simmer between Dimple and Rishi.

Dimple Shah’s has always dreamed of becoming a professional coder and creating the perfect app that will draw in her idol, Jenny Lindt’s, attention. She wants nothing more than to escape from her mother’s obsession with finding her the perfect Indian husband.

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Book Review: The Royal Game by: Stefan Zweig

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Book Review, Chess Story, German Literature, review, Schachnovelle, Stefan Zweig, The Royal Game

In chess, as a purely intellectual game, where randomness is excluded, – for someone to play against himself is absurd …
It is as paradoxical, as attempting to jump over his own shadow.” – Stefan Zweig, The Royal Game

Summary

Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story. – Goodreads

The Review 

Recently, I took a course on German civilization and I was so surprised at the vast German literary canon I had no knowledge of. In that course, I was exposed to a variety of German writers I wouldn’t have normally come across. After completing the course, one of the books I desperately want to read is A Woman in Berlin. It’s an anonymous memoir about the aftermath of World War II.

When trying to find a subject for a presentation on German civilization and World War II, my professor suggested Stefan Zweig’s novella The Royal Game (also translated as Chess Story). I had never heard of Stefan Zweig prior to enrolling in the course. He was actually at one time “the world’s most translated author” (BBC).

Zweig’s biography bears heavily on his novella, The Royal Game. Although the events in The Royal Game does not completely mirror his own story, there are quite a few notable similarities, such as Zweig’s exile to South America, and his tormented psychological state during World War II. Zweig was an Austrian citizen of Jewish heritage who fled the terrors of World War II. The Royal Game was published right before Zweig’s untimely death.

The story begins with a man embarking on a boat to South America.

My Top Ten Favorite Books…Four Years Later

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Amelie Nothomb, books, Harry Potter, Haruki Murakami, jane eyre, Rainbow Rowell, The Little Prince

I can’t believe it’s been already four years since I begun blogging! Time has gone by so fast! Four years ago, I wrote a blog post called My Top Ten Favorite Books. Recently, I decided to reread some of my old posts. When I looked over my list, I was so surprised by my taste in books four years ago. Although I chose some excellent books (Jane Eyre is still at the top of my list), my taste in books has expanded as I got older. Four years

On Heathcliff from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

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Book, Book Review, books, Emily Bronte, Heathcliff, On Reading, Wuthering Heights

Whenever I think of the word “antihero,” I automatically think of Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. He’s romantic and passionate, but also vengeful, and cruel. One word I would never use to describe Heathcliff is “mellow.” Heathcliff is never mellow. Never. His emotions are all to the extreme. One moment he is blissfully in love with Catherine, the next moment, well, he’s ready to sacrifice his sanity to get revenge.

It’s as if he has a new emotion for every day of the week.

You’ll have to excuse my poor drawing skills.

And as usual with these “on reading…” posts, there are a ton of spoilers ahead. So, if you haven’t read Wuthering Heights, please stop here and come back later. (Or check out my other “on reading…” posts.) Why should you take my advice? It’s an amazing book (it’s in my top ten).

On Reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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1920s, Book, books, classic, F. Scott Fitzgerald, review, The Great Gatsby

There is something so devastating about The Great Gatsby that seems to ring true to this age as well as it did in the roaring 20s. We live in a society where we are encouraged to want greater and brighter things. We are presented with images of wealth and luxury as a way to goad us into going after these things to no end. Whether it’s a shiny new car or a huge house, the desires of the consumer are infinite. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, in the heart of a great cultural shift in North America.

After writing quite a few book reviews on this blog, I decided that it is time to try something new. When I write reviews, my goal is usually to tell you why or why not a certain book is worth reading. I decided that I wanted to go in-depth into the books I enjoyed reading, instead of giving you a summary, or a “yes, read this book now,” or “no way, don’t waste your time.”
Oh, and be warned, this article contains a ton of spoilers. [Spoiler alert!] So, if you haven’t read The Great Gatsby, leave now before I ruin the book for you. And, if you say, “Nah, that’s okay, ruin it for me,” you really don’t know what you’re missing. Go read it now if you haven’t!