Contemporary Reads

Reviews & recommendations of contemporary books.
Literary Fiction, Thrillers, Feel Good Books, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction & more…

4 September 2021 | Saturday · 9:18 AM

A Town Called Solace (Mary Lawson) | Book Review

A Town Called Solace | Book Review

Silence is the best applause. And this book deserves the same – silence. Not any dissection, not any review. I however cannot abstain from a little praise for this amazing book – what I loved most about it.

This is a beautiful tale, endearing and heart warming – that hints at the second chances everyone deserves in their lives.

The setting and characterizations are the highlight of this book by Mary Lawson. A quite, sleepy town with nature in full bloom. I always have dreamt of living in a place like Solace – a small, self contained town, amidst nature with beautiful scenery and affable people who care for each other. A small little market & the bare essentials of life – keeping things simple and free from unnecessary complications.

Coming to the characterizations, a small little girl with disarming innocence and a resolve to rebound. The parts of the …

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as ,

28 August 2021 | Saturday · 9:53 AM

Klara And The Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) | Book Review

Klara And The Sun | Book Review

Science Fiction has that single most important drawback that it isn’t relatable at most times. It is unreal and you know it is not possible in the real world. That I think was the feeling from the start of Klara And The Sun. It was hard to imagine something like an Artificial Friend. And even if you do, you start to feel – does it have life? Is it the same as humans? Does it have it’s life cycle?

The start of the book took some time to get a hold of what exactly was happening. The idea of AFs in a store talking to each other, moving around, looking out the window – as I said, hard to absorb. But as the story moves on and you accept this as an unreal fiction, Klara And The Sun is a nice story.

There are a couple of things that the …

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

17 August 2021 | Tuesday · 4:48 PM

The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) | Book Review

The Midnight Library | Book Review

The Midnight Library is an immensely useful book that comes in handy for anyone who feels the need or scope of improvement in their lives or way of living and view of life. Though fiction, it is not a fun or leisure read. If you look for something to learn from what you read, and not just a plain simple story telling, this book fits into the slot.

The book has some good awakening thoughts. The book is basically telling you not to have regrets in life. It emphasizes the need to be content with one’s life as there is no life that is immune to some sadness and disappointment. No life is perfect. The Midnight Library propagates the existence of parallel universes – it tells you that doing one thing differently is often the same as doing everything differently – which probably is quite true. It makes me think, …

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

4 August 2021 | Wednesday · 2:48 PM

Falling (T.J. Newman) | Book Review

Falling - T.J. Newman | Book Review

I have always been fascinated by airplanes from as far as I remember – probably most children are. An airplane with it’s gigantic size and roaring engines is such a beauty to watch, and as it takes off or lands – it looks so majestic! “Air Crash Investigation” on Nat Geo has been one of my favorite knowledge based shows. It just intrigues such a great deal to see what caused such a dream machine to meet a disaster, or maybe avert one. Thus, when I picked up this book, I had all these expectations of it – it would definitely be a crisis situation (maybe a technical failure, maybe a natural factor or maybe a hijack) and how the captain, crew & passengers come together to face it, and overcome it – with some heroic deeds that would stand tall – something like Titanic. I had for long been …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

24 July 2021 | Saturday · 2:17 PM

The Maidens (Alex Michaelides)

The Maidens | Book Review

This is not a book! This feels more and more like a motion picture as it takes you on a chilling journey, full of excitement, suspense, fear & anticipation. Alex Michaelides has a sure shot winner with The Maidens and I would be most keen to see if it replicates the success of his debut novel ‘The Silent Patient’. I for one had not read ‘The Silent Patient’, and so I had no benchmark to judge his latest work. Nor could I (thankfully!) draw a comparison with it. For me, this was a wonderful wonderful book deserving of all accolades & applause.

From the word go, the book has you on your toes. At the start I had thought it was probably an investigation into Sebastian’s death. But as the plot unfolds, it brings in such unexpected scenarios. To start with, the character of Henry – he embarks such a …

4 Comments

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

13 July 2021 | Tuesday · 9:22 PM

Anxious People (Fredrik Backman) | Book Review

Anxious People | Book Review

Funny, witty, heart warming with elements of surprise that pique your curiosity – Fredrik Backman has it all in this extremely enjoyable book that translates into many hours of happy reading. Anxious People is not just a light hearted fiction, it’s real win stands in teaching us some invaluable lessons of life, without actually preaching them.

The book is alternating between three stories – a suicide off a bridge, a prevented suicide off the same bridge & a failed robbery turning into a hostage drama. It is fascinating to read is how the three stories gradually turn out to be intertwined.

The setting of the book – an apartment viewing – where all the action is – it is an interesting & unusual premise, allowing the author to play around with so many different characters, each with unique defining traits – finding themselves locked together in this situation. The sequence …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as ,