Weekend Reading Suggestions: Week 1

I am a bibliophile and these days I am on a reading spree.
This week, I am starting a new series on my blog called Weekend Reading Suggestions. These are the books that impressed me in more ways than one. I am sure they won't disappoint you.

So what do I have for you this week?

The Prince's Special Bride by Devika Fernando:

Blurb: Marie doesn’t believe in fairytales and needs no handsome prince to rescue her from misery – but everything changes when she falls in love with Crown Prince Christian of Taragonia. When his sister invites Marie to the palace, their lives collide and leave them both fighting their forbidden attraction.

Prince Christian has no place in his life for love or for a woman who doesn’t fit into the royal scheme of things. But vivacious Marie steals his heart and puts all he has lived for at stake. When the media gets wind of their affair, he has to make a difficult decision.

Will the unlikely couple have a chance at a happy ending?

What I liked most?

 Devika Fernando's vivid writing style won my heart. Marie and Christian seemed like two real persons. I want to meet them. (Devika Fernando, is it possible?)

The Mahabharata Secret by Christopher C Doyle:

Blurb: It is a thriller novel that revolves around mythology, science, religion and terrorism. The story-line takes the readers all the way back to ancient times in 244 B.C., where Emperor Ashoka the Great discovers a dark secret of the great Mahabharata. The secret is so dangerous that it could cause massive destruction to mankind if falls into wrong hands.

For 2300 years the secret remained hidden to save the world from untold horror. Hence, to save the secret, Ashoka forms a group of people called 'Nine’ and gave them oath to protect the secret even on price of their lives.

Suddenly the story comes to the present, where a retired nuclear scientist, Vikram Singh is murdered in a mysterious way. Before his strange death, Vikram has sent few e-mails with cryptic clues to his nephew, Vijay. These clues further lead Vijay and his friends to unlock the secret in his uncle’s message. Throughout the story, Vijay along with his friends is racing against time while solving the mystery behind his uncle’s death and the message Vikram left before his demise.

What I liked most?

 The various fictional and mysterious things about epic Mahabharata while going through the series of adventures in the book. Combining past and present, the book kept me glued to it till I finished it.


Trouble Has a New Name by Adite Banerjee

Blurb: Will you pretend to be my fiancé for the next few days? Recently single model Rayna Dutt does not feel like flying to her friend's big fat Indian wedding. But she does and when a mix-up with room allocation forces her to share a luxury villa on Emerald Isle with the gorgeous owner of the hotel Neel Arora, best man at the wedding, things begin to look up. Until Rayna's ex turns up with a new girl on his arm! Hitting the panic button, Rayna searches for a solution. Surely Neel wouldn't mind being her fake fiancé…? In an instant the attraction they share is at fever-pitch, but when scandal comes calling Rayna soon finds herself in more trouble than she can handle!

What I liked most? 

Adite Banerjee effortlessly made me fall in love with the protagonist Neel. And I had a bookish hangover for days. And I am saving to go for a long holiday to Neel's place.
 Perfect Weekend Read!

Abhaya by Saiswaroopa Iyer:

Blurb: A tale set in the times of Mahabharata. An assertive and idealistic Princess Abhaya meets the enigmatic Krishna Vaasudeva. A bereaved Dhatri, pursued by her own family is saved by Lord Bhauma. When subverted religion becomes a tool in the hands of power thirsty and strikes Bharatavarsha, the land of Aryas, Abhaya finds herself face to face with the impending doom.

"Can we combat the fear with faith? Can we keep our faith undeterred when the last traces of hope melt away? Can we receive blame and adulation, accept them and yet not give in to them?"

What I liked most?

Saiswaroopa has a way of taking you on a time travel to the era when the flute of Krishna made Gopis swoon and the arrogant warriors didn't flinch while they ended the lives of unsuspecting innocents. Action packed and completely entertaining.

The Adventures of Ernie Fish by Sudesna Ghosh:

Blurb: Say hello to Ernie Fish, the famous cat expert and his two cats Giri and Garby. And there's a dog too. Join them on their adventures as Ernie Fish's own cats prove his theories wrong, give him advice, and even sing! Every short story in this collection is full of meow.

What I liked most?

It is a hilarious weekend read for both children and their parents. If you love cats, you are in for a treat. The book has some very cute cat pictures.

P.S: Except for the first book and the third book in today's suggestions, all the books are available on Kindle Unlimited. It means you can read them for free by subscribing to Kindle Unlimited.
If you want to know why Kindle Unlimited is a good idea, read this post.

Why should you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited?

Last month, I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited after pondering over the ‘should I’ or ‘shouldn’t I’ question for a long while.

These were the arguments I heard against joining Kindle Unlimited.

The quality of KU books are not good

Really? I disagree. There are over a million books, that too by bestselling authors from around the world available on Kindle Unlimited. The Indian publishers are not enrolling their books on KU mostly because of the fear that it will kill the paperback sales. But slowly they are realizing the earning power of KU. You can find books by Preeti Shenoy, Amish, Ashwin Sanghi etc who are among the most popular Indian authors on Kindle Unlimited.

There is a limit to the books you can borrow at a time

Yes! There is a limit. You can borrow only 10 books at a time. 10 books! Isn’t that enough?

The good thing is you can return any book at any time and borrow another.

 Kindle Unlimited is not really free

Yes, it is not really free. You have to pay to subscribe. But compared to the rates of the books you can actually read with the KU subscription, the books become almost free.

Limited Choice

If you read only Booker/Pulitzer prize winning books, you won't find many of them on Kindle Unlimited. But if you are a fan of romance, fantasy, self-help, writing guides, recipe books and read Indie writers, you will find so many good books. Yes, Harry potter and Hunger games series are also available.

Arguments supporting Kindle Unlimited:

1)      There is no limit to the number of books you can read.

2)      There are no additional or hidden charges other than the subscription.

3)      The book vanishes from your Kindle once you return it, leaving your Kindle clutter free.

4)      There are over a million titles to choose from in different genres.

5)      Content is good.

6)      Many of my favorite authors have their books on Kindle Unlimited.

7)      Free to experiment with genres and new authors.

8)      Bookmarks and notes are saved to your Amazon account even if you return a     book.

As an experiment, I initially subscribed for just one month.

The money I spent: Rs. 200.

The number of books I read: 24, each book priced somewhere between Rs.99-400.

You can do the Math. Even without any, you can tell it is a seriously good bargain.

A majority of these books are fiction, which I may not want to read more than once. Once I read, I can return the book, freeing up space for new books.

Some are reference books which I will retain on my Kindle. There is no limit to the amount of time I can keep a book. No need to renew.

The 'read for free' tab on every Kindle Unlimited book brings a smile on my face.

What many readers don’t understand is that even though you get to read the book for free, Amazon pays the author who has put hours of hard work to create the book. So, you are not actually cheating the author by reading it for free which is the case when you download and read a pirated copy of the book.

Some of my writer friends who have put their books on Kindle Unlimited considers it as the wisest thing they have done in a while. Not only do they get new readers because of the ease of the scheme, but they also get paid handsomely to keep them going. For some, the actual money through sales is often only a fraction of what they earn through Kindle Unlimited. 

Have to say, we Indians heart free stuff.

The reason why many best sellers are not available on KU is that these books are available on multiple portals like KOBO, iBooks, Smashwords etc. Amazon KDP Select scheme requires the authors to remain exclusive to their platform, which many authors don’t want.

If you are an Indian reader who likes to experiment with various genres and loves eBooks, Kindle Unlimited is the best choice for you. There are many books which cater to the Indian audience, not to mention access to best sellers from world literature.

Subscribe for a month at Rs 199 and experiment like I did.

If it seems a good option, go for it.

You can subscribe for 6 months for Rs. 999 (at Rs 150/month)

Or for a year. (1785)

I have extended my subscription for another six months as I am nowhere done with my TBR pile on the Kindle Unlimited books list.

If you are an Indian writer, consider putting your book on Kindle Unlimited. It will bring you more readers, ratings, and reviews.

Have you tried Kindle Unlimited? What do you think about it?

Cover Reveal: His Christmas Delight by Summerita Rhayne

Today I am hosting the cover reveal of Summerita Rhayne's new book, 

His Christmas Delight.

So are you ready?

Here it comes...

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2

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   Ta..da...

Blurb: 

Caught by Santa!

For Myra, Christmas means supporting her friends. They rallied round getting her back on her feet after she lost Pete, her husband, so she's always ready to help any of them. No matter to what lengths the challenge makes her go. Only she didn't expect to find Santa almost catching her in her wrongdoings. Then she finds that the handsome Santa is Jay, her old high school friend. Now he's changed from a gangly geek to an attractive stranger. After missing out on the dating scene for a long time after losing Pete, she feels the first stirring of desire. But Jay is playing hot and cold, refusing to admit the attraction sizzling between them.

He’s back in Goa just for Christmas

Jay knew Myra as his best friend's girl. Now Pete is gone, but Jay is finding difficult to let go of the scars he picked up in Coast Guard service. He’s home only to help revive his brother’s toy shop. When he finds himself making excuses to stay, he knows he’s crossing the limits he’d set himself. What’s the purpose in taking this further when he knows he cannot be the one to give her the happiness she deserves?  But no matter how hard he tries, the scorching flames of wanting only seem to get stronger. How can he keep on denying the attraction between them when she insists on coming close?

……..

Book Link at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/His-Christmas-Delight-Romance-ebook/dp/B01BYHO0AI

Goodreads link:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29348614-his-christmas-delight

Why you should not speed read if you are an aspiring writer

I have been a story lover ever since the time I began to understand words. Be it the bedtime stories I heard or the occasional cartoons on TV that took me to a magical world, stories were what gave my imagination wings.

They taught me to believe in fairies, about the dangers that lurked around in disguises or how an ugly duckling could turn into a beautiful swan. They also gave me glimpses into different worlds that I might never see. Some allowed me to peek into a civilization that existed eons ago and some talked about a different culture that existed in a far away corner of the world. Some made my heart fill with dread while some others taught me that every dark cloud has its silver lining.

I savored books slowly and steadily over the years. I valued quality over quantity. Some writers I learned to love, some I avoided.

Later on in my life, I started to pen down my own stories. The words, the phrases from those books subconsciously aided me to narrate the tales the voices in my head were trying to say.

After I got published, many aspiring writers contacted me through social media, to ask for tips. I repeated to them the age old advice that most writers believe in--- “Read books in the genre that you want to write in.”

But I do know of bibliophiles who cannot string together a few sentences properly to tell a tale. So does that mean that the age-old advice about reading is wrong?

The culprit, in this case, I believe, is speed reading. The highest speed that has been registered in speed reading competitions around the world is 1000 words per minute. But the comprehension rate was just 50%.

Speed reading if done correctly is good. But what often goes in the name of speed reading is skimming. Skimming is a process of speed reading that involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues as to what is happening. Comprehension rate is very low.

Do you speed read?

Maybe then, you are reading books the wrong way if you aspire to be a writer. You need to comprehend a story better if you wish to write in a similar manner.

Image Source

If you go for in-depth reading, your reading speed can vary between 200-250 words/minute. It is almost like reading out loud to yourself. You hear the words internally and comprehend better.

You can hear the audio version of a book. This is also faster than normal reading and comprehension is definitely better than speed reading. But if your attention wavers in between, God help you!

When you skim through a book you can read up to 700 words/ minute. More if you train yourself to do it faster. But again, the comprehension rate is very low.

So why should you not speed read if you intend to be a writer? You should not speed read because you miss out on the details that go into the creation of a novel or a story.

When you speed read,

1)      You do not notice the inciting incidents, the rise and fall of action in the scenes or the way the climax was written

When you sit down to plot a novel, what is most important is the sequence in which the things happen. Even if you are penning down your own life story, there are inciting incidents, rise, and fall of action or what might be termed as a climax. If you treat a book like a study material for writing your own story, you will notice how the writer has used a particular scene to bring about suspense in the story. How the writer has written a particular scene making you live the life of the character. Or how the way he described a character made you visualize him/her in a three-dimensional manner or understand him as a person.

You miss out on all these if you speed read a book.

2)      You skim through sentences, paragraphs which you find uninteresting.

What happens when you do this is that you miss how the writer brings about a twist in the tale or builds the anticipation of what is about to happen. Some writers use a single sentence to bring about a twist. Some evocatively describe a transition. Classic literature has many grand examples. You might want to go re-read a few; this time thoroughly.

3)      You don’t study the turn of phrases, new words, the dialogue rendition or the scene transformations.

When you speed read, you are interested only in the story outline. Not the details. In the end, all you have left is the thread of the story. There are no memorable dialogues that you remember. You don’t remember how the writer had sketched the characters or how the plot twists were accomplished. You might remember what caused the twist, but not how the writer had written the scene.

You will not also have a clue as to how to punctuate a dialogue or what dialogue tags to use.

4)      You miss out on vital details

When you speed read an 80K long novel within a span of two hours or less, which I have seen many readers claiming to have done, you get so many details wrong.

For example, you might be confused as to why a certain character did what he/she did. Dear speed reader, it was clearly explained in one of those paragraphs you had skimmed through or skipped. In your haste to ‘finish off’ the book, you conveniently ignored them and then complained vociferously about the lazy writer who created a faulty character.

5)      You miss out on the beauty of evocative descriptions

What makes a book memorable for me are the evocative descriptions or the scenes that tug at my heart. When we speed read, we miss out on all of these as our main aim is to finish the book rather than enjoy the journey that reading a book is.

I believe that summarizes the reasons as to why one should not speed read if writing is your passion. Reading and writing are soul sisters. One enriches the other.

But, if you speed-read through this article as well, God bless and Goodbye!

E-books or Paperbacks?!!

Books waiting to be read

I am a bibliophile, someone who is in love with books ever since I remember. I even got a best library user award while in school because of my addiction to books.

The debate e-books vs. Paperback books rages the world over as to which one is better. I am simply not bothered to give my support to any of these groups.

Did the first paperback books pose such a dilemma to the readers? Did they have trouble welcoming the latest entrant to the world of knowledge? I don’t think so. Those who love books does not care which form they arrive. I have equal love for e-books as well as physical books. Recently, the majority of books that I have read are in the e-book form. While on a long journey, I prefer e-books as I can carry around thousands of e-books on my laptop, phone or kindle.

Now to compare the two:

E-books	Paperback
Cheaper to purchase	Costlier than e-books
Easier to carry around. A kindle can hold thousands of e-books	Carrying paperbacks in your travel bags can break your back.
Easier to find word meanings or to mark portions of the book that you found interesting using the online thesaurus. Your scribbling and comments can be erased when you wish to.	You have to carry around a dictionary if you want to check word meanings. Highlight some paragraphs in your book and you leave an unsightly mark, which can’t be erased unless you used pencil.
Instantly downloadable from online portals. So you get to read them at your convenience.	Paperback books ordered from online portals take time to reach you. So you are kept waiting.
A data crashing can delete all your books in a flash. The benevolent water can turn mischief-maker if you drop your e-reader in a puddle.	Paperback books can stand the test of time if they are kept at a distance from termites, fire and water. Your favorite book can be with you throughout your lifetime without much damage.
You can read in darkness and be a night owl devouring your favorite story without disturbing anyone.	You need adequate light to read paperback books and often face resistance from other members of the family who plead to switch off the light.

Though e-books seems to win in terms of convenience, true bibliophiles will never bother to find who wins the battle eventually. I wouldn’t. I am interested merely to gather the bit of knowledge the book is going to deliver.

As long as Muse romances writers and readers romance the books, I don’t fear anything. Let there be peace. Let those who prefer e-books own plenty of them and let paperback lovers fill their home libraries with loads of paperbacks.

Have a great day folks!

 This post is written as a part of Indispire on Indiblogger

The Second Life

For aspiring authors, the day when their work becomes published for the first time is the harbinger of a new life. A second Life. Moreover, my dream has come true. From a writer, I have graduated to an Author.

I feel blessed doubly, because the first anthology that I am part of is The Second Life, by Write India Publishers. The Write India team selected 25 life changing stories that will inspire you, after a nation wide hunt for inspiring stories. The editor is best selling author Bhavya Kaushik and it is compiled by Prakash Kumar. The collection has a bonus gift of renowned authors like Preeti Singh contributing to an anthology for the first time.

The Blurb: "There comes a moment in your life when you feel terribly vulnerable, helpless without any hope and faith, and alas you forget the fact - your helplessness can never leave you irreparably shattered. Trust me, sometimes at this very moment, 'newness' from nowhere will intervene in your life and change everything. Just everything. That newness brings in front of you a more inspirational and exciting journey known as THE SECOND LIFE."

Contributing authors with the title of their story:

1. Aathira Jim- 'I am Sita'

2. Aayesha Hakim- 'In the Classroom of Life' 

3. Abhik Chakraborty- 'The hug of Ishwar and Allah' 

4. Anirootha K R- 'Everything happens for a reason' 

5. Archana Mishra- 'The Blanket' 

6. Deepti Menon- 'Jasmine at the doorstep' 

7. Garima Behal- 'Thank you, Samar' 

8. J. Alchem- 'The Highway man' 

9. Madhurima Halder- 'The girl with a glass of cocktail' 

10. Nalini Chandran- 'Faith can move mountains' 

11. Neha Somani- 'The Long Winding Corridor' 

12. Preethi Venugopal- 'The Arabian Dream' 

13. Preeti Singh- 'A mother's miracle' 

14. Prity S Pujari- 'Love is for beginners' 

15. Renuka Vishwanathan- 'When love has gone' 

16. Saral Joshi- 'Yes!' 

17. Shrruti Patole Clarence- 'A daughter's diary' 

18. Shruti Fatehpuria- 'Wildrose and Snowflake' 

19. Shubham Singh- 'That kid in the corner' 

20. Shubhi Mehrotra- 'A piece of paper' 

21. Smriti Mahale- 'Through her eyes' 

22. Somya Singh- 'Joy to the world' 

23. Sunanya Pal- 'Khushboo- the fragrance of Kindness' 

24. Swagnikaa Roy- ''Aurora'' 

25. Trippayar Sahasranaman Priyaa- 'A thing of beauty'

Pre-Order it Now: bit.ly/TheSecondLife-Amazon at an amazing discount.

After you order, post the order ID or screen shot of the order on the event page here

 https://www.facebook.com/events/1500863643486555/ and you might just win goodies and gift hampers from Write India Publishers.

So what are you waiting for? Click on the link and book your copies.

The book releases on September 20^th. Yes…only ten days to go.

Thank You Team Write India Publishers, Atul Purohit, Bhavya Kaushik and Prakash Kumar for this dream come true.

Congratulations to all the Contributing authors.

Together we will Rock!!!

Reading, my forever love

For me books always promised a safe haven.

A world where I could escape to, the moment I opened one.

When I was a little girl, whenever I visited a family friend or a relative, the moment I reached their house, I would look for books. Be it kids’ magazines, storybooks or even popular magazines. If I could find a handful of books, I didn’t care the amount of time we spend there. If the house seemed devoid of books, I looked down upon those people. Were they really human beings?

My love for books had given me the best library user award while in school. Wherever I live, the one building that I would surely enter was a library. Luckily, until now I have found good libraries wherever I went. Words are my bosom mates and reading my forever love.

A good library near and good books downloaded on my kindle...That takes me close to nirvana...

I have lost count of the number of books I have read, the number of lives I have lived through them. Lately I prefer happy reads and avoid thrillers and tragedies like plague. I wish to spare my poor nerves of the adrenalin rush and unnecessary tension.

I don’t think reading books has reduced dramatically in today’s youth. The library I visit is still crowded with youngsters. The many online pages of authors have young fans in majority. And who said being a nerd was bad and they became socially incapable?

I don’t agree. I am a bookworm and that has not transformed me into a socially incapable nerd.

Leaving you to ponder on a few quotes…

 

Source

 This post is writtten for Indispire on Indiblogger.