The Confession – By John Grisham

About the Author – John Grisham is an American author, who published his first novel “A Time to Kill” in 1989. Since then he has written more than 20 novels, 1 non fiction novel and 1 book of short stories. He is best known for his legal thrillers.

The Storyline – Donté Drumm is days from his execution for a crime he did not commit. Only the guilty man can save him.

A small town in Texas is shaken with the disappearance of 17 year old cheerleader Nicole Yarber, after weeks of search and night vigils police is unable to find any clue or her whereabouts. With the pressure increasing on the case and no clues, police arrest Donté Drumm on the basis of a phone call from an unknown called. During the unfair trial he is declared guilty and sentenced to death. After 9 years in the jail, his time has come and he is only 4 days from the execution. Now the read killer has come forward. But will anyone listen to a career criminal?

My Verdict – After a long time, I have read a book where I was able to connect with the characters and empathize with them. This is a book where you will feel sorry for the Drumm family and feel angry at the judicial system; you will laugh with these characters and cry with them and for them. There are very authors who can truly take you to their world of fiction and John Grisham has done that successfully with this book.

Though, the first part of the book reminded me of John’s non-fiction book – “The innocent man”, the similarity ends there. This book takes you for a hard hitting journey of death penalty and democracy at its worst. A Must Read.

Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game – By Tilly Bagshawe

About the Author – Tilly Bragshawe is a British freelance journalist and an author. Her first book Adored was published in the year 2005 and this is her fifth book.

The Storyline – The book is a sequel to Sidney Sheldon’s acclaimed 1982 novel “Master of the Game”. Mistress of the game starts where Master of the Game left and tells us the story of the next generation of the Blackwell family; Eve and Alexandra’s kids. The story revolves around the rivalry between Max and Lexi, both of them trying to take over as chairman of Kruger-Brent.

Verdict – Before I say anything about this novel, let me tell you that I have been a big fan of Sidney Sheldon’s work and have read all his novels at least twice if not more. Therefore, my expectations were very high from the sequel of one of my favorite novels.

Tilly Bragshawe tells us the story in true Sidney Sheldon fashion where there are no black and white but only grey characters. These are the real life characters which you can relate with and you know exist in today’s world. The character profile has been done beautifully and you will be empathizing with them before you know it. I liked the way she has shown the transformation of Gary McGregor and you really grow with these characters in the story.

The only problem I faced was that I had read the prologue of the story, which is kind of a giveaway and I would recommend anybody reading the book to skip the same. The prologue gave away one of the most important suspense in the book.

But on the whole I think it was a story well told, though not better than “Master of the Game”.

Only Time Will Tell – By Jeffrey Archer

About the Author –

If you haven’t heard about Jeffrey Archer, then you have never touched a book in your life. He is a writer & was a politician before the latter career ended in imprisonment.

The Storyline –

The book is set in the timeline of 1919 – 1940 around two families – The Barringtons and the Cliftons and the protagonist - Harry Clifton. It tells you the story of Harry’s life from the time he was born to the time he goes to college. The foundation of the story is an incedent that occurs before Harry's birth and how this incident will change change his life forever.

My Verdict –

The book starts with Maisie’s (Harry’s mother) side of story and it grips you towards the story of suspense & lies. However, as the story progresses you tend to come across characters which you have already met in many past stories. For e.g. Giles Barrington (Harry’s possible half brother) & Deakins (the nerd kid). The good part is that the auhor has very intelligently given us different perspectives of the same story through the different characters in the story (Old Jack, Giles Barrington, Hugo Barrington etc.). This definitely keeps you from putting the book down especially until you find out how Harry’s dad actually died. After that the story fails to grip you again until the last page.

Though it’s not one of my favourite books from the Author of Kane & Able. But, the only thing I want after reading this book is a sequel (You will know why, after reading this book).

Iss Jungle se Mujhe Bachao

Production House - Miditech

Channel - Sony

Time - Mon to Thur at 10-11 pm & Fri at 9-10 pm

Plot - The show is based on British reality series "I am a celebrity...Get me out of here". It started with 10 celebrities & is hosted by Mini Mathur (From Indian Idol) & Yudi (Channel V VJ). As the title suggests, the 10 celebrities have to stay in Jungle survivor style & beat each other at various tasks to be the winner. At the end of each week, 1 celebrity will be voted out on the basis of audience votes & the maha jungle task.

Verdict - When I first saw the promos of the show, I admit that I was quite excited. What with the initial promos saying that “This show will be better than Fear Factor (Khatron Ke Khiladi) & Big Boss (Though Big Boss-2 was a total let down). But, after watching the 1st episode, it was quite clear that this show is a bad mixture of Khatron Ke Khiladi+Big Boss & Survivor.
It does not entice the audience in any way to keep watching or be excited about what’s going to happen next. Neither do you feel sympathetic about these celebrities (The episode where they threaten to leave the show was very fake).
None of the tasks are new; you have already seen them in Roadies & KKK. Infact, I don’t understand the point of them staying in a jungle in Malaysia. Jungle represenets – (a) Animals, (b) Scariness (that eerie feeling of being alone). However, this jungle feels like my backyard.
If you have nothing better to do during evenings & have to watch it, then please go ahead.

Marrying Anita - By Anita Jain

As per the synopsis of the book, it’s a NRI women’s journey to India (Read: Delhi) to search for a Husband & have an arranged marriage like her parents.I went & bought the book on the basis of the above synopsis & since then have made a pact with myself to first read at least a couple of pages before I make this mistake! (Especially with a never tried author).

The book starts with the author’s life in USA & how desperate she is getting to find the "Perfect Husband" in the nightlife of Manhattan, but unsuccessful. Therefore, she decides to move to Delhi to find her husband like all Indians (through matrimonial sites). From then on the journey is about her meeting various suitors & at the same time making out with her friends. What Anita Jain never explains is why she rejects the potential husbands, the story is made to drag in a lot of places & you are just waiting for her to find the perfect husband. At some places it reminded me of “Almost Single". However, at least that book brought us to some conclusion in the end, which Anita Jain fails to do in her book. Even in her journey in Delhi, there is nothing new to offer. The characters that she meet are too stereotype & can be found in any book about India. It is very clear that the author has not experienced any of the experiences that she has written about & therefore, you can never connect with her or the book.

A Fine Balance - By Rohinton Mistry

About the Author - Frankly, I am a Rohinton Mistry fan & this is his 3rd book that I have read & have to say that he has never disappointed me. I can buy his books without ever taking a 2nd glance on the summary & know that I will not regret it.If you have ever read his books, you already know that his stories revolve around the following:

1) The Real india & Indians – Most of the NRI writers that you come across write about the Urban India & have totally neglected the real India, which consists of the middle class families, the values & traditions which are imbibed in each child by his parents & the fight to meet the ends meet.

2) Parsi family – Since he understands & can relate to Parsi traditions, his plot revolves around them.

3) Depressing - If you like Daniele Steel’s books then forget about reading Mistry. As his stories are so real in life that he makes sure you keep thinking about them long after you have finished reading them. Sad is the flavor for all his books.

The Storyline - The story revolves around 4 characters – a Parsi old lady living alone in a flat, 2 tailors from a small village & a Parsi teenager boy who is in college. The story talks about the above characters life & adventure during the time of emergency & how they end up living in the same house. The story keeps taking you to past & present of the 4 characters & gives you an insight into their life & character.It also introduces you to characters that you know about but never get to interact. Like the monkey man, the hair collector, the beggar master & the beggar who’s hands & legs were amputated.

My Verdict - The beauty of the story is that Mistry never takes any names of places or politicians during the entire book. However, you know exactly who he is talking about. Like Indira Gandhi during emergency or her son Rajiv Gandhi the next in line politician. Similarly the “City by Sea” is Mumbai. Mistry makes you realize that true happiness is inner happiness & no matter how rich or poor you are, it is your passion for life which takes you ahead in life.Though you began to hate Indira Gandhi for what she did during the emergency period, you also realize that the history books given to you in school were so boring & that you can learn so much more about the Indian Histoty through these books. Do not miss this book if you are a book lover!

Happy Kumar

Clickjobs.com, part of bharatmatrimony.com has come out with i think their first commercial (dont remember watching any other commercial by them).

StoryLine
A man wakes up, switches off his alarm and heads of to his office in a taxi. In the middle of all this, he comes across various job oppurtunities. But misses them, as he is very happy with his job and therefore doesnt need a change.

My Views
The ad developed by Network Advertising, has positioned clickjobs.com very differently from its competitos. Where all the other job portals tell us to apply there, clickjobs.com tell us that dont sit back and miss the various oppurtunities coming your way.

Overall, I really liked this ad and am happy to see indian advertising industry evolving like this. The protagonist is also very good, the ad has a humor content and unlike other humorous ads it does not let us forget the purpose of the ad.

There is only one problem, the other day i was discussing this ad with a couple of frens and they interpreted it to be quite the opposite, they thot that when clickjobs.com places you, its such a nice job that u never have to look out again........now my only wonder is that if more people are interpreting it like this, it can be a problem....