Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

Too Much and Never Enough  By Mary L. Trump  Genre : Contemporary, non fiction,  psychology. Rating : 4/5 This is the story of Mary L. Trump who is the neice of Donald Trump. As daughter to the elder brother and first born son of Fred Trump,she gives an honest and first hand version of the events that took place during the formative years of the 45th USA president Donald Trump.  This is a good book - to tell the story of the life and unjustly treatment of Freddy Trump(her father) and his family by the family's patriarch Fred Trump and his four other children(including Donald). But as a portrait of the psychological make up of Donald Trump and the reasons that have crafted it - I feel it falls short. Most of the terms used to describe him - I thought I have heard them before. They were widely used many times by media personalities and anyone really with some sense of psychological analysis. Albeit having a real connection with Donald, she couldn't com...

Leviathan Wakes  By James S.A Corey  Rating 5/5  Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Horror  Splendid!! Absolutely 💯 amazing space science fiction stuff! Kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Things unravel fast. Ominous fear creeps in slow. Brain does several jumps and leaps before settling down into calmness. Wonderful, Wonderful,  Wonderful. Two protagonists. Both flawed and impulsive. One with his words and information. The other with his actions and intuition. Both find their redemption eventually and in the process save the whole of human race from becoming gooey food for an evolved alien race. 

Verity  By Colleen Hoover  Rating 4/5  Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller. Finished this with my heart in my mouth..sitting on the edge of my seat. Goosebumps on my arms and chills down my spine.  I was expecting that the answer to this mystery would be found in the villainification of the husband but it didn't. There is a twist or there isn't. Which version of Verity is to be believed and which is fake? Its a thoroughly knitted plot solid and hard core. Would highly recommend. I have taken off one point because like graphical abuse, too much of sexual descriptions and steamy scenes make me a bit uncomfortable. But they are obviously necessary to make the plot what it is. Interesting and gripping !! 

Shadow and Bone (#1) By Leigh Bardugo Rating 4/5  Genre : fantasy This book didn't feel like much when I started but it had a strange pull on me as it went on. This very morning, I opened my eyes and resumed reading the continuing chapter before doing anything else..  I was a bit confused about a few things which got only partly cleared towards the end. Like whats the difference between the Darkling wanting to put the collar of stag antlers around her neck versus her putting it. How can he have absolute control over her and then cease to have any control at all. Well, still intriguing to read .. Keep reading on. :)  Alina Strokov is an orphan cartographer with the King's army. She has a hidden talent of summoning light from her body whenever she wants. This power is so immense and useful to the King's second hand man the Darkling who looks to exploit it. But she learns of his plot in time and escapes. She is eventually caught, the Darkling's plans unfold ...

 Mrs Dalloway (1925) By Virginia Woolf  216 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Rating 4/5  This is my second reading of this book. Like all Woolf's works I have read so far, the message in this story is subtly and intricately placed. It is not immediately identified. The characters are richly developed - more psychological than a physical or intellectual picturing.  Mrs Dalloway is Clarissa, a woman of 50ish years,married to a senator. She is giving a party on that particular evening. She is getting things ready and preparing herself for the event. Septimus, an older man who worked in the army and turned schizophrenic possibly after his friend died in the army and he stops feeling anything psychologically. He throws himself out of the window and kills himself that very day to escape the onslaught of a psychiatrist. How are these two events connected? How does Clarissa react to hearing it? Is his act an act of defiance and freedom really?  Then there are ...

 The Complete Book Of Yoga  By Swami Vivekananda  Every single page is dripping and bristling with lot of wisdom. Here are some of my notes as I navigated through these waters of divine wisdom. Karma Yoga - Notes  Character of any man - aggregate of his tendencies, total of the bent of his mind. It is formed through experiences of both good and bad .. the bad playing a more dominant role in shaping of a character.  To assess a great character,  look not how behaves in most challenging occasions. But look at his most common and everyday activities. Those who stick to great character in all actions and at all times is to be considered a great character. Not only during challenging times.  Knowledge is all present within the mind/soul. As we discover it, we are only peeling off a layer of ignorance which is covering it. As we progress in the uncovering,  we say we are progressing in the knowledge/learning.  Everything we do - physica...

The Help   By kathryn Stockett  Rating  : 5/5  Genres : Historical Fiction Enjoyed it but also learned a lot from this book!! The last few pages is whew .. it's hope alternating nervousness and apprehension! The times of 1960s as the black women who are domestic helps and housekeepers for white women saw it through their eyes. Very riveting!  This book has transported me to the time  of early 1960s to Jackson, Mississippi where colored(black) people are the servants and housekeepers in white people's homes. Those were the times when thee were rules of segregation between the white and black people. Those were also the times when changes are slowly seeping in - through the courageous actions of Martin Luther king and others across America - allowing black people to share the same libraries, buses with white people.   The main characters in the book are a bunch of white and black women and how their daily lives are impacted when a w...