Kevein Books and Reviews

This fabulous book brings back the reminiscences of teenagers and early adults who were really deep down in the video game playing between late eighties to early nineties, you know there were certain tropes that most of these games used and how enjoyable were they. It sounds strange today but bay back then you like a silly person, over the top way, immersed yourself in this strange world of gaming, sometimes great and at times crude visuals. ‘Ready Player One’ is a book that expertly reconstructs this very familiar feeling for 80's kids who grew up lingering around video games, movies, comics, and books. This is a book written by someone who loves all these, and explicitly for people who love all these things even today. Even if you were not a gamer or unfamiliar with any of the eighties pop culture, you can still enjoy this book’s plot. It is just useable but it’s the minor details that you would recognize and relate with, this further raises this book to a new exp...

Those who have read ‘A Time To Kill’ can resonate suitably with this collection of short stories. Through this book John takes the readers back to Ford County in Mississippi, a place where his first novel took place. This book consists of seven short stories. And themes range from revenge to reunion, escape plans to rob old people and so on. Though John is famous for writing legal thrillers, well this one is bit different, not all stories are set in the courtroom. For instance, the story ‘Blood Drive’ is about friends going to Ford County to donate blood to a friend, highlighting the hilarious account of their misadventures while they try to drive up to their destination. Another story ‘Fetching Raymond’ is of two brothers going to visit their younger brother who is on a death row. Probably they would see him one last time. This story stirs up moments of tragedy and sadness. So, this way, stories of different people with different propositions come and go but their predicam...

Duty by Mulk Raj Anand is a short story which underlines the value of duty even in the worst of worst circumstances, like extremely hot and cold climate. The story is about a policeman, Mangal Singh, who is posted at a point where a road from the village meets the city road. His duty started at the early hours of the morning. He has already spent around five and half hours at the duty. The season is of scorching summer and the sun overhead is just unbearable. Soon, a sepoy called Rahmat-Ullah will relieve him but even after that he needs to hike for three kilometers to reach the barracks where he can rest. So, he decides to rest under a Kikar (acacia) tree for some time. Under it, he feels relaxed and comparatively cool. Now he begins cursing the rich Hindu merchants who while away their summer time either in the gardens drinking milk-water or in the coolness of the electric fan when they are at shops. He doesn’t like the service of the police: it’s for poor men. He alwa...

The Priest and the Parrot is a short story written by Victoria Hislop covered in the book ‘The Last Dance and Other Stories’. The story revolves around a young priest Papa Stavros. Though there are many priests who have married, have had children, and some priests also have had affairs with women, Papa Stavros is a different priest: he has chosen to be celibate all his life. Well, the question is, will he be able to maintain the self-control that surrounds the semblance of his robe, or will he fall victim to the worldly lust and love spread by beautiful women under the guise of that saintly robe. The village (Somewhere in Greek) in which he has taken the position of a chief priest has more women than men. He lives on a hilltop and from there he oversees the village down and other churches of that zone. Behind the hill is a beehive. Whenever he goes on to visit a sick person, with him he carries the honey, he mixes it with warm water and whenever a sick person drinks, he...

Mother Hill by Ruskin Bond is a short story covered in the book ‘White Clouds, Green Mountains’. In this story, semi-biography kind of, the writer recollects the time he spent in the mountains. He has been living there for over twenty five years. A lot has changed in the hills over these years. Here, he particularly speaks about the relationship a writer possibly can share with the mountains. In his opinions, humans have tried all the possible ways, like building dams, controlling streams, deforestation, etc. to get rid of the mountains and its allied beauty. Well, but every time, the forest on the mountains is dwindling away. Humans cannot get rid of the mountains; they are here for to stay. He also speaks about the difficult situations overpowering the simple lives of the hill people. Because of population and misuse of the hill places, nowadays writers have begun to live in the plains. And once there was a time when people were less, fewer tourists flocked, and cars ...

“I wasn’t going to wear it, but I put it away carefully. It would be a reminder of the good times had by all of us – H.H., Ricardo, Mrs. Montalban, Pablo and Anna, Mr. Lobo, myself. And if, at the end, the times weren’t good so good, it was probably because the party had gone on for too long.” Maharani by Ruskin Bond is a plot less novella. Well, it will take you to some different era: there you will get a chance to see the life lived by the royals of India and what possibly went wrong which put them in a state of abeyance. The narrator of the book is Ruskin Bond. Though the writer says that most of his characters are familiar to readers and this story is totally a product of imagination. Well, while reading you would feel that the story is part imagination and part real, set in the beautiful hills of Mussoorie and often goes outside to Delhi and Pondicherry. This is the story of H.H. and the people that surround her. H.H. (Neena being her real name) is the widowed Maha...

Lajwanti by Mulk Raj Anand is a short story – this story is famous for highlighting the plight of a married woman while coping up with the in-laws. Lajwanti means sensitive plant, thus the central character of the story ‘Lajwanti’ is quite apt to the title. The story opens with Lajwanti on the run in the scorching heat of Delhi. To her company, there is a bird Maina in the cage. Her struggle is to hike till Gurgaon and from there she will catch a bus to reach her father’s house in Pataudi. But her journey is not going to be easy one. First, it is unbearable to walk barefoot in such a scorching heat. Second, her brother-in-law Jaswant is chasing her on a bicycle. He is brute, vile and of course a bastard male chauvinistic. Somehow, she manages to reach a confectioner’s shop and thinks of drinking water and resting in the shade. Well, soon, Jaswant catches her up and begins tormenting her. He spreads aloud that she is a badwoman and has run away from the house without informi...