Bucket List of a Traveloholic: A Book Review

Author: Sarika Pundit

ABOUT THE BOOK:

While her B-School batch mates are busy scrambling for top jobs and grades, a restless Sarika dreams of putting on her running shoes and having all the pages of her passport stamped by the age of thirty.What follows is a frenzied quest of not just collecting stamps but ticking off items off her ever-expanding bucket list: From learning the local language in Spain to an alcohol trail through Greece; from a tryst with Shakespeare and Jane Austen in the United Kingdom to an encounter with the Vampire in Romania; from straddling the border of two countries in the Middle East to a road trip through Morocco to the Sahara; each experience bringing her a little closer to reaching that final destination on her passport.
A journey of falling in love with globetrotting–this one promises to be one of the best roller-coaster reading experiences you will have this year.

My Review:

Being a traveloholic as well as a reader, this book was an excellent read. It made me yearn to go off to the places mentioned and feel the experiences. Let’s just say, there will be a lot more stamps on my passport because of this book!

The BEST chapter according to me was the one where Sarika and her sister go through the literary trail through the London. It was around midnight when I was reading this, and seriously, it took all the willpower in the world to not wake up my sister, ask her to pack her bags and leave for UK on the next flight.

When I came to know about the college where the filming of the great hall scene was filmed in London, I just wanted to bang my head on the walls and cry…IF ONLY i had known this before, I would not have wasted my time visiting touristy spots and would have at least visited it once….I did not receive the letter at 11, that was bad enough…now I missed going to the film set as well ;'(….*runs to make a new bucket list and adds visit to London in the first line*

The twilight part was downright hilarious….and the one wherein she mentions the infamous meeting the guys for an arraigned marriage scenario…seriously..I feel you, lady!

The book had us travel through Spain, Egypt, UK, Brussels, Greece, South Africa, Russia…the best way to describe is that this book is a mini world tour. The writing style is pleasant, humorous, and you feel one with the author.

This book is a breath of a fresh air!A word of advise though, reading this book will want to make you travel and add a lot more places to your “must see list”, be prepared!

Buy this book from:

Buy Bucket List of a Traveloholic

I thank Fingerprint! (An imprint of Prakash Books) for giving me the opportunity to review this book. A Special thanks to Miss. Sarika Pundit for sending a autographed copy! 🙂

Sita’s Curse: A Book Review

Sub Title: The Language of Desire

Author: Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

Overview of the book:

Strapped for 15 years in the stranglehold of a dead marriage and soulless household domesticity, the beautiful, full-bodied and passionate Meera Patel depends on her memories and flights of fancy to soothe the aches that wrack her body to quieten an unquenchable need. Until one cataclysmic day in Mumbai, she finally breaks free…

Bold, brazen and defiant, Sita’s Curse looks at the hypocrisy of Indian society and tells the compelling story of a middle-class Indian housewife’s urgent need for love, respect and acceptance.

My Book:

Sometimes one comes across the book that is so different that it is a challenge to review it, Sita’s Curse is one such book. This is one of the new age ‘feminist erotica’ genre, one of the first kind in Indian literary landscape.

This is the story of Meera, a girl stuck in the shackles of Patriarchy, stuck as a young girl in the dos and don’ts and then later in a dead marriage.

There is a strong undercurrent of feminism throughout the book. The quiet rebellion of a young woman quietly breaking her shackles.

The narration is powerful and quite visual. If we see the story, there were many thoughts of Meera that were relate-able. One can feel the frustration seeping out through the written word. The frustration of the social expectations that is put on a girl, just as she is well…a girl comes across very nicely.

On the other hand, some parts of the story are very visual, which means that if could put many readers off (considering its genre). Also, there were a few grammatical as well as spelling errors, editing could have been a little better.

All in all, I salute Miss. Sreemoyee for taking up a taboo topic and presenting it is an inhibited way.

 

This book review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program .

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