Here is why you should read

  A school trip - a field day for kids. They love being out and just run around in the space that they see. But, it is not fun for teachers (and parents alike). Teachers have to grown an extra pair of limbs and eyes and ears to catch the naughty ones who would be up to mischief or watch if someone was getting bullied or hurt. While it was a relief to get out and get some sun and delve into a touch and feel session, it is not easy to maintain discipline and safety in an outdoorsy set up.  This is exactly what happens on this school trip. Emma, recently widowed, is a school teacher. Claire, her 5 year old daughter studies in the same school where Emma teaches. Emma has good colleagues who are more friends than anything else. And it is a relief when you have someone on your side who understands your moves and intentions when you are surrounded by kids.  As the day progresses, a child goes missing. Panic rises amongst the teachers and it is obvious that the adults are a littl...

  This simple story runs across two timelines - one from the 1700s and the other a present day situation. Listening to the story unfold, transported me to the many occasions where women or their house help would approach the apothecary's shop, in utmost secrecy, seeking for help that is dire, one that would guarantee an end. The word apothecary is taken from the word "apotheca" - a place where wine, spices, herbs and a concoction could be made at one's behest, usually for purposes to cure illnesses that could not be understood or diagnosed. These "medicines" would range from good to utterly dangerous. In some other era: Nella ran an apothecary in some back alley of London. Her main aim was to help women. Help women uphold babies in the womb or cure them of aches and pains, or probably even mental and emotional upheavals. One day, she was visited by a young girl Eliza, who came to buy some medication that would rid her Mistress from drudgery and disrespectful...

  Nora is a doctor. That's a profession that saves lives. Nora has this constant need to prove (to herself) that she was different. Different from her father, who broke her home and sense of family by killing 30 odd women in the basement of their home. It would sound thrilling as a story that some other child's parent was a monster and murderer. It was obviously not a good feeling to actually be the daughter of a horrid man. I found Nora to be constantly on tenterhooks. She was good at her job but the knife in her hand could turn her either into a messiah or a murderer. I was intrigued of her childhood story and wondered if the traits could come down generations. (It quite reminded me of a certain episode from Defending Jacob about this killer instinct/gene. There was supposedly another book called, In My Father's Basement, which handled a similar story line.) Nora's father was in prison and her mother had killed herself in her cell. Nora had dealt with abandonment brav...

  Tricia and Ethan have just recently been married. Like most couples, they have dreams of living in a space that would appeal to their senses and one look at it, they would know that, that was the place they would call home for the rest of their lives. But... On a day when the weather forecasts warn of an upcoming snowy night, Ethan ignores the fair warning and convinces his wife that they should drive down to see the place their house agent has arranged for them to see. The drive is pleasant one and as Tricia gazes out of the window, she fondly reminisces how loving her husband is and how lucky she had been to find him. Ethan is handsome, loving, caring and of course there is so much more to get to know him. A whole life ahead of them. As they drive along, the weather has turned worse than anticipated and they still haven't found the damn house! Despite Tricia constantly telling Ethan to turn back and come back another day, Ethan is stubborn that they had driven all this way and ...

  I quite enjoy courtroom dramas. When I chanced upon this show on Apple TV, I was excited to note that it was a book adaptation. Very few book to movie adaptations are good and this was surely one of them. Andy Barber is a top notch district attorney. The books opens to a typical day in a normal family setting. His son, Jacob is a normal high school teenager. His wife, Laurie works as a teacher in the local school.  “The interior of a teenager’s mind is an endless war between Stupid and Clever.” One fateful day, there is utter chaos and fear in the quiet, influential, safe neighbourhood of the Barber family. A young boy, Ben Rifkin is found murdered in the nearby woods. Shock rips through the families of young children as the case is handed over to Andy. Unfortunately on probing and further investigation and involvement of forensics, it is come to light that there are finger prints on Ben's jacket and they are of Jacob's. Jacob claims that he had found Ben lying face down and...

I really wasn't planning on reading this quick book. Someone on another group mentioned books on Partition and one book reco tumbled over another. The book cover had my attention. And what more intriguing than pieces of writing from someone's diary. It wasn't just any diary. It was the diary of Nisha, a 12 year old who wrote about her day to her mother, who died when she and her brother were born. Nisha lived with her brother, Amil, her doctor father, her old Daadi (grandmother) and the cook Kazi in Mirpur Khas, the other "whole" India. The nation without borders. Nisha's diary entries are simple and child like. It is quite commendable that the author brings out so many details in this epistolary book. For example, there are these diary entries where Nisha mentions Amil's disinterest in studies. She adds that Amil finds the letters dancing on the paper. Which brings the reader to realize that Amil may have dyslexia. She also mentions how talented Amil is w...

This was probably one of the first few podcasts I listened to on Audible. I was definitely not disappointed. Mad Mommas is an Audible Orginal Series and brings forth the simple lives of four women who are in different stages of motherhood and how they continue being positive and wonderful through life's ups and downs. Dealing with what life has to throw at them in careers or at home or with kids, these four women are just trying their best.  The story is narrated by a TV anchor, who has recently embraced motherhood and talks of all the teething troubles she was facing. She meets three other women who finally join hands in supporting each other and how they find solace in friendship, amidst laughter and tears.  Wonderful narration and totally relatable. One must stop and listen to this one!

  Freya Miller has just been dealt with life's terrible cards - 18 months ago, her husband had chosen to get into an affair and few months post that, he had met his end. Freya is now running helter skelter with her 5-year old daughter Skye, trying to find a good place to call home. She cannot believe her luck when one day, at a coffee shop, she has been, very casually, approached by a respectable looking man, Dr Marsden. He had an offer, only a fool would refuse. He lived on an amazing property, which had multiple apartments within itself and he was looking for a tenant who would fit into that ambience. Freya is reeling in doubt of how someone could offer her a place to live, that too in the poshest areas of London and for a rental price that was equivalent to peanuts! When life offers way too many lemons, you are forced to feel bitter and wary of people and circumstances. You are always doubtful of people's intentions and why you were being offered something good, which you pr...