Category: Travel

Thrillers Books Worth Reading!

It’s very difficult to find thriller books, that keep you engrossed till the last page. And if you have found it by the same author twice, it couldn’t be better. 

Keigo Higashino a Japanese Author! Ah! Yes, another Japanese author. 

Journey under the midnight sun is about A group of children playing inside the building have found the body of a pawnshop owner, 

Detective Sasagaki’s investigation unearths more questions, but never reaches any conclusions. One of his chief suspects, the partner of a woman who the pawnshop owner visited on the day of his death, dies in a car crash soon afterwards. 

Though Sasagaki’s suspects there is more to the deaths, the case is abandoned. But, Twenty years later there are some leads that hints sasagaski that he could finally solve the mystery. 

This is one Book, I came across after enjoying reading “Midsummer Equation by Keigo Higanshino” 

  and what surprises me most about the author and his books is that when you are searching for “Best Thriller Books” You only come across American authors & British Authors, but none of the  Japanese authors, in the first few links and in the first few reviews. And I wonder why? “Japanese authors” are really underrated. This whole curiosity for “Japan” For me grew after I visited the country, it was a place I wanted to know more about? 

Keigo Higanshio is best known for his book “The Devotion of Suspect X” 

Yasuko Hanaoka accidentally kills her ex-husband, when circumstances rose to an unendurable level of ghastly behaviour from him. What follows is an elongated and witty brain-game between the investigator and her accomplice, Ishigami, who aided Yasuko in covering up the murder. ”The Devotion Of Suspect X”is the story about an ingenious plotter, and clever Dr Manabu Yukawa, who helps in solving the case.

In case you are looking to read a nice page-turner and are finding it difficult which one to start with you could surely start with “Journey Under The Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashnio” 

Plotters By Un-Su-Kim 

I have been in a frame of mind, where I am enjoying some nice thrilling stories, 

That is a quick read, written in a way, where you want to know what happens next. 

And after reading Keigo Higanshino’s ”Midsummer Equation ”last year and Under the midnight sun, I found Plotters by Un-Su-Kim a South Korean writer. And having watched some really good thriller movies by Korean Filmmakers, Maybe I had high expectations from Plotters, And as the story unfolds it becomes a predictable story, with not much material to keep you holding to know why, Whereas Books like “Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins” “Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn” Keeps you engrossed. 

While I am not saying  “Plotters”  wasn’t a good read, It certainly wasn’t as good as these, But very much alike like a series I just watched on the streaming platform “Giri/Haji” where The main underworld boss, hires people to do the damage (Assassins/HitMan)  But surely questions if we continue behaving like Assassins/Hitman all for that chair to be the boss for a reason, That we might think we hold the power, Power to continue the same racket/Practice where nobody gains anything, but only losses.

Plotters are read for those, who enjoy a little cliche story and someone who just would like to enjoy a crime story of how the Mafia works in a very simple, plain and easy to understand read. 

Some Thoughts Running on My Mind.

The Rain drizzling and fading away the view, making it blur for the eyes to see what comes across next.

In the midst of the joy! You look back and remember it was just summer now!

And now here monsoon has arrived.

The honking on the streets have subdued,

The rejection of not finding any public transport is dearly missed.

The argument over, not having any change and deciding who will forge the “change”

Every day was a new day! Yet every day some of the battles were same.

Whether it was what to order today

or whether it was were to begin today?

The frustrations and anxiety to explain the delivery boys the address was the same every day,

Google occasionally on some applications was stubborn to get it accurate.

Some Days – We ate out one meal where we looked at the menu to decide what to eat, unlike the struggle of making a menu every day at home for three meals.

While some filtered and cancelled

the outdoor sound with their earphones, Others got used to the terrific traffic sound that nearly deafened them until they reached their destinations.

The Bumper to Bumper traffic has been out of sight, yet is still in the mind.

The sound of the crowds at crowded places, the fight to squeeze yourself in and find a place is long forgotten.

The sound of the coffee machine pouring out some freshly brewed coffee with some eggs & desserts is occasionally remembered.

Some of The Best Movies Now Streaming

  • Jojo Rabbit

    • A Movie I missed watching in the cinema theatres and wasn’t sure until how long would I have wait to watch this film, But a few months later It released on another streaming platform. And so I watched the film.

    A story about a boy who is nicknamed Jojo Rabbit after a summer camp weekend and a story set during the conflict of German-Jews and during a period where Hitler was hailed by Some of his Fanatics and how one had to be careful in the communication.

    But this film is a hilariously funny and slightly emotional film worth watching and When you have The director himself portraying Hitler it just can’t better.

    The movie is actually based on the novel “Caging Skies” by Christine Leunens.

    The novel centres on a young Hitler Youth who discovers a Jewish girl hidden in his house by his mother.

    Hitler in the movie is Jojo’s imaginary friend thus he is the Hitler that a young boy would imagine.

    He also pointed out that Hitler is an amalgamation of different people in his life, such as his father, the Nazis in town and even his friend Yorki.

    One of the tensest scenes finds Gestapo officers (led by Stephen Merchant) searching Jojo’s home. However, the scene is also hilarious with the Gestapo doing little more than greeting one another with the “Heil Hitler” salute which is made 31 times in the scene

    1. At the 92nd Academy Awards, the film received six nominations
    2. Including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Johansson, and Best Adapted Screenplay

    Johansson earned both her first and second Oscar nominations this year.

    In addition to being up for best supporting actress, she also nabbed the best actress nod for her work in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story.

    Contagion 

    Just Imagine have written, Directed a film almost a decade ago on the exact same way we have all been struck by the pandemic. It’s surprisingly an exact replica of the way the Coronavirus has come about. The Imagination of such accuracy is unbelievable.

    The last five minutes of the story – The way it has been shot & directed is the best explanation of the full film. You have to watch this film. The star cast has lived the story once already while filming, But today we are all living this in reality.

    Marriage Story  By Noah Baumbach

    Marriage Story is a true story based on Noah Baumbach relationship and separation of his marriage with actress Jennifer Jason Leigh as well as his parent’s divorce. 

    Marriage Story is about a relationship of an artist couple Charlie Barber played by Adam Driver and Nicole Played by Scarlett Scarlett Johansson While Charlie Barber runs a theatre company in New York City, Nicole was a teen film actress and they both are going through marital troubles. 

    At the same Time Nicole is offered a role in Television Pilot in LA and soon decides to live in NYC and live with her mother  Henry her son and follow her dream of being a Hollywood actress. 

    While Charlie stays back in New York and works on his play that he would like to showcase at the Broadway. 

    The Story then follows the couple mutually decide to divorce. However one day Nicole hires a family Nora lawyer and tells him the full story of their relationship and mentions a  few speculations of Charlie’s relationship with his stage manager in the theatre company.   In the meantime, Charlie flies to LA to Nicole to share his happiness of winning a prestigious Fellowship grant But instead has divorce papers handed over. 

    Charlie lawyer believes they should play dirty, but rather Charlie doesn’t want things to go bad. 

    While the movie moves ahead with both coming to a common conclusion for their separation while living on a different coast, they have different laws for the same. 

    The film brings out a lot of emotional and realistic feel as the story is based on true events  And  Since Scarlett Jhonasson too had a divorce just a few months before the filming of the film. The Acting too was very real. The movie was very well made and a well- deserved nomination for the film and Scarlett Johnson 

    Documentary Movies To Stream!!

    Jiro Dreams Of Sushi! 

    A Documentary that I had a heard a lot about and while reading the “The Ride Of a Lifetime” I wanted to watch it as soon as possible. While browsing what to watch next on Netflix, I found Jiro Dreams of Sushi A Documentary on Jiro Ono who is the owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Japanese sushi restaurant in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan and who has been running the sushi restaurant for the last fifty years, Today he is ninety-five years old.

    The documentary is about how he strives to perfect the sushi and how considerate towards their guest, Right from observing the clients whether they are right-handed to left-handed and accordingly they were served and how his dreams were also about perfecting the sushi.

    It’s The World’s Best sushi place & Worlds Most expensive restaurant each plate of sushi cost 30,000 Yen ($300) and you require a reservation at two months in advance with three Michelin stars and has served the All the dignitaries from around the world at his restaurant.

    One of the key learning – Octopus are massaged for forty- Fifty minutes to give the soft texture & Best Tuna & Shrimps are sourced from Tsukiji Market.

    As this documentary was made in 2011 by David Gelb. You might not know by the name. But must have watched or heard about the Chef ’s Table & Street Food Series on Netflix. He is the creator behind these two successful series. Also since it’s been nearly a decade there has a lot happened in those years and have shared the insights as Trivia below.

    Trivia :

      • Tsukiji Market Which is the largest Fishmarket in the world and is known for the TUNA Auction that happens at 5 am to 6:30 am and can be viewed by the tourist. The Tsukiji market has now been relocated to Toyusu and is known as The Toyosu Fish Market.
      • Also, The auction is held on Green floor as Tuna is determined by the red stains and Red stands out on Green Backdrop.
      • Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo is now open reservations only from regulars, people with “special connections,” or those who use a luxury-hotel concierge
      • Restaurant has also lost it’s Michelin Stars.
      • Jiro Ono is the Worlds oldest chef alive at 95. 

    American Factory

    A Story about a  Chinese Billionaire opening up a Factory in The United States of America and the conflicts between the American labourers & Chinese working styles are highlighted in this documentary. This is an interesting documentary to understanding the challenges the two nations face & the difference in working styles.

    The Game Changer

    The lifestyle of going green & vegan is one of the biggest changes today and with the situation, we are all in this is the biggest game-changer. And the ninety-minute documentary-style film worth watching on the streaming platform for both the ones against going green in their diets and ones thinking about changing their diets and for the ones who have always followed this diet. It’s truly one of the biggest Game changers – The Food we are consuming today and the food we should be consuming now.

    McQueen

    Why some designers are considered the well-known one in the industry and how they establish themselves with the competitions in the very competitive fashion industry. Alexander McQueen is a documentary about his early & fast success in the fashion industry and The eccentric styling & fashion showcases he displayed in his period has been one of the influential and aspirational designers to collaborate with and own.

    Untouchables – Harvey Weinstein

    A Hollywood Mogul who exploited his power by taking advantages of an aspiring actress who wanted to make it big in the industry. This story is about how he was finally caught after being, The Monster for three decades who successfully owned & managed one of the most successful studios of “Hollywood” Miramax named after his parents and a studio who had quite a few Academy Awards for the films he produced with his brother Bob. This is about the #Metoo movement that was a revolution that started for everybody to speak up, the one’s who was once a victim of harassment not just in Hollywood industry, But in the other industries.