Tag: Books

Born a Crime -Trevor Noah Book review!

Born a crime @trevornoah is an interesting read giving insights on how it is growing up in South Africa. 
This book indulges in the stereotypical South African life and it also describes how interesting place South Africa is. The book is titled “Born a Crime” Because in South Africa his mother was black and his father was white…. 

The immortality act 1927 is the reference to why Trevor Noah was born a crime. 

1.Any European male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a native female, and any native male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a European female…Shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonments for a period not exceeding five years …
2.Any native female who permits any European male to have illicit carnal intercourse with her. And any European female who permits any native male to have illicit intercourse with her shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding four years …

The style of the book written is interesting every chapter has a brief summary of what the chapter is about.
South African are divided into different tribes like Zulu, Xhosa,Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Ndebele, Tsonga and Pedi are just a few of them.  
Just like our Indian caste system has the Kshatriya who was known as the warriors & kings The Zulu tribe in South Africa to are known as the Warriors & like the Bhramin priest and the academics the Xhosa are the thinkers in South African tribe. 
Trivia : 

1. Streets  in Johannesburg are named after cars 
Jaguar streets, Ferrari street etc…
2. Rockery street is also known as the main strip in Johannesburg is one of the popular street filled with restaurants & bars.
3. Chinese in South Africa were classified as black and Japanese as white as they wanted Japanese fancy cars & electronic to be imported.


If you want to read something totally different this is the book! Stories from South African childhood. Interestingly this is my second South African author who I have read and realised personal stories are so interesting to read. The 1st South African Book I read was the tales of the metric system by Imraan Coovadia and the blurb of the book had caught me the attention but what lacked in the book was the storytelling. 

Over 10 chapters and 40 years—from 1970 through the end of apartheid, the election of Nelson Mandela, and the 2010 World Cup—multiple narrators provide varying perspectives. Each chapter showcases a short period of time, from a few hours to a day, in a character’s life. The small moments captured by Coovadia are snapshots of South Africa’s cultural change. 

But Trevor Noah doesn’t disappoint you at all. It’s funny, Interestingly told the story of his life in South Africa.

Writers & Readers !!

“If we all are writing,Who’s reading”

A statement,that makes you think,Pause and wonder for a while and makes you believe that the one’s who are aspiring to become better with their writing are reading,The new readers who find it difficult to understand what’s a good written piece are reading , average and below average are reading.

The writers  who are writing are reading too to express their feeling as clearly as possible.

The one’s who are interested in knowing what are the New age problem and what were the problem in the past are reading.

The one’s who are curious are reading.

“Writing is reading” isn’t it?

2017 Reads!!

1984- By George Orwell’s .There is a reason why it’s called a classic and a book you must read.The period when the book was written nearly 50 years ago and even today 50 years later  you can relate to it. The book was on my shelf for nearly 1 and half year.

Into the water:Paula Hawkins the girl on the train Writer is the next mystery thriller writer which you must read once to get hooked.

Pancake in Paris: A book that was on my reading list for about 2 years ever since I heard about it.This book is about a journey you would like to savour and has a long after taste lingering.

Shoe Dog: A brand that you aspired in your childhood is a story of confidence and believing in yourself and chasing your dream by telling yourself Just Do it.

Kohinoor: A diamond that wasn’t forever for India and what’s all is it about! Tracing the historical roots.

The prisoner of geography: Book for the wandering mind to know why the relationship of love-Hate are their amongst the countries and why some of the harsh decisions cannot be taken.Even if they have to be taken.

Men without women by Murakami: Is a short read,telling you what  the world without the opposite sex and vice Versa could be.

These are some of the books I enjoyed,while there are a few others too. But,these were worth mentioning.

Being Human !!

The concept is nice,about having human books (HumanBeings) who are stories,And would like to speak about a specific chapter from their life,Or the whole book could be about them. But, it Could have been more interesting as in stories .

Each reader(Participants) gets to choose his books from the library and has 20 minutes to be the part of a group who too would be interested in knowing the HumanStory. The Books that I read, I Had the time to read only 3 from the shelves,But many off the shelves.

 First one A story about a girl who’s story was about a journey of a restless mind. 

And it was just like any other story Fighting sucide attempts and over coming it. 

The second one about the helpline service available for the sucidal cases and about him,Why did he begin this initiative and the other passions of his life.

The last book was interesting as it was an fascinating story about how the circle of life was complete for him after being born in Mumbai later landing in Belgium village,Travelling to Amsterdam and coming back to this city. And Manages to solve the puzzle of his existence.

Secret Santa Gift !! 

My Secret Santa gift came with a Clause .After sharing my thoughts on what I wanted for Christmas,A secret Santa I guess read my Post and gifted me a Gift Voucher from a popular bookstore near by,And so I couldn’t wait for the next day (Tomorrow) to arrive and spend time at the bookstore,For which I only find reasons to go to and browse through the book collection.And the day had arrived and couldn’t wait for the clock needle to strike at 10:00 am,But to avoid showing any sign of excitement I Had kept myself busy until it was about 10:15 and thought now it would a good time.

As usual first I strolled around each section and scanned the book carefully,Until I felt none of these are really holding my attention to pull them from their shelfs and I went through my notes on book on my reading list, And started enquiring about the availability of some of the titles that I had wish to read from my list,To my disappointment none of them were currently available with the bookstore and the supplier.And don’t know until when , they will be available.

They offered me to go to their bookshop in the hotel around and browse through the books as they have a selected selection to choose from and I might just have a story worth reading.

But,No I did not find any that I would like reading immediately .

in a standalone bookstore “No means no “where as E-Commerce sites No can be a Yes too.

As,The Digital Generation gets used to convince bargains and a choice as per your selection.

It becomes a challenge to pay the Full Price for something same that’s would be Available for a bargain.Hence the Secret Santa’s gift came with a clause.

That I was totally afraid about and had specially mentioned too on my previous blog “Santa Wherever you are”