The Blog of Small Things

Name :  The stranger in the mirror Author : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Year of Publication : 2021 Genre : Non-fiction, Cinema, Memoir Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5) The celebrated auteur Rakeysh Mehra pens a memoir on his life and career with a narrative that mirrors his storytelling in movies. The non-linear narrative, peppered with perspectives of other partners in cinema, does not disorient the reader - rather it adds to the readability and provides a wholesome experience. While too much detailing of his personal life is rather gratuitous, his experiences in making classics like Delhi-6 and Rang De Basanti are page-turners. Of late he has not done movies which match up to his earlier stratospheric standards and yet this delightful peek into his filmmaking and thought processes assure that he will bounce back sooner than later.  

  Name :  Five Little Pigs/Mrs.McGinty's Dead/Hercule Poirot's Christmas Author : Agatha Christie Year of Publication : 1942/1952/1938 Genre : Fiction, Thriller , Detective Fiction Rating : **** (4 stars out of 5) Rereading of Agatha Christie's classic whodunnits after nearly 14 years is indeed nostalgic and satisfying. The three novels referred to have all the familiar Agatha Christie tropes such as : A crime , Poirot's vacation disturbed, all witnesses formally questioned by the Police, Poirot interacting with the same characters informally and extracting more, clever red herrings and the final climax twist. The strength of Agatha Christie lies in that despite anticipating a huge twist, one cannot really guess the same and once the twist is revealed, it is doubly gratifying to flip through the entire novel and be surprised by how the clues are planted or how all the loose ends have been tied up. A world away from reality but what a world to escape into.

  Name : Vaasipadhu Epadi ? Author : Selventhiran Year of Publication : 2020 Genre : Non-Fiction , Reading Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5) The book is aimed as a primer for students who are otherwise lost in the smartphone world of ephemeral pleasures. The book is passionately evangelical in trying to convert the present lot of youngsters into the secular religion of reading books. Though the author oversells the habit of reading newspapers, the book is an important and essential book in the hands of every Tamil parent and student. A philistine Tamil society is in the making and books like these are the first guard of defence against it.