A gentleman in Moscow

 Author: Amor Towles

Love love love this book! It has so many elements in it that it would be hard to list them all. What I loved the most about the book is the expression of the author. Had me laughing half the time. The book does get serious after sometime and at that point you're so invested in the story that you anyway want to read it. The vivid description by the author makes you feel as if you are right there.

The story is about a Count Alexander Rostov who, as his title suggests was a count and hence used to all the luxuries, is now sentenced to house arrest in a hotel. When a Count, he would stay in a suite in the same hotel and now he must live in a 1-room attic. Count is a man of wit and humor; and not one to self-pity. While you feel sad that he is relegated to such a state, his attitude towards it inspires you. He believes in "when life gives you lemon, make lemonade". It is so heartening to see how he lives his life from there on. He comes to a meet a little girl and they become good friends. There is much he learns from this girl. The story also wraps around the events that were happening in Russia around that time (1922).

As I said there are so many aspects to love about the book! I would highly recommend reading it especially if you like to read humor.

In Five Years

 Author: Rebecca Serle

The saddest part of this book was that within the first few pages itself I found out that this book is not up my alley! It is based on a premonition - just not something I believe in :( 

Dannie Kohan always has a plan for the next 5 years. She knows exactly where she will be, what she will be doing. She has the job that she was aiming for, she is engaged about to be married, they know after marriage where they want to live, how many kids they will have and so on. One day she has a dream where she's intimate with a different man. After she wakes up from the dream, she is unable to shake off the picture of the man. She has fallen in love with man in her dreams. That one dream will change the rest of her life. 

Normal People

 Author: Sally Rooney

It was anything but a normal story! I can't believe the high ratings this book had on Amazon and GoodReads! It reminded of hundreds of Bollywood movies that are based on exactly the same skeleton - boy meets girl, they are "only friends" but somehow can never find any partner they can live happily with, they are their true selves only with each other, they do coming back to each other but can never decide to stay together for the rest of their life.

That pretty much sums it up.

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

 Author: Daniel H Pink

Loved reading this book! Very well written and really liked the content!

As the name suggests, the book is about what motivates most people. The author talks about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic true to it's name, comes from within and end of the day, it is what leads to the best work! Extrinsic is when we are motivated by external rewards; also called if-then rewards by the author. In such a case, the doer already knows that "if" they do this, "then" they will get that. The focus in such a case is on finishing the job and not so much on how the job is done. As a result, the doer will try to do whatever it takes to achieve the goal - trying unethical means, lower quality work and so on. Extrinsic motivation can work for routine jobs.

On the other hand, creative work requires intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes when an individual has autonomy be it over the task, the time, the technique and/or the team, they can see the purpose for what they're doing and can hope to achieve mastery.

Towards the end of the book, there are specific suggestions for individuals in various roles as well as organizations.

Nippat (vegan snacks)

 

These were an instant hit at home! I used this recipe - in fact that is my favorite blog for any Karnataka recipe. This was probably the second or the third time I was making them. I'd tried them years back (using some other recipe) and with less experience. It was not a successful experiment. Then this year during holidays I decided to give it a try again. Anytime you try something totally new, be ready to fail and make sure you have lot of patience as it's not going to be easy.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sooji
• 1.5 tsp red chilli powder 
• 1/2 tsp Asafoetida
• 4 tbsp raw peanuts
• 4 tbsp dalia (Roasted gram dal)
• 1.5 salt
• 4 tsp oil + oil for deep frying
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water water

Method

1. Grind the peanuts and roasted gram dal coarsely. I used the food processor to do that.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients. 
3. Heat 4 tsp oil and add it to the above mixture of flour and nuts. Keep aside for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Then, add water little by little to make it a medium dough. Not too hard, not too soft.
5. Divide the dough into 24 pieces to make the Nippatu, the spicy crackers.
6. Heat the oil on a medium heat. For me, setting it to "4" worked. A little less than medium is just right.
7. Grease a parchment paper. Take a piece of dough and roll it out.
8. Roll out 4-5 and then fry them in the oil. Make sure the oil is hot enough. To test, put a tiny piece of dough in the oil and it should float up immediately.
9. Fry it until it turns golden brown color on both sides.

Good Omens

Author: Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

 I had so much fun reading this book! It reminded me of Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. So if you liked that book, I think you will like this too. It is full humor and the kind of humor that I only saw in HHGG!

Crowley is a demon and Aziraphale is an angel. While at odds because of their profession, they do get along well because they are the only two from their world on this earth who have been living on the earth for so long. They have not only adjusted to the lifestyle on Earth but also understand humans. 

There is a book of prophecies, The nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, written 100s of years ago. However, all it's prophecies have come true in one way or another. It says that the world is going to end this Saturday. So the armies of Good and Evil start preparation to come out as winner when the apocalypse happens. Crowley and Aziraphale are not very happy about it because they like to live on Earth. There is something or rather somebody who can prevent this from happening. They can prevent it from happening and they can also make it happen. The armies of Good and Evil search for him, each for their own benefit.

After reading this book I'm tempted to read more from this author. It was sheer joy reading this book!

Silent patient

 Author: Alex Michaelides

This was a good thriller! If you are looking for one then consider adding it to your list! I could not guess till almost the end what was happening (well it could just be me :))!

The book is about Alicia Berenson, a famous painter and Theo Faber, a criminal psychologist. Alicia leading a happy married life, is all of a sudden accused of shooting her husband. Not once, not twice but five times. From then on she refuses to talk, her paintings become sought after and highly valued and at the same time casts bad light on Alicia. 

Theo Faber, is intrigued by Alicia's refusal to talk and wants to take up the challenge of getting her out of this state. Towards that end, he gets a job at the center where Alicia is moved to and gets assigned to her case. His journey with her has less ups and more downs. He gets some breaks where he thinks he's having success and that pumps him up. Only later to find out he has had a setback. Be it Alicia causing self-harm or harming another inmate at the center. His treatment for Alicia consumes his personal and professional life. At the end, he does have success but that changes everything.

It was quite a thrilling book for me and kept me on the edge. One of those books which given time I would have liked to finish in one sitting :)