Book review
Pride and Prejudice: Book review
by Jane Austen
As good a love story as they come. Although, I can’t connect entirely with the setting for I am from a far off land, I can see that the basic emotions of humans wherever they live are the same.The treatment of women, the development of a romantic relationship and every other basic human characteristics run through all civilisations in more or less the same way. This was one of the lessons I learnt from this book.And did I tell that I was enthralled by the romance that happened between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. It was simply epic.
Reviewed by
Nirjhar
Class XII,Sc
Clear Light of Day: Book review
by Anita Desai
I consider Anita Desai’s “Clear Light of Day” as a poetic novel as it considerably deals with symbols and suggestions. Her use of “the house” imagery is at the center which signifies dust, dullness and decay. As the novel begins, you’ll notice that the house of the Das family does not change except decays. Like Anita Desai’s other novels, the setting is Old Delhi. The interesting thing you’ll notice is she skillfully synthesizes the image of house with the lives of the Das family. The house is associated with sickness, dust, and disorder. And for that reason, the “grey” color is described again and again. So, the house reflects the mentality and sickness of the entire Das family. In other words, nobody in the Das household enjoys life, all merely exists! The sickness and disorder pervade in the mind of the family members. This house is exactly in contrast with the house of Haider Ali and that is why Raja gets attracted towards it. For this house of Das family, the symbol of “web” is described which is apt from every point of view. As I say the house does not change but decays, it is fair to remark that because of such sickness and dusty atmosphere of the house everybody feels “suffocated” and that is why they try to find escape in one thing or another. For that reason, Raja is attracted towards Haider Ali’s house. Tara often goes to Mira Mansi and finally, she succeeds in escaping completely by marrying off Bakul. Baba seeks escape in music and plays his gramophone all the time. Bimla becomes the professor of history. In this way, the house plays a vital role behind the escapist nature of the Das household. Anita Desai beautifully describes the state of the Delhi city. Sometimes, the whole city seems to be dead and the houses are referred to in the novel as the “tombs”. The house of the Das family seems to be deserted and therefore, Bimla does not prevent Baba playing his gramophone loudly because she thinks that the silence of the house is more dreadful. For her, the noise produced by Baba’s gramophone gives peace to her. Even when Mr. Das and his wife were alive, they were just like the outsiders as Mr. Das was known for his entrance. The mother was either engrossed in the cards or confined to the bed. That is why Tara sometimes feels that even the ghost of her father could create the noise of papers and nothing else! The decaying aspect of the house is felt on the Das family and this why the whole family gets scattered and only Bim remains with Baba in the “dead house”. This is how, the house has symbolic significance, which plays a major role in the actions and deeds of the Das household and becomes the central episode in the novel.
Reviewed by
Aditya Malik
XII Sc
Indomitable Spirit: Book review
by
Dr.A.PKalam.J Abdul
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul kalam was born on October 15,1931and has the unique honour of being the recipient of the country’s top civilian awards : the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam became he eleventh president of India in July 2002.
The book Indomitable Spirit is an awesome book written by Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam.It is the experience from his own life’s journey from the shores of Rameswaram to the hallowed portals of Rashtrapati Bhawan. In this book Dr.Kalam has showed great respect towards women and says that “womanhood is a beautiful creation of God” and this is explained in chapter-9 (Empowered women) which particularly depicts examples of women who have defied society norms and have done well to rise beyond their expectations. According to him, “there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than that of a teacher” which is explained in chapter-2 (My Teachers). And this is what is liked the most as I aim to become a teacher. It gave me more interest towards that profession. He has great hopes towards the youth of the nation. Indomitable spirit has two components. The first component is that there must be a vision leading to higher goals of achievement.The second component is the ability to overcome all hurdles coming in the way of mission accomplishment.
In this book he tells the young men and women, “success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task in front of you”. Since I conclude that the youngsters should read this book as it is very inspiring, and by reading this book one becomes self – confident courageous and determined.
Reviwed by
Manish
XII Sc
“Freedom is the oxygen of soul”
by TAPTI ROY
This book of Tapti Roy deals with the life of a warrior queen from history – Rani lLkshmibai , who was a figure in the gallery of heroes of the ‘First war of Independence’. Apart from the descriptive events of the freedom struggle,the book also presents the life of common man during the time of British rule in India.It is more than a fiction,realistic more than being dramatic in language.This book deals with the different phases of Rani Lakshmibai’s life – transition from Manikarnika (daughter of Moropant Tambe) to Rani Lakshmibai,queen of Lhansi is depicted very clearly.The life of energetic,vivacious and brave child, brilliant and expert queen is being presented with different versions of same story. As the information is collected from reliable sources, it is a good source of reference too.It salutes the valour of the nation’s heroes who sacrificed their lives to provide the freedom we enjoy today.It presents the chain of historic events which ultimately led to the freedom.We feel the patriotism while reading each and every line of this book and it honours this brave woman who found out her place in history.
Reviewed by
Diksha Singh
IX B
Posted on 08/11/2011, in Book Reviews. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
REVIEW OF STORY BOOK ‘THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK’
The book is a sequel to THE JUNGLE BOOK by RUDYARD KIPLING.It presents further adventures of MOWGLI,the lost boy raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India and brought up on a diet of jngle law,loyalty a fresh meat from the kill.He learns the law of the jungle from his animal friends.It features five stories about mowgli and three unrelated stories,all but one set in india.Also,it contains light poems.This story book contains eight stories in it.I had read all the stories but THE KING’S ANKUS is the more interesting story.These are the four that are never content,that have never been filled since the dews began:-
Jacala’s mouth,and the glut of the Kite,and the hands of the Ape,and the Eyes of Man.
REVIEW of story book “THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK”
The book is a sequel to the jungle book by Ruyard kipling.It present further
adventures of mowgli,the lost boy raised by a pack of wovles in the jungle of
india and brought up on on a diet of jungle law, loyalty and fresh meat from the kill.He learns the law of jungle from his animal friends.It features five stories
about Mowgliand three unrelated stories,all but one set in india.also ,it contain
light poems.there are eight poems in it,but the most instesting storie i like is
The king’s ankus is the most instrsting stoy in yhis book
SMART MEMORY
MEMORY:-Memory is the power of the brain to recall any information that has been stored in it.It is the power to remember something that has been learnt or experienced.Memory is important because if there was no memory,there would be no learning.We will forget things soon after learning them.We will not be able to recall any experience either.
MEMORY FOOD
There is something you can do to help you maintain your mental strength for a long long time:
Eat!That’s right,food can be a powerful cognitive aid.But not just any kind of food.One particular food group you should focus on to maintain your mental health is fruits and vegetables,and lots of them.In a study of elderly people,the participants,who consumed the most fruits and vegetables and the least fat and cholesterol,performed best on cognitive capacity tests.This is probably because fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of antioxidants,which help protect against free-radical damage to many of the body’s cells including brain cells.
Techniques To Improve Memory
Memory is money!
Memory is success!
Memory can improve relationships!
Surprised?Well!A good memory can do all this and much more.It can change the entire course of our lives,it can take us to zenith of success in any area that we wish to conquer,it can make us popular in the society,and it can change the way people think about us.
THE FINAL WORD
One thing that all of us need to remember is that memory is not just about techniques and methods but it has alot to do with self-confidence.If you feel that you can do it,you will be able to do it.There is nothing special about improving memory-anyone can do it.What one needs to remember is that a consistent and sincere effort made towards any self-improvement finally pays off.Insincere and half-hearted attempts,which end within a few weeks,donot make much difference.
good job done. keep it up.
-khaware