It is July already and half of 2018 has already gone by! Where is the time going ? I have been consistent with my reading and posting them here and so no slumps there, touch-wood! So, here’s what I read in June. And for a change I read these from kindle rather than the paperback copies. Why? Because I found them for dirt cheap prices. I remember buying 6 books. So here are the three I read in June.
Autobiography of a sex worker – By Nalini Jameela
Kindleandkompass Rating : 2/5
A friend of mine had once told me about this book. I was interested and curious to know about the life of the people who are considered immoral and undignified just for the profession they choose to earn their bread and butter. Autobiography of a sex worker is about a girl born in a small village in Kerala who is made to drop out of school at a very young age. When responsibilities land on her shoulders, she is in need for money and ends up in the flesh trade to make ends meet. Nalini has put it black and white, the hardships in the life of a sex worker, police atrocities, her illness, mothering a girl child, her involvement as an activist and her experiences as a film maker. The language is very simple, the narration is raw and it has no structure, randomly written thoughts and experiences. Editing mistakes with too many names and an abrupt end makes the book score a two star.
Why men and women cannot be friends – By Oliver Markus Malloy
Kindleandkompass Rating : 3/5
I don’t really remember how I ended up buying this from the kindle store. This book basically speaks about the question has existed for ages – “Can men and women be friends?” The author makes it uncomplicated by saying a NO. The crux is, if a guy woos a woman, befriends her, then his ulterior motive is sex!!! He speaks about some undeniable truths and facts in a man-woman relationship with no mincing words. As you read you will find yourself nodding your head in agreement to what Oliver writes. He uses facts from the past and the present to support his writing. Some were eye rolling while some were outspoken that many cannot digest and may find offensive. Here is an excerpt from the book.
Men are not into romance. We only pretend to be into romance for the benefit of women. Romance is something we men do to woo women. Romance is hard work for us. To a man, reading about romance is not only totally unrealistic, but also boring. It’s like reading about work. How thrilling would a book about ironing be to you? Now imagine if the heroine in the book was much better at ironing than you, and reading about her perfect ironing skills made you feel pretty inadequate by comparison. … More than 90% of romance readers are women. It’s a book genre entirely geared towards women, the same way Valentine’s Day flowers are geared towards women. We men have as much interest in reading about romance as we have in receiving flowers. Close to zero.
Giving it a 3 star for the honest writing and keeping it short and crisp.
When the road beckons – By Ravi Manoram
Kindleandkompass Rating :2/5
This is the third and the last book I managed to read in June. Slumped initially, but I kept reading at my own pace. This book is the author’s travelogue to Leh-Ladakh. He writes about his experiences in travelling all the way from Delhi to Ladakh on his Thunderbird. The mountain roads, snow – peaks, landfalls, passing the narrow mountain passes, monks, chortens, yogis and hippies may sound interesting to people who have not undertaken a trip to Ladakh. While the first half of the book speaks more about his journey, the second half becomes more of a religious and spiritual rant, which I really did not enjoy, but skimmed through. The monologues could have been kept short. His encounters with various women, falling in love and bedding them are too elaborate. There were lots of episodes repeated with phrases like ” tears rolled down my cheeks”. Like seriously, do men cry so often ? Somehow, I did not really enjoy the book as much as it appeared to be. So, giving it a 2 star. I was totally carried away by the front cover and the slashed price!!!
Okay, so that’s it from the June month reading. I received a whole bunch of books as gifts for my birthday and I have decided on the 3 books to be read in July. I have decided to take a week’s break, watch some animation movies and then resume.
So, tell me, do you plan your read at the start of amonth or just pick as you find new books? And if you wish to buy any of these books for reading, find the amazon links to these right here!
Thank you for the reviews Rama
Thank you Kurian,for stopping by to read 🙂
You are welcome. I am happy that I got to read your posts
I haven’t heard of any of these books. Too bad you didn’t love any of them.
They were kinda okay reads – just did not align with what we believe in. May be some other reader with a though process closer to the authors would enjoy it better. Not our piece of cake though 🙂
Looks like you had a great June. In answer to Oliver Markus Malloy , yes men and women can be friends. I grew up with more male friends than female friends (I was in the cadets as a child). I’m still friends with the men now we are in our 40’s. This author talks rubbish.
Again, probably another author who wrote from his experiences 🙂 you never know – we all have atleast some male friend who can be our best friend and remain one. Not all men have that one motive in befriending women..
Looks like you had a tough reading month, I hope July is filled with 4 & 5 star reviews!
Haha… Happens! But then books are books. We find it hard to put it down without finishing, so we strive hard to finish no matter what. We do hope for the better in July!
I hardly DNF too, I just can’t do it 🙈
Oh man that snippet from Why men and women cannot be friends stirred up all kinds of anger in me. Why would a book about something a woman has to do have to be ironing? Women do a million different things it could have been a book about anything but the example had to be housework? Half the women I know don’t even do housework. Friendship is friendship, gender is irrelevant and not every guy has an ulterior motive. Sorry, mini-rant over. Congrats on getting three books in, that’s a struggle for me these days!
Apparently the author had to write with whatever limited knowledge of women he had 🙂 So he kind of stereotyped all women into romance loving readers living in a dream world. So now you know why probably you should give this book a skip! Good luck reading a lot of books this summer 😉
When I saw the covers I thought I might be adding the Autobiography of a Sex Worker and Why Men and Women Can’t be Friends to my TBR. Now i’m thinking I’ll pass on both. Great honest reviews.
True.. The titles definitely made a lot of sense but then you read it and realise it isnt really what you were looking for! Glad that we could be of help to stay away 🙂
Oh no! Sorry your June books weren’t so great. As for me, I kind of read on a whim.
We hope the books we have picked for July do not disappoint 🙂 Happy reading to you too!
Shucks – looks like you had a lackluster month for reading
Some birthday reading for sure 🙂 Hoping that July reads are better!!!
Thanks for sharing! I was intrigued by the Autobiography of a Sex Worker, but I may pass on it. I hope July is a better month !
It is still probably worthy of one quick read, but now you know what to expect 🙂
That excerpt had me rolling. “Imagine the main character was much better at ironing than you…” hahahaha
hahaha 🙂 Glad it brought a smile to your face
I hope that your next reads are more enjoyable.
Thank you.. I have already finished two for this month and I totally enjoyed 🙂
The titles are at least catchy but it didn’t seem to have anything else going for them. Still thankful for you reviews.
Oh yeah.. we were carried away by the titles too 🙁