en-US Sun, 28 Jan 2024 08:37:06 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review6212734529 Sun, 28 Jan 2024 08:37:06 -0800 /review/show/6212734529 Tara gave 4 stars to Cold Steel: Lakshmi Mittal and the Multi-Billion-Dollar Battle for a Global Empire (Paperback) by Tim Bouquet
The book tells the story of the war-like hostile takeover of Arcelor by Mittal Steel. It claims to read like a thriller but somewhere falls short of its claim, but even then a pretty interesting read and a page turner. The business calls, battles, ego tussles and decisions were all interesting to read. The Mittal clan emerged victorious and rightly therefore touted as hero of the story. But the authors tilted a bit too much on the Mittal’s side, not revealing the murkier business and plotting on the acquirer side.

Where the book has a clear and vivid description of meetings, mannerisms, strategies and decision-making process on the Arcelor side. It fell short of giving the same insight into the Mittal side. They seemed to have solutions pulled out of nowhere to every defence of Arcelor against the hostile bid. And even though it seemed like there is a dirty business going on at Mittal’s side too, it was never revealed. You keep wanting to know more of the story on that side. For example, how the ‘Dirty Thirty
Letter� was conceptualised was never brought to light. It was just brought in like a magician pulling a pigeon out of his hat. May be that’s because of the interviews and stories that the authors could gather. ]]> Review6010859492 Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:20:38 -0800 /review/show/6010859492 Tara gave 5 stars to Unit 731 Testimony: Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program (Paperback) by Hal Gold
I identified Japan for all good and flowery things - anime, manga, sushi, sumo, sakura (cherry blossoms), peaceful shrines, futuristic gadgets and a country with strong economy and rooted in deep cultural values.

But Japan also hides beneath stories of death, destruction, biological warfare, human experimentation. And Japan hid it well. It successfully prevented the right questions from being asked, to be discussed publicly, or to form part of the popular literature.

From opening up human bodies - without anesthesia, conducting frostbite experiments on infants, dissecting alive humans; dehumanizing humans and referring them as marutas (logs): Japan did it all. What started off as a defensive program, to save soldiers from dying due to unhygienic surroundings and infections during wartime, the baby of scientific experiments that Japan fostered soon became a monster and still haunts the Japanese history.


]]> Review6010857635 Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:18:37 -0800 /review/show/6010857635 Tara gave 5 stars to The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Hardcover) by Charles Duhigg
The book explores how habits are formed and the transformative results - both positive and negative- habits can bring. It has amazing stories of how a CEO transformed an aluminum manufacturing company; how a store chain increased its sale tracing buying habits of its customers and many more.

The book also has lessons on how habits can be initiated and changed. But I was too engrossed in the stories :p and read it over such a long time that any such lesson eludes me now. I simply loved reading the book, a good mix of stories and scientific research about brain and human behaviour. ]]> Comment267592326 Mon, 06 Nov 2023 23:59:38 -0800 /review/show/5701104833 Tara's review of The Summons
by John Grisham

Dheeraj wrote: "1 star ?? Lol"

Dheeraj wrote: "1 star ?? Lol"

this is also too much for this book ]]> Review5959816296 Mon, 06 Nov 2023 23:44:11 -0800 /review/show/5959816296 Tara gave 5 stars to Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing (Hardcover) by Matthew Perry
bookshelves: memoir, biography
Could it be any more Chandler like?!

I absolutely loved this book. Earlier on when I started watching friends, I wasn't a fan of Chandler. I used to just see him as a side-character and enjoy the show overall. I could not understand the entire hullabaloo around his character and the jokes and the sarcasm. Then when he came in the main storyline with Monica, I realised the amazingness of his character. Having said that, I always found Chandler cute and good looking and so I used to google Mathew Perry a lot and read about him and his life. But once I finished watching friends, I also stopped reading about him.
Then one fine day he died, and all I could think about Mathew Perry as a person. And then I read his memoir. Perry was right when he said that he was Chandler. For some reason which I am unable to discern and put it in words, my guess is because I loved Chandler, I was in love with his person and his story. I read this book with nothing but love in my heart and appreciation for what Mathew Perry was and what he gave to the world through Chandler.
His struggles with his addiction resonated so much (even though I dont drink and do drugs). It felt like every man fighting any kind of addiction - the addiction to feel happy and cheerful at all times, addiction to a person, addiction to work - the struggles to avoid that creepy, anxious, down feeling. And the things you do to avoid that. It felt like anyone can be in that form of addiction. and every addiction is hard to let go of.
He has narrated his story in a beautiful, funny and amazing manner that I didn't get bored at any point reading it. I loved each page, para and line of the book. ]]> ReadStatus7099792792 Fri, 13 Oct 2023 01:54:38 -0700 /review/show/5905493429 Tara wants to read Open by Andre Agassi
]]> Review5903308601 Wed, 11 Oct 2023 23:17:25 -0700 /review/show/5903308601 Tara has read Istanbul: Memories and the City (Paperback) by Orhan Pamuk
bookshelves: non-fiction
I have always heard stories from people who have visited Istanbul about how beautiful the city is. So when I saw this book lying on the table at my place (it belonged to one of my flatmates), I naturally picked it up. The blurb made it easier for me to decide to read it.
In the book the author describes the city as it interacted with him during his years at Istanbul. I am not very fond of reading description of places without events and stories behind it and so while I enjoyed the portions where he narrates his own childhood, his family and his memories associated with the city; I did not like the plain description of other parts of the city without any story to it. He also narrates the story of other artists - painters and writers who were from Istanbul- which I did not enjoy particularly because I had no background of any of them. And I found the writing style boring to even be interested to read them further. Sometimes I simply skipped those pages.
Orhan Pamuk also deals briefly with the history of Istanbul which again I did not find interesting and immersive to read.
But I really liked the portions from his story and how he wanted to be a painter and decided to become a writer instead. I also immensely enjoyed the way he described his imagination in his childhood. It seemed marvelous bordering on unbelievable for a child of 5-6 years of age to imagine and then remember to narrate it in his later days. But as the author himself admits he is known to exaggerate and happily agrees that he does so in the book as well. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the world created by younger Orhan Pamuk. ]]> Rating645247212 Sun, 10 Sep 2023 03:46:05 -0700 / ]]> Review5832317292 Sun, 10 Sep 2023 03:45:35 -0700 /review/show/5832317292 Tara gave 5 stars to The Deceiver (Paperback) by Frederick Forsyth
]]> Review5832315028 Sun, 10 Sep 2023 03:43:46 -0700 /review/show/5832315028 Tara gave 4 stars to Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (Paperback) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
This book narrates the story of Victor Frankenstein as he conjures and brings to life a ‘man-made human�. He puts in months of his days and nights as he works this scientific miracle only to be detested and abhorred by the creature he has made. He abandons the creature he calls a ‘wretched monster�. Thus starts two parallel journeys one of Victor’s -perpetually haunted and scarred by the thoughts of monster. And that of the monster’s- where you empathise with his need for affection and protection of man. He stands out amongst man and faces violence and rejection which fills him with hatred for human beings and he vows to seek revenge against his creator. And then their world meets where Frankenstein’s monster kills his loved ones one by one.
As I read it, I felt the emotions of both and was left wondering which side I was on. You understand the creature’s thirst for death (quite surprising) and you understand Victor’s vow to kill him. All in all a good and captivating read.
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