Sharath's book reviews

Invaders and Infidels (Book 1): From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions by Sandeep Balakrishna My rating: 5 of 5 stars Around 6th century AD, after the advent of Islam, there were tectonic shifts in the geopolitical landscape of the world. Within a 100 years, invading Arab armies had marched all the way to North Africa, conquering most of Iran,Iraq,Syria,Damascus,Yamen. They were staring hungrily at Bharatavarsha. For one, they had heard of the immense riches of India. And secondly, it was the "den of infidelity and idolators". The two factors equally spurred the ambition of the blood thirsty Arab invaders. Multiple attempts at trying to make inroads into India was met with stiff resistance and the Arabs realized they were no match for the fabled warriors of Bharatavarsha. However around 7th century AD, a man who was blessed with an equal measure of cruelty and determination by the name of Hajjaj, rose to the position of the Governor of Iraq under th...

 26th January 2021. Like so many proud Indians, I woke up excited. I wanted to watch the Republic Day parade! The cream of the Indian army would march with clockwork precision. The tanks. The BSF Camel division, where beautifully decked camels would march in unison. The wonderful tableaus! After breakfast I wanted to rest for a while. Therefore I took a small nap. I then walked into the hall, had one look at the television and was shell shocked! Hordes of "Farmers" were invading the Red Fort. Many of them appeared to belong to the Sikh community. Many of the "protesters" were displaying wired flags, flags I had not seen before. Yellow flags. Green Flags. Many appeared to be orthodox Sikhs. A couple of rogues eventually removed the "Tiranga", the Indian flag and raised another flag in it's place. This was one of the most shameful incidents I had witnessed. I was enraged! The Delhi police seemed to be grappling with the situation in the best way possible...

There are a lot of books that are enriching and teach life lessons. This may not be one of them! But if you are open to it, you can learn from anything life throws at you! Even a horror story! 'It' is a "King" size novel that I am talking about! Sometimes it bores you to death by talking about death! "It" is a book by Stephen King. It was made into 2 movies which were released by Warner Brothers quite recently. It garnered quite a bit of praise and attention. As one of those bibliophiles who want to read "It" before watching "It" on the big screen, I did not watch the movies. Now finally I can watch them, but after reading the book, I am not really inclined  to do so!  Here's why! Stephen King is a very popular author. He is the "King" of horror genre. I read a couple of his books hearing people praising him  to no end! The most recent book I read was "It".  Stephen King is from Maine! And the book is all about a s...