Irreverant, lush, evocative, poignant and most decidedly epic. The 8-volume Buddha series by Osama Tezuka, widely revered in Japan as the grandfather of Manga, is a sprawling, awe-inspiring work of art and fiction that is stunning in the scope of its vision and achievement. I jumped a book – and dove straight into book two : The Four Encounters that sees a 13-year old Siddhartha come to terms with the evils in life – the themes of the caste system that draws strict lines of divides in the society, the differences between the rich nobility and the poor mendicants of the streets – and teaches him about the frailty of life and the inevitability of death and introduces him to the concept of the cycles of life. I know I have missed a masterpiece by not having read book one, Kapilavastu but I have resolved to correct that error. Have ordered book 1 and 3. Buddha is in many ways, a confusing series as it crisscrosses across multiple characters and timelines but Tezu...
Foreword: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another moony monday. Today I present to you a brand new feature, Monday Movie Mania !! (Ahem, that name is something I just thought up, so hey this might not be a recurring feature. Don't hold me to this!) When was the last time you enjoyed a movie where the hero is a bearded man-child who is a vagabond and hates responsibilities and lives the free happy life of a hippie. (Don't we all men yearn for this!) Where the heroine is a bright-eyed idealist who falls in love with the idea of a ghost based on a graphic novel. (Do girls like to be like this, I wonder?) And the story? A twisted pretzel of a meandering journey through bohemian lakeside towns and misty hill-stations laden with tea-estates and quaint old-age homes. Possibly never before. Yesterday night, I watched one of the biggest money-spinners of the 2015 Malayalam film industry - a movie called Charlie starring Dulquer Salman and Parvathy . A truly spell-bin...
October seems to be the month for series finales for me! Right on the heels of Mirrored Heavens (Between Earth and Sky) I wrapped up The Fury of the Gods the much-awaited third and final book in this norse-inspired epic fantasy by fan-favorite J ohn Gwynne , known for having his fabulous big fat epic novels ( Faith and Fallen , and the sequel Blood and Bone ) His new trilogy, the Bloodsworn saga is set in an Viking-sque world, still scarred and reeling from the last war between Gods, all of whom are now fallen or lost. The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods sets up the readers for this absolutely compelling nail biting frenzy of a climax, bringing this brilliant tale to a closure. Written across multiple narratives, the readers follow the fate of the lead characters, damaged and scarred by their life experiences, as their world Vigrid comes under attack yet again with colossal powers rising up from dead, set to clash with each other. By...
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