LOL: Life Of Leo

Image Source A lot has been said and written about what women want, but what about what they don’t want? Interestingly, when searching for references, most results focus on relationships: what women don’t want in a partner, in a man, or what they don’t want men to know. It’s curious, isn’t it? The internet seems to suggest that a woman's desires or aversions are primarily tied to their relationships with men. How about we prove it wrong? A couple of years ago, when my partner and I were vacationing in Singapore, we visited a Chinese temple there. The men in the group visited the prayer hall first to seek blessing of a certain baba, while the women had to wait outside until this was done. Well, it was not without entertainment. A group of women, of all ages, were there to impart knowledge to the women assembled there. We were given chairs to sit down and while they all stood in a make-believe stage. After having the assembled group to guess the ages of the women on stage (I still do...

Image Source Don't judge me, don't ask me why, but I recently started watching this show on Netflix called Dubai Bling. Half way through the most ridiculous first episode, I stopped and asked myself as to why I was doing this. There was a plethora of other content out there, but yet I decided to watch this one. Honestly, I was just curious and I thought it was about the magnificent city of Dubai. I do love watching documentaries on big cities, mega kitchens, crime, famous personalities etc. Turns out, it is a reality show about a bunch of richie richs' of Dubai. A woman who lives pretty much in a palace, but wants to move to a bigger place due to lack of closet space. Her Indian husband smartly asks her to have another baby and expand the family before expanding the home. There is a female real estate Mogul who feels the need to repeat "I came to Dubai from Lebanon with $300 and I'm a millionaire today" time and again. She also happens to be the co-owner or so...

Image Source Since the pandemic, if there is a Bollywood movie that was shoved into our faces promoted immensely, it has to be Atrangi re. From Sara Ali Khan dancing in every possible location, be it trees or on water, to people copying her Chakachak moves, this movie was everywhere on Social Media. Personally, I think that Sara Ali Khan is a decent actress, but picks the wrong movies. If you think she was annoying in Love Aaj Kal, she takes it up a notch with Atrangi Re. The movie does live up to its name in terms of ample color strewn around, but what makes the movie unintentionally funny is the colors of people. Before I talk about what I thought of this one, let me give you the gist of the movie. Vishu (Dhanush) is from Madurai and is studying to be a doctor in Delhi. Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) is an orphan from Bihar, hated and abused by her family members and happens to be a serial eloper. She's runaway ample times to be with her long-term boyfriend, Sajjad Ali Khan (Akshay Kumar...

Image Source I started blogging in 2009, reasons behind it were important back then but not now. Writing was an outlet and the concept of blogging was quite new back then and people were thrilled to write, read, comment and give away a plethora of blogging awards. It used to be all personal and thought-sharing back then. With time, it became a business. Blogging contests were a challenge to the mind of a writing novice, but the eyes were always on the prize. Blogging communities came up with many money making ideas and honestly, all of them did work. Prizes and vouchers were given away at the drop of a hat and for an article written just for the sake of it. Personalization gave way to commercialization. Ample time was spent on research of topics we did not care about, but had to write about. Deadlines and version revisions took away the simplistic joy of writing, but not without giving you more moolah than you bargained for.

Image Source My last post spoke about my renewed love for love stories, chick-lits or rom-coms or anything else you might want to call it. While I have warmed up to reading them, watching them is something I'm slowly inching my way through. One of the things that I did not mention in my last post is that my repulsion to romantic reads was triggered by Jane Austen. I've read almost all her books with the hope of finding something good in at least one of them. Sense and Sensibility was the only book of hers that I did not hate. I did not like it, but I did not hate it either. Don't even get me started on her other books. So, when a show called Bridgerton hit our screens and everyone immediately went gaga over it, I watched its trailer. It was as Austenesque as it could get and while everything inside me told me not to watch it, the curious Lioness in me wanted to watch it to see what the hype was all about. Based on Julia Quinn's novels, Bridgerton is the story of the Br...

Title: Leave The World Behind Author: Rumaan Alam Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Format: Audiobook Genre: Dystopian/Science Fiction/Suspense Price: Rs. 569 on Audible Listening Time: 7 hours and 25 minutes Narrator: Marin Ireland It has been a while since I reviewed a book that I did not enjoy. I usually prefer to talk about a book that I loved, so that it becomes a recommendation for my readers. Occasionally, I also review books that I did not like at all with the hope of saving the time and effort of others by telling them to not pick it up. Funnily enough, this books doesn't fall on either end of the spectrum. In fact, this book doesn't belong on the spectrum at all. 'Weird' is a word that I do not like to use often, but if you ask me to describe this book in one word, it would be that.

Title: The Far Field Author: Madhuri Vijay Publisher: Fourth Estate India (12 July 2019) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Price: Rs. 472 on Amazon Pages: 440 Award winning books are a tricky read, you either love them or hate them. After abandoning 'The White Tiger' and 'The God of Small Things' after a chapter or two, I never thought I'll go back to reading award winning books. This year, since I wanted to read diverse books, I've been open to reading them. The Booker Prize winning 'Girl, Woman, Other' was a splendid read and it gave me the boost to go ahead and read more of them. This book won the JCB Award in 2019 and I had bought the book back in November, but never got to reading it. Although, the reason I bought the book was its gorgeous cover! The reviews I read of this was mixed and hence this book remained on my shelf for a while. This month, I picked it up with zero expectations.

Title: All The Light We Cannot See Author: Anthony Doerr Publisher: Fourth Estate (10 December 2015) Genre: Historical Fiction Price: Rs. 467 on Amazon Pages: 544 This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2015. I bought the book almost immediately, but only got to reading it last month. I only started reading historical fiction a few years ago and today it is one of my most favorite genres. I have read so many books on WWII and it definitely is a period that has some heart-wrenching and heart-warming stories. All The Light We Cannot See is no less.

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid Publisher:  Cornerstone Digital; 01 edition (5 March 2019) Genre: Historical Fiction Price: Rs. 268 for the Kindle Edition Pages: 335 This book created quite a stir last year and when Naba included it in her 15 best reads of 2019 , I knew I had to read it too. I picked it up sometime back then but only got to reading it this month. This book was showcased on every social media platform for months and everything about this book felt so good. Sex, drugs, rock n roll! What can go wrong, right?

Image Source Title: Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors Author: Sonali Dev Publisher: HarperCollins (31 May 2019) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Price: Rs. 499 on Amazon Pages: 496 A year ago I saw this book doing the rounds on social media and while I normally do not pick up books by Indian authors just based on recommendation, I decided to give this a try as I planned on reading more Indian authors in 2020. This book has a bright, vibrant cover and the story kind of intrigued me. I'll tell you why. It claimed to be a gender swapped, modern day retelling of the classic, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. This put me in a tight spot because of a catch. Two actually. One, I hate retelling of stories. They take away the essence of the original and leave behind a lukewarm diluted tale. Second, I hate Jane Austen stories. I've read almost all her books with the hope of liking at least one. The closest I've come to liking one was 'Sense And Sensibility'....

Image Source Title: 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds In This Strange World Author: Elif Shafak Publisher: Penguin UK (10 July 2019) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Price: Rs. 699 on Amazon Pages: 320 There are some authors you can trust blindly. More than their stories, you like them for the way they write. For the way it touches your soul. For the poetic beauty it possesses. For the picture it paints in your mind. For the spark it leaves behind. For the relatability. For the much needed human touch. Elif Shafak is one such writer. After ' The Forty Rules Of Love ', this is her second book that I read. I still have to catch up on all her other books and I soon will.

Image Source Title: Where The Crawdads Sing Author: Delia Owens Publisher: Corsair; 01 edition (8 November 2018) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Price: Rs. 299 on Amazon for the Kindle edition Pages: 379 This was another book that I picked up due to high praise it received all over social media. I had never heard of the author or the book until then. I've been taking such risks quite often these days and my to-be-read pile has surpassed my read pile now. I have no regrets though. I always planned on buying a second book shelf that went from the floor to the ceiling. Looks like I have to get to it soon.

Image Source Like I said in my last post , I have a lot of unfinished posts on my laptop, but I chose to start with this one. I know this post would be controversial and I might lose some readers in the bargain. But, this is something I have to say. This is not a sponsored post and is just an opinion from a person who is a lover of movies. That's why I'll start by saying, as a person who appreciates good movies and good acting, I loved Kabir Singh. Yes, I did.

Image Source Title: The Golem And The Djinni Author: Helene Wecker Publisher: The Borough Press (15 August 2013) Genre: Fantasy/Myth/Legends & Sagas Price: Rs. 230 on Amazon for the Kindle edition Pages: 675 Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the fantasy genre. Exactly why I stayed away from the Harry Potter series while growing up. I was very happy with my Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steel and Jeffery Archer books and thought that I would not enjoy fantasy fiction. A couple of years ago, coaxed by friends, I read the Harry Potter series with absolutely no expectations. But, I fell in love with it. While it was more to do with the author's imagination and writing prowess and less to do with the genre, I still felt that fantasy was interesting.

Image Source Title: The Unlikely Adventures Of The Shergill Sisters Author: Balli Kaur Jaswal Publisher: HarperCollins India; 1 edition (30 June 2019) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Price: Rs. 310 on Amazon Pages: 320

Image Source Title: My Sister, The Serial Killer Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite Publisher: Atlantic Books (10 December 2018) Genre: Crime, Thriller & Mystery Price: Rs. 336 on Amazon Pages: 240 Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019, Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 and the Winner of the LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller 2019, and yet, I bought this book solely for the intriguing title. It is not very often that you come across a book where the story is given away in the title. I wanted to know more about it, hence I sat down to read this one.

Image Source A friend and I recently watched 'Lust Stories' together and we were going " What the F*ck " every alternate minute. Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar come together after the mind-numbing ' Bombay Talkies ' to create another anthology that highlights lust! Okay, if it was not clear already, it focuses only on the female side of the story. The idea was to talk about how the sexual desires of women are important too and a woman should do everything that she can to feel, err, satisfied. It is a nice thought, no doubt. About time people recognize women as equals in every sphere of life, not only sexuality. What bothers me, however, is that every time a movie is made on independent women or the concept of feminism, it always revolves only around sex. There is so much more to a woman than her desires and sexuality. I agree sex is really vital for both men and women, but one cannot be defined just by their sexuality. What...

Image Source Title: Men Without Women Author: Haruki Murakami Publisher: Vintage (27 September 2018) Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Short Stories Price: Rs. 350 on Amazon Pages: 240

Image Source Title: The Color Purple Author: Alice Walker Publisher: Phoenix (1 December 2010) Genre: Classic Fiction Price: Rs. 378 on Amazon Pages: 272 I have no idea how I came across this book. When I was looking at books to read during breaks at work, I found a PDF copy of this one in my ebooks list. When I started reading it, I did not know that it would one of the best reads of the year for me. This book tugs into your heart and soul, breaks you into a million pieces and then puts you back together again. Albeit differently.

Image Source Title: Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows Author: Balli Kaur Jaswal Publisher: Harper Collins (24 March 2017) Genre: Fiction Price: Rs. 300 on Amazon Pages: 320