80 Not Out by Dickie Bird
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you read a book where Dickie Bird is praising Bob Paisley, saying how humble a man the Scouser was, you know you have something special in your hand.
This book is a running commentary on how to stay humble even when people know you, recognize you and clamour for your autograph.
It also acts as a guide for people looking for ways to stay humble, even after receiving truckload of honors, including a couple from Her Majesty.
It can also serve as a textbook for those looking to keep their feet firmly on the ground, after coming to know that they have been appointed the President of World famous county cricket club.
It should be regularly given to sport stars(the ones with super inflated ego, basically each one of them) so that they may remember how to lead a “normal” life.
It should also be given to budding writers, to realize that a great book can be written by using common words, phrases, sentences etc.

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Modi Mandate 2019: Dispatches from Ground Zero by Pradeep Bhandari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5/5

What worked for me:
1. The length of the book : Thankfully the author kept the book short and all the chapters were precise and too the point.
2. Academic : If you are looking for juicy tidbits on inner workings of any political party then you wont get it here. This is much more about constituencies, their caste combinations, the vote transfers etc.
3. Reach : If the author is to be believed, then he and his team had surely reached out to almost all the constituencies in the country, and ended up predicting the numbers quite accurately.

What didn't work for me:
1. Boring : This feels like an academic work, with no view into the inner mechanisms of the parties. We don't get to know about the strategies or the logistical challenges faced by them.
2. Weak writing style : The book feels repetitive. The phrases are repetitive, it feels that if you have read about one state you know all the other states.
3. Bengal : The author wants me to believe that everyone he managed to interview spoke Hindi in West Bengal. That's pretty unbelievable for me.

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My Adventures with Satyajit Ray: The Making of Shatranj Ke Khilari by Suresh Jindal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5/5

What worked for me:
1. The bag of information which is presented to us.
2. The book gives us a glimpse into the professional life of a film producer.
3. The letters add a personal touch to the whole book. Instead of using a narrative style, the letters almost makes the reader feel that he/she is privy to their conversation.
4. The photographs, their quality and their numbers.

What didn't work for me:
1. The letters do not shed any light as to the selection process of many of the artistes. As to why they were chosen, or some of them were rejected.
2. I guess, some of Mr. Jindal's letters are missing, as quite a few times we can feel that the letters of Ray did elicit an answer from the author, but there aren't any letter to support that view. Maybe he had used the telephone.

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Pretty Things by Janelle Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three point review:
-Nothing out of the ordinary, plot wise, but it did have some nice twists.
-Characters were few, and they were perfectly tailored for a thriller.
-Cloud have done with a little bit of editing and shortening of length.

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Let Me Say it Now by Rakesh Maria
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What worked for me:
1. Everything. The fluid writing style, the details, the arrangement of the chapters...everything was tailor made to make the reader feel at ease, while sitting on the edge of the seat.

What didn't work for me:
1. Nothing, except that the book should have had some snaps. Some pictures from his life would have been a pleasant addition.

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