Goodreads Challenge

Rashmi's books

The Fairy's Tale
The Pride of the Peacock
The Skin Hunters
The Night Blinder
Everything My Mother Taught Me
Zikora: A Short Story
The Hunting Party
Masters of the Broken Watches
Evidence of the Affair
Falling for You
Don't Fade. Breathe Easy.
Don't Panic. Keep Breathing.
Don't Think. Just Breathe.
Giant Days, Vol. 3
Giant Days, Vol. 1
Rustlings of the Spirit
Caught Off Guard
Best Laid Plans
The Fault in Our Stars
All Bets Are Off


Rashmi Binu's favorite books »

The Poison of Love by K R Meera (Translated from Malayalam)

๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ท๐Ÿ…ด ๐Ÿ…ฟ๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ…ธ๐Ÿ†‚๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ…ฝ ๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ…ต ๐Ÿ…ป๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ†…๐Ÿ…ด - by K. R. Meera

Original: Meerasadhu (Malayalam) 
Translated by Ministhy Nair

Read for:
* March Prompt - She Writes for #letsreadmalayalam #readingchallenge by @bookwormandherchild

*Prompt: for #champacareadingchallenge by @champacabooks
08 - with less than 200 pages
22 - written by and translated by a woman

๐— ๐˜† ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜/5 
I cannot use stars for this book. 

๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง ๐™’๐™–๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ: manipulative behaviour and extreme vindictiveness.


๐— ๐˜† ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„:
Tulsi is a bright student with great prospects, coming from a respectable and loving family. And that's until she meets Madhav (a journalist) through her friend Vinay. Everything in her life from there focuses on him - like he is her lodestar. 
She elopes from her engagement (with Vinay) to be with Madhav ….and here begins the story of a 'Meerasadhu'. 

Somewhere this relatable story of a girl in love, a wife , a mother changed into vindictive poison (as indicated by title - expected) of retribution, revenge and madness. The plot is loosely based on the love Meerabhai had toward Kanha.. making him the center of her Universe but twists it in the most toxic of senses.

๐— ๐˜† ๐—œ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€:
K R Meera has done a good job highlighting the toxic, male ego and the twisted way our society works to normalise that male behaviour. 

BUT, and that's a big one - The author herself through this story, nor in her afterword, mentions or encourages women to remove themselves from a toxic environment. Nor does she call out such behaviour and take positive steps to self heal and move on. 

Agreed, this is fiction. But when the author says people walk up to her and relate to the character, a word of positive influence is necessary, given the toxic solutions Tulsi found in the book. 

I'd sure have liked the book a bit more if the author could have used this relatability factor to influence positive change in society.

#rashureads #rashu_reads_reviews #malayalambooks #translatedbooks #indianbooks #indianauthors #bookstagramindia #readinggoals #readingisfundamental #bekindtoyourself #mentalhealthmatters #books2022 #booksiread 

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie


March Read for #bookclub with my book reading buddies, Anjali, Anu and Ramya.

My Rating: ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ/5


This little piggy went to the market.

This little piggy stayed at home.

This little piggy had roast.

This little piggy had none..

And this little piggy went ...

 ....wee wee wee...

..all the way home!


A young woman, wants to revisit the 'solved' case of her Father's death. 

Reason: To prove her Mother's innocence.. years after she was convicted and is dead too. When she approaches Hercule Poirot, what plays in his mind about the people involved is the nursery rhyme! 


Which little piggy got away with Murder - is what he needs to deduce.

My Experience: A good mystery read with more emphasis on the personalities of the characters in the situation.  Poirot's ability to pick through what seems like an everyday conversation and pull out pearls of deductions is super fun!


In the frame: 

* 2008 Harper Collins publication of the book. 

* A Crochet piggy I made #inspiredbybook. My yarn creations can be found at @rashmibinu_saiasmi

#handmade #bookprop #saiasmidreamzinyarn #crochet #amigurumi #rashureads #agathachristie #agathachristiebooks #herculepoirot #bookclubreads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #rashu_reads_reviews #books2022 #booksiread #crafters #readers #readingisfundamental #ilovereading #ilovecrafting


๐‘๐ž๐š๐ ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐”๐ฌ - ๐€๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘

First, I need to tell you why this prompt was chosen. Funnily enough we came across a book in our 2022 reading journey that was ...