The Book Quill

We all have read the famous Mahabharata in school or heard by our parent or grandparents. The valour of great men being glorified, with their righteousness and dedication. Their commitment and chivalry, their sorrows and achievements. But what about the women? Their voice was curbed and they were there in the backdrop as supportive actors to make the men look good, I guess. The Mahabharata , never before comes with the voice of a woman and her perspective. Draupadi, tells her tale as she is born from fire with his brother Dhri and is prophesised to bring about the biggest and disastrous turn of events in history. She grows up telling her story about how she lived in the palace, being a princess, about her aspirations and desires. It merely comes out as a tale of a girl caught in the dilemmas of life. Panchaali (Draupadi’s another name), is constantly perplexed by the future she and her brother holds. She, having a progressive outlook criticises and condemns a lot of patriarchal stanc...

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is the third sequel to the Salander series preceded by The Girl Who Played With Fire. For all the Larsson fans, this book is obviously a must to achieve Nirvana, by knowing what really happens to Salander in the end (you have to read the second part). The previous book leaves us scratching our heads to know what happens next and, as soon as I grabbed a copy to the sequel I was hooked. The book opens with Salander in the hospital, severely injured with multiple fractures. She is constantly drifting in and out of consciousness and just able to grab pieces of information that people around her are talking about. She is frustrated with this, and as soon as she regains complete consciousness she starts planning to get out of the hospital and the country. The police have been looking for her for two murders. She doesn’t want to end up in jail, nor in a mental asylum. The story starts unfolding the series of secrets that the Sweden security police has...