How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
How can I put this lightly? Mohsin Hamid is a literary genius and his creativity and distinctive writing style is of nothing I have ever experienced before. I have read one of his other novels, "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", which was thoroughly enjoyable to read.
This novel is told in a second person narrative. As far as I can remember, only one, possibly two of the characters have names. In this story, "You" are the main character, a boy growing up from humble beginnings to a man in ripe old age. "You" are entranced by two major forces in your life: hunger to become filthy rich, and also...love.
I don't really want to give much away but out of the few Pakistani authors I have read the stories of, Mohsin Hamid is by far the best. His narrative and language surpassed that of his contemporary equivalents and the only thing I can add about this book to this review is... READ IT. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I picked up this book from the library because it'd consistently been in the bestseller lists and because I, myself, could be defined as "The girl on the train".
I commute into university daily, spending about 30-50 minutes each way and I love a good thriller novel.
The book follows a woman who has recently lost almost everything her life consisted of... Her partner, her job, her home... and now she is a borderline alcoholic who lodges with a friend. She hasn't told her friend that she has lost her job, so she pretends to go to work everyday, getting the same old train.
She frequently sees the house she once shared with her boyfriend, but what interests her more happens to be his neighbours. A seemingly perfect couple, she gives the man and woman names in her head and likes to spend her train journey fantasising about their lives. That is, until one day, the girl is spotted kissing a different man.
From then on the story unfolds and the point of view is changed from the main character, the girl in her fantasies and her ex's new woman. It is a gripping book that you will have trouble putting down and I would recommend it if it wasn't for how predictable it can be near the end...

Salaam and hi everyone!
I realise my audience here is very small but hopefully you guys can help out with regards to this.
Myself and my family are climbing Ben Nevis to raise money for Imran Khan's cancer hospital. This money will go towards helping those with cancer who are too poor to pay for their medical treatment. Please donate however small and please share this link with others:
https://www.justgiving.com/Cancer-hospital
May Allah reward your generosity

How We Live And Why We Die - The Secret Lives Of Cells

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
I remember picking up this book aged fifteen, thinking it would give me a philosophical insight into my life. I was wrong, but fortunately this book does give the reader insight into microbiology and how cells work.
I picked this book up properly and ended up completing it aged 20, whilst in my first year of university studying pharmacy. It was an interesting book, but not amazingly interesting, Some of the methods of explanation were tenuous and I remember finding this book slightly difficult to follow when I was fifteen years old, with only the knowledge of GCSE biology to help me out.
GCSE to A level biology gets a lot more complicated, and even more so once you're at university, so reading it aged 20 I had no problem understanding it. I would say, however, please think about picking up a textbook before delving into this book. There are no diagrams and everything is explained using words alone, which is not how to teach biology. Sure, you can describe how telomeres shorten, but how is anyone going to grasp where the telomeres are when you can't even describe the morphology of a chromosome?
The book starts with a basic history of medicine, starting with the Greeks and their belief that we had 4 "humours" and that disease was caused by an imbalance of one or more of them. Black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm were (according to the Greeks) these so called "humours". The book then goes on to describe how we now know better, thanks to the discoveries of Robert Hooke and the like. After the basic concepts are put in place, the bigger questions are asked; What makes us age? What causes cancer? What causes life?
I would recommend this book to anyone studying biology to a relatively advanced level, because once you're confused there is no turning back, sadly. You'll just drop the book and pick up something else.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
After reading and watching Gone Girl, I was eager to read more of Flynn. Her talent for writing dark, gritty, angsty fiction is amazing and this novel exceeded my expectations.
In this story, the main character is a journalist whom returns to her home town to investigate the two murders of young girls. Once they were dead, the murderer removed the girls' teeth.
To put it lightly without causing a spoiler, the main character has issues of her own within her own family. She is lucky to be of wealth but the relationship she has with her mother seems bitter and somewhat toxic. She also has a younger half sister who is 13 years old but acts much older than her mere teenage years. She is the "queen bee" figure at school and is very sexually active amongst being a bully and drug user.
The protagonist befriends a policeman who is working on the case and together they unwrap the case piece by piece.
This is definitely a book to keep reading until the end, because the ending is shocking and I could never imagined the story to end the way it did. I would like to talk more about his book, but I won't, purely because I don't want to put in any spoilers!

Frequency of reviews

Book review posted on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month. 

Contact if there are any books you would like me to review! 😊
Please note the frequency of reviews may change with regards to when I have studying or work commitments. 

In Search of Scrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality by John Gribbin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Wow this book messed with my brain. I've always hated physics, even doing mechanics as part of my mathematics A level. I also tend to read fiction a lot more than non-fiction, so I had to approach this book with an open mind.
And boy did this book blow my mind. Complex physical concepts were explained at ease and were made assessable to my physics-hating mind. The history and people involved in the scientific discoveries were also described well and although I can't remember a lot about this book, I know that if I were to pick it up again I would enjoy it as thoroughly and I enjoyed it the first time.
A few weeks after finishing this book I made friends with a physics graduate who is now training to become a teacher and I was impressed by the fact I could discuss quantum physics with him, whilst our friends stared at us as if we were speaking a foreign language!
The geek in me is what loved this book, although it grew a bit tiresome at the end. Before this book I was completely ignorant of all the applications of quantum mechanics. The very keyboard I am typing on and the television I am trying to ignore were all made using this exact science.
Whether you're a physics buff or, like me, are completely clueless when it comes to quantum theory, I would highly recommend this book if you'd like to expand your knowledge on the science of reality.
Prepare to get mind-fucked!

The Revenant by Michael Punke

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
The subtitle for this book (well, my copy at least) says on the front, "A novel of revenge". It also defines the term "revenant" as "Someone who returns, as if from the dead".
Without giving too much away about the plot, these two terms describe the novel very well.
The story is set in the 1800s and follows a group of men who work for some kind of fur company. It wasn't particularly clear to me what they were doing in the wilderness, but from the name of their employer I guessed they were transferring furs from one area of America to another.
Captain Henry is the leader of this group of men and they cover a large amount of ground every day, even hunting for their own food and cooking it on a camp fire - before the days of microwaves!

One day, however, Hugh Glass, a member of the group, comes face to face with a bear. The bear mauls him and he somehow survives, killing the bear. He is heavily injured when his colleagues find him and they assume he will die in a few hours or days. This being said, Captain Henry still sews up his wounds on his neck and back with some thread. After a while, it is decided that the group of men need to continue their quest, which puts them at a dilemma because Glass is much too heavy to carry around with them; he'll slow them down considerably.

With the group agreeing that Glass deserves to die in peace and have a decent burial, Captain Henry proposes that the group continue their journey, with two people left behind to bury Glass's body and then catch up with them later. There is a lot of risk associated with this and so the Captain offers 70 dollars/pounds of money for this task, which by the response seems to be a large sum of money.

Fitzgerald and Bridger decide to stay behind. Fitzgerald appears to be a cocky and somewhat immoral man, whereas Bridger appears to be a sweet and thoughtful 19 year old boy. They agree to look after Glass, until one day they notice a Native American tribe near them. Some of these tribes are known to be cannibals, and the two men realise they won't be able to defend themselves very well, they abandon Glass to flee away from the tribe and steal Glass's valuable gun and knife, leaving him stranded in the wilderness without any protection.

The novel is all about how - and whether or not - Glass gets his revenge on Fitzgerald and Bridger for leaving him to die, stealing his prized gun and leaving him without anything to help him survive. But one cannot help but wonder... how is Glass going to catch up to them when he can barely walk? What will he eat? In circumstances that would leave anyone anxious for their lives, this story makes for a great read.

I could easily devour this book tens of pages at a time, because there is a somewhat urgency to the talk and an aspect of the thriller genre in here. Throughout a lot of the book, you crave to see whether or not Glass makes it to Fitzgerald and Bridger, and you begin to wonder how he's going to punish them. What goes around comes around, after all. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves an underdog, so generally, if you're British like I am, you might just love it too!
I have yet to watch the film yet, but will do as soon as I can and may make a post about it on here.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the book!

A New Day, a New Blog

Welcome to my book blog! Here I intend to write reviews  about various books I have read. I will try to update this blog twice a month, as I normally get through two books in the space of 30 days.
I like a wide range of genres, from dystopian to romance, from crime to comedy. I also occasionally read non-fiction books, which of course I will review too! I welcome any comments about my review and if you want me to read and review a certain book for you, just let me know.
A  bit about me - I'm a 20 year old student living in the UK. I have a wide variety of hobbies, from going to the gym to reading and writing poetry. I am also writing a novel and want to start knitting. I enjoy alternative rock music and love going to gigs too.
Any questions or requests, just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!