34 Bubblegums and Candies ~ Book review

When someone said that , ‘Books are a man’s best friend’, he or she for sure was not lying. Books, like friends maneuver the steering wheel of our lives and help us explore the better (or worse) side of self (of course, depending on the kind of book one chooses to befriend!). And that is, when you pick up a book, read it and at the end of 'knowing each other', you either feel light, motivated, inspired and happy OR heavy, disgusted, remorseful and sad. Aso, the point emerges! You then know better, as to whether the book that you have chosen (or has chosen you!) is your friend or not! Well, books that communicate with anyone and everyone and state in simple words with no outflow of vocabulary and emotions, a good message which otherwise may not be understood well by a common man definitely get me hooked to reading them. And one such book that I read in recent times is ‘34 bubblegums and candies’ by Preeti Shenoy.

If you were expecting a story, a romance, a suspense, some tears, some hearty laughs, some heart touching moments, some naughty moments and lots of twists and turns, I guess you definitely might have been looking elsewhere if only 34 bubblegums and candies were not interpreted the way it should be! Yes, I found all of the above in this book. In short, this book is a compilation of myriad incidents in the author’s life which are quite similar to ones that happen almost with everyone at some time or the other. And there you may ask, ‘What is so special about this book, then?’ So I answer with a question first! How many of us can actually recollect incidents, those particular ones that leave us in rapture, sometimes in confusion, sometimes with doubts, and then at other times happy or sad or blank even and then pen it all in an interesting way? This book just answers it! A cocktail of all such feelings and emotions have been beautifully put across in the 34 chapters of this book (Of course, not without giving a ‘lessons learnt’ at the end of each chapter). In fact, the author has described life as a bubblegum or a candy which she says, is to be relished without following an ‘instruction manual’, but with the innate tactfulness to figure out how to carry forward in life, by laughing at self and at the same time learning from the causes of those laughs.

So here, another question quizzes up! ‘Then, what is so different about this book?’ When you open ’34 bubblegums and candies’, you don’t have to read it as a story. Pick any one chapter and start reading (or should I say relishing?). A very motivating book that it is, it is not some story book or a novel that is once read and cannot be read again in immediate future. This book has been written in such a way, that it exhibits a genuine freshness and lots of good humor, no matter how many times you read it! Every chapter is worth visiting again and its simple language makes it even more reader-friendly.

Dear book lovers, this book is definitely a candid pick! So, happy reading, people...!!