Book Review: Mightier Than The Sword

While waiting to take a flight to India at Frankfurt airport I bought a long overdue copy of Jeffrey Archer's Mightier Than The Sword, the fifth in the Clifton Chronicles series. I spied a few pages and then boarded the plane and took to watching good ol' Bollywood. It was only after I reached India that I started to read the book. Needless to say, it contained all the ingredients of a classic Archer story with several plot twists and turns.

Books that I read in 2014

The last year (2014) was not a very good one for me, book-wise. I didn't read a lot of books, and the fiction titles that I read last year disappointed me a bit. The year was a very busy one for me academically and it was a bit successful in that front. Also, if you do not do an activity for a long time, it really gets difficult to take up that activity again. For me, reading books had taken a backseat after I joined university in 2009, and so 2014 was also not an exception. But I did manage to read some really good books in the last year too. Since August 2014 I have started to keep track of the books that I have read here. One of my new year resolution is to read at least 10 books each of fiction and non-fiction titles in this year. Here I give a brief account.

Book Review: A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

I have read Jeffrey Archer in the past but this is the best I’ve come across so far.I haven’t read ‘Kane and Abel’ which is proclaimed to be his best novel but if you’re a reader who swears by crime-detective genre of fiction,you’re bound to love this one!

Book Review: Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer’s third volume of his Clifton chronicles contains very little surprises, and would have been considered a great hit had it been penned by someone less illustrious than Lord Archer. Considered to be one of the most talented and extraordinary story tellers alive, this book has at some points let down the reader who expects a lot more from Archer. The book takes off from the point where its predecessor ‘The Sins of the Father’ left. The old characters return and the story of Harry Clifton and Emma Barrington along with Emma’s brother, Giles Barrington takes off with the numerous twists and turns of any Archer classic. The storyline is as usual great, but it becomes too predictable at some points, where the readers anticipates much of what is to come.

Book Review: The Sins of The Father by Jeffrey Archer

The name of Jeffrey Archer is synonymous with bestsellers, and he is the only author to have been on the best seller list in the fiction, non-fiction and short stories section. Archer combines a tenacity and zeal for writing and storytelling that has not been surpassed by anyone probably since the great Alexandre Dumas. However, the latest offering of Archer titled, ‘The Sins of The Father‘,the second instalment to his Clifton Chronicles fails to amaze us or think that a master story telleris at work. The plot is quite uninteresting as many parts of the book can be guessed by seasoned Archer fans. This is the third time that Archer has disappointed me (the first time when he went to prison and the second time when he wrote Cat O’ Nine Tales). However, in spite of this lacklustre performance there are certain positives of the book. Archer has a sense of characterization that can be sometimes called haunting. In terms of sheer beauty of the scenes recreated probably there is no living equal.

Book Review: Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer

The latest volume in the mammoth Clifton chronicles by Jeffery Archer was launched in India recently, and I was lucky to read it within 3 days of launch. The book, like all other Archer novels was unputdownable. The story revolves around the second generation Cliftons now, and slowly focus shifts from Harry Clifton to his son, Sebastian Clifton and his life, first as a teenager and then as a young man trying to make his mark in the world.

Book Review: And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer has a knack of delivering one bestseller after another with his pristine writings. And this time was no different. The latest Archer offering “And Thereby Hangs a Tale” of 15 enticing and very tasty short stories served right in your plate can hardly be ignored mush less given a cursory glance. Archer proves once again why he is one of the greatest living short story writers of our times; and it would be highly unfair to compare him with anyone else.

Book Review: Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer

The latest offering from international bestselling author, Jeffrey Archer is “Only Time Will Tell”, the first installment of a five part series of “The Clifton Chronicles”. As the book mentions, this is indeed Archer’s greatest attempt at story telling in his 40 long and illustrious years of being a bestselling author. Like all of Archer’s books, this book too doesn’t fail to create the magic that only a master magician like Archer can create. However, this book is In a sense different from all his other works because of the ending. Although almost every book by Archer has a somewhat unusual ending, but this book beats the rest. However. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and talk about the ending when we have 386 more pages to talk about.