Awesome Foursome - Echoes/Mixed Blessings/The wedding/Mirror Image - Danielle Steel and Chetan Bhagat's - Five Point Someone, Three Mistakes in my life, Two states and One night at the call centre

Yes the family of four, which we were together after long, but with more joy and additions beging grandparents and grandchildren. But this is on some things other than this:

Just four months of 2011; and here I am having read four books each of Danielle Steel and Chetan Bhagat; barring the other ones!

Danielle Steel:

Thanks to Barkha could read Echoes and Mixed Blessings.

Thanks to Sharyn could read The wedding and Mirror Image.

Echoes:

For the Wittgenstein family, the summer of 1915 was a time of both prosperity and unease, as the guns of war sound in the distance. But for eldest daughter Beata, it was a time of awakening. By glimeering Lake Geneva, the quiet Jewish beauty met a young French officer and fell in love. Knowing that her parents would never accept her marriage to a Catholic, Beata followed her heart anyway. As the two built a new life together, Beata's past would stay with her, and when Europe faces war once again, Beata must watch in horror as Hitler's terror threatens her family-even her daughter Amadea, who has taken on the vows of a carmelite nun.

As family and friends are swept away without a trace, Amadea is forced into hiding. Thus begins a harrowing journey of survival, first in the Nazi death camps, and then as she escapes into the heart of the French Resistance and finds a renewed sense of purpose.She meets and extraordinary man, British secret agent Rupert Montgomery, who help her discover her place in an unbreakable chain between generations...and between her lost family and her future. (This took me to the sound of music.)

From the elegant rituals of Europe's prewar aristocracy to the brutal desperation of Germany's death camps, Danielle Steel draws us into a Vanished world, weaving an intricate tapestry of a mother's love, a daughter's courage...and the unwavering faith that sustained them- even in history's darkest hour.


The wedding:

Simon Steinberg and Blaire Scott are among the most respected couples in Hollywood. They have defied the Hollywood cliche and stayed together for decades. Their three children - the entertainment lawyer Allegra, teenage aspiring model Samantha, and medical student scott - are successful and happy. Allegra, as an attorney to the stars, has a career that consumes so much of her energy that she has little time for a private life - until a chance encounter with a New York writer turns her life upside down. Suddenly, she finds herself planning a wedding at her parents Bel Air home. After there earlier breakups, she finally meets her Mr. Perfect. Her wedding, is a bridge between the past and future, and an opportunity for reconciliation, forgiveness, and new hope - as weddings often are for us all.


And yes just like the names, there were similarites and continuity in the books as they were different!

Well, if 'The Wedding' is about The dreams and expectations of a cermony that unites us all...; 'Mixed Blessings' is about the desire, the difficulties, and the joy of having a child.

Mirror Image, is of identical Twin children, very similar in looks but different in dreams, which take one to the war in Europe - World war 1. Echoes, is again, in the back drops , which begin with world war 1 and ends in world war 2.


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Chetan Bhagat:

All the books are a quick read, which even the beginners in reading can go through.

Five Point Someone
One Night @ The call center
Three mistakes in my life
Two states.

Five point someone:

I would say, the similarity between Five point someone(the book) and Three Idiots(Film from book) would be just 50% to 60%. The film is indeed an improvised version of the book.


Three mistakes in my life: Is about an youth named Govind, who dreamt of owning a business. To accommodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. However, nothing coes easy in a turbulent city. To realise their golas thtey will have to face it all - religion, politics, calamities, unacceptable love and above all their own mistakes. The book is based on real life incidents. With some insights like team work, passion and discipline, the need of them to be taught in school.

Two states: is about Krish and Ananya who are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, theri parents don't agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but much harder to convince. Because in India, for marriges to succeed, it is not sufficient that boy and girl love each other, but their parents have to love them,and each others parents too!

Moreover the striking feature for me in this book, was about Krish's father, and the saint and psychatrists advice to 'forgive' and how the rest will follow.

I really wonder if Chetan Bhagat's father really did like that, and how is he and mother now?


One Night @ the call center; indeed had some thought provoking points

The most important call in the world is the inner call.
Follow your thoughts.
Four things needed for success: Intelligence, imagination, self-confidence, and Failure.

Be firm!

Life is uncertain, screwed up at times, but still fun.

Remember:
1. I can do whatever I really want.
2. God is always with me.
3. There is no such thing a loser after all.

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Waiting to read more of them!