eBook Review: Spicy Trail

Shipra Trivedi starts her eBook ‘Spicy Trail’ with a quote saying “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all…” Having read her eBook, I must say, she truly has a love for spices, and the detail and research she has exhibited for each spice article is commendable.

The eBook not only acquaints us with many popular and rare spices but also shares historical and ancient text references to these spices often going back to their origins and early uses. It is a splendid combination of knowledge and information about the spices with dashes of history to add to its flavor.

The fact that Shipra has been able to find a spice for every letter of the alphabet shows us how well she has researched on the topic. On one hand we have the very common Cinnamon, Cardamom Fennel, Turmeric and their likes, while on the other we have rare spices like Kalapasi, Xacuti, Alkanet and Star Anise. Shipra has indeed given us a full repertoire of the spice world in her eBook.

The sprinkle of delight in each spice article is her ‘Dadi Ma ka nushka’ which surely makes us laugh in wonder as it also educates us on how easily these spices have always been used in a common Indian household. Along with references to the epics and puranas on the usage of spices in cooking in ancient India, the domestic usage of spices almost tempts us to try our hand again in our kitchen with some of the common spices at least!

Overall, Shipra’s eBook is indeed an aromatic and spicy trail of knowledge and information about the spice heritage of our land, and kudos to her for such an excellent compilation.

This eBook is a part of the Blogchatter eBook Carnival and can be downloaded from:

https://www.theblogchatter.com/download/spicy-trail-by-shipra-trivedi/

eBook Review: Finding Your Writing Flow

What interested me most about the eBook “Finding Your Writing Flow” by Sona Grover was an author writing about the writing process and being candid about the highs and lows of being a writer. I was keen to read about the author’s own experiences and experiments with the writing process and see if I could find some answers to the questions that lurked in my mind as a writer. I must say, Sona has not disappointed her readers at all on that count and on many occasions in the eBook has even exceeded them with her honest and practical approaches that she has explained.

The eBook makes for an easy read and right at the beginning the author shares her purpose and the flow of the journey of writing that she intends to take her readers on. While it surely is something that writers will enjoy reading and relating to, even newcomers to the world of writing with find it interesting and useful.

I especially liked the sections ‘Are you meant to be a writer?’, ‘Being Productive’ and ‘Renewal’ as they put the writer in you face to face with your inner fears and doubts and help you find answers and inspire at the same time. Sections like the one where Sona talks about the writer’s ‘Muse’ or being in ‘Gratitude’ are softer aspects of the writer’s mind and I am happy to see that she has handled that with due care. The eBook overall has a deft balance between the key yet routine and mundane part of the writing process and the moments of inspiration that comes while you write.

My heartfelt thanks go out to Sona for having written on such an important subject and having been so candid in her explanations, examples and descriptions of what goes on inside the writer’s mind and heart. I would recommend Sona’s eBook as a must read to everyone who wishes to write well and dreams of oneself as a writer.

The eBook is a part of the Blogchatter eBook Carnival and can be downloaded from:

https://www.theblogchatter.com/download/finding-your-writing-flow-by-sona-grover/