Cosmo and the Great Witch Escape, by Gwyneth Rees

Cosmo and the Great Witch Escape

by Gwyneth Rees

category: fantasy, Fiction, Adventure

Age: 12+years

Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN

My sister had borrowed this book and had said it was nice, so I decided to read it. The story was nice and interesting. It talks about Cosmo, a witch-cat (a cat that had magic sneezes) who lives with his parents and his owners, the Two-Shoes family. The Two-Shoes family were having a baby named Spike but after he comes back from getting weighed, his toenails were clipped off. This had happened in the whole ward of new born witch-babies (children of witches). This was very bad as the toenails prevented the babies from getting sick or ill. Cosmo and his friend Mia decide to investigate it. While this was happening Cleo Cattrap, the famous organizer of cat catwalks happened to pass by and decided to organize a catwalk. Most of the cats were participating in it and the fee was a flea less hairball. Ten cats and kittens were selected for the final. Cosmo and Mia are selected too. Unfortunately, the next day one of the adult cat finalists and Mia disappear. Scarlett, the elder sister of Spike also disappears. Cosmo remembers that he had seen a cottage that had belonged to two evil witches on a ride with Scarlett. That cottage now belonged to another evil witch named Selina Slaughter who was a friend of Cosmo’s previous owner, Sybil (she is now in the Bad Witches Prison). They had seen a witch with toenail clippings enter the cottage which was very fishy. They decide to investigate and discover a horrifying thing. The plot was very simple and easy to understand. My favourite character was Cosmo because he used his brain and was very helpful. There are two other books in this series and I can’t wait to read them.

[this is included in our January 2018 edition of eGranth, our monthly books newsletter]

© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

Linga Purana translated by Bibek Debroy

Linga Purana

translated by Bibek Debroy

category: mythology, religion, fiction

Age: 8-12years

Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN 

This is one of the 13 puranas that I have read. The Linga Purana is number 11 in the list of the eighteen Mahapuranas. This Purana is a tamsik Purana, a Purana that glorifies Shiva. The Linga Purana is a comparatively short Purana because it is just eleven thousand shlokas long. It is divided into two parts. The first part is known as Purva bhaga and has one hundred and eight chapters. The second part is known as Uttara bhaga and has fifty-five chapters.

This Purana like most other Puranas is narrated by Sauti or Lomaharshana, a disciple of Vedvyasa to some sages living in the Namisharanya forest.

There were many interesting stories in the Purana. The Linga Purana was very interesting to read. Compared to the other Puranas that I have read; this Purana comes at number 3. This Purana concentrates more on the creation and destruction of the Universe. It also talks a lot about the geography of the Earth. The Linga Purana has less stories and most of them have been mentioned in other Puranas. In a few stories, there is a twist which is added to glorify Shiva. It was nice reading this Purana. I have also reviewed it on my blog.

[this is included in our January 2018 edition of eGranth, our monthly books newsletter]


© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

Skanda Purana - review

Skanda Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is the thirteenth Purana that I am reviewing. I realized that there were only a few Puranas left for me to review. I decided to do one part at a time. I thought that I would first review the tamsik puranas that were left (3 now 2), then I would review the satvik puranas left (2) and then the rajsika puranas left (2). So, here I am writing a tamsik purana, the Skanda Purana. The Skanda Purana is the longest Purana. It is more that eighty-one thousand shlokas long. It is huge. I also found out something. It comes thirteenth in the list of Mahapuranas and this is my thirteenth purana review! It was a coincidence which I didn’t realize until I started writing the review. Let us get into the review now.
There are seven sections or khandas in the Purana. They are:

1. Maheshwara khanda – the khanda related to Shiva.
2. Vishnu khanda - the khanda related to Vishnu.
3. Brahma khanda – the khanda related to Brahma
4. Kashi khanda – the khanda talking about the city of Kashi.
5. Avanti khanda - the khanda talking about the city of Avanti.
6. Nagara khanda – the khanda elating to cities.
7. Prabhasa khanda – the khanda talking about the city Prabhasa.