The Notions of Living: STORIES - Readers Review of this "Must Read" anthology!

The Notions of Living: STORIES

Readers Review of this "Must Read" anthology!

The Notions of Living: STORIES.

The Notions of Living: STORIES, definitely a book to be tagged as “A Must Read”, this is an Exceptional free flowing anthology in which the author Mr. Anu Lal; explores the many "notions of living". These 11 stories in the anthology come from some of the best writers in India including himself. Each writer has expressed the nuances of life, in every mood and experience in life.

I had always been in awe of this illustrious author and this Reader’s Review of his Book “The Notions of Living: Stories” is a huge privilege and honor, so to say fulfilling of my dream for which I thank him for. Looking forward to reading more of his amazing books and sharing my humble reviews.

The stories compiled include a simple descriptive narrative of her new home, a partly erotic and flirtatious thoughts of another who loves herself, a woman yearning for the return of her husband from work, or as simple as the old man who at first hates dogs and then is on the verge of falling in love with them, each of the stories takes you through the various stages in life, which we often would hold back from expressing or sharing. Each story connects with some part of our common man’s life, so they are even more endearing to our psyche.

I would definitely not like to delve deeper in describing more about the book for fear of taking away your interest for reading the book. It is important to note the purity and honesty with which the writers have expressed their own stories; and the manner in which Mr. Anu Lal has presented them to the reader in this anthology. I will leave it to you to experience for yourself after reading the book.

Having myself written and published, anthologies of exemplars of eminence, and their books that changed my life, this was going to be an interesting read to explore a different sub-categories of anthologies.

This is my second Readers Review after giving a re-start to my passion of Reviewing, following my first one being “Paranormal Experiences - Beyond the Realms of Reason - Readers Review of a Page-Turner.” Looking forward to many more readings and readers reviews from this author itself, which you yourselves will find out when you read his profile below. Also included will be many more to come, about some of the best authors I am reviewing.

At the outset, I hope I have done justice to this illustrious author Mr. Anu Lal Sir, in my reader’s review of his book, and look forward to your frank feedback, through your comments on the blog.

Minutiae about Anthologies:

Although the discerned reader or authors themselves are aware of it I would; for the benefit of the layman / peruser of new books and genres, intentionally like to share this oft asked query?

What is the genre anthology?

In very simple terms in book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors.

An anthology can also be a collection of literary pieces by various different authors. It can sometimes refer to the collected output of a single author (for instance, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare), but it generally refers to a compilation presenting many different writers.

I have always been an avid reader of such Genres of books, and this gave me one more insight into the sub-category of anthologies of short stories compiled by other distinguished authors.

Happy to say that my experience of reading this category of anthologies, was so fruitful and fulfilling. There have been many generic reviews, but this will be the first Readers Review of this distinguished Author Anu Lal as I am so eager and looking forward to read his other anthologies that he compiled include Better Than All Happy Ever Afters: An Anthology of Valentine's Day Wishes, and The Notions of Healing : STORIES. I am sure they will be super engrossing too.

About this Illustrious Author:

Check out his full Profile at: Mr. Anu Lal

Mr. Anu Lal as an Author: is an Indian English author of over twelve books across genres such as the novel, short fiction, novella, novelette, and nonfiction. An award-winning poet, his poems and short stories are also published internationally. He has been featured in Outlook, Malayalam Literary Survey by Kerala Sahitya Academy, TMYS Review September 2021, LOL- Love of Literature 2021, etc. He published his first book in 2012, titled Wall of Colors and Other Stories. His first published novel is titled The Mythology of Love, written under the pen name Marian Grace.

His nonfiction book titled Life after the Floods, published by Kalamos Literary Services in 2019 has garnered both popular and critical acclaim for writing on disaster management. His short story collections include “Prabuddha: The Clear-Sighted”, “You Should Know How I Feel”, and “Stories We Live”. The anthologies that he compiled include “Better than All Happy Ever Afters”, “The Notions of Living”, and “The Notions of Healing”. In 2018, he published the novella titled “As I Lay Waiting”, which deals with supernatural horror and childhood cruelty.

He wrote the novelette, “Seeking Saraswathi” in 2018, published by Juggernaut Books as an eBook, and in 2019 repeated his success with two other novelettes, “Save the Teacher” and “Save the Girl”, part of an ongoing series broadly titled “Southern Chronicles,” published by Kalamos in the form of Kindle eBooks.

Professional Profile of Mr. Anu Lal:

He has a Master’s degree in English literature from Kannur University. He is a UGC NET qualified educator with CTE from IGNOU and has ten years of teaching experience with UG and PG students. A Catholic by faith, he lives in Kannur, Kerala with his family.

Book and Publisher Details for this Book: The Notions of Living: STORIES:

Author: Mr. Anu Lal

Genre: Anthologies / Stories

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ 

Content Rating: 18+

Binding: Kindle as well as Paperback Versions.

I am sharing details separately for Kindle and Paperback versions:

FOR KINDLE VERSION

Pages: 67 Pages

Date Published: 25 July 2020

Published by: BW BOOKS (25 July 2020)

Country of Origin: ‎ India

ASIN: ‎ B08DN2HPZ7

FOR PAPERBACK VERSION:

Pages: 106 Pages.

ISBN-10: ‎ 1645874710

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1645874713

Published on: 31 August 2019

Publisher and Packer: ‎Notion Press; 1st edition (31 August 2019); Notion Press Media Pvt Ltd. No, 50, Chettiyar Agaram Main Road, Vanagaram. Chennai – 600095.

Thanks for reading my Reader Review!

I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that I can turn you on to a great book or a fantastic author through my reviews and posts.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, thoughts, or improvements on how I can better make my blog or reviews work for all my readers. If you have any recommendations I’ll be sure to check them out. Do write to me through comments on my Blog or at sachinkatewordsmith@gmail.com with your feedback, comment on the post, like, and share to likeminded friends and family.

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