Monday: Mailbox/What am I reading?/Musings

I have not done any mailbox postr since November 19, 2012 because I did not received any. Last week I received four. I have been lying low, no reading, no posts except for Saturday Snapshots (which is easy to do!!) Here I am back with a bang HOPEFULLY!! 

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books and is hosted by Lori of Lori’s Reading Corner for the month of Jan 2013. 

I received only FIVE books in my mailbox in the past three months, thanks to authors/publicists:

1) The War Ministry by Krishan Pratap Singh
Assuming power in the messy aftermath of a war with Pakistan and mounting hostility with a belligerent China, Azim Khan inherits an India in crisis. Heading a shaky coalition, his leadership is questioned at every turn-most visibly by Deputy PM Karan Nehru, his once-best friend, and more insidiously, by other scheming detractors hidden with in his government. Indias first Muslim PM must earn the trust of the Indian people in his leadership and prove he is the man with the ability to heal the wounds of the past and chart out a path to a united and bold future for the nation. Buffeted by history, conflicted by ideology, and curbed by his own limitations, Azim and his team of idealists face the ultimate test. Will they succeed? The concluding volume of the best-selling Raisina Series, The War Ministry, is a gripping account of the complex day-to-day functioning of a prime minister and his office.

2) Engraved in Stone by Madhulika Liddle
Two years after the Taj Mahal is finally built, many secrets shroud its walls...

In Agra to escort home the beautiful Shireen, Muzaffar Jang maverick nobleman and ace detective - reluctantly finds himself at the centre of yet another murder investigation when Mumtaz Hassan, a prominent trader, is found dead under mysterious circumstances. The Diwan-i-kul, Mir Jumla, on his way to invade Bijapur, hands the task of finding the killer to Muzaffar. With almost no evidence to work with except an ambiguous scrawl on a scrap of paper found clutched in the dead man's fist, Muzaffar knows he must find the killer before the Diwan-i-kul returns if he wants to save himself an invitation to a beheading.

As he begins to uncover the dross beneath the golden opulence of the dead man and his murkily amorous past, Muzaffar chances upon another mystery: a long forgotten tale of a woman who vanished inexplicably one evening.

3) A Soul's Calling by Scott Bishop
A Soul's Calling is a memoir about a man who listened to his heart instead of reason. 

Scott, a forty-something attorney, is average in every way except one. He has a connection to the Other Side. He speaks to Spirit and Spirit speaks to him. He sees, hears, and interacts with an invisible realm that is beyond ordinary human perception. When Scott learns his soul has been spiritually compromised he travels to the ancient kingdom of Nepal to win it back. Once there, he hikes the Himalaya carrying a mysterious bundle and a stick laden with prayers from Luminous Beings hoping to come face to face with the greatest mountain on earth: Mount Everest. As his journey unfolds, Scott is called on to battle his fear of heights, the thin air, and his physical limitations.

A Soul's Calling transports readers to the rugged but enchanting Khumbu Valley where mountains speak and nature is imbued with a special kind of magic. The novel is an inspiring modern day adventure that weaves the timeless themes of living an authentic life, the consequences of power, and what a man would do for unrequited love. Powerful, sweeping, and deeply moving, readers will search their hearts as the book draws to a stunning conclusion. 

A Soul's Calling is a book for our time and for anyone who believes the world can be a better place.
4) Faraway Music from Sreemoyee Piu Kundu


On a long-haul international flight world-famous writer Piya Choudhury tells the one story she hasn't yet told-her own.

Loved and indulged by her mother and grandparents, but haunted by the mysterious absence of her father, Piya grows up in Kolkata, a gifted and impetuous child who pursues her studies with the same passion as she does her first few adolescent crushes, until a savage encounter leaves her repulsed... She moves to Mumbai hoping to become a journalist and falls deeply in love with her editor, Abir, but when a controversial story she is working on about drug abuse among Bollywood celebrities is stymied, she is forced to choose between the man she loves and her own professional integrity? Years later, she is settled in New York, married to a renowned artist who helps her find herself creatively, setting her free in the process. Liberated, successful, dynamic, and a writer of international acclaim, Piya has everything she's ever wanted, until she is revisited by her past...

Sensuous, soulful, lyrical and moving, Faraway Music poses as many questions as it answers? Questions of family, friendship, fame, love and loss, and all that lies in between.

5) Back from the dead by Peter Leonard

Peter Leonard’s jaw-dropping VOICES OF THE DEAD introduced us to two mortal enemies: Holocaust survivor Harry Levin and Nazi death angel Ernst Hess. Now, their struggle reaches its dramatic conclusion in BACK FROM THE DEAD.


Bahamas, 1971. Ernst Hess, missing and presumed dead, regains consciousness to find himself stuck in a hospital bed on a strange ward in a foreign country. He must do what he needs to do to get his life back and to finish the job he has been doing for decades.

Harry believes he has already stopped Hess. When he finds out that the war criminal has somehow survived, Harry must do the only thing he can do – kill Hess again – even if it means crossing continents and putting his life and the lives of those that matter to him on the line.

Action-packed and darkly humorous, BACK FROM THE DEAD is the unforgettable conclusion to a story that launches Peter Leonard into the pantheon of great suspense novelists.

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey

Suzy's Case by Andy Seigel
3 Tintin Graphic Novels
3 Asterix Graphic Novels

Currently reading:

Back From The Dead by Peter Leonard
The Drop by Howard Linskey
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• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

I am currently reading Back From The Dead by Peter Leonard and I am liking it. It is a sequel to Voices of the Dead and I am reading it for Partners in Crime Tours. A very engaging novel, I must say...