I had to pick "Where the Crawdads Sing" up because of all the hype created by this book. I don't generally give up on a book if I don't like it in the beginning and I am so glad that I kept reading this and finished reading it in 2 days. It was that captivating and it will be on my mind for some days until I read something better than this.

The glorious and detailed description of marsh, lagoons, shack, estuaries, wharfs put me off in the beginning but they totally made sense in terms of the storyline.

Delia Owens justified the story with her zoology knowledge and the narration amalgamated with it is so mesmerizing.

Miss Catherine Clark a.k.a Kya a.k.a Marsh Girl is abandoned first by her mother, then by siblings and lastly by her father at the tender age of 6. This story is about her survival and resilience living in the lap of nature. She is exposed to different feelings as she grows up like love, loss, hope, hate and prejudice but one feeling remains stable inside her - loneliness.

She never goes to school and is so afraid to face people yet she survives without everyone in her life. When a handsome football coach, Chase Andrews' dead body is found in the swamp, everyone in the town suspects Kya as the murderer. If she has never been in contact with other people, how can she kill someone?

The narrative is so interestingly told that I imagined myself visiting Kya's shack, her beach, lagoons, feeding Red Bird and even in the court when she was waiting for her verdict to be announced in the murder case of Chase Andrews.

This book contains everything - love, hate, romance, poetry, mystery, crime and drama. It doesn't sound monotonous at all at any time.

This book is definitely worth the hype and I'd recommend this book to fellow readers. This book definitely makes me think how further we have evolved forgetting our nature.

After 6 years, I finally read "The Rosie Project". As they say, it is better late than never and I am glad that I read this witty and clever romantic comedy.

The protagonist, Don Tillman, is a 39 years old genetics professor who is very intelligent and smart. He has Asperger's Syndrome (having difficulties in social and non-verbal interactions) unbeknown to him. Being very strict to his meal plan, very punctual and strictly following his lifestyle depicts that he is the most disciplined character I've ever read.

On being told by his neighbour once that he would be a good husband to someone, Don designs a questionnaire to find his soulmate. It seems "sexist" in the forefront but eventually the story unfolds and reveals that it is just to find the compatible partner and with whom you can spend your life. He calls it "The Wife Project".

Rosie Jarman, a barmaid and a research student is sent to Don by his best friend and a womanizer, Gene. Don doesn't find Rosie suitable for his "wife" hunt but still likes to spend time with her.

He helps Rosie in finding her biological father by using his intelligence and knowledge to get the DNAs analyzed of the "qualifying" candidates. He calls it "The Father Project". "The Wife Project" gets side-tracked by "The Father Project" because all he wants is Rosie to be with him despite confessing it to Rosie that he feels love differently and being rejected by her. He realizes it later that he loves Rosie and how he makes it happen is an interesting read itself.

It was an interesting read overall with a quick shots of intelligence here and there. Smartly written by Graeme Simsion. I am definitely going to read more of this series.