Well something I'll always remember about this book is how deceptive it is in its looks. My first thought when I held it in my hands was "Well that's kind of small". Guess what? Took me multiple times more time than expected. All thanks to the super classical literary touch that was almost Greek to me. So as already mentioned, it's not an easy read, especially because we don't use such 'exquisite' language in everyday conversations (hopefully nowhere else too, atleast in 2014!). It used to take me multiple attempts to comprehend a simple looking sentence, and this almost made me drop the book. I don't blame Jane Austen, because she has done a commendable work when it comes to capturing drama. And that's what this book is all about - drama. Someone talks about someone else to some other person because some other person said something to some other person because something was somehow not according to what someone thought. Confused? Exactly my point. So I'm not the happiest reader of this book, and not essentially a sexist, but this wouldn't stop me from mentioning this book is enough to muddle any sensible gentlemen's brain and logic. Although as Heisenberg states in his Uncertainity Principle, the book has two parallel, contrary in impact, sides - though a pain to read, it gives you a glimpse of the complicated network of random-most logic and minutest of details, that a female brain has the capacity to be. I'd recommend this any man who wants motivation to earn shit-loads of money in his life.
Indian authors that I've read so far have lacked not only a literary touch, but in terms of content too it's majorly been focused on entertaining the masses. Chitra's work comes as an exception. I've always fancied friends whose parents told them stories from the Mahabharata and other scriptures, and so upon recommendation from a teacher, I readily went forward for this book. It was a different journey altogether; a blind subject for me indeed. And it did delight me as expected and more. Chitra brings into life the character of Paanchali (also known as Draupadi and Krishnaa) embedding her in a human body, with comes along with the complicated web of human virtues and vices. As you proceed with the pages, you see life evolve from Panchaali's eyes, which comes with personal learning and reflection. One important takeaway for me was - How at times all your life seems to rest on a moment's back, where it's but one instance in the larger scheme of things.
The Alchemist belongs to a category I had heard a lot about but was yet to read anything about the author's work. Paulo Coelho brings forth a completely contrasting genre for me, as he talks about destiny, omens, magic, talking to nature, etc. And the contradiction was that it did sound sensible. There are subtle lessons to absorb while reading The Alchemist, and you get that rare 'Woah' moment which keeps you stuck to the book for hours. The underlying principle, as mentioned on the book cover, is about following your dream. But the seemingly stupid optimism, unflinching dedication and single-minded focus, coupled with ceaselessly rigorous hard work and occasional blunderous failure. I adored the spirit of the Protagonist, Santiago, as he reasons with wisdom, patient yet compassionately restless, and keeps walking with head held high till he reaches his moment of jubilation, which comes as a stark climax at the end of the fable. It took me a moment to grasp how Coelho had turned the story upside down that last page, and made me appreciate his work in entirety.
Like a touch of an inspiring fairy tale, Jonathon Livingston Seagull brings the story of a Gull, whose dreams touch the skies as he dares to argue that the reason of his existence is much more than just a struggle to survive. The path he travel on is one of extreme passion, which makes him different from others, and ultimately gets him banned from his community. All his reasons fail when he realizes the world around him is too inert to this enlightening passion he alone possesses. But such is his destiny that he ends up experiencing far more than he had ever imagined. A mark of perfection in everything he does remains constant, and the same is proved when he breaks boundaries of knowledge and wisdom, and spreads his learning and unmatched love for flight. Richard Bach makes you ask the same question to yourself - 'What do you exist for?' Answer it as you fly with Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Best Political Satire of all time. Period. George Orwell's work had blown me away in form of 1984. Now Animal Farm proved to me that authors like him are born once in a century. Animal Farm is like a fable to read to your children - an unexpectedly innocent read, but hidden in inside those words is critically subtle learning. Orwell's mark of a literary genius is proved in the fact that he designs a simple framework of the story as a plot, but reading between the lines, he pulls out the backbone of politics, power, monopoly and social structure, exposing the DNA naked in front of you. It is difficult to appreciate this book without critical evaluation, where it will become impossible for you to not say - "What's wrong with these idiotic animals?" and just then the 'Ahaan' moments hits you like a thousand metric ton bomb. I wouldn't lay Orwell's secret conclusion open here to destroy the fascinating journey of reading Animal Farm, rather would suggest this 100 page book to anyone who'd like to marvel at the simplest, most evident, extremely idiotic, yet subtle irony I've read till now.
"The Genius that Ayn Rand is" were my first words when I finished reading Atlas Shrugged. I took a year to finish this book, primarily because it was not an easy read for me. It takes you to the world of Ayn Rand and makes you live Objectivism in the purest form that Rand has delivered so far. The philosophy in itself gives you vigorous moments of insight and bitter delight. You have to live the book to experience it in the entirety it has to offer. I am not literature hungry, but I will appreciate the beautifully simple way that Rand uses to structure an entire subjective plot with objective characters to deliver strands of her philosophy. As you voyage through this book, the strands join together in line with a simple message of 'mind as existence'. I wouldn't recommend Atlas Shrugged to someone who cannot challenge his perspective. For everyone else, live this beautiful experience which makes the spirit of Rand immortal.
Not a literary feast, to be honest, but that is not the book's purpose anyway. I got this book because of a pinching desire of starting something of my own. After
Jagriti Yatra 2012, I was exposed to a lot of terminologies and stories related to Socio-economic entrepreneurship. And yes, I wanted to dive in deep. So what better than to get inspired by the success stories of 20 entrepreneurship - diverse in all parameters you can think of, except in the
strength of their belief - to do 'something' different and add value to someone - maybe a couple of hundreds, or millions. But they stood up against the flow and are a source of inspiration for all of us.
Rashmi Bansal has adopted the very non-literary style, and to be honest, I was quite irritated to read those immature dramatic punches she attempts. But that should not bother the normal reader, who aims more at receiving rather than critically analyzing her work. Her book is supposedly very simply put, with moderate power of literature, for the purpose of communicating
what is possible, and that it indeed does. India is immense. We never know what secrets lie behind our back. Let this book make you explore some of them. :-)
A beautiful beautiful book! This book has a life of its own. Every time I would glance at the beautiful face of Sayuri (from the movie), on the book cover, it almost seemed to tell its own story. Arthur Golden is a genius of man, in the way that he portrays everything so close to reality, that at times I would start googling certain names, and then smile realizing that the book is a complete fiction. I was impressed by the degree of detail that the author has put in. I feel its impossible to mold all that detail in a movie. Sayuri takes you to the streets and treehouses of Gion, touching every part of a Geisha's life. It's a lovely and intimate feeling getting in Sayuri's shoes and living her emotions, her struggle and her happiness. It's truly an unforgettable Bestseller.
Warning: This review is going to be far different from any reviews you find on the internet. Invested two and a half days in reading the book. Maybe it was a bad choice after Fountainhead, but I realized the missing base in an Indian Author's 'most acclaimed work'. If you have been reading stories of Chanakya since childhood, the experience reading this would be dull, as the story is already known, and even with basic common sense, one can always predict the next step in the parallel story that runs in Present time. But for others, you can go for it because of its entertainment value, tiny glimpses into Chanakya's political brilliance. The Present Age story is rather superficial - portraying everyone as dumb dolls waiting to be stabbed by the Pandit Gangasagar, the person playing Chanakya's role. I rarely feel any of it is actually possible in real life.
On a million and one recommendations from a friend, I went ahead and started my journey into the much talked about arrogance and pride associated with the author of this book - Ayn Rand. On reading the Introduction, I felt amused at how easily she seemed to spank literature of today, marking it as sub-standard and a figurative insult. Once I was done with her work, I could not agree any less. This was the first book strongly based on not just a plot, but a simple philosophy which roots itself deep into your neurons. The protagonist is an exaggeration of perfection, too far from reality - but portrays the philosophy beautifully. I appraise Rand's strong, sharp and intense writing style. The book seems to conquer your normal perceptions, play with them, when at times you are clueless about what turn the story might take. I loved the concept of evil, portrayed so differently from anything I have ever read. Even for people who are not too interested in the philosophy, go read it once. I'm sure you will be boggled even more when you have no idea about the nature and being of the characters.
The best part about this book is that I attempted reading it around 3 times, and every time I could not get past the 10th page. Finally finished with it during my Summers this year. The concept is brilliant beyond description, and the portrayal is even more effective. You realize true power of consciousness - of singularity of one's existence and how much strength one can have to fight against both the known and the unknown. The first part gets slow, but deep. Once the scene is set, your expectations get thrashed and a twist twists the story unbelievably. It becomes intense in the middle. The end is a test. A question you ask to yourself too - what would YOU do? The answers are not simple, and many-a-times you just move on reading more of it expecting to find your solution embedded somewhere in the book. Someone told me its good for CAT aspirants. Please don't insult the book like this...please.
I don't have to say too much - the Cover page says it all. It's a hard-coded book giving a precise step-by-step approach into molding a Business idea into reality.
Prof. Nandini Vaidyanathan narrates her logical arrangement like a good teacher. The book throws light into certain intricacies where you marvel at the mentioned conceptualization, but there are other places wher e it's pretty difficult to agree with the author. This is obvious, but I'm stating it again - this book DOES NOT certify you becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg. It's like an appetizer for anyone interested in Entrepreneurship.
My first encounter with
Anne Frank's diary was when I spotted this particular 'Free e-book' about four years back, and downloaded it. With this name, I had assumed it to be a Girl's Fantasy Fiction sort of material, and of course I was hell wrong. All throughout the book, I felt deeply connected to Anne - swaying in the same emotion as hers, closing my eyes at times to capture her descriptions. Growing up from a kid to a teenager is like the view of a young eagle spreading his wings. Life was a cage for this little girl, and her diary was her humble escape. One gets overwhelmed, sometimes by the silly occasional melodrama, sometimes by the human need for love, and sometimes by the warmth of her innocence. Read this if you wish to have an emotional journey into a factual book, a story you would wish was never true.
Read it a long time back. Don't remember much in detail about how I felt about the book. But this was the first Agatha Christie book I had opted for, and I remember finding it amusing, but not extraordinarily moving. (No hard feelings, Agatha Christie fans :P)
A thrilling journey into the depths of Cosmological Physics, Quantum Mechanics and scattered components of the
Theory of Everything. I have had this book for around six years now, during which I read it 3 times. Still each time seems like the first as you dive into the depths of some of the most complicated things explained with utter dexterity. The book is a
dense collection of a genius' intellect and his extraordinary wit. Mr. Stephen Hawking is indeed a gifted man.
Well something I'll always remember about this book is how deceptive it is in its looks. My first thought when I held it in my hands was "Well that's kind of small". Guess what? Took me multiple times more time than expected. All thanks to the super classical literary touch that was almost Greek to me. So as already mentioned, it's not an easy read, especially because we don't use such 'exquisite' language in everyday conversations (hopefully nowhere else too, atleast in 2014!). It used to take me multiple attempts to comprehend a simple looking sentence, and this almost made me drop the book. I don't blame Jane Austen, because she has done a commendable work when it comes to capturing drama. And that's what this book is all about - drama. Someone talks about someone else to some other person because some other person said something to some other person because something was somehow not according to what someone thought. Confused? Exactly my point. So I'm not the happiest reader of this book, and not essentially a sexist, but this wouldn't stop me from mentioning this book is enough to muddle any sensible gentlemen's brain and logic. Although as Heisenberg states in his Uncertainity Principle, the book has two parallel, contrary in impact, sides - though a pain to read, it gives you a glimpse of the complicated network of random-most logic and minutest of details, that a female brain has the capacity to be. I'd recommend this any man who wants motivation to earn shit-loads of money in his life.
Finding this name among the 'Greatest books of the 20th Century' on Google was enough to make me go for it. Thanks to the cheap South Asian version, I got it for a price that is not even a fraction of any material or non-material value the book possesses. The book takes you on a journey of veteran literary drama. It is like watching a South Indian movie which is so realistic (for a change) that for once you want to enter the world created by Fitzgerald and change the course of destiny for Mr. Gatsby (No spoilers intended!). Watching the magic of the story from a single man's perspective makes you feel safe and helpless at the same time. This abstraction towards the reader has been executed perfectly. Though for haters, it's just a book, but look deep inside and you'll find that how precisely a 1925 novel narrates your everyday drama. How life is governed by not so ideal principles and how the bed is hardly full of roses. Mr. Gatsby lives up to an unflinching image of success and fame, but loses onto something so seemingly rudimentary (debatable!) as a once lost love. Not everything can be explained in love and war, and our protagonist understands it the hard way. Maybe as a subtle message, all of us get to learn something out of this book, the hard way.
As a kid in school, I used to often hear about Dr. Kalam's visit to educational institutions all around the nation, his wonderfully affectionate nature towards students and children in general, and his vision for India to get back it's 'Golden Bird' status. Ignited Minds is his first work I was fortunate to get hold of. Experience of Ignited Mings is like having a long talk with Dr. Kalam, who casually sits in front of you with a humble smile, the soft tone in his voice flowering wisdom as you pass through sections of the book. But then there is a flare of energy, of passion and possibility in his voice which just blows you away. The simplicity with which he addresses the otherwise complicated web of issues surrounding India, originates from a highly innovative solution-oriented approach that seems to be a part of his persona. I feel proud of my motherland, yet was amazed to realize that despite such visionaries striving hard, the powerful force of Youth which if shown the correct quantitative and qualitative direction can turn the game around, and limitless resources which we are gifted with, we still struggle as a nation. This made me think about my role and impact as an Indian, raising hopes for the future. Despite being cynical, I just could not appreciate the power of The People as one more Indian was imbibed in Dr. Kalam's vision.
Indian authors that I've read so far have lacked not only a literary touch, but in terms of content too it's majorly been focused on entertaining the masses. Chitra's work comes as an exception. I've always fancied friends whose parents told them stories from the Mahabharata and other scriptures, and so upon recommendation from a teacher, I readily went forward for this book. It was a different journey altogether; a blind subject for me indeed. And it did delight me as expected and more. Chitra brings into life the character of Paanchali (also known as Draupadi and Krishnaa) embedding her in a human body, with comes along with the complicated web of human virtues and vices. As you proceed with the pages, you see life evolve from Panchaali's eyes, which comes with personal learning and reflection. One important takeaway for me was - How at times all your life seems to rest on a moment's back, where it's but one instance in the larger scheme of things.
The Alchemist belongs to a category I had heard a lot about but was yet to read anything about the author's work. Paulo Coelho brings forth a completely contrasting genre for me, as he talks about destiny, omens, magic, talking to nature, etc. And the contradiction was that it did sound sensible. There are subtle lessons to absorb while reading The Alchemist, and you get that rare 'Woah' moment which keeps you stuck to the book for hours. The underlying principle, as mentioned on the book cover, is about following your dream. But the seemingly stupid optimism, unflinching dedication and single-minded focus, coupled with ceaselessly rigorous hard work and occasional blunderous failure. I adored the spirit of the Protagonist, Santiago, as he reasons with wisdom, patient yet compassionately restless, and keeps walking with head held high till he reaches his moment of jubilation, which comes as a stark climax at the end of the fable. It took me a moment to grasp how Coelho had turned the story upside down that last page, and made me appreciate his work in entirety.
Like a touch of an inspiring fairy tale, Jonathon Livingston Seagull brings the story of a Gull, whose dreams touch the skies as he dares to argue that the reason of his existence is much more than just a struggle to survive. The path he travel on is one of extreme passion, which makes him different from others, and ultimately gets him banned from his community. All his reasons fail when he realizes the world around him is too inert to this enlightening passion he alone possesses. But such is his destiny that he ends up experiencing far more than he had ever imagined. A mark of perfection in everything he does remains constant, and the same is proved when he breaks boundaries of knowledge and wisdom, and spreads his learning and unmatched love for flight. Richard Bach makes you ask the same question to yourself - 'What do you exist for?' Answer it as you fly with Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Best Political Satire of all time. Period. George Orwell's work had blown me away in form of 1984. Now Animal Farm proved to me that authors like him are born once in a century. Animal Farm is like a fable to read to your children - an unexpectedly innocent read, but hidden in inside those words is critically subtle learning. Orwell's mark of a literary genius is proved in the fact that he designs a simple framework of the story as a plot, but reading between the lines, he pulls out the backbone of politics, power, monopoly and social structure, exposing the DNA naked in front of you. It is difficult to appreciate this book without critical evaluation, where it will become impossible for you to not say - "What's wrong with these idiotic animals?" and just then the 'Ahaan' moments hits you like a thousand metric ton bomb. I wouldn't lay Orwell's secret conclusion open here to destroy the fascinating journey of reading Animal Farm, rather would suggest this 100 page book to anyone who'd like to marvel at the simplest, most evident, extremely idiotic, yet subtle irony I've read till now.
"The Genius that Ayn Rand is" were my first words when I finished reading Atlas Shrugged. I took a year to finish this book, primarily because it was not an easy read for me. It takes you to the world of Ayn Rand and makes you live Objectivism in the purest form that Rand has delivered so far. The philosophy in itself gives you vigorous moments of insight and bitter delight. You have to live the book to experience it in the entirety it has to offer. I am not literature hungry, but I will appreciate the beautifully simple way that Rand uses to structure an entire subjective plot with objective characters to deliver strands of her philosophy. As you voyage through this book, the strands join together in line with a simple message of 'mind as existence'. I wouldn't recommend Atlas Shrugged to someone who cannot challenge his perspective. For everyone else, live this beautiful experience which makes the spirit of Rand immortal.
A beautiful beautiful book! This book has a life of its own. Every time I would glance at the beautiful face of Sayuri (from the movie), on the book cover, it almost seemed to tell its own story. Arthur Golden is a genius of man, in the way that he portrays everything so close to reality, that at times I would start googling certain names, and then smile realizing that the book is a complete fiction. I was impressed by the degree of detail that the author has put in. I feel its impossible to mold all that detail in a movie. Sayuri takes you to the streets and treehouses of Gion, touching every part of a Geisha's life. It's a lovely and intimate feeling getting in Sayuri's shoes and living her emotions, her struggle and her happiness. It's truly an unforgettable Bestseller.
Warning: This review is going to be far different from any reviews you find on the internet. Invested two and a half days in reading the book. Maybe it was a bad choice after Fountainhead, but I realized the missing base in an Indian Author's 'most acclaimed work'. If you have been reading stories of Chanakya since childhood, the experience reading this would be dull, as the story is already known, and even with basic common sense, one can always predict the next step in the parallel story that runs in Present time. But for others, you can go for it because of its entertainment value, tiny glimpses into Chanakya's political brilliance. The Present Age story is rather superficial - portraying everyone as dumb dolls waiting to be stabbed by the Pandit Gangasagar, the person playing Chanakya's role. I rarely feel any of it is actually possible in real life.
On a million and one recommendations from a friend, I went ahead and started my journey into the much talked about arrogance and pride associated with the author of this book - Ayn Rand. On reading the Introduction, I felt amused at how easily she seemed to spank literature of today, marking it as sub-standard and a figurative insult. Once I was done with her work, I could not agree any less. This was the first book strongly based on not just a plot, but a simple philosophy which roots itself deep into your neurons. The protagonist is an exaggeration of perfection, too far from reality - but portrays the philosophy beautifully. I appraise Rand's strong, sharp and intense writing style. The book seems to conquer your normal perceptions, play with them, when at times you are clueless about what turn the story might take. I loved the concept of evil, portrayed so differently from anything I have ever read. Even for people who are not too interested in the philosophy, go read it once. I'm sure you will be boggled even more when you have no idea about the nature and being of the characters.
The best part about this book is that I attempted reading it around 3 times, and every time I could not get past the 10th page. Finally finished with it during my Summers this year. The concept is brilliant beyond description, and the portrayal is even more effective. You realize true power of consciousness - of singularity of one's existence and how much strength one can have to fight against both the known and the unknown. The first part gets slow, but deep. Once the scene is set, your expectations get thrashed and a twist twists the story unbelievably. It becomes intense in the middle. The end is a test. A question you ask to yourself too - what would YOU do? The answers are not simple, and many-a-times you just move on reading more of it expecting to find your solution embedded somewhere in the book. Someone told me its good for CAT aspirants. Please don't insult the book like this...please.
I don't have to say too much - the Cover page says it all. It's a hard-coded book giving a precise step-by-step approach into molding a Business idea into reality. Prof. Nandini Vaidyanathan narrates her logical arrangement like a good teacher. The book throws light into certain intricacies where you marvel at the mentioned conceptualization, but there are other places wher e it's pretty difficult to agree with the author. This is obvious, but I'm stating it again - this book DOES NOT certify you becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg. It's like an appetizer for anyone interested in Entrepreneurship.
My first encounter with Anne Frank's diary was when I spotted this particular 'Free e-book' about four years back, and downloaded it. With this name, I had assumed it to be a Girl's Fantasy Fiction sort of material, and of course I was hell wrong. All throughout the book, I felt deeply connected to Anne - swaying in the same emotion as hers, closing my eyes at times to capture her descriptions. Growing up from a kid to a teenager is like the view of a young eagle spreading his wings. Life was a cage for this little girl, and her diary was her humble escape. One gets overwhelmed, sometimes by the silly occasional melodrama, sometimes by the human need for love, and sometimes by the warmth of her innocence. Read this if you wish to have an emotional journey into a factual book, a story you would wish was never true.
Read it a long time back. Don't remember much in detail about how I felt about the book. But this was the first Agatha Christie book I had opted for, and I remember finding it amusing, but not extraordinarily moving. (No hard feelings, Agatha Christie fans :P)
A thrilling journey into the depths of Cosmological Physics, Quantum Mechanics and scattered components of the Theory of Everything. I have had this book for around six years now, during which I read it 3 times. Still each time seems like the first as you dive into the depths of some of the most complicated things explained with utter dexterity. The book is a dense collection of a genius' intellect and his extraordinary wit. Mr. Stephen Hawking is indeed a gifted man.
The reviews about Memoirs of Geisha , 1984 , Diary of Anne Frank are well written and I personally couldnt agree any more !!
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Poulami. Much obliged. :)
DeleteI already am heading to read a few of these books which i haven't yet read.. Memoirs of a Geisha is something I'm really looking forward to.. and few more i wish to re read.. very well written..
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to some more reviews if you may! ;)
Karen, you are so talented. How come I didn't know about all of this?
ReplyDelete