Book Time -2

Well, I have finished reading "Paths of glory" by Jeffrey Archer. I found it interesting even though it may not be called a typical Jeffrey Archer's book. But the insight to the life of a mountaineer definitely forms a good plot and keeps you hooked to the book. I think you will like it more if mountaineering interests you.

I have started reading "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong. This man never ceases to inspire me. As I am reading through the book, his life seems extraordinary. Of course, I brought this book mainly because i had like his first book "Its not about my bike" a lot. I think the sequel to it is also worth reading. I have to acknowledge that his books and of course his life transmits lot of positive energy.

It is book time now!

Every now and then , as life becomes very routine-like, I start craving for new books, new hobbies and new songs. Since a long time, I had been reading the reviews of "Paths of Glory" by Jeffrey Archer. I have always been a great fan of his books. So I wanted to get my hands on his latest book.

Finally, yesterday I got an opportunity to buy it. And while I was there, two more books caught my attention - " The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga and "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong. I could not resist myself from buying them.

Now that I have all these interesting books in front of me, it is hard to do anything else. So catch you all soon after I finish atleast one of them.:)

The three books that touched me - 4

The last book ( but not the least) that I shall be talking about is IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE: MY JOURNEY BACK TO LIFE by LANCE ARMSTRONG along with SALLY JENKINS. For those of you who do not know about Lance Armstrong, he is one of the world's best cyclists. He has won Tour De France ( that is supposed to be the Wimbeldon for the cyclists) seven times consecutively. He is also famous for his "Lance Armstrong Foundation" that brought out the yellow LIVESTRONG bands in support of the fight against cancer.

The book is mainly about Lance's fight against cancer and how he emerged to be a winner. He also speaks about the cycling races especially the ones that he went for after he was diagnosed with cancer.

He was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 25. But instead of resigning to fate, he fought back with strong will and determination. Along with that fight, he got back to cycling and makes history.

I must tell you that this book really swept me off my feet. The fact that it was a real story and autobiographical made me borrow this book. As I started reading, it opened up a new world to me. Before I read the book, I had very little idea about cycling as a sport. The book revealed so many facts about cycling that I began to understand that this is one of the most challenging sports. What amazed me was that even a normal person finds cycling physically demanding; and imagine how a person with cancer would have dealt with it! What stupendous determination Lance Armstrong must have had to do so! And it is just not that; he emerges as a champion! What a comeback he makes! Even before you read the end, you conclude him as a winner by looking at the way he handles the whole thing. This man inspires you with his feats as you read the book.

If you think that you are looking at the greatest obstacle of your life, then just grab a copy of this book. I am sure that by the time you finish it, you will feel that your obstacle is nothing at all and even if it exists, it can be easily conquered. :)

One of my favourite quotes of Lance Armstrong is :

"Without cancer, I never would have won a single Tour de France. Cancer taught me a plan for more purposeful living, and that in turn taught me how to train and to win more purposefully. It taught me that pain has a reason, and that sometimes the experience of losing things–whether health or a car or an old sense of self–has its own value in the scheme of life. Pain and loss are great enhancers."

The three books that touched me - 3

The second book that I really enjoyed reading in the recent times is "THE ZAHIR" by Paulo Coelho. Okay, I had heard about Paul Coelho, but I think more than him, I had heard about his book "The Alchemist".:) Recommended by my friends, I purchased a copy of " The Alchemist". But I could not go further than the first few pages of the book. Ya, ya, I know that you might find it ridiculous, but honestly I was not inspired by "The Alchemist".

So this time, when I saw " The Zahir" at the library, I wasn't sure if I had to pick that up. But I thought I would give it a try. And believe me, once I started reading it, I was hooked to the book till the end. And I ended up recommending it to my friends.:)

In Paul Coelho's words - "Zahir means visible , incapable of being unnoticed. It can refer to an object or a person that takes over every thought of ours until we are unable to think about anyone or anything else. It slowly becomes our obsession."

The book is mainly about a famous author's search for his missing wife. The thought of his missing wife becomes the "zahir". I think the book turns out to be interesting as we can connect ourselves and people around us with the characters in the book. Even if you are not convinced with the plot, you might be tempted for some soul searching. For me, the journey to the missing wife was very fascinating rather than the end part of meeting her. Somewhere I thought it was on par with "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari".

I definitely think the book is worth atleast one reading and if you connect with it, you might wanna read it again and again.:)

The three books that touched me - 2

The first book that I will be writing about is "PSYCHIC DETECTIVE". It is a book based on the experiences of one of the famous psychics of Australia- Scott Russell Hill.

When I picked up this book from the library, I had nil knowledge about psychics. Hence I was curious and decided to read it through.

"Sensing Murder" was one of the famous serials that was aired in few countries. The main theme of the programme was that some unsolved cases were given to the chosen psychics. Based on their psychic abilities, they gave clues which were assembled by the private detectives.

In this book, Scott narrates his experiences of him being a psychic detective on the "Sensing Murder" show. It maps his victories, failures, his pain and anguish as he goes ahead with each case. Many a times, he would not be given any clue about the case. He would go ahead guided by his intuition and psychic ability. He would provide clues to who the murderer could be and the whereabouts of the body of the victim ( in case the body of the victim was not found before). Then the clues were put together by the private investigators.

The book is definitely a fascinating read. It opens up a new world of psychic ability, a world of mystery. The fact that there is more than what you see kinda knocks you down. I enjoyed reading it immensely as it was gripping from the beginning to the end. There is lot of sincerity in the author's narration. I think it is a good book for a starter who wants to know about psychics.

I have believed that there are things that are beyond logic, beyond reasoning. There are mysteries for which science has no answers. There are people around us with exceptional abilities. All these might be labelled as fake and nonsense. But the mysteries continue to persist and exist.

No, I am not getting into any debate. It is just that if you get to read this book, do read it with an open mind, without any inhibitions. Then you will enjoy it more. Who knows, it might open a door for you to explore a different world or to explore yourself and you might stumble on some exceptional ability of yours!!!!:)))))

The three books that touched me - 1

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have been doing lot of reading after coming to Melbourne - thanks to the excellent library next door! I have been reading a lot of fiction and most of them are from not-very-famous authors. Yet, I must say I enjoy them a lot. I have been choosing diverse types of books to read. Many of them can be passed off as a one time read. But I believe that reading definitely adds on to your life, no matter what you read.

I don't remember the name of the movie that had this dialogue- "You do not choose the book. On the contrary, the book chooses you."

I loved the dialogue a lot when I heard. But I was not very convinced about the statement until I started paying attention to the type of books I read.:)

Most of the times, I go to the library with my toddler. She runs all around the library pulling those books and DVDs down. So sometimes I do have a very hard time selecting the books as I am busy running behind her. So usually I pick my books very fast. The criteria for this quick selection is the eye-catching title or the author's name or an impulse.:) This process has sometimes ended up with books that I just stopped reading after 5 pages.:) But at the same time, this process has got me some books of lifetime.

In my next three posts, I will be talking about the three books that touched me and I read these books in about three weeks, one after another.:)

Tough times never last!

During one of the worst phases of my life, I was very crest fallen. That was a time when I had lost faith in myself. I had loads of self pity attitude- Why me? Everything seemed very hazy. It was at this time I came across the book, "Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!" by Robert.H.Schuller. I was not a staunch believer of philosophical books then. Even then I started reading this book; maybe it was a mere timepass. Slowly I got hooked onto this book. I almost started living this book. I tried practising the concepts mentioned in this book. And I must say, it worked! I think above all, this book gave me hope. I then passed on this book to others who needed hope.

Today as I was walking through my office, I found the same book on my colleague's desk. Just when I have been going through some grave, depressing situations, I found this book yet again. And yes, I did not waste my time. I borrowed the book from my colleague and now it lies on my desk. Yep, I shall read it again ( for the umpteenth time). Who knows, it might work again!:))

I am currently reading Durgasthamana by TaRaSu ( T.R.Subba Rao). It is supposed to be the magnum opus of TaRaSu. This book is about Madakari Nayaka of Palegara dynasty of Chitradurga. The author also hailed from the same place. Well, the book has definitely been interesting so far. This book has definitely allured me to visit Chitradurga sometime. Wikipedia gives the following information:

"One outstanding feature especially in his historical writings is his impeccable research. TaRaSu has succeeded in recreating the 18th and 19th Century Chitradurga in his books. It is nearly photographic."

Since childhood, I have been reading lots in both english and kannada. I just love kannada literature. I think my interest in kannada literature is a gift from mom. Her knowledge about kannada prose and poetry is very intense and she herself is also a very good writer.

"Mankuthimmana Kagga" by D.V.G. is one of the best books I have read so far. Kagga is kavya i.e poetry. It is definitely one of the masterpieces in Kannada. This book consists of 945 poems and each poem spans 4 lines. They are somewhat similar to Kabir's dohas. They are very intense but yet very simple. In fact, even today there are lot of seminars held to discuss this book, the philosophies mentioned in this book. It is a great experience to read this book. You can call "Mankuthimmana Kagga" as the common man's Bhagavad Gita.

Intha adhbhutha kruthi bareda nimage namellara hrudaya pooravaka namanagalu, DVG.

I have read very few books that have been penned by Indian authors. And my impressions about them were very bad. Maybe I did not choose right books. So I was a bit skeptical when I bought "The English Teacher" by R.K.Narayan a couple of days back. This was the first R.K.Narayan book that I was reading. And, man, believe me I could not just keep the book down once I started reading it. It is a wonderful book and I have no words about R.K's writing. His writing is so simple and yet it manages to touch your heart so beautifully. All his characters don't seem fictitious but they appear so real. I must say that it had been a long time since I had relished a book like this.

Now I am all set to read all his works. Also, I want to explore books by Indian authors.

Books do have this amazing capacity to take you away from all your worries and pains, don't they?