Combo weekend reading
It was over a month since I had the oppurtunity to read to my heart's content without getting bugged by millions things to do at one go. Tomes of books have been accummulating by my bed side table and I promised myself no I was not going to pick up Amitav Ghosh's new material "Sea of Poppies", nor was I going to pick up Rushdie's fantastic "The Enchantress of Florence" (this name has been driving me crazy, it's one of those tempting titles which wants you to grab it off the shelf and just plunge into it and discover mysteries of life), but no I have been a very good girl and avoided impulse buying plus kept my promise of not picking up new stuff without finishing the existing ones on the list.
On Thursday as I was waiting patiently at a traffic signal near Moolchand crossing, this smiling 12 year old thrust a book in my hand and said smiling "This is the best book I am selling, and I shall give you a 20% discount", I was caught so unwares by the title of the book, the author and definitely the winning marketing lingo I broke into a happy laugh and thought in the author's philosophy, that this is my calling and his too, yeah I was convinced that I was to start reading "The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coehlo right then. I just had to read. And people I have read The Alchemist, The Valkyries, Veronica Decides to Die and Eleven Minutes but still TWP made me question, think and act at the same time like all of us had done when we read "The Alchemist" .
The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coehlo
Meet Athena or Sherine Khalil who like all of us in various ways is searching, experienceing and most importantly hurting all the time in her quest of life. But she endures...as life always does, it only depends on us how we view it. Coehlo talks about the dancing dervishes a la modern dancing, going into a trance like state where one can read minds but above all the eternal quest for meaning of life for a child, mother, parents, friends and the cosmos and it's signals (like the one I experienced at the traffic signal)! Well I for one was hugely rewarded by the reading as it calmed my nerves, soothed my senses and made me realise all over again it is always right to question your own action and others provided you are not sitting on high moral ground. All in all it has touched modern day thoughts and beliefs of organisations(Scotland Yard), media (responsible journalism vis-a vis tabloid journalism), super structures such as religion and the Church, but yes feminine power is here to stay call what you may, Da Vinci Code or no Da Vinci Code. A very enjoyable book if you are ready to quiz yourself over your own misgivings, there is a note on dieting as well.
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I know, I know the entire world has discovered this magnificient book years ago but see I got around to read it only this weekend (this was one of the books lying on my bed side table for the last 2 months) so obviously you guys have to excuse me for the exuberance. I hurt with young Amir, I hurt more with Hassana the sweet Hazara boy, but then it was natural he was so good and one would always fail to be a Hassan due to lack of courage, with every page you turn you want amir to get out the slumber and stand beside Hassan in all his goodness, but as always Amir fails till he redeems himself in adopting Shorab (Hassan's son) against all odds and reinstating his faith in life. It's tale of two souls entwined in each other's life like no other spread across continents, time zones and war zones. We the readers are humbled everystep of the way by the author's strength in capturing the the most complex with such simplicity that one is crying with a generation, a country fruaght with war and human frailties that make us what we are. Well before I go to his next book "Thousand Splendid Suns" (which too incidentally lies on my bed side table asking to be read) I shall take a detour to CIA land as I think I have cried as much as I could in the last weekend with Amir and Athena and now my heart is all set to take some 'Spy games'for adventure and then may be the next doze of weeping will be prescribed. So the next review will be on "The Company" by Robert Little. As this one is as thick as "War and Peace" and "Shantaram" it will take me sometime. But never ye mind now that I am on the roll it won't be too long I suppose before I am back with yet another book review. Happy reading till then!
On Thursday as I was waiting patiently at a traffic signal near Moolchand crossing, this smiling 12 year old thrust a book in my hand and said smiling "This is the best book I am selling, and I shall give you a 20% discount", I was caught so unwares by the title of the book, the author and definitely the winning marketing lingo I broke into a happy laugh and thought in the author's philosophy, that this is my calling and his too, yeah I was convinced that I was to start reading "The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coehlo right then. I just had to read. And people I have read The Alchemist, The Valkyries, Veronica Decides to Die and Eleven Minutes but still TWP made me question, think and act at the same time like all of us had done when we read "The Alchemist" .
The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coehlo
Meet Athena or Sherine Khalil who like all of us in various ways is searching, experienceing and most importantly hurting all the time in her quest of life. But she endures...as life always does, it only depends on us how we view it. Coehlo talks about the dancing dervishes a la modern dancing, going into a trance like state where one can read minds but above all the eternal quest for meaning of life for a child, mother, parents, friends and the cosmos and it's signals (like the one I experienced at the traffic signal)! Well I for one was hugely rewarded by the reading as it calmed my nerves, soothed my senses and made me realise all over again it is always right to question your own action and others provided you are not sitting on high moral ground. All in all it has touched modern day thoughts and beliefs of organisations(Scotland Yard), media (responsible journalism vis-a vis tabloid journalism), super structures such as religion and the Church, but yes feminine power is here to stay call what you may, Da Vinci Code or no Da Vinci Code. A very enjoyable book if you are ready to quiz yourself over your own misgivings, there is a note on dieting as well.
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I know, I know the entire world has discovered this magnificient book years ago but see I got around to read it only this weekend (this was one of the books lying on my bed side table for the last 2 months) so obviously you guys have to excuse me for the exuberance. I hurt with young Amir, I hurt more with Hassana the sweet Hazara boy, but then it was natural he was so good and one would always fail to be a Hassan due to lack of courage, with every page you turn you want amir to get out the slumber and stand beside Hassan in all his goodness, but as always Amir fails till he redeems himself in adopting Shorab (Hassan's son) against all odds and reinstating his faith in life. It's tale of two souls entwined in each other's life like no other spread across continents, time zones and war zones. We the readers are humbled everystep of the way by the author's strength in capturing the the most complex with such simplicity that one is crying with a generation, a country fruaght with war and human frailties that make us what we are. Well before I go to his next book "Thousand Splendid Suns" (which too incidentally lies on my bed side table asking to be read) I shall take a detour to CIA land as I think I have cried as much as I could in the last weekend with Amir and Athena and now my heart is all set to take some 'Spy games'for adventure and then may be the next doze of weeping will be prescribed. So the next review will be on "The Company" by Robert Little. As this one is as thick as "War and Peace" and "Shantaram" it will take me sometime. But never ye mind now that I am on the roll it won't be too long I suppose before I am back with yet another book review. Happy reading till then!
Comments
And thanks a ton for the Cohelo review..I flicked through it and it was lot like the Zephyr, which I am currently trying to finish, so I left it alone for now.
Please let me know how the Amitav Ghosh book is. I really like his writing.