Reading Between Books

Amish - The Secret Of The Nagas

2011-12-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Shiva Trilogy was recommended by my reader friend Prajkta, who was the same lady who introduced me to Paulo Coelho. She was in a kind of trance and was not able to stop praising it! More importantly, she shared with me the book too. Me, after finishing the second chapter ordered a copy for myself ! Because I knew this is a book I will read again, and should be a part of my book collection...

Mythological or folklore inspired stories has one advantage - people already knew the story. They know what to expect. And the biggest drawback is not to challenge the original story or not to disturb their feelings towards the characters. Amish, the about the author column says, did exhaustive research and understanding of Shiv Purana and it was the base of the Trilogy.

I have read my share of mythology books and epics. Not just limited to Ramayana and Mahabharata. But about Shiva, I hardly did. Though I know the main stories, he is one among the Thrimurthis and that, but not deep enough. So I was naturally happy and excited about this series. I was expecting a contemporary read of Shiva stories. Like a new way of presenting the myths. The one thing the most exciting and attractive was presenting him a human, whose God-like actions in the world gave him the God status.

His presentation in the first book ( The Immortals Of Meluha, Prajkta has promised me that she will cover the book here ) was well-done. The stage was set for his God-like actions. In the second book it is his journey towards the setup for the bigger things ( that is what I am expecting! ). His new allies, discoveries, along with the reader of course, are the theme of this one.

There are many a time my knowledge was challenged in the book. Like, birth of Ganapati. The two I heard was that, Shiva behead Ganesh in anger and on Parvati's request, to bring him back to life, he fits the head of an elephant. Another was that Ganesh was the child born when Shiv and Parvati romanced as elephants. Here the third one is - nope, you got to read it to find it, I don't want to kill it ;) BUT, a big but, I didn't feel Amish's story untrue. Because of the setting up he has done with the story, I felt that could be the perfect way. One more reason to believe Shiva's power and respect for the law. Hhhmmm... Intelligent.

Amish's writing style is superb ( do I need to re-iterate it ??? ). His language is simple. Canvas big. It is so big that he draws the pictures and incidents so clear and vivid before the reader. Whether it is war or Love or dance. Magical style he got. One good thing he did with the second book is that, the titles he gave to the chapters are less profound. i.e., in the first book, when the chapter says the first meeting of Shiv and Sati, he titled it, Shiva meets Sati, we know what is going to happen, but was reading to know how. Here in the second book it was rectified.

This is a book for everyone. Anybody who can be thrilled by the story of a warrior becomes God. I am eagerly waiting for the third book - The Oath Of The Vayuputhras to know how the transformation happened. I am sure Amish will not disappoint me. By then, I will read both the books again, together :)

Paulo Coelho - By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept

2011-12-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

'Book of forgiveness' - this is what the book was referred. But I didn’t really find the feel of forgiveness in it. I found it more of realising one's goal and understanding what exactly he expects from life, and how Love makes the life meaningful.

I like reading Coelho, because he is the one who always tells me being crazy is not a bad thing :) It is perfectly normal thing to be. He definitely is crazy - his thoughts are not inhibited by wisdom! In this book there are a lot of incidents which seems silly. Which normal people may not do and I always dream about doing ! Like getting drunk in open on a cold night, with my Loved one...

There are a lot of biblical references in the book. I think that's the only way a book deals with Love can be told, in a language of God, spirituality. Which everyone can understand and it is the easy way to talk about Love. Easily conveyed too.

His observation about human nature is wonderful. It is not something that I don't know, but when he says that I understand that I am not the only one feeling that. And he gives an explanation for it. Good. Like he writes - some people always have to be doing battle with someone, sometimes even with themselves, battling with their own lives. So they begin to create a kind of play in their head, and they write the script based on their frustration. How often we might end up fighting the fight which was not at all necessary ?? This theory explains that. The other wanted a fight, with anybody for any reason. When we approach them, they get into the fight for the first reason they can think of. Hhmm...

We are our own greatest surprise - sometimes when I'm talking with someone and get excited about what I'm saying, I find myself saying things I've never said before. It seems almost as if I'm channeling' an intelligence that isn't mine - one that understands life much better than me ::: do I need to tell more about this observation... Now I know that it was always there inside me, which I just failed to notice. I have surprised myself. But sometimes if you think you know something, you do wind up understanding it. I will not stop understanding more and wide Coelho...

He has an interesting observation, not about individuals, but as a society - When a certain number of people have enough faith to change the scenario, all of the other - everywhere on the planet - will benefit. The people movements around the world in recent times could be the best example. It started off as a spark. Then many joined the thought, and the entire community got the benefit. When the news spread to different part of world they got inspired... Wow...

Altogether though it was a slow read like his other books ( I tend to stop reading and think about what he really wanted to say ), I was happy finishing it. Happy because the time was not wasted and I found something which I wanted to know. Read the quotes from the book to know more...

The lines I read again...

The wise are wise only because they Love. And the foolish are foolish only because they think they can understand Love.
Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.
The moment we begin to seek Love, Love begins to seek us.
We are our own greatest surprise.
I have surprised myself. But sometimes if you think you know something, you do wind up understanding it.

Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

2011-10-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

Bijith :|: ബിജിത്‌ has already written a review on 'Eleven Minutes'. This is a closer view of ‘Eleven Minutes’, what i felt and what I learnt form the book. I wasn't merely reading the book, I was learning the book, a book about love, love which includes desire, sex, passion, hopes, dreams, adventure, sadism, masochism, pain and suffering. I feel like the book like a journey, a journey towards the scared nature of sex.

Once upon a time…..there lived a beautiful woman called Maria.

Maria had a habit of writing diary since her childhood, in which she describes herself, “I am two women: one waits to have all the joy, passion and adventure that life can give me. The other wants to be a slave to routine, to family life, to the things that can be planned and achieved. I am a house wife and a prostitute, both of us living in the same body and doing battle with each other”

Maria was born as an ordinary girl, dreamt of ‘prince charming’ since her childhood, fallen in love few times but something always went wrong, and the relationship would end precisely at the moment when she was sure that this was the person with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life. After a long time, she came to the conclusion that ‘men brought only pain, frustration, suffering and a sense of time dragging.’

She accepts an offer to go to Switzerland, for she had dreamt of earning lots of money, learning about life and who she was, buying a farm for her parents and finding the love of her life. But she ends up in a night club and she chooses prostitution as her profession.

Maria finds the amount of time spent actually having sex is about eleven minutes.

She thinks.. “It's really only forty-five minutes and if you allow time for taking off clothes, making some phoney gesture of affection, having a bit of banal conversation and getting dressed again, the amount of time spent actually having sex is about eleven minutes.'

Eleven minutes. The world revolved around something that took eleven minutes.

She decides to write a book about her adventures, and to title it as eleven minutes.

The great majority of her clientele are married, or hold important positions in some company or power. She discovers, to her surprise, that one in every five clients didn't want her in order to have sex, but simply to talk a little. They pay for the bar tab and the hotel room, and when the moment comes for them both to take off their clothes, the man would say, no, that won't be necessary. They want to talk about the pressures of work, about their unfaithful wife, about how lonely they felt and how they have no one to talk to.

When she realises that releasing tension in the soul could be as lucrative as releasing tension in the body, if not more lucrative, she started going to the library, where she makes a friendship with the librarian (who is her only friend, not best though). Maria became a regular reader of newspapers, especially, where possible, the financial pages, because the majority of her clients were business executives. She sought out self-help books, because her clients nearly all asked for her advice. She read studies of the human emotions, because all her clients were in some kind of emotional pain.

Maria becomes a respectable, rather unusual prostitute, and after six months, she had acquired a large, faithful, very select clientele, thus arousing the envy and jealousy, but also the admiration, of her colleagues.

As for sex, it had nothing to do with her life: it was just a matter of opening her legs, asking them to use a condom, moaning a bit in the hope of getting a better tip and taking a shower afterwards, hoping that the water would wash her soul clean.

The story gets its twist when she meets a renowned young painter, Ralf Hart, at an expensive coffee shop. He approaches her and tells her she got a special light around her (aura). She gets startled and doubts his intentions, but he simply wants to paint her. She poses for him. Later he recognizes her, a prostitute; same time amazed by the light around her. He meets her again at the night club. The acquaintance leads to a special relation, in which she finds herself and her true love.

She breaks the basic rule of her profession, “never fall in love”.

She finds hopelessly fallen in love. She believes freedom only exists when love is present. The person, who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly. And the person who loves wholeheartedly feels free.

She herself feels like a caged bird.

What is next, you have to read and find it out yourself.

Paulo Coelho might have done a lot of homework to write the book. He had interviewed many prostitutes on which the story is based on. The book flashes some light on history of prostitution, discovery of ‘clitoris’ etc. It also describes the G-spot and various methods to bring a woman to ecstasy.

I wish to quote what he quoted as the preface of the book.

For I am the first and the last

I am the venerated and the despised

I am the prostitute and the saint

I am the wife and the virgin I am the mother and the daughter

I am the arms of my mother

I am barren and my children are many

I am the married woman and the spinster

I am the woman who gives birth and she

who never procreated I am the consolation for the pain of birth

I am the wife and the husband

And it was my man who created me

I am the mother of my father

I am the sister of my husband

And he is my rejected son

Always respect me For I am the shameful and the magnificent one

Hymn to Isis, third or fourth century BC, discovered in Nag Hammadi

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

2011-10-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

There are only a few books I have read more than once. An English book? never, till I picked up The Alchemist last week. I have read this book about three years back and still remember the essence of it. Even then, this second read was interesting and I found the way story unfold had a whole different meaning than the first time. I felt I understand the meaning and message of the book better now. May be a third read after another three years may give it a complete different colour...

'His books make me dream...' one critic has said. I will say, they help you understand and realise your dream too. The Alchemist is the most translated book by a living author. And you will not be surprised why once you finish it. ( Paulo Coelho is the most sold living author too ). The book talks about the importance of dream and moreover, the need to go for it. To make the life meaningful and complete. Never in the book I found it preachy. It was presented like a boy's expedition to realise his dream. If a boy can go that length to see his dream be true, why not the reader gets the courage and encouragement to go for his...

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it - this summarise the soul of the book. Nothing gave me the courage to move forward than this line. The hope. The faith. A promise that our quest can not go wrong. I thank Paulo Coelho for it.

One more thought that strike me was in the author's note. In which Coelho says about the four obstacles which keep us from realising our dream :

1) We are told from childhood onwards that everything we wanted to do is impossible.

2) Love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream.

3) Fear of defeat we will meet on the path, and

4) The fear of realizing the dream for which we have been fighting all our lives.

He explains briefly about these obstacles in the book. And the fourth one was of particular interest, as just before the one last step to success, we tend to step back and let our dream go. How true. And I never noticed !!! It is something like we might lose the interest in living after our dream come true ! When we don't realise it will make the life better and meaningful.

In this book he says about the importance of listening to our heart. May sound silly, but it is a very powerful tool, if we know how to use it. In every step, it says us what is good and right. It helps us to understand the omens and talk to the Soul of the World. What a beautiful thought to see everything and everyone as a part of a greater soul...

I will definitely read this book again. And then, the meaning of it may be completely different. But I am sure that it will be only deep and clear. One must read this book. If not to have a new view to live, at least to remind himself about that he is missing and what he can be.

The lines I read again :::

If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it.

The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.

Dan Brown - Digital Fortress

2011-09-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

Digital Fortress – with which I completed all 5 novels by Dan Brown. Like all of his books, this also sets around short span of time ( almost a day ), involves threat to national security, and secret codes to decipher to stop disaster, saving the day ( nation ) at the last moment, with events almost went out of hand and the saviour(s) crack the situation at the nick of time…

Digital Fortress is the brain child of a Japanese code writer and former employee of NSA, a code which is believed to be unbreakable. NSA ( National Security Agency ), which is the gate keeper of America’s confidential digital documents, and the one responsible to crack down threats to the country in digital domain, doesn’t like the idea and try to crack it. They soon find the writer, Ensei Tankado dead. On desperate account to find the pass-key to break the code, Strathmore, the Deputy Director, sends David Becker to Spain, where Tankado found dead. In a series of murders, dishonesty, and we-lost-it-situations the secrets were unfold and the day was saved.

Brown has kept his tradition of walking in the region less traveled. Whether it is been about the NSA, TRANSLTR, the million processor computer giant, or life of cryptographers. His style of telling thrillers with a lot of codes and secrets poured in abundance is repeated. But the setup and the world of digital programming make it interesting and different. Though we know that the heroes has to win in the end, how they make it kept a secret effectively. That’s the art of writing a thriller :)

There is a lot of similarity I found in every book of Brown. The one we trust the most, eventually turn to villain. A lot of co-incidences. i.e., when the main protagonists face a dead end, out of the blue, they find the solution. E.g., the one hero desperately trying to chase and lost, came from nowhere and suddenly he realize he found her ! Or when the lady needed a password, all she needs is to close her eyes and think. Voila ! She got it! You will find more in the book. Another aspect is the depth of secret – the secret the whole of the cream of code breakers desperately trying to break turn out to be very simple. In The Lost Symbol, this happens too often that I almost lost interest in finding the ultimate secret word it was going to offer, and I was not in for a surprise there. When the readers were promised the moon and all they end up with a marble, it can not be funny.

May be too much of the decoding books I read, many of the secrets were open to me, like the secret partner of Tankado, NDAKOTA. May be I scan the name, Tankado than reading it ( the name is too tough for me to remember ), I had a feeling that NDAKOTA is an anagram (rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase ). Or the mission of the killer or his boss – it was too easy to guess. It killed the surprise element a bit.

I would say, this book is an interesting read, if you got the basic understanding of computer codes. Dan Brown’s genius in telling smart thriller is here too, though not at its best. I needed a break from the decoding stuff after The Lost Symbol and Digital Fortress back to back, so I picked up a period fiction, The Immortals Of Meluha, which will come here soon.

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

2011-08-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth book I read of Dan Brown after Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and Deception Point. I picked this because I like his style of storytelling - something which can be called smart, intelligent thrillers. Stories based on science / beliefs / myths which are not so familiar with, adapted in real life like situation and by the course of the book enlighten the readers along with entertain. When I told my friends I picked this one, many asked me not to expect a lot and said this is boring. Was it ???

The story deals with ancient secrets of The Freemasonry brothers and an evil mind trying to get access to it. He was incapable of deciphering the secret codes and symbol, so he tricks Robert Langdon, the symbol specialist who appeared in Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons to Washington DC and in trade of his dear friend and top order mason Peter Solomon's life. Robert, who was skeptical about the Masonic secrets from the beginning, to save his friend, play along with the kidnapper and help him understand the codes. Meanwhile CIA also gets involved in the case, and they cross the paths of Robert and the captor. Whether the captor get hold of the ancient secret, will Robert know the lost knowledge is the remaining of the story.

This time, Dan Brown deals with little known 'science' of conscious. Suggesting the thoughts have mass, it directly influences / manipulates the material world, soul exists and it has mass kind of theories. I always like to believe our thoughts shapes and influence our world. So something suggesting they are true was interesting to me. But when considering this is a novel and not a research handbook, it could be less entertaining. Because more than the course of unfolding the events, Dan goes on explaining the Neotic science ( that's what it is called ) and the suggestion how the ancient texts have already explained what we prove today. So the preachy and suggestive style may hinder the enjoyablility of the book.

After reading this book, like Brown's other books too, I spent considerable time online to get more insights about the theories he suggested. Ironically, in this book he says - "Google' is not a synonym for 'research'." !!! " We all fear what we do not understand." - another quote from the book may explain why many didn't like the book. When we hear something we cannot accept, we often write them off as rubbish. If you cannot imagine the power of your thoughts, or believe that the ancient texts have already mentioned what we prove today ( solar system was explained in detail in Vedas, for example ), this book is not for you. I am not saying Dan Brown proves the existence of it or he is true, but this book could make you think. ( When Da Vinci Code was released, Brown said all of what the book suggests is true. Which he changed to 'most of them are true' and then further to 'most of the theories explained in the book are fiction'.! So do not take him for authority, it is left to you. )

So how did I feel finishing this book - I placed the order for the one last book I missed of him, Digital Fortress !

Paulo Coelho - Eleven Minutes

2011-08-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

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In this book Paulo Coelho describes a woman's self discovery through Love and sex. The following article has such references. If you are not ready, see you in a different post.
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Paulo Coelho has the gift of telling stories about the things we know and present them as if we are hearing it for the first time, because of the new perspective he present them. He gives it an angle of sacred, special. Eleven Minutes is no different. It is not taking us into a new world, it is showing something that we already know, and he is talking it into a different height, and enlighten us with the dimensions we were blind before.

I was told Eleven Minutes is about a woman's quest for sex from teenage to womanhood with graphic details of it. If one picks this book for it, he / she will be disappointed! Because, though sex is a part of the book, it is not it’s all about. In the preface, Paulo says he has a duty to talk about the things that concern him and not only about what everyone would like to hear. Some books make us dreams, others bring us face to face with reality, but what matters most to the author is the honesty with which a book is written. His honesty makes it a worth read.

He starts the book with the opening line 'Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria'. The daring sincerity he keeps through the book. Maria was born normal girl, grows up with the dream of finding her prince charming and settles with a happy family. She falls in Love from adolescence. And lost them too. She found sex. And its pleasure. Her life taught her that Love is suffering and decided not to fall in Love. She found men are fragile, inconstant and insecure. She sets off from her small town to the beaches of Copacabana to find life. There she found men who will give her a fortunate to sleep with her. In a Swiss man, she found the 'worth' of her beauty and the escape route to Europe. She decided to make a certain amount of money in Switzerland and return to her village to live a comfortable settled life. But life had other plans.

She understood life and Love and sex there. Also about Eleven Minutes. i.e., if allow time for taking off clothes, gestures and conversation etc, the amount of time spent actually having sex is about eleven minutes! She also learned something more important than the eleven minutes - Love.

In the course of stay she met a variety of people. Those who takes the 'painful' way to ecstasy, to the one who makes sex Love. That Love is fragile. She was terrified when happiness became a real possibility.

The book ends with her discovery of herself and her desires. Which may be different from each one of us. But the journey that she had to find it is worth and it might help us find our own desires....

The lines I read again :
Freedom only exists when Love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who Loves most whole heartedly.

The art of sex is the art of controlled abandon.

Jeffrey Archer - Only Time Will Tell

2011-06-03T03:50:00.000-07:00

This novel belongs to the master craftsman Jeffry Archer. Every chapter, every sentence screams his style. His proven skill in handling vast plot and story spread in long time frame is at peak in this. Though the story spread through around 100 years, not even a single page of it was boring. The gripping narrative makes it a real non-put-down-able book.

The style of writing is fresh. Every book starts with the diary of a character, and then moves ahead with his / her life and blends with the incident the author was describing in the previous book. The back and forth of the flow, is adding to the style of the narrative. There are many twists in the tale. And they are stylishly revealed.

The book starts with the diary of Maisie Clifton, mother of the protagonist Harry Clifton, describing one landmark incident of her life, which made her life twisted and confused. The book of her son, his friends etc are followed. I am not getting into more of it here. Because if I try to give hint of the story, I will end up quoting the whole book, because without that I won't be able to justify the plot ! The thing that stands out and will remain in your mind is the way Archer plotted it. The ease and style only he can deliver. The reader will cheer every little victory young Harry makes, down when he cries, and beam with pride when he triumph the battles the life chose for him.

The other characters are woven around him - to make his life easy or to pose challenges, and they are the best ones for the chosen job ! May it be his mother doing her best to see her kid gets what he needed at every point of life, or the 'villain' who makes his life difficult when everything seems perfect. Read it to know what's so inspiring there :)

One thing was disappointing - the ending. It was so abrupt, just like somebody teared-off lots of pages from the book. And there are many questions unanswered, many twists unfold. Then I was told that this is the first part of a series which will complete in five installments. Alas, he will publish only one book an year. That will be too much of waiting !

Do not miss this one. The only regret you could have is that, you got to wait a long time to see the story unfold completely. Still, while it lasts, the gripping story will keep you engaged and satisfied. Go for it.

വിശ്വസാഹിത്യ താരാവലി - കാലം നമിക്കുന്ന 100 ക്ലാസ്സിക്കുകള്‍

2011-04-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

വായിക്കുക എന്നത് എത്രത്തോളം പ്രധാന്യമുള്ളതാണോ അത് പോലെ പ്രധാനപ്പെട്ടതാണ് എന്താണ് വായിക്കുന്നത് എന്നും. നമ്മുടെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട എഴുത്തുകാരുടെ കൃതികളോ അതോ, എല്ലാവരും വായിച്ചു നല്ലത് എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ പുസ്തകങ്ങളോ ആവും മിക്കവാറും നമ്മള്‍ തിരഞ്ഞെടുക്കുന്നത്. അത് പോലെ തന്നെയാണ് നമ്മള്‍ വായിച്ചിരിക്കേണ്ട കൃതികളും

ഡി സി ബുക്സ്‌ പുറത്തിറക്കിയ ഒരു ബ്രഹ്മാണ്ഡ സമാഹാരമാണ് വിശ്വസാഹിത്യ താരാവലി - കാലം നമിക്കുന്ന 100 ക്ലാസ്സിക്കുകള്‍. ഇങ്ങിനെ ഒരു ഉദ്യമത്തിന് ഇറങ്ങി പുറപ്പെടാന്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചതും, അതിലേക്കു വേണ്ടി ലോകസാഹിത്യത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും മികച്ച 100 പുസ്തകങ്ങള്‍ തിരഞ്ഞെടുക്കുക എന്ന സാഹസവും ഇതിനെ ബ്രഹ്മാണ്ഡനിലയിലുള്ള ഒരു പ്രവൃത്തി ആക്കുന്നു.

മിക്കവാറും വളരെ നല്ല കൃതികള്‍ നമ്മള്‍ അറിയാതെ പോകുന്നത് അതിന്റെ ലഭ്യത ഇല്ലാത്തതിനാല്‍ ആകും. അവിടെയാണ് ഡീ സീ ബുക്സിന്റെ ഈ സമാഹാരത്തിന്റെ പ്രസക്തി. രാമായണം 150 പേജില്‍ ഒതുക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ഉള്ള പരിമിതികള്‍ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിലും, രാമായണത്തെ അറിയാന്‍ അത് മതിയാകും. താല്പര്യമുള്ള കൃതികള്‍ നമുക്ക് അതിന്റെ പൂര്‍ണ രൂപത്തിലും പിന്നീട് വായിക്കാമല്ലോ...

ഷോകേസില്‍ അഭിമാനത്തോടെ പ്രദര്‍ശിപ്പിക്കാന്‍ മാത്രമല്ല, മനസ്സിനെ തൃപ്തിപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന വായനക്കും ഉതകുന്ന ഈ സമാഹാരത്തിലെ കൃതികള്‍ താഴെ കൊടുത്തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇത് കൂടാതെ ലോക പ്രശസ്തമായ ചില ചിത്രങ്ങളും, ശില്പങ്ങളും ഉള്‍പ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നു.

001. രാമായണം - വാല്മീകി

002. ഇലിയഡ്‌ - ഹോമര്‍

003. ഒഡീസി - ഹോമര്‍

004. മഹാഭാരതം - വ്യാസന്‍

005. സ്വപ്നവാസവദത്തം - ഭാസന്‍

006. മൃച്ഛകടികം - ശൂദ്രകന്‍

007. ഏനീഡ് - പുബ്ലിയുസ്‌ വെര്‍ജിലിയസ് മാരോ

008. ഈസോപ്പുകഥകള്‍ - ഈസോപ്പ്‌

009. ചിലപ്പതികാരം - ഇളങ്കോ അടികള്‍

010. ബുദ്ധചരിതം - അശ്വഘോഷന്‍

011. കുമ്പസാരം - സെന്റ്‌ അഗസ്റ്റിന്‍

012. മുദ്രാരാക്ഷസം - വിശാഖദത്തന്‍

013. രഘുവംശം - കാളിദാസന്‍

014. അഭിജ്ഞാനശാകുന്തളം - കാളിദാസന്‍

015. കാദംബരി - ബാണന്‍

016. ഷാനാമ - ഫിര്‍ ദൌസി

017. പഞ്ചതന്ത്രം - വിഷ്ണു ശര്‍മ

018. ഗെഞ്ജിയുടെ കഥ - മുറസാകി ഷിക്കിബു

019. ഡെക്കാമറണ്‍ - ജൊവാന്നി ബോക്കാച്ചോ

020. കാന്റെര്‍ബറി കഥകള്‍ - ജെഫ്രി ചോസര്‍

021. യുട്ടോപ്പിയ - തോമസ്‌ മൂര്‍

022. ലൂസിയഡ് സ് - ലൂയിസ് ദി കമോന്‍സ്‌

023. ഒഥല്ലോ - വില്യം ഷെയ്ക് സ്പിയര്‍

024. മക് ബത് - വില്യം ഷെയ്ക് സ്പിയര്‍

025. ജാതക കഥകള്‍

026. ഡോണ്‍ ക്വിക്ക് സോട്ട് - മിഗേല്‍ ദെ സെര്‍വാന്തസ് സാവെദ്ര

027. നഷ്ട സ്വര്‍ഗം, വീണ്ടു കിട്ടിയ സ്വര്‍ഗം - ജോണ്‍ മില്‍ട്ടണ്‍

028. ചുകന്ന അകത്തളത്തിന്റെ കിനാവ്‌ - സൌ സുയെ-ജിന്‍

029. റോബിന്‍സണ്‍ ക്രുസോ - ഡാനിയല്‍ ഡിഫോ

030. ഗളിവറുടെ യാത്രകള്‍ - ജോനാതന്‍ സ്വിഫ്റ്റ്‌

031. കാന്‍ഡീസ് - വൊല്‍ത്തേര്‍

032. ഗ്രിമ്മിന്റെ കഥകള്‍ - ജേക്കബ്‌ ഗ്രിം, വില്‍ഹെം ഗ്രിം

033. അഹന്തയും മുന്‍വിധിയും - ജെയ്ന്‍ ഓസ്റ്റിന്‍

034. ഫ്രാന്‍കെന്‍സ്റെയ്ന്‍ - മേരി ഷെല്ലി

035. ഐവന്‍ഹോ - വാള്‍ട്ടര്‍ സ് കോട്ട്

036. റിപ് വാന്‍ വിങ്കിള്‍, മറ്റു കഥകളും - വാഷിങ്ങ്ടന്‍ ഇര്‍വിങ്

037. എവ്ഗെനി ഒനേഗിന്‍ - അലക്സാണ്ടര്‍ സെര്‍ ഗ്വേവിച് പുഷ്കിന്‍

038. ഓവര്‍കോട്ട്, മറ്റു കഥകളും - നിക്കൊലായ്‌ ഗോഗള്‍

039. അവസാനത്തെ മോഹികാന്‍ - ജെയിംസ്‌ ഫെനിമോര്‍ കൂപ്പര്‍

040. ചുവപ്പും കറുപ്പും - സ് തെന്താല്‍

041. ആന്‍ഡേഴ്സന്‍ കഥകള്‍ - ഹാന്‍സ്‌ ക്രിസ്ത്യന്‍ ആന്‍ഡേഴ്സന്‍

042. നോത്രദാമിലെ കൂനന്‍ - വിക്തോര്‍ യൂഗോ

043. കിഴവന്‍ ഗൊറിയോ - ഒനോറേ ദ് ബല്‍സാക്ക്

044. ഒലിവര്‍ ട്വിസ്റ്റ്‌ - ചാള്‍സ് ഡിക്കന്‍സ്‌

045. സുവര്‍ണനദിയുടെ രാജാവ്‌ - ജോണ്‍ റസ്കിന്‍

046. മോണ്ടി ക്രിസ് റ്റര്‍ പ്രഭു - അലക്സാണ്ടര്‍ ദ്യുമ

047. അലയുന്ന ജൂതന്‍ - യൂജിന്‍ സ്യു

048. ജെയ്ന്‍ എയര്‍ - ഷാര്‍ലറ്റ്‌ ബ്രോണ്ടി

049. വതറിങ് ഹൈറ്റ്സ് - എമിലി ബ്രോണ്ടി

050. അങ്കിള്‍ ടോമിന്റെ ചാള - ഹാരിയറ്റ്‌ ബീച്ചര്‍ സ്‌‌‍ റ്റോവ്

051. അത്ഭുത ലോകത്തില്‍ ആലീസ്‌ - ലൂയിസ് കാരള്‍

052. മോബി ഡിക് - ഹെര്‍മന്‍ മെല്‍വില്‍

053. പിതാക്കളും പുത്രന്മാരും - ഇവാന്‍ തുര്‍ ഗേനെവ്‌

054. മദാം ബൊവാറി - ഗുസ്താവ് ഫ്ലോബെര്‍

055. ഒബ്ലമോവ്‌ - ഇവാന്‍ ഗഞ്ചറോവ്

056. പുഴക്കരയിലെ മില്ല് - ജോര്‍ജ് എലിയറ്റ്

057. പാവങ്ങള്‍ - വിക്തോര്‍ യൂഗോ

058. കുറ്റവും ശിക്ഷയും - ഫ്യോദോര്‍ ഡൊസ് റ്റോയേവ്സ്കി

059. യുദ്ധവും സമാധാനവും - ലിയോ ടോള്‍ സ് റ്റോയ്

060. ടോം സോയര്‍ - മാര്‍ക്ക്‌ ട്വയിന്‍

061. എണ്‍പതു ദിവസം കൊണ്ട് ഭൂമിക്ക് ചുറ്റും - ഷൂള്‍ വേണ്‍

062. അന്ന കരെനീന - ലിയോ ടോള്‍ സ് റ്റോയ്

063. ബ്ലാക്ക്‌ ബ്യൂട്ടി - അന്ന സിവെല്‍

064. പാവവീട് - ഹെന്‍ റിക് ഇബ്സന്‍

065. കിഴക്കിന്റെ വെളിച്ചം - സര്‍ എഡ്വിന്‍ ആര്‍നോള്‍ഡ്

066. കാരമസോവ് സഹോദരര്‍ - ഫ്യോദോര്‍ ഡൊസ് റ്റോയേവ്സ്കി

067. ഒരു ലേഡിയുടെ ചിത്രം - ഹെന്‍ റി ജെയിംസ്

068. ഹൈദി - ജോഹന്ന സ് പൈറി

069. നായ്ക്കുട്ടിയുമായി ഒരു സ്ത്രീ, മറ്റു കഥകളും - ആന്‍റണ്‍ ചെക്കോവ്

070. അവസാനത്തെ ഇല, മറ്റു കഥകളും - ഓ ഹെന്‍റി

071. സന്തുഷ്ടനായ രാജകുമാരന്‍, മറ്റു കഥകളും - ഓസ്കര്‍ വൈല്‍ഡ്‌

072. ആനന്ദ മഠം - ബങ്കിം ചന്ദ്ര ചാറ്റര്‍ജി

073. ഇഷ്ടതോഴന്‍ - ഗീ ദ് മോപ്പസാങ്

074. തട്ടികൊണ്ടുപോയി - ആര്‍ എല്‍ സ്റ്റീവന്‍സണ്‍

075. നാന - എമില്‍ സൊല

076. ഹക്ക്ള്‍ ബറി ഫിന്‍ - മാര്‍ക്ക്‌ ട്വയിന്‍

077. ചുവപ്പില്‍ ഒരു പഠനം - ആര്‍തര്‍ കോനന്‍ ഡോയ്ല്‍

078. ടെസ് - തോമസ്‌ ഹാര്‍ഡി

079. ധീരതയുടെ ശോണമുദ്ര - സ്റ്റീഫന്‍ ക്രെയ്ന്‍

080. ക്വോ വാദിസ് - ഹെന്‍റിക് ഷെന്‍ക്വേവിച്ച്

081. ഡ്രാക്കുള - ബ്രാം സ്‌‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‍‍ റ്റോ‌ക്കര്‍

082. അദൃശ്യനായ മനുഷ്യന്‍ - എച്ച് ജി വെല്‍സ്‌

083. ജംഗിള്‍ ബുക്ക്‌ - റഡ്യാര്‍ഡ് കിപ്ലിങ്

084. കാടിന്റെ വിളി - ജാക്ക്‌ ലണ്ടന്‍

085. ഴാങ് ക്രിസ് തോഫ്‌ - റൊമേങ് റൊളാങ്

086. സീക്രെട്ട് എജെന്റ്റ്‌ - ജോസഫ്‌ കോണ്‍ റാഡ്

087. പെന്‍ഗ്വിന്‍ ദ്വീപ്‌ - അനത്തോല്‍ ഫ്രാങ്ങ്സ്

088. ഒടിഞ്ഞ ചിറകുകള്‍ - ഖലീല്‍ ജിബ്രാന്‍

089. പൊയ് പോയ കാലം തേടി - മര്‍സേല്‍ പ്രൂസ്ത്

090. യുവാവെന്ന നിലയ്ക്ക് ഒരു കലാകാരന്റെ ഛായാചിത്രം - ജെയിംസ്‌ ജോയ്സ്

091. പീറ്റര്‍ പാന്‍ - ജെ എം ബാരി

092. പുത്രന്മാരും കാമുകന്മാരും - ഡി എച്ച് ലോറന്‍സ്‌

093. മഴവില്ല് - ഡി എച്ച് ലോറന്‍സ്‌

094. ദേവദാസ്‌ - ശരച്ചന്ദ്ര ചാറ്റര്‍ജി

095. നാലധ്യായങ്ങള്‍ - രവീന്ദ്രനാഥ ടാഗോര്‍

096. പ്രേതബാധയുള്ള വീട്, മറ്റു കഥകളും - വെര്‍ജീനിയ വൂള്‍ഫ്

097. കോട്ട - ഫ്രാന്‍സ്‌ കാഫ്ക

098. അമ്മ - മാക്സിം ഗോര്‍ക്കി

099. ഒരു വിശുദ്ധ മദ്യപന്റെ ഇതിഹാസം - യോസഫ് റോത്ത്

100. റോബിന്‍ ഹുഡ് - റോജര്‍ ലന്‍സ്ലിന്‍ ഗ്രീന്‍

ഹാപ്പി റീഡിംഗ്!!!

Paulo Coelho - The Devil And Miss Prym

2011-03-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

Once done with The Pilgrimage, I picked another one by Paulo Coelho, The Devil And Miss Prym. I browsed through the books which I haven’t read yet by him ( I have read The Alchemist, Veronica Decided To Die and Winner Stands Alone earlier ). The synopsis on the cover promised an excited reading. The Devil, and its manifestation of greed, cowardice and fear excited me. It can not be another way, as in The Pilgrimage he demonstrated the power of Devil and how it tries to manipulate our thought. He even explained how we can turn it to our friend, and deal with the difficult situations of life.

This book was the third in his trilogy of books concerned with a week in the life of ordinary people, all of who find themselves suddenly confronted by love, death and power. Of the first two books, By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept and Veronica Decides To Die, I have read the second one and immensely liked it. So this book gathered a lot of expectation.

Viscos is a small village with just 218 inhabitants. Most of them farmers who work hard to earn their daily bread. Where life is the same every day, so predictable, organized and reliable. But cowards when the moment comes to change their life. One day a stranger comes to the village with the Devil by his side. He stays in the only hotel in the village and gives the villagers an offer of 10 gold bars if they kill one among them in the next two days.

The stranger had his own reason to do it. He wants an explanation for the tragedy of his life, which turned his life upside down. It was his plan, manifested by the Devil, to seek the answer. For which he makes the village and the bartender of the village, Miss Prym, his tools. He wanted to know how greed, temptation and cowardice rules human mind.

Paulo has handled the plot only the way he can. The brilliance of his writing is there in every chapter. A spark of wisdom and understanding of life is there. But is it magical.. I will say may not be. This plot is good enough for a post in his blog. But when he made it to a novel, the grip was missing. In Veronica also, the plot was stretched, but when you complete the book, you will find a reason for him to present it that way, which might be missing in this one.

Evil needs to manifest itself, for human to understand the value of good. You will get the message clear. I must add one thing now – it was more appealing to me in second read !

Paulo Coelho - The Pilgrimage

2010-12-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

Paulo Coelho – No English author has touched my heart the way he did. I liked the style of story telling of Jeffery Archer, the vast plot and eye for details of Dan Brown and the magical, addictive style of JK Rowling. But none of these authors has touched my life as Paulo did. The first novel I read by him was Veronica Decides To Die. Till it reaches almost the last chapters I felt it a boring story dragged a lot. But when I finished the book, I was awestruck ! Man, was this he supposed to tell… What a wonderful way he did it !!! And the second time with that book, every move which was thought absurd felt elegant. That was magic. And in that trance I read The Alchemist. The Pilgrimage followed. And that was I liked the most ( till now, as I got to finish more from him. That mission is on ). ( I didn’t like Winner Stands Alone, though. In that Paulo touch was missing, or was very weak ).

The book reminded about my Pilgrimage to the mountain temple Shabarimala. I was 13 when I made it. Though I had a few very ‘interesting’ experiences in that trip, I never understood it. Afraid of being called crazy I kept them to myself. It bothered me for some more time and then I forgot it. Only to remember everything clear now, and more importantly, UNDERSTAND it. What I felt bizarre and a lot of thing I ignored had an all new meaning now. I am not sure whether I will find them again, but I am surely going to do that once again. May be walking the same path again will help me get those feelings again.

Let’s talk about The Pilgrimage. It is about the walk of self realisation. He walks the road of common man. Which everyone can walk. Everyone can experience the road. The difference is how he is going to take it. And that makes the walk special. With him the reader also will feel enlightened.

The story starts with Paulo’s ‘promotion’ in the Tradition. Which eventually requires him to walk the road to San Diego. He needs to find his guide on the road and needs to find his ‘sword’ which marks his promotion.

One important lesson I learned reading this is how important is our own Devil to us and the importance to make him friend. He can give some important lessons and information we needs from time to time, only if we can decipher then promptly and correct. Here his guide helps him understand, win and use the Devil in his advantage.

He is so true about the path of Wisdom : it has to be a path that can be followed by anyone. And that thought makes everyone including me and you, worth of wisdom. Only thing falls short of it is we are not trying. We don’t want to make us believe that we also can live, think, dream better. That’s because we are prisoners of the past. We have been defeated before, and we are afraid that it could happen again. We had already achieved things, but now afraid that we might lose them. And we need to free from the burdens we have created in our life… How true it is… Today we are chained more to our world. The decisions we know are true and the things we always wanted to do are put aside. Because some part of us is stopping it. Fearing somebody has failed doing it and it might occur to us too… Read this book and it will help you find your dream. The importance of it and the ease in achieving it. Living our dream. Living life.

Paulo had an interesting observation about time – time isn’t something that always proceeds at the same pace. It is we who determine how quickly time passes. Wow… Great. This is something I Love most about Paulo Coelho. He is not saying something which we don’t know. Or something too deep to understand. He says something which we are already know but never bothered to appreciate. Which is very true about this observation about time. The good thing is, at least when we read it we notice it! Thank you Paulo for the books…

Every journey, whether the journey of life or the pilgrimage, is bound to a dream. We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body. The Pilgrimage teaches us the importance of keeping the dream alive. As it is the one that makes us fight the Good Fight. Never blame lack of time, our certainties ( we are so certain of ourselves as wise and fair and correct, that we don’t want to see it as a great adventure), or be at peace ( we ask for nothing grand, thinking mature, we kill fantasies ) to kill dreams. Never let it rot within and infect ourselves. I promise Paulo, I will never stop dreaming and will not step back from the good fight till I achieve it. And I know the rule of fight. That a threat leads to nothing if it is not accepted. Both attacking and fleeing are part of the fight, what isn’t becoming paralysed by fear…

Our enemy joins the battle only because he knows that he can hurt us – and hurt us in exactly the spot where our pride tells us that we are most invincible. During the fight, we always try to protect our weak spot, so the enemy strikes at the unguarded side – the side in which we have the most confidence. And we wind up defeated because we allow what should never be allowed : we let the enemy choose how the battle will be waged. Is there anything more I need to tell how this book helped me look at life clearer.

Paulo is a good teacher. He says teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself. My favourite quotation from this and any book is : Once a problem is solved its simplicity is amazing. Think over it and you cannot stop appreciating the small yet wonderful fact. Now to be amazed by the simplicity later, I treat the problems small.

Before everything we do, we need to be clear about the goal of it. The power and the glory were within every person’s reach. And it is not a sin to be happy. The search for happiness is a personal search and not a model we can pass onto others. Before our dream we have to discover its secret – to know what to do with it. With it and with the happiness it would represent to me.

Few can accept the burden of their own victory; most give up their dreams when they see that they can be realized. They refuse to fight the good fight because they do not know what to do with their own happiness; they are imprisoned by the things in the world.

Read this book. It might make you realise things that you never bothered to think they exist. Like any other book by him, Paulo’s simple yet strong messages and insights about the life will help you find yourself better and deep. If I can then surely you can too.

Thank you Coelho. Love you for your books.