Monday Reads..

I finally get the time to make a post...My reading has drastically come down in the last 2 months and I just don't feel good about it...work has been the main culprit, in addition to a busy personal & social life! But I hope to finish the 5 books I have on my list before the end of this year.. hmm..that's quite an ambitious target!






Books read in the last 2 weeks

1. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt - one of the best non-fiction books I've read this year...

2. But then again I could be wrong by Jim Rising - my first book in the humour/comedy genre..a very light read... can be a good break between 2 intense books

Currently reading:

1. To Sir With Love by E.R Braithwaite - this is part of the Orbis Terrarum Challenge'09

2. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - I badly want to finish this. It's been 3 months since I started this one! :(

In the pipeline:
1. Life after 187 by Wade Halverson

2. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

Head over to J.Kaye's blog to see what other bloggers are reading this week...

Booking Through Thursday: Would you lie?

This week's BTT question:

Two-thirds of Brits have lied about reading books they haven't.

Have you? Why? What books?

No! Never! I dont understand why would anyone want to lie about reading something which they havent actually read. I have my own taste for books and I proudly stick to it. I have no issues in accepting the fact that I hardly read any books in many categories like sci-fi, historical fiction or classics. That doesn't make me less smart or my reading insignificant...


There are quite a few books which I have just stopped reading in the middle or just after a few chapters and I would definitely have my opinions about the book to share when someone asks. But I always base my opinion only on the part of the book which I have read...which I feel is fair enough.


But I still wonder why someone would lie about reading a book! Is it peer pressure? Is it just to "fit in" to a discussion, or just to show off their interests or intelligence? Any thoughts?

Head over to MizB's blog to check out what other blogger's feel about this topic...

Teaser Tuesdays

"Every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson. I have realized that failure whether of the personal, professional or even spiritual kind is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and a whole host of psychic rewards. Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is"

- Page 16, The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

"There is no one strategy that will magically transform your life, John, let me be the first to say this. Lasting and profound change comes through the continued application of a number of the methods I have shared with you. But yoga is an extremely effective way to unlock your reserves of vitality. I do my yoga every morning and it is one of the best things that I do for myself. It not only rejuvenates my body, it completely focuses my mind. It has even unblocked my creativity. it is a terrific discipline"
- Page 111, The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

It's Monday.. What are you reading?

Mondays are full of blues...but books always make me smile :) So time for the weekly meme hosted by J.Kaye on her blog






Books read last week:

1. DANCING WITH ANA by Nicole Barker - A very warm Young Adult romance novel which just cannot be put down till you read the last page!

2. 24x7 MARRIAGE by Vijay Nagaswami - A very short and crisp book written by a well known psychotherapist about smart strategies for good beginnings in a marriage, in an Indian context. I picked up this book just to explore new domains and categories in my reading and it was quite good!

3. SYMBOLS OF THE SOUL by Gina Lake - My very first experiment with a book on astro science which is about understanding your life purpose and karma! It was an amazing experience reading this book... god knows how much of it is true, but it was definitely hair raising and scintillating!! I'm definitely going to read more in this genre soon...

Books for next week:

1. KAFKA ON THE SHORE by Haruki Murakami (This reading is getting interrupted since a month!)
2. THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI by Robin Sharma (For the Orbist Terrarum Challenge 2009)

Read any of the books above? What have you thought about them? Share your comments! I would love to hear your views...

Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about/ discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! :)


My Finds this week-

1. "Dancing with Ana" by Nicole Barker
2. "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda
3. "My Friend Sancho" by Amit Verma
4. "24x7 marriage" by Vijay Nagaswami
5. "Act like a Lady, Think like a Man" by Steve Harvey

If you want to check out what other bloggers have found this week, head over to Should be Reading by MizB!

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Aug 3, 2009)

A good way to beat the monday blues is to read a nice book :) So...it's time for the weekly event hosted by J.Kaye on her blog. Here goes my list -

Books I completed this week are:

1. EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert - One of the best books I've read so far. Downright Amazing!! This is one book I really want to treasure in my library.

2. EVERYBODY WINS by Gary Chapman - A very simple yet extremely useful guide to resolving conflicts in relationships. It has some tips that can really change the dynamics of your relationships, for the better. Try it!

On the shelf for the week:

1. ONLY IN NEW YORK, DARLING! by Virginie Sommet

2. KAFKA ON THE SHORE by Haruki Murakami (For Orbis Terrarum Challenge 2009)

So....... what's on your list?

Booking Through Thursday (BTT)

This week's question on the weekly BTT event hosted by Miz B (on Should be Reading) -





What's the funniest book you've read recently?

Hmmm...I guess I have 2 books to mention here. It is "Almost Single" by Advaita Kala and "Keep off the Grass" by Karan Bajaj. Both the books were debut books by each of these authors. Though they cant be classified as "well written", they are pretty good as light reads and extremely funny! Almost Single is a chick-lit novel and it had me literally roll on the floor at some points. Keep off the grass was equally funny too, with the experiences from the B-school campus life...



So, what's been your funniest book lately?

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme/event hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following -

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

-------------------------------------------------------

My Teaser:-

Richard from Texas brought it to my attention recently, when I was complaining about my inability to stop brooding. He said, "You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you cant learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever"

-Page 187, "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Have a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Meme: Get to know me better!

Saw this meme on Ramya's blog where in a fellow blogger asks you a few questions about yourself and you answer them on your blog... Sounded really fun and Ramya was very quick in sending me these questions :) Am sure she put in a lot of thought to come up with these nice ones! So here goes...



1.What is your most vivid memory from your childhood? One incident that stands out?
I can hardly remember things till I was about 5. The most vivid memory is when I travelled on a flight for the first time with my mom to visit my dad in Assam :) I was just about 5 or 6years old then and it was an eventful flight!


2. If you could meet one author in your life (dead/alive) who would it be? Where would you meet him/her?
Would like to meet Vladimir Nabakov and ask him why did he write Lolita, and what was he thinking?!!! That's one book which has made be feel disgusted to the core and driven me nuts...


3. What is one of your favorite non-bookish activity?
Music. I love music...listening as well as singing and all kinds of genres. It gives a joy of its own kind!


4. The year is 2015 and a book is published. The author - Pratima Jayaram. What is the book about?
Hmmm...I dont want to let the cat out of the bag right now! You gotta wait and watch ;-)

Well, on a serious note, I gave it a lot of thought and am really not sure what it's going to be, even if I decide to become an author some day. I know for sure that I wont be writing fiction, coz thats not my cup of tea! It could probably be something on health/fitness/yoga/running or even entrepreneurship (if I become an entrepreneur by then! :) )


5. If you had to pick ONE book from all the books that you have read, which ONE would you pick as the best?
This is a tough one! I feel it's really unfair to pick one book as the best 'coz each book is so unique and a different experience in itself. Am sure even Ramya agrees with me on this! :) But still I'll try to choose one among the entire set that I have read so far. It would probably be 'The Kite Runner' in Fiction and "The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch) in non-fiction.

Thanks for the questions Ramya! :)

If you want to play along, leave a comment here saying “interview me.” Please be sure to include your email address in your profile or in your response. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions.) You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions..

The Book Meme

Someone had tagged me on this book meme really long back, just when I had started blogging and I had saved the questions in my archives. Now I cant remember who it was! :( Anyway I felt like blogging about it today and so here goes -


1. Total number of books owned - I love buying books and hardly borrow it from a library. But I've never really counted them so far. If I count only the novels it's probably around 50-100 and if I count ALL the books I have at home it will be anywhere >500 !!


2. Last book bought - The last one I bought recently is "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Waiting to start reading it!

3. Last book read - "Black Friday" by Hussain Zaidi. You can find the review in my previous post. I absolutely loved it!

4. Five books that mean a lot to you -
Now, this is a tough one! I had to really think a LOT for this...

1) The Road Less Travelled, by Scott Peck - This book is very special to me becoz it was given by my best friend around 12yrs back and at a time when it made a lot of sense to me.. I've read it multiple times and I still have great memories of it!

2)The complete Calvin and Hobbes collection - This is one set of books I read over n over again and every time it makes me laugh as hard as ever! Its an instant way to put me in good mood. I love those tiny pieces of wisdom which are hidden behind the humor! You can read one of my old posts on CnH here

3) The Namesake - I got hooked into Indian Fiction and started loving it only after reading this book by Jhumpa Lahiri! So it's kinda special to me :)

4) The Kite Runner - first book which got tears in my eyes! I have cried watching movies but never shed tears reading a book until I read this..

5) My Experiements with Truth (Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi) - the first book that I bought with my own pocket money in school! I really loved reading it at that time and I wish to read it again...

5. Tag 5 people to continue this meme -

If you are a reader of this blog, you can feel free to pick this up and dont forget to link back to this post :) But I'd like to end it by tagging Ramya and Bethany coz I am really curious to know what they have to say !