Stories By Tagore - Rabindranath Tagore (Book)

72/100 of #100bookpact Stories By Tagore - Rabindranath Tagore

My first book on Kindle - since "Uncle Sam" was coming from US of A and I could think of nothing better to ask him to get for me. Wanted to make my first read a special one and didn't take me long what to get from Amazon (that too free) and instantly got this one and couple of other classic books. Tagore's writing (translated in English by his Daughter) took me back to my school days with the very first story of "Kabuliwallah" - who hasn't read this one and not get touched by its simplicity, totally loved it yet again after so many years. It is indeed a chapter of my Kiddo's 5th standard course-book. Followed by couple of his other short stories which were equally amazing if not better then this one. What I liked about his book is - it is very straight forward story telling, to the point, superb narrative, rich use of words and kept me reminding so much of Dickens (Don't know why). Although almost all of his stories came to an abrupt end, some ended on a very open note, some (majority) had sad endings too. My Favorite amongst these will be Kabuliwallah for sure, followed by heart touching story of the little girl (The Postmaster) and definitely "The Babus of Nayanjore" - they were simply wow, also the longest of the lot. The book even contains his personal notes on stories as well as meaning for some difficult terms as a glossary in the end of each story - making it even better to understand.

I guess this is one of my own first readings of Tagore and I will be looking forward to some of his other works too now. Need to find out who were the authentic translators for him as lot of his works (I believe most) would be translated from Bangla to English.

Dying To Be Me - Anita Moorjani (Book)

71/100 of #100bookpact Dying To Be Me - Anita Moorjani

My dad got this book as a part of his Theosophical reads and I had to read it because of its intriguing title and story associated with it. Based on the near death experience of Anita Moorjani herself - who got detected of Cancer in 2004, fought for four years, Almost died in the end, was in Coma for a day followed by her Miraculous out of body experience, healing and complete recovery. She lived to tell her experience which finally came out in the form of a book. This is one book which we may believe it or not but happens to be a true story as everything mentioned in the book is a part of Near Death Experience (NDE) is part of an ongoing research going on right now to find a cure for the dreaded disease. Her theory is totally something new that I ever read in relation to the disease, reasons, symptoms and her belief on the recovery is I guess hard to believe but cannot be discarded either. Unfortunately we too have seen at least half a dozen deaths in our own immediate family and friend circle in the last two years by one or the other form of Cancer. It was quite an enlightening book on the subject (I guess that's why my Dad got it in the first place) and I actually found and liked the content. She mostly stresses in the entire narration of her own story to be ourselves, just be happy and cheerful for being here, experience life as it comes, no targets, no big time ambitions, she isn't telling us to retire mountains although but is very clear in setting up the expectations from oneself to be happy and content in life then running after something which we cant achieve and leading to sadness and more stress leading to further bad outcomes in the form of diseases. It definitely worked as a wonderful little book of self help for me as most of its content, experience, belief is what I had read earlier (in other words of various philosophers) making my pact stronger that we humans are yet to find our purpose on this planet :). I am sure people's approach towards life is definitely changing and it will change big time in the very near future - people like Anita Moorjani are doing the right thing of enlightening more of us lesser mortals to go in the right direction if only we just listen to them, but it is highly debatable too and can be countered very easily. Nevertheless its a fundoo read if you are interested in the subject, I will definitely rate it 3/5 and recommend it too. Its a breeze as even in size its hardly 200 pages long.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (Book)

70/100 of #100bookpact Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Third book of the series and I must say that this is one series where the book in hand feels like better then the previous :) - the way the story grows on the reader is simply amazing (hope it continues till the end). Since I am almost a decade late (if we calculate from the very start) its a little sad that why I didnt pick these works earlier even after so much coaxing from my friends, good that I did it in the end and again I feel like reviewing these books - one can definitely write a book on them. As so much happens in a book that mere one sentence on each character will make it too lengthy to be read by someone who haven't read the books yet. Also, Ms Rowling keeps introducing new (more amazing) characters at break-neck speed too. Harry's third year at Hogwarts the school of magic with his friends and a little more details about his parents death, reason, people involved etc etc is covered in this one. I would say this was definitely better then the previous two books for one the kids are growing and two - it was able to invoke almost all the emotions in me - smiling ear to ear on Harry's nuances to choking and finally making my eyes go all wet with a smile on the face (I love that when a book or a movie does it to me), although my wife calls me an emotional fool but I am glad that she sits with me watching the movies as soon as I finish the book. Now the sad part - its heartbreaking for me to see my most favorite character from the series (You Know Who) makes no entry in the entire book and Second favorite character (Prof Snape) is still in negative role - I so much wish that he becomes friendly with Harry as the story progresses - I am even planning to keep my hair like him :). For those who haven't read the books but have seen the movies - you have no idea what you are missing as movie makers definitely take their own liberty in chopping the characters or scenes or may be even change the narrative a bit here and there to make the visuals more interesting and short (3 hours again) but if someone has read the book - its just simply amazing to see them all live. Its a must must read book (Individually too) as well as the series and cannot be missed (anymore) by anyone. As I dash into the fourth of the series - I am actually looking forward to someone's review on the third book as it was released and the fourth was awaited, do let me know if you reviewed it then and have saved it somewhere.

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets - J K Rowling (Book)

69/100 of #100bookpact Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets - J K Rowling Second book of the series and it is for sure better than the first one - more gripping, detailed, takes the reader deeper into the mysterious world of Wizards and Witches. Hilarious is the start of the book and fantastic is the way his friends let him escape from his terrible life yet again with the muggle family (Dursley's) back home especially the Flying Car. Harry Potter and his friends have now grown a little bit in this one with more knowledge of various tricks from the trade, more newer and wonderful characters are introduced in this one which takes the story one step forward but still "The Villain Voldemort" doesn't make a grand (read detailed) entry yet - still I was actually kept asking for more. This one tells us a little bit more about his dark past, the making of Voldemort and other dark secrets. Seriously books have changed my perception of Harry and his world in totality and thats for good. Movies may be visually more strong then the books but they aren't detailed as how much you can wrap up in mere three hours at the most. There were so many things that they had to skip in the movie in comparison with the book that one would end up loving the book definitely more. And as usual the very smart writer makes this one end right at a moment when one is looking forward to so much more that needs to be covered in the next part. I now very well know how the readers kept waiting for years to read the next part when it was all being written and released as I can definitely pick up the next part tomorrow as its already there in my book rack and thats precisely what I am going to do. One more thing that I noticed in the second book is that - it is written in such a smart way that just in case someone hasn't read the first one - it doesn't make a difference as this covers the most of it in the initial couple of chapters before taking the story forward. But if someone is reading all the books back to back - its kind of an irritant. But this things makes all of these books a good individual books.

The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Book)

68/100 of #100bookpact The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto "Che" Guevara

This happens to be the travel diary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara - one of the most renowned, loved, acclaimed, inspiring and respected leaders of the 20th Century. Written between December 1951 to July 1952, while he traveled almost the entire Latin America (South America) with one of his close friend Alberto Granado on their rickety bike (a Norton 500cc Motorcycle), which failed almost midways but they continue their journey and finish it in close to 7 months with what amazing learning which becomes a lesson in itself for the future generations. He was almost a nobody when they did this, without any support from anywhere, with no money in their pockets and no one to look forward to. How they did it is one hell of an account told in his own words through this little diary, which now is one of my favorite books and I am sure to read it couple of more times as it isn't enough just to read it once. Imagine a journey like that that too on an unreliable two wheeler in the 50's when there were no roads by 24 something college graduates (they didn't even finish their medical school by the time they started). Suffering from Asthma himself, he had to almost Beg, Buy, Borrow, Gamble his way to the entire journey. It is a very touching, heart warming account of their travel, told in the most heartwarming hilarious ways, I am sure no professional writer can come any closer to his account which is such a breeze to read that it feels as if he is telling you all that in person and not that you are reading a book on it. His love of Football and how it bails them out more then a couple of times. The mysterious drink "Mate' that they make and enjoy to no end, his views on Arts, Movies and Cultures that he comes across during his journey are too direct and show you his "care a damn" attitude that I totally loved.

It is one of the most original writings I would say and I am shocked by his Humanness, no doubt he is considered one of the greatest men to have existed in the history of mankind for so much he did for Leprosy patients. Being a doctor himself it is actually amazing to read his account. The way they met and handled the patients wherever they met irrespective of their own country and as he mentions that he didn't mind taking off the overalls, hand gloves and all before touching and shaking hands with the patients - imagine doing that in those days where it was considered a dreaded disease. Hilarious and Inspiring at the same time are his accounts of travel - I guess I loved the entire book and its just impossible not to love anything from it. Before I forget - one of the most hilarious part of the journey was when he and Alberto make their own little Raft which he calls a kind of "Contraption" and how it sends them to illegally to Brazil - totally ROFL stuff. It is indeed amazing to read how the locals come to their rescue almost all the time and bail them out one way or the other. But it is unbelievable to imagine someone doing all that almost 70 years ago. This was a sort of eye opener for them and I guess this is exactly what made him what he became at a later stage. At one point of time during one of his speeches in his journey he did mentions that he would live and love to see a "United Latin America" winning over the pain and the boundaries made by humans. Although he didn't live to see it happen or was able to do it as his own journey of life was too short lived. what an inspiring story and an amazing life. Guess, I need to look forward to his other works s I believe he did write some more after this one. It is a must read even otherwise for all who love travelogues - as I haven't read a better account anywhere of a cross country ride on two wheels.