Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'10

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

Books are to our rescue always, be it a long journey or a long day, u can have ur book with u and forget the time. There are many books that have impressed me. Da Vinci Code - I simply love the way it is narrated. You get to know many things, infact when i read this book for the first time, I could not wait to finish it and to ensure the truth of the details I even googled the events and pictures. Google would have become dog tired searching details for me.
Pne more book that has no match is Ponniyin Selvan, a tamil novel that takes us way back to the good olden days.It has every thing in it. The romance, the vengeance,the war,the freindship,and what not. If any of you are lucky enough to read Tamil, then please read this book for sure. You would not believe it but its true that I learnt amil just to read this book(I read the english version of Ponniyin Selvan before...)

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

Hai to all book lovers,

For me a book is like a friend.
A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors" H.W.Beecher
I was initiate dinto reading by my late mother. we used to visit the Ramakrishna Math in Bandra [ Mumbai] in the mid 1960's and pick up books every e days. Have read quite a lot of genere of books.

My all time favourites are Aesop's fables, Jataka tales and the Panchatantra. These are immortal books and nobody can rewrite them. The stores are vivdly told and always carries a moral. The story of Pinachio is still in my mind .The other day in one of the kids channels was able to see the movie and my eyes were filled with tears. How simple if you tell lies your nose will grow and when you do good your nose will come to normal.

I am aliterature student - my other pick wil be D.H.Lawarance's Lady Chaterly's Lover. In those days itself the author was able to put forth a view that even woman do need companions and there was no harm in having a good friend.

There are so many books but not able to recollect the author names. I can definately tell the in Ramayana & Mahabharath they used all sort of modern technological weapons which the new generation scientists are developing in the labs. These are our treasure chest and nobody can forget them especially the Maya bazzar created by Gadodgaj. Can any body create this world.

Thanks for allowing me to partake in this competitions

Best of luck to other participants

nityakalyani

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

Please let me know if I can post in Tamil or only in English?

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

Hi all,
The book I would like to read again and again in Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan. My mom introduced this book to me at the age of 15 when I was doing my eleventh standard. From then I read this book 4 times.
The people who have already read the book would know that it is a huge book with 5 volume nearly 4000 pages. I love to read this book like anything, such a wonderful historical novel.
The novel is all about the early stages Raja Raja chola and his family. The sceneries that are described in the novel will make us to feel that we are into that place and could feel the chillness of rain when the author describes about the rain in the novel.
The character that I like very much in this novel is Manimegalai. She will have a one sided love towards the hero (Vanthiya Thevan). She is a very charming princess and her unconditional love will make her even to give her life for her lovable lover. The novel ends with her death, which always used bring the drops of tears in my eyes whenever I read that chapter.
Only after this I started reading most tamil literature books and novels.

 

The Kite runner

Being an ardent lover of books right from the kidhood, its tough to pick one best book. The list goes on starting from Sujatha, Sivasankari novels touching Enid Blyton or Sheldon ones and right to Chetan Bhagat's. But a book that changed my life, did you say?
Its "The kiterunner". For people who haven't read it, its a story about two boys who spend their early life in Afghanistan. As fate would have it, one of them moves away to Chicago, leaving his friend behind. What he carries along is a lifelong guilt of betrayal, secrecy,tears of joy, tears of sorrow...The guilt that makes him come back to his homeland decades after he has settled in Chicago!
Why I liked the book? Because this book makes you laugh, cry, smile to yourself, bite your lips with a heavy heart. But at the end it gives you a sense of realisation of what's life's real happiness. Yes..Life's real happiness is a guilt free heart. Here by guilt free, I dont mean a life without mistakes, but a life lived truly without having to hide the mistakes.

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

Hi all,
I am really to reply to this topic .My most favourite book of alltime was "Karuvachi Kaviyam" by vairamuthu.It depicts the life of a village women and how she faces it in a strong and determined way.The Author takes the story in a way, such that we become a part of her life.:!:

Ya,:iagree karuvachi is a very simple lady who knows nothing but to work in farms and take care of cattles, yet she makes a difference by understanding what life is!! We are people who are not ready to forgive any small mistake,but this poor lady even after having a worst turmoil:drowning, she takes life light.she forgives her husband (inspite of the tortures he have given her and married another lady) and her son who was a sadist.Her husband being the villain in her life,She accepts him when he was left alone with a dirty disease.:hatsoff:hatsoff

It was a :wow factor when she replied a saint "Nothing is been taken away from us until we believe so and what is better than forgiving??".
On reading this book,I was taken aback by this moral and I have changed a lot in my behaviour.I too cultivated an attitude for forgiving the mistakes.Of course I also cried on reading the barriers karuvachi crossed in her life, but i also smiled when she confessed her life was a happy ride .

This book has really changed malar to certain level and also has taken her thoughts to next level of optimism!!I keep reading it whenever i face diificult situations.It's one of the treasure i hold along with my confidence :thumbsup

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

My all-time favourite book is the classic 'Black Beauty' by Anna Sewell.

Black Beauty tells the story of the horse's own long and varied life, from a colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman
to a painfully overworked cab horse and finally to his happy retirement in the country. Through Beauty's eyes we meet his masters- some kind and others cruel. We sympathise with his plight when he has an accident as a result of a servant's carelessness and is no longer fit to be a gentleman's horse and we are horrified at how a spirited horse named Ginger is broken and dies of overwork. Inspite of his hardships Beauty is a forgiving horse and does his best whatever the circumstances.

Although Anna Sewell's book is set in 19th century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness. Her sympathetic portrayal of the plight of working animals is said to have been instrumental in abolishing the cruel practice of using the checkrein.

Sewell's words are specially apt in these troubled times.
"There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham."

Truly a book for all ages and all times.

 

Re: Book that you want to read again and again - Literacy Day Special Contest - Sep'1

dear ILites,
the book that i want to read again and again is "Mister God, This is Anna" authored by "Fynn"(i later came to know that the aurthor's real name was Sydney Hopkins). I found this book in a waste-paper mart! This is a book about the very short life of a tiny tot named Anna and her views on life.

A very lively book and the thoughts therein are very profound. The way Anna talks about God and so many other things always entertains me. There are many truths about life that are revealed in this book and I have had many an inspiring and thought provoking moment reading this book. The way she deals with maths, science and God himself are so different yet so simple. Though Anna dies at the tender age of 7, her experiences will last our lifetime.

I wish every reader get a read of this book at least once. It is wonderful.

 

The Alchemist

There are books you would like, There are books you would love..But the one book that is dear to me and which i want to read and read again to only realize how much new wealth I unearth out of it, is "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho



When I stumbled upon this book, it was just another read to start with. By the time i was finishing up the last page, it was not even the next day. I never had a book which had me glued to it through the pure richness of its thoughts, wisdom and philosophy.

Different readers are attracted to different genre of books and very few of them read spirtual/philosophical books. But this book would attract you no matter what kind of genre preference you have. Many people do not like spiritual/philosophical/self-help book. But this one draws you to it as a simple story of a shepherd boy who has a dream and determination to follow his dreams. This is a mind captivating story of a treasure hunt, which everyone can enjoy as the author teaches you how to follow your dream and change your destiny.

By the time you finish off the book, you will realize it has added value to your soul.

The story revolves shepherd boy named Santiago who has recurring dreams about a traesure buried in pyramids of Egypt. With great risk, he sells off his only livelyhood, a herd of sheep and travels from Spain to Egypt. On reaching Africa, he gets robbed and looses everything he had. Somehow he manges to get a small job in a crystal shop.He notices that the crystal merchant who owns the shop is unhappy because he does not have enough courage to follow his dream to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca .After many months, Santiago finally had the money to travel back to Spain and buy a herd of sheep to go back to his old life. But he convinces himself to pursue the dreams. On his way in the search of the treasure, he meets a girl and falls in love. Even with a happy life ahead of him with his wife, deep inside his heart his desire to follow his dream wins over his love. He promises to return and leaves his wife and he starts again..

When Santiago was unsure about following his heart by leaving his wife behind, he asks the Alchemist
“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?”
“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”

“My heart is a traitor” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”
"That makes sense. Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”
I think, everyone experience the same emotion, fear of " losing everything one own", at least once in their life when pursuing their dream or ambition.

The boy says the alchemist one night “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,”
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

His heart is saying to him “Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him. We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out indeed, to be threatening place."
What a true statement!!!!

When he is near the pyramids, he is again attacked by robbers. Santiago tells them that he had a dream of a treasure in Pyramids. One of the robbers laughs at him, and says that he has had the exact same dream, except that in his the treasure was buried in Spain. Santiago realizes that the treasure was back in Spain. He later finds the treasure buried next to the tree, the very tree under which he used to sleep. But the wisdom he has earned through his journey is the greatest treasure he attained.

There are so many wisdom of pearls in this book, that will peep into your heart each time your read. So many things we can relate to our daily life.
Some of my favorites are here
“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”

Each time I read, this book is speaking to my heart.
I am sure this little book would speak to your heart too.