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Author: Paulo Coelho Total pages: 287 Total approximate words: 77000 Back in 2015, when I read the book for the first time, the story felt a little less comprehending. I was in my mid-twenties, still single, madly in love with this guy I just met. I just couldn’t understand why would someone commit infidelity after being married to the love of their life! Six years later, when I read it again, I am a married woman myself. My perspective has changed significantly, if not substantially. May be now I do understand the monotony that long term relationships bring, but again, that was why I got married at the first place. Anything stable is monotonous, safe is boring, and I love boring. And so, I love being married. The book is good for reflection, if you are considering to get married while thinking that every day in the marriage would be a different, exciting day. Paulo Coelho breaks the myth in this book. However, it is just a mere fiction. And anything is possible in the world of imagination! SYNOPSIS Linda, the protagonist lives in Geneva, with her two beautiful children and a loving husband. They both are very successful in their respective profession. Despite having the perfect family life, she is not very happy, and in fact is often under depression. Until, one day her work as a journalist with a major newspaper agency gets her an interview with Jacob, a politician, and her ex-boyfriend from school. Old sparks come back between them, and after that day they start having a secret affair. Linda is happy that her life finally is adventurous and that she doesn’t feel any guilty cheating on her husband for ten years. However, eventually she realises that she was falling for Jacob, who was also married to a woman who controlled every aspect of his life. When Linda confesses her feelings to Jacob, he simply tells her that she should see a marriage counsellor. This upsets her and she sets out to take revenge. But instead of targeting Jacob, she targets his over controlling wife, whom Linda despised. She buys thirty grams of cocaine and plans to plant it on Jacob’s wife, but at the last minute she changes her mind. Surprisingly Jacob sends a message to Linda saying that he wants to see her again. Lina immediately agrees and they start seeing each other secretly again. Despite assuming that her little affair with Jacob, would solve her problem of depression, she realised it more profoundly that she was just another object of lust for him, and that he had been in such affairs many times. With a revolting heart she decides to talk to her husband about her depression (not about the affair, not yet at least). The husband calmly listens to her and suggests taking medications, and have some family time. The solution doesn’t really help Linda. On one of the following evenings, the couple is invited for a gala party where Jacob and his wife were also invited. After the party, Jacob’s wife insists that the four have dinner together. During the dinner, she starts a discussion about jealousy and extra marital affair in married couples. The discussion gets heated, and Linda and her husband decide to take their leave. Linda feels helpless and guilty for the next couple of days thinking that her husband might have figured something about her affair with Jacob from the dinner that night. Her husband’s silence makes it harder for her. Eventually she decided to tell her husband everything. And when she prepares the evening with some wine and cheese, her husband does all the talking instead of her. Without even knowing the whole truth, he admits that its his fault that he is unable to spend time with his wife, and that he loves her with all his life and he would do everything to keep her in his life. Listening to her husband, Linda gets emotional. She decides to break up with Jacob once and for all. She however doesn’t tell her husband about the affair anymore. In a few days Linda visits Jacob in his office and they have sex, but this time it was how she wanted and not him. At the end she tells him that they wont see each other anymore, and that her husband still loves her and she was worth something to him. A perplexed Jacob pretends to be busy as she walks out of his office with her head held high. The story ends with Linda doing a para gliding against her reservations about the same. She is enthralled by the experience and feels alive like she never felt before. Linda and her family enjoys the season’s first snow together in a few days. CONCLUSION The story has a very European vibe. The characters have a very different mindset compared to if it was written with Asian characters in mind. The culture difference is apt and is loud and clear. The protagonist problem of having a monotonous despite a financially and socially secure life with the assumption that somehow a therapist will help less than an extra marital affair is appalling. It is kind of an unrelatable plot for many people living on the other side of the world (but again many might relate). The story has intimate scenes according to the plot requirement, but the description of those scenes in no way sound like cheap porn, which is quite a pleasure to read. The ‘cheating scenes’ are described in technical details, which is interesting and sensible, considering the title of the book. Each important scene in the story has the right amount of drama, instead of too much. The break up shown at the end between the two main characters of the story are just so adult like. No cursing, jealousy, or violence, considering the story was majorly on the pursuit of lust. I would definitely read the book again. Paulo Coelho has a mastery over his creations and reading this book simply justifies that. I would rate this book a 7.5/10 Ease of reading: 9/10 Character/ Plot building: 7/10 World Building: 7/10 I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did, and more. Happy Reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences.

So, when I say time-travel, what comes in your mind? Back to the future, Pre destination or something more divine. But all that is fantasy, That you and me dip us in like ecstasy. Everyone wants to go to Europe, Japan, and Scandinavia. Because, oh they are so forward in every nook, and corner and even in their trivia. So, we go and see and experience the future, Only to come back to my country to see the people with no sense of humor, Or fervour, Or even an ethical demeanour. So, I see around and sigh, While getting high, And realise how much back in time have I come, To see the time travel, of which a part I have become. Of backwardness, and fake solidarity, Is the place that I live in is nothing but a parody. Fuck this shit.

Author: Michelle Obama Total pages: 426 Total approximate words: 1,77,000 For my 29th birthday (I am actually older than that), all I wanted was a book, a painting stand, and some quiet time with my love, in our cozy one bedroom in the suburbs of Dubai. And that’s exactly what I did. Except that instead of just one book, I got two books as present. My ‘Narcos’ fever was still high, so I knew I wanted Virginia Vallejo’s memoir and the second book was my husband going the extra mile to please me. He got me another memoir. Just a year after my husband gifted me the memoir, the author launched a Netflix documentary on her book. It was called ‘BECOMING’, and I was grinning like a little girl, watching this power house of a lady, that is Michelle Obama, talk and share and sign and travel to inspire millions, if not billions. I also got a lovely IKEA painting stand, and a beautiful quiet night with my love, along with some wine, pizza, and a movie marathon. SYNOPSIS I am not going to even attempt to write a brief about Michelle’s life here, because she has done it incredibly well, in the BECOMING. It is of course, a full-blown memoir, with Michelle detailing every little detail of her childhood; from growing up in a shared apartment with her aunt in a black neighborhood, in the south side of Chicago, to her large extended family and their past as victims of racial discrimination. Her college days in Princeton and then the journey of gradual shift from being a corporate lawyer to being a more meaningful contributor for the society, especially for the black society. The stories about meeting her husband Barack for the first time, and their blissful romance, eventually turning into a marriage. About the family’s reaction on Barack running for the president and then ultimately winning it for two consecutive terms. The stories of the White House and its many rooms, and staffs, and the gardens. The many trips to meet the underprivileged, war victims, and the victims of the gun violence. About Michelle’s mother and father and her brother, and their stories in her life and in shaping her into becoming. The book is an amalgamation of the many heart-warming, inspiring, intimate, eye opening, and amazing stories of this legendary woman. Lines that made so much sense, and made me an even bigger admirer of this powerful woman, Michelle Obama: “Now, I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.” “My mom found ways to compensate. She did her own nails, dyed her own hair, and got new clothes only when dad bought them for her as a birthday gift. She’d never be rich, but she was always crafty.” “Her goal was to push us out into the world. ‘I am not raising babies’, she’d tell us. ‘I am raising adults.’ She and my dad offered guidelines rather than rules. It meant that as teenagers we’d never have a curfew. Instead, they’d ask, ‘What’s a reasonable time for you to be home?’ and then trust us to stick to our word.” “I hated being a lawyer. I wasn’t suited to the work. I felt empty doing it, even if I was plenty good at it. This was a distressing thing to admit, given how hard I’d worked and how in debt I was. In my blinding drive to excel, in my need to do things perfectly, I’d missed the signs and taken the wrong road.” “I was deeply, delightfully in love with a guy whose forceful intellect and ambition could possibly end up swallowing mine. I saw it coming already, like a barreling wave with a mighty under tow. I wasn’t going to get out of its path—I was too committed to Barack by then, too in love— but I did need to quickly anchor myself on two feet.” “What happens when a solitude loving individualist marries an outgoing family woman who does not love solitude one bit? You find ways to adapt. If you’re in it forever, there’s really no choice.” “It went back to my wishes for them to grow up strong and centred and also unaccommodating to any form of old school patriarchy: I didn’t want them ever to believe that life began when the man of the house arrived home. We didn’t wait for Dad. It was his job now to catch up with us.” “There are portraits of me and Barack now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, a fact that humbles us both. I doubt that anyone looking at our childhoods, our circumstances, would ever have predicted we’d land in those halls.” CONCLUSION This memoir, is undoubtedly one of my favorites. Michelle Obama, being such a huge public figure, gives a very detailed and humble perspective of her life to the readers. The stories shared are so personal that as if Michelle takes herself off the pedestal that the world has put her on, and let everyone see her from a brand-new outlook, as if, I dare say, she is one of us! Or at least she was, till she became the 44th first lady of U.S.A. Reading the book is almost like reading a journal, of an extremely modest, down to earth, over achiever. The book rightfully justifies how a memoir should be, personal and relatable. This book is one of those books that every living human being should read at least once in their life time, irrespective of anything. Like even if you are one of those rare ones, who reads one book in ten years, this is the book you should pick up. This book is a bang on 10/10. Pro tip: Read ‘Dreams from my Father’ by Barack Obama, and then read ‘Becoming’. It is almost like reading the same love story, but from two different sides, Barack and Michelle. Ratings: Ease of reading: 10/10 Writing style (to keep the reader engaged): 10/10 Resonating to the reader (moving, and relatable): 10/10 Do let me know your opinion about this brilliantly written book through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences. This review is just a singular perspective and not the only one.

We have reviewed ten books so far in THE BOOK GULLY, with our very first review out, on the 1.09.2021, exactly forty-five days ago. The excitement to read the books are always high, sometimes higher than usual. At times, the excitement grows through the book, and ends with a blissful satisfaction that only a reader can experience. Other times, the excitement wears out after a few pages, and then the only pursuit that remains is honoring the commitment of finishing what we started. Especially so, because that’s what we do here at TBG. We read, so we can suggest you, which ones to skip and which ones to run for, which ones you can just borrow for a one time read, and which ones are to be treasured life long, for diving again and again in their magical worlds. If you have not yet gone through our individual published reviews, here is the list of the ten books that we have reviewed so far: Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (Non-fiction/ Memoir) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/dreams-from-my-father Love Story by Erich Segal (Fiction/ Romance) https://www.thebookgully.com /post/love-story Poor Economics by Abhijit V Banerjee & Esther Duflo (Non-fiction/ Experimental economics in poor countries for the poorer sections of the society) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/poor-economics The Hunt for Rama’s Bow by Suhail Mathur (Fiction/ Drama based on Indian Mythology) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/the-hunt-for-rama-s-bow Daily Inspiration by Robin Sharma (Non-fiction/ Self-help) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/daily-inspiration-robinsharma The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Fiction/ Teen Romance) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/the-fault-in-our-stars The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (Non-fiction/ Self-help) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/the-subtle-art-of-notgiving-a-fuck A Chance at Happiness by Aseem Vadehra (Fiction/ Short-stories) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/a-chance-at-happiness Loving Pablo Hating Escobar by Virginia Vallejo (Non-fiction/ Memoir) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/loving-pablo-hating-escobar Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar (Non-fiction/ Memoir) https://www.thebookgully.com/post/yes-my-accent-is-real Out of these ten, it is definitely impossible to pick just one favorite, so we are gonna give you not one, not two, not three either. Four it is! Four personal favorites that the TBG team can indulge in ‘n’ number of times, where ‘n’ stands for any number more than two. Oh! What a joy it was to read these books, again, and yet again. In no specific order, below is the list: Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar (Non-fiction/ Memoir) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Fiction/ Teen Romance) Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (Non-fiction/ Memoir) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (Non-fiction/ Self-help) We sincerely hope, that these four beauties make it to your sacred space. (Yes, we meant the book shelve.) Happy Reading! Love, TBG

Author: Kunal Nayyar Total pages: 245 Total approximate words: 84000 There is no other way to start writing this without mentioning that I am pretty huge fan of the show “THE BIG BANG THEORY”. Actually, any show created by Chuck Lorre, for that matter. The first time I saw TBBT, I just moved out of my parent’s house in Siliguri (a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas), to Mumbai and then to Delhi. Given the differences in their personalities (yes, cities do have their own personalities), it took me comparatively more time to adjust to the snobbishness of Delhi, after I had a taste of Mumbai’s 'too cool for school' attitude. In those times of dire loneliness in my one room apartment in Malviya Nagar (a very dusty, narrow laned colony in South Delhi), I came across the legendary characters of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, Howard and Penny, and we have been friends since then (they don’t know about this friendship). Four years after, when I came back to Delhi from Dubai, to meet my sister (also a TBBT fan), I saw Kunal Nayyar on one of her book’s cover pages. I don’t have to tell you that I jumped on it (with my hands actually) and embraced it like I have found one of the treasures that I didn’t even know existed! Although I am going to rate the book at the end of this blog, but let me just give you spoiler alert already. Awesomeness. SYNOPSIS It is not really a memoir, but more of a collection of stories from the actor’s life. Majorly focused on his life in the U.S., first as a student, and then as a struggling actor, and then finally being a star. Pretty much throughout the book, he keeps mentioning about his family (which is kind of sweet), and his love for Indian culture (festivals esp.). He writes about his crushes, and his first real girlfriend, her introducing the 90s rock music to him, her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and their love for each other, followed by a heart wrenching break up. Nayyar’s part time acting classes stories while pursuing a bachelors degree in marketing, and then eventually going for a masters in acting. Here and there he shares interesting snippets from his struggling days as an actor, and the life lessons that he learned during those times. He concludes the book with how he met his wife, a former miss India, and about them celebrating the Indian festivals in their home in Los Angeles. What I liked about the book? The cover pages! The narration, ease of reading, the honest writing, the quirky details wherever required, the practical life hacks/ lessons, the college vibes. What I didn’t like about the book? That it wasn't a full-blown memoir. Lines that made me smile, feel good, and kept me wanting for some more. “It taught me at a tender age of twelve that everything in life isn’t always about you, even if you are sure it is.” “It’s funny how, as kids and teenagers, we have friendships and relationships that, at the time, feel like the most cherished bonds of our lives, and then, as the years go by, we find ways to replace the irreplaceable.” “Rakhi: annual Indian holiday honoring the bonds between siblings, close relatives, and friends. Also, the ultimate cock-block.” “Since I was so accustomed to someone taking care of the laundry back home, I had this misunderstanding that somehow, perhaps while I was in class, our bedsheets were being laundered for us at least once a week. Apparently this wasn’t the case. I slept in the same sheets for eleven months without them ever being washed.” “About religion versus desire. Was it right to eat beef when doing so was so completely against everything I was taught as a child? Did that make me a sinner? And if so, should I too be as morally conflicted as Allison? And then it hit me. I just really liked beef. Allison just really liked women. And if God really gave a damn he would have struck us both down with lightning for our sins. You see, in my opinion, God didn’t care if I ate beef or if Allison was a lesbian. He only cared that I tipped the waiter who brought me my burger and that Allison lived a life that made her happy.” “I floated away from that audition. I took a walk through Central Park, enjoying the crisp February air and visualizing my future on Broadway. I sipped a hot chocolate and gazed at the skyline. This is the life I want. I’m going to be a star.” “I’d come to see that my work was the only piece of the whole enterprise that I could control.” “If you have no other offer, take the one offer you have.” “That was it. That was his moment of elation. A fish taco, a friend, a beer, and a sunset.” CONCLUSION Even though it is not the old school memoir, however if you love reading memoirs, you would enjoy reading this book. There is so much personal revelation, and sincerity in the stories shared, that reading this book will leave you grinning till your jaws hurt. The stories weaved from the author/ actor’s life reflects his humility which is very prominent in his writing. The earnest details of his college life are so relatable that it would make you smile all throughout the book. The honest opinions about life and failures and success and friendships are heart-warming. It is a wonderful book without the bulk of a memoir, yet would show the author’s reflection in a way that would make you fall in love with him. An overall 8.5 for this awesome book. Ease of reading: 9/10 Writing style (to keep the reader engaged): 9/10 Resonating to the reader (moving, and relatable): 8/10 Do let me know your opinion about this awesome book through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences. This review is just a singular perspective and not the only one.

Author: Virginia Vallejo Total Pages: 456 Total approximate words: 123,120 So, 2019 was a lot of binge watching for me. Thanks to my hectic job, and my sister’s generosity that I would be too tired to leave my room during my rest days, and ended up watching free Netflix, other than sleeping and eating. From those slumbering days, I discovered many hidden gems from this pandora box called the Netflix. There was this special section of series, based on real life events that really caught my eye. The Spy, When They See Us, Unbelievable, Ted Bundy Tapes, Narcos, Narcos Mexico, to name just a few of those gems. The kind of absolute nerd that I am, after watching such series or movies I usually look for the book with the same title. And guess what I found! Watching Narcos, the series, I was hoping to find a book written by one of its protagonists, but instead I found two books, ‘Sins of my Father’, by Juan Pablo Escobar, son of Pablo Escobar (the drug kingpin of Colombia) and ‘Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar’, by Virginia Vallejo, Colombia’s most famous Television host during the 1970s and 1980s, and one of Pablo Escober’s many lovers. The later was available in amazon for sale, and within the next two weeks, I got my own copy of a version of the ‘Narcos’, to be kept with the rest of my treasures, hopefully for the rest of my life. (Pro tip: Narcos is a pretty cool series to watch in Netflix, if you haven’t watched it yet.) SYNOPSIS Virginia Vallejo, meets Pablo for the first time in his place, Hacienda Napoles in 1982, when she visits the estate with her then fiancé, Anibal Turbay, the nephew of the ex-president of Columbia. A few weeks from then, Escobar invites Anibal to visit the Hacienda of Jorge Luis Ochoa, Escobar’s best friend. Through her cocaine snorting fiancé, Virginia comes to know that cocaine was the real deal, and weed was not even enough to pay for a private runway, and that was why the Davilas, king of Marijuana greased everyone’s palm to reopen the Santa Marta airport in the night, to dispatch planes loaded with what was famed as the world’s best marijuana. Now that Virginia and Pablo were secretly lovers, she was travelling between Bogota and Medellin for work and to be with him. She talks fondly of the next fifteen months as the two spend more and more time together. Through one of these meetings, that she meets Guastavo Gavieria, Pablo’s cousin and business partner. Unlike Pablo, Guastavo was inscrutable, silent, secretive, distant, and much more mature than him. Pablo tells her about his ambition, from the time he was a small kid, which was to be the richest man in Colombia, and then be the most popular political leader of all times. When Virginia interviews Pablo in one of the poorer neighborhoods, after he donated a number of basket ball courts to such neighborhoods, she sees Pablo’s twenty-three years old wife for the first time with him. Through Escobar, Virginia is acquainted with news that usually the media didn’t have access to. In 1983, Virginia was one of the first few people who came to know about the plane crash that killed the head of the M-19, an insurgent group, who was travelling with a cash of USD 600,000. While Escobar’s men found out the crash site in a few hours, the Colombian government took nine months to recover the bodies. Julio Mario Santo Domingo, one of Virginia’s ex, introduces her to David Metcalf, grandson of Lord Curzon. Virginia who was madly in love with Pablo, felt nothing for Metcalf, no matter how royal he was. Around the same time, the president appoints a new minister of justice, Rodrigo Lara, who immediately accuses Escobar of drug trafficking and having ties with the guerilla groups. Escobar’s parliamentary immunity is lifted, and an arrest warrant is issued. The American government revokes his tourist visa and the Colombian government seizes all the exotic animals from the zoo in Hycianda Napoles. All these leads Escobar into partial hiding. And then Virginia meets Rodriguez Orijuela, head of the Cali Cartel. The time that followed, the ‘palm greasing’ didn’t work anymore and the Colombian government, with the army’s help, confiscated planes, helicopters, yachts of drug dealers, and arrested hundreds of people involved in it. Meanwhile, Virginia meets Gilberto Rodriguez Orijuela, who she mentions as the friend of the bureaucrats and the elite, very unlike Escobar, also with whom she develops a fleeting affair. The new minister of Justice, Enrique Perejo enforces extradition of money launderers to the U.S., which leads the king of Cocaine to form Los Extraditables, a group whose only agenda was to oppose extradition of Colombian criminals to the States. The DEA goes full fledged into collecting evidence of drug trafficking, and becomes successful to do so. The U.S. government gets photographic evidence of Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha loading seven and half tons of coke into a plane. In the days that follow, Virginia gets more and more afraid for the love of her life, as Pablo Escobar becomes the most wanted man in the world. When Virginia gets an offer to work for a Miami based television channel for USD 5000, Escobar offers her USD 80,000 to just be at home until she finds a producer who knew her worth. He also introduces her to the founder of the M-19 insurgent group. As an effort to not be extradited, Escobar gives the man a million dollar to destroy all the evidences (six thousand files) against him at the Palace of Justice. By the end of 1985, Escobar becomes the reason for the one hundred killings in the Palace of Justice, and the massacre in Armero, killing twenty-five thousand people more, other than the many, many mores. Viginia finally decides to severe all ties with this man. In 1993, eleven years after they met for the first time, Pablo Escobar is killed in a shoot out with the police. Lines that I really loved “How marvelous people are to me when I leave Colombia, because in other countries, it is not a crime to always look radiant with happiness.” “But how could a man have such a beauty, such a queen, such a goddess, as a girlfriend? A woman like you is for marrying! You tend her needs every day and never look at another woman again for the rest of your life.” “What is the formula for cocaine, Gilberto?” “Yes, he has never accepted that in this business, like everything in life, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Someone steals two hundred kilos here, three hundred kilos there… and you resign yourself, because what else can you do? He, on the other hand…. every time someone steals five kilos, he leaves five people dead! At that rate, he’s going to kill off all of humanity!” “While it’s true his best quality is his unique ability to anticipate everything that’s bearing down on him and to prepare a crushing counterattack, his worst defect is an utter lack of humility in recognizing and correcting his mistakes, and an even greater inability to measure the consequences of his actions.” CONCLUSION If you like reading memoirs, this book is worth your time. Even though the book is a translation from its original published language Spanish, the narration isn’t lost in the transition, like one might assume. It is the memoir of one of the famous media personalities of Colombia and her links to the most dangerous man of the world; so the story is a lot about events happening in chronological order surrounding ministers, and famous men and women. May be that’s why it has less of a personal touch and more of the ‘glam’ quotient in it. Of all the memoirs that I have read of famous personalities, this one stands out differently, but in a good way. I would give it an overall rating of 7/10. Ease of reading: 7/10 Writing style (to keep the reader engaged): 7/10 Resonating to the reader (moving, and relatable): 6.5/10 Do let me know your opinion about this English translated Spanish best seller book through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences. This review is just a singular perspective and not the only one.

Author: Aseem Vadehra Total Pages: 171 Total approximate words: 62,073 I started reading this book a long time ago, perhaps a couple of years ago. But never finished it. In fact, never even read from the first chapter. Just randomly picked up one story and left it even before finishing it. When I picked it up again, after years of abandonment in the book shelve, the familiar feeling of reluctance crept in, and for a moment I hesitated to commit, to read it at one go, and not just leave it because one of its pages was boring. So, I dared. I use the word ‘dared’ because commitment to read a book from start to finish at one go and completely letting go of the temptation to pick a side book, is a big deal for me. It is almost like a promise of undivided attention to the book by the reader, to be with it, throughout its journey from the beginning to the end, no matter what. Read on to know, if it was worth the commitment, and if you should think about making one, with this one here at least! SYNOPSIS “A chance at happiness”, is a collection of 17 short stories. The stories have different narration styles, but the core writing style is similar, of course. For example, certain chapters have the protagonist as the narrator, and in others, the narration is in third person. Every story has a different plot, obviously, but the characterization in each is similar to an extent. For example, almost all the stories happen in one city; most of the protagonists have similar wants, desires, and regrets, come from similar background (wealthy businessman), is attracted towards female in one particular way, is miserable in his life in one way or the other. A brief about the stories below: 1. Mr. Alexander The protagonist Akshay, is a self-made man, who happens to meet his school teacher, Mr Alexander, and his mind goes back to his schooldays. 2. Tara The narrator is in love with the girl of his dreams, Tara, but his table tennis practice introduced him to his partner’s sister Pallavi, who is attracted to him. The two make out a couple of times, but Pallavi’s brother Ishan spill the beans to Tara. A heartbroken Tara eventually moves on and gets married to her drama school partner Shiv. 3. A Chance at Happiness Amit is a school going kid, and is from a wealthy family. He is sexually abused by one of the male servants at his house, who later is diagnosed with HIV, and is subsequently kicked out. Amit lives with fear for twelve years, before he gets the courage to actually do a test for himself. The test declares him HIV negative, but the thought of all those years, reminded him of how strangely, he enjoyed bits and pieces of it. 4. A Date in Paharganj Ankit is a spoiled brat from a wealthy family, and is working with his father in the family business. On his flight from Chennai to Delhi, he meets Annalisa, an Italian tourist, and tries to impress her with his fake American accent. When Ankit offers to drop her to her booked hotel room in Paharganj, she invites him for lunch the next day as a thank you gesture. Ankit gets his hopes high, and the two end up making love a week before Ankit’s arranged marriage. When Ankit’s father comes to know about it, he fires the driver for taking him to Annalisa’s address. 5. Bachelor The narrator is secretly in love with his best friend’s wife, and when the wife plays a game of questions about how well the spouses know each other, she is disappointed at both her husband, and his best friend, the narrator. 6. The Company Aman is trying to grow his family business after his father’s demise, but one visit from the Income tax officials, rob him from a fortune of money. 7. Dior Payal and Kapil are married for four years, but despite having a lavish lifestyle, Payal feels lonely, as apparently he is not the same guy that she fell for. Dressed up in their expensive attires, the couple go to a lavish party, where Kapil gets busy with others, leaving Payal on her own. While having drinks in the bar, she meets Gautam, Kapil’s friend and they make out in a secluded corner of the farmhouse. 8. Diwali The narrator Aditya, goes to a lavish Diwali party where he meets with an average looking woman and feels attracted towards her. As the two decide to go to a more isolated part of the party, he gets too close to Deepa and tries to kiss her, and is taken aback when she doesn’t reciprocate it. 9. At the Eye Doctor The narrator, with his loving wife visits an Ophthalmologist. While waiting for his turn, he rests his head on his wife’s shoulder, and thanks his lucky stars to bless him with a wife like her. On sudden appearance of the wife’s ex-fiancé, he feels a hint of uneasiness and slight change in his wife’s composure. Instead of waiting further for his turn, he tells the staff that he will visit later, and leaves the clinic with his wife. 10. In Bombay The protagonist architect, is an asexual who is incapable of falling in love with any gender. As he flies to Bombay to his best friend’s party, the company of a woman, over a moonlit night, makes him wonder, if that is what love felt like. Unfortunately for him, he would never know. 11. Karan and Maneck Karan, a wealthy businessman endures the grief of loosing his closest friend in a car accident. He lovingly goes back to the days of their first meet and the bountiful days after. 12. A Highway Deal The narrator is an established businessman who drives down to Ludhiana for work. On the way back, his site manager, Prakash Negi, accompanies him. During the drive on the highway, their car hits a passer-by who dies on the spot. With minor damage in the car, the duo makes a run from the scene on the site manager’s advice. From the next day onwards, Negi starts blackmailing the narrator for a hefty amount of 5 lakhs a month for the rest of his life, eventually costing him his marriage and the company. 13. Nitin and I Two friends have the time of their life in a bar, where they take rounds of a girl in blue, with silicon tits, and long legs. Eventually the girl’s boyfriend starts shooting and two bullets hit the friends. The following events happen in slow motion, until the two leave the bar and take a taxi to the nearest hospital. 14. A Fine Provenance Siddharth, son of a wealthy art dealer travels to London, to finalize a deal for an original art piece from its owner, an old English couple. Through the deal he experiences the warm hospitality of the friendly couple who assumed that the piece of art would go to another collector and not to a dealer. 15. A Contract of Dreams Kunal, the son of yet another wealthy businessman, is all set to take the contract for a big project. After the lengthy meeting and his constant regret about not being able to follow his dream of being a film maker, he finally bags the contract from the stingy client. As the meeting finishes, and everyone leaves the room, he tells the project director of his company, that the stingy budget of their clients have left them with no other option other than to cut cost by getting cheaper labor. 16. The House Gautam and Prateek have been friends from high school, and for the construction of his forty thousand square feet mansion, Gautam gives the contract to Prateek. But when Gautam invites Prateek for a party with cocaine and strippers, and encourages him to have sex with one of the females, he leaves the party. After that incident, Gautam holds his payment until Prateek invites himself over for a similar party like before. To mix in the crowd and hoping that Gautam will release the payment, Prateek cheats on his wife with one of the females in the party. 17. Thirty Seconds Aditya who has just stepped in his thirties, and is recovering from a heart break, falls for a ‘real life fairy’ who is only visible to him. They have short but interesting meet ups until one day she doesn’t show up anymore. What I liked about the book? Short stories. A different perspective. All the stories have the central character of men. Even as a victim, in certain stories, which was like a fresh perspective, considering usually ‘the woman’ is the ‘victim’. Certain characters stood out, like the asexual architect, who felt everything in detail, yet did not feel love. The average lines are longer in the narration, much different than the usual ‘short sentences’ used in most fictions. The length of the sentences, weaving the details of a scene or of the character’s mind, made them kind of lyrical. What I didn’t like about the book? Mediocre plot, and monotonous characters. The protagonist in most of the stories have similar characterization, wealthy, mostly not happy for some reason, wanting something different than what they already had. Also, almost all the stories happen in the same city, Delhi. CONCLUSION This book is not the best work of Aseem Vadehra, but I am hoping he writes more and creates his best work. The writing, in some sense has finesse and reminds of authors like Jhumpa Lahiri. A huge lot of Indian fiction books lacks this quality, which is a must for a rich writing. Majorly because, we are not native English speakers. If you like indulging exclusively in good writing, and by that I mean only the style, including the length of the sentences, the words used, the patience in describing a scene or a character’s intentions, all of that, despite not necessarily having a very strong story line, then this book is a gem. I may or may not read this same book again, but I would definitely read Aseem Vadehra's other books (if there are any). Ratings would be a 6/10. Ease of reading: 7/10 Character/ Plot building: 6/10 World Building: 6/10 Do let me know your opinion about this book, through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences. This review is just a singular perspective and not the only one.

As kids, me and my sister had less access to the TV, than we had to libraries. Video games were non-existent in our house, and the only phones that were available during the 90s were the landlines. As a family, our sources of entertainment were scanty. Part of it was of course lack of money, and the rest was just my parents being Indian. The black and white television was only switched on during the half an hour dinner session, and depending on my father’s mood, a few Sunday mornings. In all my school years, as a family we went out for movies only twice; once when I was six, and then when I was eight. If the Homework was done on time, then my father would occasionally reward me and my sister with an extra half hour of TV during the cartoon shows. Perhaps that’s why I grew up reading more books than watching any of the soaps or movies during my school days. It wasn’t until I started pursuing my degree, that I finally had access to cinema halls without having to seek my parent’s permission. And oh boy, did I not take full advantage of that! I bunked classes and went for movies, bought pirated CDs and watched them when the house was empty, even had a huge Daniel Radcliffe poster hung (briefly) on one of the walls of my shared room. As I stepped into adulthood, quality of the Indian cinema didn’t appeal to me as much as my old friends of books did. My relationship with books gradually became biased, and I kind of lost interest in movies, until I found out about Torrentz (was a site to download movies for free) from this guy I started seeing. I started downloading different genres of movies from all over the world, and watched movie marathons with comfort food and old monk for months (I was working of course too). A whole new world of imagination and story telling lay in front of me, and I dipped myself in it regularly, religiously. And then Netflix happened! It became like the library for me, but with access to movies, and stories, animations, stand up, abstract, non-mainstream content from all over the fucking world. A plethora of original, mind-blowing, mind bending, forced to think and contemplate kind of content was flooded to my mind and my eyes. For the first time in my life, I kind of, was able to comprehend what an art cinematography is. Watching creations like Black Mirror, Pre-Destination, Joker, Annihilation, Breaking Bad, Parasite, Interstellar, Into the Wild, Her, Sacred Games, Ghoul, Rick and Morty, to name just a few fragments of the bigger universe, made me see a whole different world of film making and creativity. Like great authors, great film makers are inspirational. I dive into the imaginative space of a good book as much as I indulge in understanding the creativity of a good film making. A good book is no greater than a good movie. I will have both, please. The dynamics of creating a film and writing a novel are completely different, much like the North and the South Pole. And now is the right time to take all my prejudices back from every movie that I have watched that was based on a novel. I love you both, equally.

Total pages: 209 Total approximate words: 53000 This book, I distinctively remember when I got my hands on it. Beginning of 2018, after one of the Australian layovers, at the airport, on the way to the boarding gate, at this huge book store. My job as a flying attendant, even though was pretty hectic and challenging with having to deal with vastly different time zones, and at times extremely difficult passengers, the time alone at a layover, in a different city did provide some kind of solace to my mind and soul. Mid of that year, I was getting married, and arranging a wedding was turning out to be an extremely stressful series of events, especially keeping in mind the number of people to please and the amount of money involved for that. Being an Indian, I felt obligated to please everyone, even when I didn’t want to! And seeing the title of the book on a fluorescent orange color, I felt that the book was made for me. I really needed to learn the subtle of not giving a fuck. SYNOPSIS The book cleverly starts with a brief philosophy from Charles Bukowski’s life. Bukowski was an alcoholic, womaniser, gambler, a cheapskate and a deadbeat broke who worked at a dead-end job. No one cared about what he wrote, and he kind of gave up and lived in depression. Until one day, a publisher took interest in his work. He was fifty by then. Copies of his writings were eventually sold for millions, but Bukowski didn’t change much as a person. He still chased after women, was an obnoxious rude person and drank alcohol like water. Despite all that he was still the loser that he was before. The take home from his story is that, Bukowski’s success did not stem from his determination to be a winner, but from his acceptance about himself as a loser, and then writing honestly about it. He never tried to be anything other than what he was. His comfort with himself as a failure made him a success. Bukowski didn’t give a fuck about success. Self-improvement and success don’t necessarily mean they’re the same thing. The book talks about how everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience, and how most of us don’t want the negative experience, which backfires and keeps us stagnated at where we are. Manson gives relatable examples about metrics or how we measure ourselves and how important it is to prioritize better values, choosing better things to give a fuck about. He writes profoundly about why confronting problems are important even if they are uncomfortable and unconventional. Through the book, Manson explains about the counterintuitive values and why are they important. Taking responsibility for everything; acknowledging one’s own ignorance; the willingness to discover one’s own flaws so that they can be improved; the ability to accept and offer rejection, build trust and set boundaries; and the final one, the contemplation of one’s own mortality. The book ends with Manson giving an example from his own life about the final counterintuitive value. Lines that made so much sense: “Honesty in a relationship is more important to me than feeling good all the time. The last person I should ever have to censor myself is the woman I love.” “If someone is better than you at something, then it’s likely because she has failed at it more than you have.” “There’s a certain comfort that comes with knowing how you fit in the world. Anything that shakes up that comfort- even if it could potentially make your life better- is inherently scary.” “Throughout my life, I’ve been flat out wrong about myself, others, society, culture, the world, the universe- everything. And I hope that will continue for the rest of my life.” “The key to a good life is not give a fuck about more; it’s giving a fuck about less.” What I liked about the book? Mark Manson’s straight forward perspective, and his usage of simple yet extremely relevant examples. Despite being a ‘self-help’ book, the narration is in first person, which kind of makes it tremendously relatable and refreshing to read; it painted the author more as someone who was figuring out about life and sharing its lessons on the way, rather than some know it all guru. Tons of examples, comparisons to understand each outlook. A dash of humor every now and then. Less pretentious and more substance comparatively, for its genre. What I didn’t like about the book? Could have been a bit smaller. But that was not a deal breaker for me. CONCLUSION If you like indulging in ‘self-help’ books, with a refreshing narrative compared to the cliché contents of such books, THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A FUCK is for you. If you are tired of the bullshit around you, and want a different perspective, but you hate talking to people (for introverts), read this book. If you are a people pleaser, read this book. Every time I need some reality check, I read this book, which means I am going to be reading this book n number of times in the future, unless a better book comes out about, how not to give any fucks. Ratings Ease of reading: 7.5/10 Writing style (to keep the reader engaged): 8.5/10 Resonating to the reader (moving, and relatable): 8.5/10 Overall, I give this awesome book an 8/10. Do let me know your opinion about this book full of wisdom, through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! DISCLAIMER This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences. This review is just a singular perspective and not the only one.

Author: John Green Total Pages: 316 Total approximate words: 91000 Holding the book with an aquatic blue cover, I am trying hard to remember where did I buy this piece of art. Part of me is considering the possibility that it might have been a handed down book from my sister, and the other part of me is thinking that I might have brought it at a thrift store. Either way it was sheer luck that I discovered the book. Only after I read it, that I realised what a catch it was! From then, John Green has become one of my favorite authors to read light hearted romance fiction. SYNOPSIS Hazel, the narrator and the central character of the fiction, is a sixteen-year-old who suffers from terminal lung cancer. Though a teenager, her persona is relatively mature. She likes to be left alone with books, and TV for the most. Other than these, she slept a lot too. Worried that her teenage daughter was spending too much time alone, Hazel’s mother suggests that she join The Literal Heart of Jesus, a support group. Hazel unwillingly joins the support group, even though she resented the idea of such groups. She was content spending time on her bed, watching a little TV every now and then, reading, and pondering on the inevitable death. On her first day at the support group, she meets Isaac, who was suffering from eye cancer. He was the only kid with whom, Hazel sort of got along. After a few weeks at the Support Group, she meets Augustus Waters, a seventeen-year-old, incredibly romantic and a video game lover, boy, through Isaac, when the former accompanied the later to one of the sessions. Augustus had a past with cancer, and had to amputee one of his legs to get rid of it. Augustus and Hazel instantaneously like each other, and he invites her over to watch one of his favorite movies, V for Vendetta, at his place. In return, Augustus offers to read An Imperial Affliction, one of Hazel’s favorite books, where the protagonist was a cancer patient too. They continue seeing each other while pondering on the probable cause of the abrupt ending of the book. Since there was no other way to find out about it, other than to meet the author himself and ask him, who was residing in the Netherlands, Augustus decides to use his ‘Wish’ from the organization, The Genie Foundation, which is in the business of granting sick kids one wish, to go for a short trip to Amsterdam. He also found it amusing that Hazel used her only dying ‘Wish’ on a trip to the Disney World. The trip is almost finalized, until one night Hazel gets a throbbing pain in her head and shoulder, and is rushed to the Emergency room. She stayed in the hospital for almost a week, as they drained out the fluid from her lungs. Meanwhile, Augustus starts corresponding with Peter Van Houten, the author of An Imperial Affliction, in order for them to meet him. Hazel, is elated at the news and gets excited to read the hand written letter posted to Augustus Waters. Although the letter had almost nothing about the ending of the book, but reading Van Houten’s words about the living and the dead, and his brief but valuable insight on Hazel’s and Augustus’s love for each other, she asks her mother to ask the doctors if she can do an international trip. After much consultations and making sure that Hazel’s medical requirements are made through out the journey, the two along with Hazel’s mother set off to the city of freedom. As the airplane made its way to another continent, Augustus and Hazel sat together, hand in hand, watching the same movies in the entertainment system, while the clouds soared past them at 31000 feet in the sky. Before drifting to sleep, Augustus talks about how inevitable oblivion is, and how everything is meaningless from the universe’s perspective, but also, having said that, he was still convinced with the idea of being in love, and that he is in love with Hazel Grace. After resting for the day in the hotel, Hazel and Augustus go for a dinner, at a fancy restaurant, the type where they have round tables with white table cloth on it, and serve Don Perignon. The next morning, they finally go to meet Van Houten, with all their hopes up, about finally getting to know the book’s ending. However, they meet with disappointment when Van Houten turned out to be an alcoholic and a rather rude, obnoxious and unempathetic individual. He also tells them that his letter was just a gesture and that he never really expected them to fly all the way from another continent. Determined not to spoil their trip to an otherwise beautiful place, Hazel and Augustus with the assistance of Van Houten’s assistant, Lidewij, who profusely was apologizing for her boss’s behavior, go to see Anne Frank’s Museum. The museum had a whole lot of stairs to walk and by the time the duo made it to the top, Hazel was extremely tired and Augustus’s limp didn’t help much. Despite that, the tour turned out to be a nice experience. The two were chauffeured back to the hotel by Lidewij, and they go to Augustus room. Anxious that Hazel might not like how he looked without his prosthetic, he paused for sometime in the corridor outside the elevator, before he finally said the same to her. Hazel laughed it off by telling him to ‘get over it’. The two walk in Augustus’s hotel room and spend the afternoon together, before Hazel leaves a sleeping Augustus a love letter in the form of a Venn Diagram, to go to her room that she shared with her mother. Before the end of the trip, Hazel finds out that Augustus’s cancer has hit again, and this time it is all over everywhere, including the lining of his chest, left hip and liver. They both now know what was to become of Augustus; it was just a matter of time. Once they were back in Indianapolis, Hazel visited Augustus everyday at his place. Their friend Isaac, who had to operate his other eye in order to get rid of the cancer, is now completely blind. He was also heartbroken as his girlfriend dumped him just before his surgery, and did not even bother to do as much as call him afterwards to know how he was doing. In an attempt to take revenge on that, the three drive to her house, and do an act of mischief by throwing eggs on her car and all over the front yard. A few weeks followed after that with Augustus getting sicker than ever before. He is in a wheel chair, unable to eat without puking, and needs assistance in doing even the smallest things. Hazel feels bad to see Augustus pity his self-worth, but there was hardly anything that she could do, other than, to just be with him. He is eventually admitted to the hospital, and one late night Hazel gets the call from Augustus’s parents about him passing away during his sleep. After that, it was a series of endless crying and dealing with the pain of losing the love of her life for days and weeks that followed. Peter Van Houten, realizing that he was a douchebag, shows up discreetly at Augustus’s service. He tries to talk to Hazel, but only receives her ferocity of how much she despised him. When Van Houten didn’t give up and tried sneaking in the back seat of her car, outside Isaac’s place, Hazel mellowed down, and the two talked. She learnt that Van Houten’s own daughter died of cancer at the age of eight. Listening to his share of tragedy, Hazel softens up for him and forgives him. At Issac’s place, she also learns that Augustus wrote something for her. Hazel talks to Augustus’s parents but they didn’t seem to know anything, she also looks for it in his room, where his smell still lingered. Finally, she writes to Lidewij to ask if Augustus sent anything to Van Houten’s address. Lidewij says that she resigned from working for Van Houten, but she promises to find out about the papers. In a few days, Hazel gets an email from Lidewij, with the scanned copies of the papers that had Augustus writings about life, love, and them and a request to compile all that in the form of a eulogy for Hazel. He actually wrote to Van Houten to write a eulogy for her, because he could not. The book ends with Hazel reading Augustus’s writing about how he doesn’t have a choice about getting hurt, but he certainly can choose the person that hurts him. And he chose Hazel, and that he likes his choice, and he hopes Hazel likes hers too. Hazel silently says, that she does, she really does. What I really liked in the story? The depiction of the story itself, along with its characterization, and plot development. Since the protagonist is the narrator, it gives a lot of space to understand the mind of the central character, which is one of the fundamental things about fiction writing, from a reader’s perspective. The more the protagonist talks and mentions about the details, the more the reader is able to dive into the protagonist’s mind itself and eventually experience the story by himself/herself rather than just reading it. This specific characterization is done tremendously awesome in this book. The story is weaved so methodically that while reading, the sequence of events just seems so natural, and logical, and fall into the exact place where they should be, instead of being just put there for the sake of it or because may be the author got lazy or whatever (like tacky and patchy make up; if you know what I mean). The words used are simple and easy to understand. The plot keeps up as the story progresses. There were no unnecessary details that felt like a drag to the story. What I didn’t like about the story? Almost nothing. Hazel’s and Augustus’s parents seemed like the best parents in the world, especially because Asian parenting is the bang on opposite of that! So that was a bit unrelatable for me being an Indian kid. But that has less to do with the story line, and more to do with my personal perspective. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing that I didn’t like in the book. Lines that made me smile (more than I already was!) Out of nowhere Augustus asked, “Do you believe in an afterlife?” “I think forever is an incorrect concept,” I answered. He smirked. “You are an incorrect concept.” “I know. That’s why I am being taken out of the rotation.” ‘…..Always was a promise! How can you just break the promise?’ “Sometimes people don’t understand the promises they’re making when they make them,” I said. Isaac shot me a look. “Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. Don’t you believe in true love?” “I am in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simplest pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.” And many many more. CONCLUSION If your genre is romance, and teen, this is your book! If you don’t like any of these in particular, but you still like a good story, this is your book too. Despite the fact that I don’t usually like teen genre, I would still love to devour in the happy and sad lines of these wonderful heart-warming story more than once for sure. (I actually read it three times already!) I would give it an overall rating of 7.5/10. The breakdown as follows: Ease of reading: 9/10 Character/ Plot building: 8/10 World Building: 7/10 Do let me know your opinion about this book through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. Happy reading! Disclaimer This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences.

Aren't they? My love for reading goes back to all the way when I was about eight years old. We were going for a family trip from New Jalpaiguri to Vellore. It was almost a 36 hours train journey in the sleeper coach. My father bought the infamous book PANCHATANTRA from the railway platform, somewhere on the way. I have bits and pieces of memories of reading the chapters in Hindi, loudly to my parents, especially after dinner, before sleeping. Since then, my love for fictions only increased with time. The school library, which had a thousand books neatly stacked in its cupboards, was my favorite place in the earth. So much so that I would visit the library even during the summer and winter holidays. It was the only time when I didn't have to wait for my turn to read a book or issue one under my name. Oh, what a wonderful feeling it was, to have the whole library to myself! Bundles of Tinkles, Readers Digests, Famous Fives, the Secret Sevens and what not! At about twelve years of age, I finally discovered the American Comic book Archie and Friends. The library just got a huge donation of almost a hundred of those comic books and I felt like I was introduced to a new realm of reading. It wasn't until my father saw one of those comic books under my pillow, that I came to know about his huge dislike for them. He made it very clear that day, that reading comics was simply a waste of time, and that they don't contribute to learning English at all. To tell you about my father, he was a bit of a dictator in the house. So, I had no other option other than to continue my affair with these colored books of pictures, in extreme secrecy. That entire year all the way until I finished my school at the age of sixteen and a half, I read each one of the comic books that the library had. Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Chacha Choudhury, Supandi, and all the other digests, and the double digests. A couple of times, I did get the 'Indian parent lecture' and a thrashing here and there, but it was all worth it. To tell you the truth, the comic books only increased my intensity of love for books, if I may put it that way. I was probably one of the few students in school who took full advantage of having access to free books. The comic books were just one of the many genres that I enjoyed along with Harry Potter books, Enid Blyton books and PremChand books. I am 31, and I still buy comic books. I do get some looks when I am reading them in the train, or bus or even in my house, but I have long grown out of it. In fact I honestly believe that after animated movies, comic books are the best! Happy reading people! & do share your favorite comic book character in the comments.

Author: Robin Sharma Total Pages: Number of days in a year Total approximate words: 36000 I first read this book in my early twenties. Helped me kind of to understand and channel my energies productively. The first book I read of the great Robin Sharma was of course his classic, ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, around the same time. Only because that book left a lasting impression on me, that I decided to buy this second book. And I have never regretted buying any of his books since then! Below is a short and sweet review of this wonderful book. SYNOPSIS The book has a total of 365 chapters, one for each day of the year. Each chapter has a wisdom for that particular day. Each month has a topic on human insights, and is written in details in its following 30/31 chapters. The chapters are half a page long at the most, making them convenient to understand and remember. That’s pretty much about it! Some of the wonderful quotes: "Everyone of us creates a story about his/her own life, even if he/she only tells it to himself/herself. For some the story is all about a victim. Playing the victim is easy. You do not have to assume any responsibility for the way your life looks. You can blame everyone else for what’s not working in your life, never having to look at yourself and make the changes required. But when you play victim, you give away your power to that which you allege is victimizing you. It’s a very impotent way to live." "Have fun while you are advancing along the path of your goals, purpose and dreams. Never forget the importance of living with unbridled exhilaration. Never neglect to see the exquisite beauty in all living things. Today and this very moment that you and I are sharing is a gift. Remain spirited, joyful and curious. Stay focused on your life work and on giving selfless service to others. Yet have a great time along the way, because your life is a treasure to be celebrated." "Remember that there are many forms of wealth, financial wealth being only one of them. One who has rich relationships and a loving community around him/her is, in my mind wealthy. One who has a life of excellent health, adventure, excitement and continuous learning has wealth of a different sort. And one who is deeply connected to all of life and wakes up every morning feeling deeply at peace and aware of the truth must certainly be considered to be one who has accumulated yet another form of riches. The crowd- our tribe called Society- has taught us that economic wealth is the only type of wealth we should chase. Not true." "The only people without problems and adversity are six feet under the ground. To live is to face problems, pain and suffering. These things are vehicles for growth, expansion and lifelong learning. They are part of the human experience." CONCLUSION The book is exactly what the title says, DAILY INSPIRATION. Everyone, and by that, I mean everyone, should have this book, or a book like this with them at all times. This book is like the wisdom book that we all need every now and then to remind us the basics of leading a simple and peaceful life. For a self-help book, this one is surely a star. I would give it an 8/10 rating. Below is the breakdown. Ease of reading: 8.5/10 Writing style (to keep the reader engaged): 8/10 Resonating to the reader (moving, and relatable): 7.5/10 I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Happy reading! Do let me know your opinion about this book full of wisdom, through an email or post it in the comments section. Best five responses will be featured in the website. PS This review is based on my personal reading of the book and understanding it with my own limited experiences.